Der Junker und der getreue Heinrich

Junker und der getreue Heinrich, Der, a Middle High German verse tale of some 2, 000 lines written by an unnamed author in the 14th c. The young knight drives generosity (milte) to excess and is continually in financial difficulties, out of which he is extricated by his faithful servant Heinrich. Eventually his embarrassments are removed by his marriage to a princess of Cyprus, whose hand he wins at a tournament. The story also includes a supernatural element in the form of a magic stone through which the knight can transform himself into a bird, in which shape he wins the princess's love before he gains her hand by victory in the joust.