10
SO RELATIONS.



velvet, woolen trousers, and a felt hat,in a
word, all that he had promised me.
Velvet for me, who had never worn anything
but coarse linen! shoes and a hat, when my
sole head-covering had been my hair Cer-
tainly he was the best man in the world, the
richest and the most generous. It is true that
the velvet was rusty and the cloth threadbare;
it is equally true that it would have been diffi-
cult to tell the original color of the hat, so
much rain and dust had it gone through. But,
dazzled by so much splendor, I was insensible
to the imperfections which their magnificence
concealed.
I was in a hurry to put on these fine clothes;
but before giving them to me Vitalis sub-
jected them to a transformation which aston-
ished me grievously.
On returning to our inn, he took a pair of
scissors out of his bag and cut off the legs of
the trousers at the knees.
As I looked at him with wondering eyes,
"The only reason why I do this," he said, "is
that you may look different from anybody else.
We are in France, so I dress you as an Italian
If we go to Italy, as we probably shall, I will
dress you as a Frenchman."
As this explanation in no way lessened my as-
tonishment, he went on:
" What are we? Artists, are we not? Come-
dians,whose aspect alone ought to excite
curiosity. Do vou believe that if we were to
go out on the public square dressed like mere
townsfolk or peasants we should attract people
. to look at us and to gather about us? No, eh?
Know, then, that in life appearances are some-
times indispensable. It is a nuisance, but we
cannot help it."
So from the Frenchman I was in the morning
I was turned into an Italian before night.
My trousers ended at the knee. Vitalis fast-
ened my stockings with red strings wound all
round my legs. He twisted more ribbons in
my hat, and decorated it with a bunch of artifi-
cial flowers.
I do not know what other people may have
thought of me. but in all sincerity I must de-
clare that I thought myself superb; and no
wonder, for my friend Capi, after staring at me
for a long time, held out his paw to me with a
satisfied air.
Capi's admiration of my transformation was
all the more agreeable to me because, while I
was putting on my new clothes, Joli Cur had
placed himself before me and was mimicking
all my movements and burlesquing them. My
toilet concluded, he put his arms akimbo, and,
throwing back his head, began to laugh, utter-
ing a series of little mocking cries.
I have heard it said that the question as to
whether monkeys laughed is an interesting sci-
entific problem. I think that those who have
questioned the matter are mere chamber savants,
who have never taken the trouble to study
monkeys. For my part, having lived a long
time in Joli Cur's company, I can state that
he used to laugh, and moreover frequently, in a
manner verv mortifying to me. Without doubt,
his laugh was not exactly that of a human being.
However, when anything excited his mirth, the
corners of his mouth were drawn back, his eyelids
wrinkled, his jaws moved rapidly, and his
black eyes seemed to give forth flames like live
coals when they are blown upon. For that
matter, it was not long until I had an opportu-
nity of observing these characteristic signs of
laughter in him under conditions very hurtful
to my self-love.
"Now that you are equipped," said Vitalis,
when I had put on my hat, "we must go to
work, in order to give to-morrow, which is the
market-day, a performance in which you will
make your first appearance."
1 asked what a first appearance meant, and
Vitalis explained to me that it meant appear-
ing for the first time before the public as an
actor.
"We will give our first performance to-mor-
row," he said, " and you shall figure in it. Now
I must make you repeat the part I intend you to
     Play:"
My wondering eyes told him that I did not
understand.
" I mean by part the share you will have to
take in the performance. If I have brought
you away with me, it was not merely to afford
you the pleasure of walking. I am ndt rich
enough for that. It is in order that you may
work; and your work will consist m playing
comedies with my dogs and Joli Cur."
"But I do not know how to play a comedy !" j    And this ^^^^ZTrfZUl
""ThaHs precisely the reason why I must 'was over,'" do yoi.think.you will grow accus-
teach it to you.    You do not imagine that it s  tomed to playing comedies?
natural to Capi to walk so gracefully on his      " I don't know.
, .    ,   ___   ____--------.   +uv r,l/o clrrntr  for   nfir
hind legs, any more than Dolrfe skips for her
own amusement? Capi learned to stand up-
right  and Dolce was also taught to skip. They
'Does that tire you?"
'No; it amuses rne."
'Then all will go well;
you are intelligent,
;rV7= u' s. >?. *.. ".jf^TroS^'art'^Sss
,,j ., ,M, ,ooh but primitive idea, of forger ju.t a fut; moreover, he never takes
'seZttl Tike great*dolt is not the one you  in that respect    Do you understand that?
Jftjffla gSS^SSS "^hlattentive, then, my boy be docile,
he ver? welp eased This is Capi. But : Whatever you have to do, let it be lie best you
Capulgetting offi,  and Monsieur Joli Cur  can do.    In life, all depends upon that.
wants a new servant. Capi takes upon himself
to procure one. But he does not choose a dog
for his successor. It is a young boy,a peas-
ant called Remi."
"Like me?"
"Not like you, but you yourself. You ar-
rive from your village to enter the service ot
Joli Cur."                                     
' ' Monkeys don't have servants.
"In comedies they have. So you arrive,
and Monsieur Joli Cur finds that you are
nothing better than a fool."
" There is nothing amusing in that.
" What is that to you, since it is to be laughed
at' Now, picture yourself in reality coming
home as a servant to a gentleman's house, and
that you are told, for example, to lay the cloth:
there is the one that is to be used in our per-
As we were chatting thus, I was bold enough
to tell him what had astonished me most during
this rehearsal,which was the unyielding pa-
tience he had shown, not only with Joli Cur,
and the dogs, but with myself.
With a gentle smile he replied, " It is easy to
see that you have lived hitherto with peasants
who treat animals harshly and who believe that
they ought to be driven, with the stick ever
ready. It is a woeful error; you get very little
by brutality, while you gain a great deal, not to
say everything, by kindness. For myself, I
have made my animals what they are simply by
never getting angry with them. If I had
beaten them they would be timid; and timidity
paralyzes the intellect. Moreover, by allowing
myself to lose my temper with them, I should
1 not be what I am, nor should I have learned
Tier- ! nor.   uo nirt a ". -.----. ,   ,     ----      c
formance.     Come  forward   and   arrange   the j tais *$*%* ** ^otaerl isl
There was the table  and on it were plates, a   lesson for yourself too     My dogs have given
with my mouth open, not knowing where_ to   to laugh.
Willi    UJJ   uriwLtr.it    vitrei,  "   ----o       
begin, my master clapped his hands, shouting
with laughter.
Bravo!" said he, "bravo! it is perfect; the
-'You find it very ridiculous, do you not,
that a dog should give lessons to a man? and
yet there is nothing more true.    Think a little:
ine   ytri iiitu io uvit.1,1115 "- o.~~.      ... ---------------
expresTinV7ou7featur~es is excellent.    The , do you allow that a dog submits to the influence
bov I had before you used to put on a sly look   of his master.'
'.    J      -      .        ,     .,       J. .     ~     ___:..~      lVn   .,ill     car.         * < Oil      PPHfl.in
that had all the air of saying, ' You will see
how well I shall play the blockhead.' Yours
says nothing at all; there you are; your sim-
plicity is admirable."
" I don't know what I am to do."
"And it is just therein that your excellence
lies.    By to-morrow, in a few days hence, you
'Oh, certainly."
" Then you will understand thatfthe master is
obliged to watch over himself when he is en-
gaged on the training of a dog. Suppose, there-
fore, for a moment, that while teaching Capi I
allowed myself to be carried away by anger and
passion, what would Capi have done? he would
lies     By to-morrow, in a tew days hence, you  passiou, wnar, ruo, .... , ^^.  .------
wili know periectly what you have to do. Then j have contracted the habit of ill temper and pas
77 .?.. *X7,V Ml  .L...m.nt vm,  fl   sion: that is to say, he would become corruptee
Will liUtrrv  yctiLLuij     i-o j ~   ------------       T     i
you must recall the embarrassment you teel
now, and feign to be what you are no longer.
If you can reproduce the same expression of
feature and the same attitude, I prophesy a
complete success for you. Consider what the
character is in the play,a young peasant who
liaVU UULiLieVwOtru   on- i.i*"o v   .   --f------      Xi
sion; that is to say, he would become corrupted
by my example. A. dog is almost always the
reflection of his master; see one and you see the
other. Show me your dog and I will tell you
what you are. The brigand's dog is a scamp;
the thief has a thief.    The unintelligent clown
fas leen notait S kno^ nSt^ng   he a, I has a rude b/ute of a. dog; the, courteous and
uds  si^u uwu    &        _______                   p-----             o*Fq10p mnn lms n.n fl.mia,hlft doff.
IJlIO     Otj^-H     UWil""5      *.     ~*_   -      --------------i-jr
rives at a monkey's house and finds himself to
be more ignorant and awkward than the mon-
key; hence the second name of the play, 'The
greatest dolt is not the one*you think.' More
stupid than Joli Cur,that is your part. To
play it to perfection you will only have to re-
main as you were at that moment; but, as that
is impossible, you must only remember what
you have been, and try to become by art what
you no longer naturally are."
" Monsieur Joli Cur's Servant" was not a
long piece, only requiring about twenty minutes
for its performance; but our rehearsal lasted
nearly three hours. Vitalis made usthe dogs as
well as myselfbegin again twice, four times,
ten times over, the same thing. They indeed
had forgotten some parts of their roles, and
needed to be taught them over again.
Then it was that I witnessed with wonder
the patience and gentleness of our master. It
was not so that animals were treated in my
village, where oaths and blows were the only
means 'employed in their education.
As for him, no matter how long the rehearsal
was prolonged, he never once got angry, never
once swore.
Now begin again," he used to say, sternly,
affable man has an amiable dog."
My comrades, the dogs and the monkey, had
this great advantage over me, that they were
used to appearing in public, so that they saw
the morrow arrive without fear. All that they
had to do was to repeat what they had already
done a hundred times, perhaps a thousand
times. But 1 was far from having their easy
assurance. What would Vitalis say if I played
mt part badly? what would the audience say?
This uneasy thought prevented me sleeping,
and when I did sleep I saw in my dreams peo-
ple who were holding their sides with laughter
at me, turning me into ridicule.
Thus I felt very nervous when leaving our
inn to repair to the mtirket-place, where our
performance was to take place.
Vitalis led the van, his head erect, his chest
expanded, and he kept time with his feet and
arms as he played a waltz on a metal fife. After
him came Capi, on whose back Monsieur Joli
Cur was displayed at his ease, attired in the
costume of an English general, red coat and
trousers braided with gold, and a crush hat with
a large plume.
Then, at a respectful distance, Zerbino and
Dolce followed, walking abreast.    I, last of all.
" Now begin again," he used to say, sternly,   Dolce tolloweo, wanting unw.    -, "?">
when wTiath wanted had not been successfully   brought up the rear of the procession             ,
done     "That is bad, Capi; vou are not paying  thanks to the order of march directed by or
attention!   Joli Cur, you shall be scolded."    ' master, took up a considerable portion of the