The Buffoon And The Countryman
A rich nobleman once opened the theaters without charge to the people,
and gave a public notice that he would handsomely reward any person
who invented a new amusement for the occasion. Various public performers
contended for the prize. Among them came a Buffoon well known among
the populace for his jokes, and said that he had a kind of entertainment
which had never been brought out on any stage before. This report
being spread about made a great stir, and the theater was crowded
in every part. The Buffoon appeared alone upon the platform, without
any apparatus or confederates, and the very sense of expectation caused
an intense silence. He suddenly bent his head towards his bosom and
imitated the squeaking of a little pig so admirably with his voice
that the audience declared he had a porker under his cloak, and demanded
that it should be shaken out. When that was done and nothing was found,
they cheered the actor, and loaded him with the loudest applause.
A Countryman in the crowd, observing all that has passed, said, "So
help me, Hercules, he shall not beat me at that trick!" and at once
proclaimed that he would do the same thing on the next day, though
in a much more natural way. On the morrow a still larger crowd assembled
in the theater, but now partiality for their favorite actor very generally
prevailed, and the audience came rather to ridicule the Countryman
than to see the spectacle. Both of the performers appeared on the
stage. The Buffoon grunted and squeaked away first, and obtained,
as on the preceding day, the applause and cheers of the spectators.
Next the Countryman commenced, and pretending that he concealed a
little pig beneath his clothes (which in truth he did, but not suspected
by the audience ) contrived to take hold of and to pull his ear causing
the pig to squeak. The Crowd, however, cried out with one consent
that the Buffoon had given a far more exact imitation, and clamored
for the Countryman to be kicked out of the theater. On this the rustic
produced the little pig from his cloak and showed by the most positive
proof the greatness of their mistake. "Look here," he said, "this
shows what sort of judges you are."
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