Der Schuß von der Kanzel

The pastor of a Zurich country parish loves hunting so much that it threatens to rob him of his office and dignity. They hope for help from the famous general, the priest's cousin, who is supposed to put things right with a clever plan. In Mythikon, a peaceful village on Lake Zurich in the 17th century, Father Werdmüller serves as pastor of the community. But his flock is unhappy because the pastor, with his passion for weapons and hunting, grossly neglects his church duties. For example, he forgets a baptism while roaming the woods with the young Captain Kilchsberger on a partridge hunt. After this incident, the discontented congregation calls on Dean Steinfels from Zurich to deal with their recalcitrant pastor. He sternly warns Werdmüller: one more shot and he will lose his sinecure. Contrite, Werdmüller searches for the denunciator and quickly finds the culprit in the young vicar Pfannenstiel, whom he immediately banishes from his prebend. For the innocent Pfannenstiel, the world comes crashing down. Not only does he lose his job, but Werdmüller's daughter Rahel, whom the shy vicarage candidate awkwardly courts, but who is already promised to Kilchsberger, becomes completely unattainable for him. Sadly, he says goodbye to Rahel, who shares his feelings, in order to join the mercenary troop of Werdmüller's cousin, the notorious general Hans-Rudolf Werdmüller, as a field chaplain. The general accepts the request and obliges the young vicar to follow him to war in France in the next few days. When Werdmüller learns from his godchild Rahel before he leaves that her father, although she loves the Pfannenstiel, wants to force her to marry the vain Kilchsberger on Sunday, the jovial warlord decides to intervene and play a real trick on his gun-loving cousin. His desire to set things right in Mythikon takes on added urgency after he recognizes in the breaking of his favorite pipe the death omen that a gypsy woman had predicted for him years ago.