This 1840 short novel is based on tales Dumas heard during his trip to Germany and is set on the banks of the Rhine in 1340. It features a melodramatic plot which keeps veering off in unexpected directions as Dumas explores various German tales. In the narrative, the Landgrave (Prince) Ludwig of Godesburg, is struck by the resemblance of his son to a friend of his wife’s, and so decides that he has been cuckolded. He sends his wife off to a nunnery and ships his son, Otho, to a monastery.
