Today on Monday Mysteries we look at an unusual golden sign that pairs a peacock and a pretzel.

Back in medieval times in Tübingen, vendors put up signs on their buildings to indicate what type of shop they had.  Bakers, for example, put signs with pretzels next to their doors, marking their establishment as a purveyor of pretzels and other bread products:

BTW, on the same building, on the other side of the door, there’s also this old sign, which looks like it would have been some sort of crest. Whether it was the mark of bearing a license from the king or a notice that this shop was the king’s favorite, I like that the gryphons are holding a crown and a pretzel:

But the really curious sign hangs above the door: a dazzling display with a peacock and a pretzel:

So, what’s that all about?

Well, first we have to understand the metal peacock sign. As it turns out,  pubs had in medieval times here in Tübingen always hung out an elaborate sign, often with an animal, to mark their place of business. Perhaps this place back in the day would have been a pub called “The Golden Peacock”. I don’t actually know that the name of the place was represented by the type of animal on the sign, but it seems plausible that it might have been.

OK, that explains the peacock. But why a peacock with a pretzel? Well, according to the book I got about the Tübingen mysteries, the explanation is actually pretty straightforward.  There were some folks who were bakers by day, pub owners by night. And, of course, if you did both, you needed a sign that indicated your dual functions so people would flock to you both when they needed either bread or a bite to eat.

However, as the person in the book explains, these two professions are not very compatible. The bread shops needed to open early, so the bakers typically got up in the middle of the night. However, the pubs had to stay open late, so the pub owners didn’t get to bed until the middle of the night. The peacock and the pretzel are not really compatible bedfellows, therefore, since their owner would never have really gotten to spend much time sleeping in bed while running two such different businesses.

So now we know the secret of the peacock and the pretzel.  Another Monday Mystery revealed.

Hmm. This one actually had a pretty straightforward solution, didn’t it?   I found that somewhat of a disappointment, actually. I mean, I had been hoping for some unknown connection between a peacock and a pretzel. Or, barring that, something that indicated that there was perhaps a baker named, Pfau — the German word for peacock — and the sign therefore represented both his name and his profession. I mean, that would have a made a great story, right?

Ah well. Except for that miracle chicken, or the non-purple purple column, perhaps this book I’m using as a reference for a lot of these posts wants to present itself as less legend and more Dragnet: i.e., “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” Don’t get me wrong; that’s fun, too,  but harder to use as the basis for a memorable mystery on Monday.

We’ll just have to see what I can come up with for next week.  😉