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Marie, sister of the duke of Brabant and wife of Philip the Bold, was not less remarkable for her wit than for her ravishing beauty. Raised in a court where learning was much esteemed, she carried the taste for it onto the throne. They even say that she aided by her counsels a celebrated poet of that time, Adenez Leroi, who owed to her a part of his reputation.

It happened to her that which ordinarily happens to persons who indulge in letters: accustomed to live in the imagination among the ancient peoples; she was almost ignorant of the manners of the contemporary nations. Therefore she was not a little surprised when a few weeks after her marriage, her august spouse proposed to attend the Festival of the Ass.

Marie, thinking in sorrow that Philip was not joking, took Adenez Leroi out of the way, and said to him,

“Unfamiliar with France, it is today, especially, that I repent having studied the history of the different people of antiquity, in preference to that of a nation in the middle of which I am destined to live by the secret decrees of Providence, I know that many people have erected altars to certain animals; that, for example, the Egyptians worshipped the ibis, because it rid them of dangerous serpents, and that at Rome every year they bring forth the geese in a triumphal procession, to remind them that these wise, or rather patriotic, birds had awakened the defenders of the Capitol at a moment of danger, and preserved the Roman name from total ruin; then could some ass also have had the wit to save France?”

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“Madame,” responded Adenez, who had too much good sense not to see the absurdity in such a so-called festival, “you are allowed, without blushing, to be ignorant of a usage which brings discredit to us as well as to our ancesters, and which shall be sworn to later by our lastest descendants of the conduct of men who are the intermediaries between us and the divinity. The senseless, who claim to honor it, even as their enemies were snatching on it to insult them and deride it! In the festival of the ass each anthem or orison is finished by the brilliant imitation of the braying of this animal. But there is, madame, another festival still more scandalous, this is the one of the fools. Without wanting to blame the intention which presides over it, I am able to say that it offers the spectacle of a true saturnalia. The inferior ministers of the church, the chanters, and youth of the choir, with lascivious dances and songs are even permitted in the sanctuary, and mimic ridiculously, upon the same altar, the most sacred ceremonies.

Marie, smiled from pity, in thinking that the religion of a people otherwise so spiritual was infected by this monstrous deviation. However the court went to the church. This was in a country belonging to La Brosse, the favorite of Philip the Bold. The stupefied country people contemplated avidly the brilliant cortege of the monarch, and, out of respect, left the courtiers to sing, without taking part in the melodious refrain. That was a truly curious affair, and laughable, to hear Philip and all his officers repeat from time to time, “Hee-haw! hee-haw! haw! Hee-Haw! Hee-haw! haw! haw!” and to see the dreadful grimaces which accompanied this singular symphony.

The curious heard with attention and said softly, “The count of *** makes a natural ass.”

“This is true, ” added another, “but is he an ass that can compare with the duke of ***?”

“Assuredly,” resumed a third, “and I believe that if an ass heard Monsieur La Brosse, he would take him for his brother!”

Everybody agreed in saying that Philip as he was 163coming a little closer, however, was not easy to confuse with the animal of the long ears.

The queen did not join her voice at all in that singular concert, but she could not contain her desire to laugh when she heard exploding around her the brays of the flatterers of Philip.

A merry fellow will not find anything unnatural in this line from hisory; he will say to you, “Why do you speak to me of the feast of the ass, and of that of the fools, as curious things! . . . . . In our days, they have celebrated so many asses and so many fools!”