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This appears to be a transfer and painted Skittles (9-pin bowling) scene on a
Marzi & Remy stein marked "992 3", ca. late 1800's. The scene shows the pin-boy
being hit by a "Kugel" (bowling ball) which has missed all 9 pins. A slang term for gutter ball
is "Pudel" (Poodle) in German skittles, and also called a "poodle" in American bowling.
The name of a dog's breed for a gutter ball has an historical explanation. In the past,
the skittles lanes of the restaurants were outside, so the gutters often filled with water in
bad weather. "Pudel" is the Low German word for "Pfütze" (puddle) and the dog
breed got its name because it was originally bred for hunting in shallow waters.
The exclamation "Au weh! used to express pain, disappointment or grief would be familiar
with most
readers if they heard it spoken. It is pronounced the same as the Yiddish "oy vay!".
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