Pastorela

The pastorela (Old Occitan [pastuˈɾɛla], "little/young shepherdess") was an Occitan lyric genre used by the troubadours. It gave rise to the Old French pastourelle. The central topic was always meeting of a knight with a shepherdess, which may lead to any of a number of possible conclusions. They are usually humorous pieces. The genre was allegedly invented by Cercamon, whose examples did not survive, and most famously taken up by his (alleged) pupil Marcabru.