From 1600 on, plays were published in Germany as well in which shepherds talked about love. This study shows that these pastorals by Dach, Gryphius, Stieler, Harsdörffer, Birken, Anton Ulrich, Hallmann and others are a group of texts which with their sorrowful complications and their happy end have proven to be a significant third alternative to comedies and tragedies within the literary canon of the time.