The opera is set in a Bohemian village one day during festival time.
ACT I
It is the end of the harvest. The cheerful villagers prepare for the forthcoming
celebrations and discuss the ups and downs of married life. Only Marenka is sad;
she explains to her sweetheart Jenik that the husband her parents have chosen
for her is coming to meet her today. He is Vasek, son of Micha. Marenka is
perturbed by Jenik’s half-hearted reaction; she says she will remain faithful
to him even though she knows so little of his past and where he comes from. He
explains that his mother died young and his wealthy father remarried; his
stepmother hated him and drove him from home, forcing him to travel and find
work as a farmhand. Jenik and Marenka affirm their love and loyalty to each
other.
Marenka’s parents, Krusina and Ludmila, arrive; they are accompanied by the
marriage-broker Kecal, who assures them of his competence and harangues them
about keeping to their side of a bargain they have struck: years earlier,
Krusina was unable to repay a debt to the rich farmer Tobias Micha and was
compelled to pledge, in front of witnesses, his only daughter in marriage to a
son of Micha. Krusina asks Kecal which of Micha’s two sons is the prospective
bridegroom; Kecal replies that it is the second, Vasek, because the first is a
good-for-nothing who has disappeared without trace. Kecal goes on to assure them
that although Vasek is a bit odd and dim-witted, he has countless other virtues.
Marenka arrives. Kecal tells her he has a husband for her. Ludmila hopes that
Marenka will be allowed to give her consent to the marriage. Marenka, however,
explains that she already has a lover, to whom she has sworn to be faithful.
Confident that this is no obstacle to his arrangement, Kecal decides to go and
talk to Jenik himself.
The villagers bring in the harvest crown and dance a polka.
ACT II
The men of the village are celebrating the pleasures of drink, while Jenik
extols the virtues of love and Kecal those of money. The drinking grows into
dancing (a furiant). Vasek arrives, sent by his mother. Marenka, whom Vasek does
not know, seeks him out and charms him, telling him what a vile and murderous
creature he is being forced to marry and how everyone pities him. Vasek is
immediately smitten by her and renounces his intended bride. Marenka tells him
she knows of a girl who is pining for his love. Implying it is she herself, she
runs off, with Vasek in pursuit.
Kecal and Jenik appear. Kecal tries to persuade Jenik to go back to where he
came from, but Jenik says he wants to stay to be with Marenka. Kecal then
promises to find Jenik a rich bride. Jenik rejects Kecal’s increasing offers.
But he finally agrees to renounce Marenka in exchange for 300 florins, on one
condition: Marenka should marry no-one except Micha’s son, and as soon as they
are married, Krusina’s debt to Micha should be cancelled. While Kecal goes off
to draw up a new contract, Jenik wonders how anyone could believe he would give
up Marenka for money. Kecal returns with witnesses to the agreement. Krusina is
impressed that Jenik has given up his claim on Marenka but the villagers are
astonished and indignant that Jenik should have bartered his bride-to-be.
ACT III
Vasek, alone, anxiously contemplates his fate as husband to the dreadful Marenka.
A travelling circus arrives and the ringmaster announces the attractions:
Esmeralda, the tightrope-walker, an ‘Indian’, and a dancing bear who will
perform with Esmeralda. They demonstrate their skills. The Indian announces that
the man who plays the bear is too drunk for the show to go on. Vasek, who is
fascinated by Esmeralda, is enticed by her to take the drunk man’s place, and
she and the ringmaster tell him what he must do. The circus troupe goes off.
Vasek’s parents, Micha and Hata, arrive with Kecal. To their astonishment,
Vasek refuses to sign the marriage contract, explaining that an unknown girl has
warned him of his prospective bride’s murderous intentions. He runs off as
Marenka and her parents appear. Marenka is devastated to have learnt that Jenik
has sold her to Micha’s son and refuses to sign the contract. Kecal calls
Vasek and he identifies Marenka as the girl who spoke to him earlier. Marenka
asks for time to think the matter over. The four parents and Kecal encourage
her, then leave. Alone, she reflects on her former dreams of happiness and her
present bitter disappointment. When Jenik returns, Marenka refuses to hear his
explanations, declaring that she will marry Vasek. Jenik complains of her
obstinacy and she vents her anger.
Kecal arrives. Jenik promises Kecal that he will persuade Marenka to marry
Micha’s son, who will always love her. The villagers and the four parents
return to hear Marenka’s decision. To anger Jenik, she says she will marry
Vasek. Everyone congratulates her. When Jenik greets Micha as ‘father’,
Micha and Hata are dumbfounded to see the long-lost elder son. Jenik points out
that, being Micha’s son, he is eligible under the new contract to be
Marenka’s husband: it is Marenka’s choice. She of course chooses Jenik, at
last realizing what has been going on. Kecal is a laughing-stock; Hata is
furious; Jenik and Marenka are triumphant.
Suddenly, cries are heard, warning that the circus bear is on the loose. It
appears, and reveals itself as Vasek. Hata is mortified. Krusina and Ludmila
persuade Micha to take Jenik back as his son. He blesses Jenik and Marenka and
everyone congratulates them.