The monkey displaing the magic lantern

The monkey displaying the magic lantern

A Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian fable
(1755-1794)

Le singe qui montre la lanterne magique

Messieurs les beaux esprits dont la prose et les vers
Sont d'un style pompeux et toujours admirable,
Mais que l'on n'entend point, écoutez cette fable,
Et tâchez de devenir clairs.

Un homme qui montrait la lanterne magique
Avait un singe dont les tours
Attiraient chez lui grand concours:
Jacqueau, c'était son nom, sur la corde élastique
Dansait et voltigeait au mieux,
Puis faisait le saut périlleux,
Et puis sur un cordon, sans que rien le soutienne,
Le corps droit, fixe, d'à-plomb,
Notre Jacqueau fait tout du long
L'exercice à la prussienne.

Un jour qu'au cabaret son maître était resté
(C'était, je pense, un jour de fête),
Notre singe en liberté
Veut faire un coup de sa tête.
Il s'en va rassembler les divers animaux
Qu'il peut rencontrer dans la ville ;
Chiens, chats, poulets, dindons, pourceaux,
Arrivent bientôt à la file

Entrez, entrez, messieurs, criait notre Jacqueau;
C'est ici, c'est ici qu'un spectacle nouveau
Vous charmera gratis : oui, messieurs, à la porte
On ne prend point d'argent, je fais tout pour l'honneur.
À ces mots, chaque spectateur
Va se placer, et l'on apporte
La lanterne magique ; on ferme les volets,
Et, par un discours fait exprès,
Jacqueau prépare l'auditoire.
Ce morceau vraiment oratoire
Fit bâiller, mais on applaudit.
Content de son succès, notre singe saisit
Un verre peint qu'il met dans sa lanterne.
Il sait comment on le gouverne,
Et crie en le poussant : est-il rien de pareil?
Messieurs, vous voyez le soleil,
Ses rayons et toute sa gloire.
Voici présentement la lune ; et puis l'histoire
D'Adam, d'Ève et des animaux...
Voyez, messieurs, comme ils sont beaux!
Voyez la naissance du monde ;
Voyez... les spectateurs, dans une nuit profonde,
Écarquillaient leurs yeux et ne pouvaient rien voir;
L'appartement, le mur, tout était noir.

Ma foi, disait un chat, de toutes les merveilles
Dont il étourdit nos oreilles,
Le fait est que je ne vois rien.
Ni moi non plus, disait un chien.
Moi, disait un dindon, je vois bien quelque chose;
Mais je ne sais pour quelle cause
Je ne distingue pas très bien.

Pendant tous ces discours, le Cicéron moderne
Parlait éloquemment et ne se lassait point.
Il n'avait oublié qu'un point,
C'était d'éclairer sa lanterne.

One of a large set of possibly fifty French matchbox labels, each label giving the title and an illustration for a fable of either Jean de La Fontaine or Florian. The trade mark of the matches is SEITA (about 1955).

Rare French silver thimble circa 1850 depicting 'Le Singe'.'

Two French trade cards picturing scenes from Florian's fable

This card is printed by Vieillemard et ses Fils, Rue de la Glaciere 16, Paris. It's one of a series of at least 68 cards, of which ten present fables of Florian. It advertises Chocolat Guerin Boutron on the front and has a verse on the back. Size approx. 7 x 11 cm (2 3/4" x 4 1/4").

The second card advertises Chicorée Boulangère Paguetage Croissant on the picture side and a consistent advertising text on the back. The card is printed by A. Billon, Paris, and measures approx. 6.5 x 10 cm (2 1/2" x 4"). The title of the fable is written across the golden border, above the last four lines of Florian's fable verse.

" Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment très court
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie "

The monkey displaying the magic lantern

Is there anyone these days who knows that the author of the chanson "Plaisir d'amour", the song that became widely known all over the world, was none other than the French fable poet Florian?

Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian was born in Sauve, the 6th of March 1755. He lived there in the Rue du vieux Pont.

His mother died when he was two years old. After that Florian was brought up by his great uncle..... Voltaire. Thanks to him Florian became well known in Paris, where he wrote his plays and fables. He was but 33 years of age when he reached the height of his fame by entering the Académie Française. Shortly after, the Revolution broke out. He concealed himself in Seaux, near Paris. Because he belonged to the nobility, he was put in prison the 15th of July 1794, in the Conciergerie. After a few weeks he was set free, but he was taken seriously ill and died the 13th of September of that year, at the age of only 39 years.

Magic lantern lovers know de Florian particularly for his fable about the monkey and the magic lantern. Many differently-illustrated versions of this fable have been published in France over the years.

Gentlemen writers, when your prose and poems
have a highfalutin style and are always admirable,
but are never understood by anyone ,
listen to this fable and try to make yourself clear.

A man who gave magic lantern shows possessed a monkey that always attracted a lot of spectators with his amazing tricks.

Jaco, that was his name, walked a tight rope, marched and drilled in a Prussian way and had a tumble.

The day the man left him, the monkey took it into his head to present the magic lantern show that he had watched many times to the animals he gathered around him in town, dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys and swine.

'Come in, come in' he cried. 'It's free. I don't want any money; I do it all for the honour.' At these words the animals flocked in and took a seat.

Jaco gave a long speech to prepare his audience for the things to come. He took the lantern and the shutters were closed. The monkey kept talking about all the wonderful things he was going to show his public: the sun with its beautiful beams, the moon, the origin of the world, Adam and Eve..........

The audience got uneasy. 'Heck!' said the cat, 'Of all the miracles he's blaring about, I can't see anything at all.' 'Nor can I', said a dog. The room was black, the wall was black, everything was black.

The monkey shifted a painted glass to and fro in the magic lantern and did not hear his public grumble. He talked and talked and talked as a modern Cicero....

He only forgot one thing:

To light the lamp in his lantern.

Translation Henc R.A. de Roo

More about this monkey......