 At the village hotel, the schoolmaster Baculus is celebrating his engagement to Gretchen.A hunter from the Count von Eberbach then arrives at the festivities with a letter telling Baculus that he has been dismissed from his schoolmaster post, as Baculus had earlier gone hunting on the count's land without his permission.Baculus thinks to send Gretchen to change the count's mind, but then recalls the count's weakness for young women.