The Buffoon And The Countryman
Aesop Fable: 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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