On this comical death Theseus comments:

With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and prove an ass.

The whole of this comic play turns on the stupidity of the performers and the silliness of the tragedy which they intend to present and which is thus made into a comedy. The tragedy has become a comedy when shown to be silly and stupid. The intelligence of the performers is below the normal, their mental activity is inferior to that of the average person. Lack of consciousness of that fact on the part of the actors makes the play all the more comic. The comic sounds the depths of human folly.

We may quote from Daudet's "Tartarin on the Alps":

"What a queer country this Switzerland is!" exclaimed Tartarin.

Bompard began to laugh.

"There is no Switzerland any more."

"Switzerland at the present time is nothing but an immense Kursaal, to which people crowd for amusement from all parts of the world; and which is exploited by a wealthy company possessed of thousands of millions.

"You will not find a corner which is not fixed up and machined like the floor beneath the stage in the Opera: waterfalls lighted up, turnstiles at the entrances of glaciers, and for ascents of mountains, railways either hydraulic or funicular.

"At the bottom of the crevasses there is always present

a porter who is able to assist you up again, who will brush your clothes, shake off the snow, and respectfully inquire whether 'Monsieur has any luggage?" "

On ascending Mont Blanc, the cowardly Bompard became frightened out of his wits:

"Tartarin," Bompard exclaimed, "I hope that you have had enough of this ludicrous expedition."

The great man opened his eyes with some anxiety in them.

"What are you chattering about?"

Bompard drew a picture of the thousand terrible deaths which menaced them.

Tartarin interrupted him

"You joker! And the Company? Is not Mont Blanc managed by a Company?"

"What! did you believe all that? Why, it was only a guying. Among people of Tarascon, of course—you know that what we say is-is-'

When on Mont Blanc the "brave" Tartarin is full of fear and trepidation of death; he makes his confession:

"Forgive me; yes, yes, forgive me. I have often been unkind to you: I have treated you as a liar-"

"What does that matter?"

"Listen to me, friend; I have never killed a lion!" "That does not surprise me at all," replied Bompard, quickly. "But why worry yourself about such a trifle?”

What Daudet specially regards as ludicrous is vanity, conceit, deceit, folly, mendacity, simulation, silliness, stupidity and absurdity.

CHAPTER XVI

HOLY WRITS AND THE SAGES

The sacred Scriptures use ridicule as their weapon and take the fool as the target at whom the shafts of scorn are directed with power and sure aim. The psalmist sings:

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand.

They have gone back.

Surely men of low degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

Fools because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.

The Proverbs specially abound in derision and ridicule at the expense of the ignorant, the vain and the foolish.

A foolish woman is clamorous, she is simple and knoweth nothing.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride.

Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom.

Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise thy wisdom.

The writer of the Proverbs apparently discriminated between the fool as the simpleton and the arrogant fool. The treatment of the arrogant fool is: "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit," while that of the fool-simpleton: "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." Of the fool's wit the Proverbs pointedly remark:

The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool.

The great God that formed all things rewardeth the fool.

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.

Even the mild Christ did not hesitate to use the fool as his butt. We all know the parable of the foolish virgins. We are not surprised to find Schopenhauer having his fling:

A wise man is wise only on condition of living in a world of fools.

We find in the world of mankind, from a moral standpoint, villainy and baseness, and, from an intellectual standpoint, incapacity and stupidity. Stupid people are generally malicious for the very same reason that the ugly and deformed are.

The fool, the defective, and even the physically deformed are put into the same category. This, however, is but the maxim of a pessimist. The fool is not neces

sarily malicious, but he is certainly ludicrous. Ignorance, silliness, lack of wit, stupidity, naïveté, stolidity, sluggishness, misapprehension, error of understanding will always be fit subjects for the shafts of ridicule and remain everlasting themes of the comic.

The "Al Koran" is not without its laugh. Thus Mohammed tells us:

When the Prophet entrusted as a secret unto one of his wives a certain accident; and when she disclosed the same, and God made it known unto him; he acquainted her with part of what she had done and forbore to upbraid her with the other part thereof. And when he had acquainted her therewith, she said, Who hath discovered this unto thee? He answered, the knowing, the sagacious God hath discovered it unto me.

The Hindoo Scriptures ridicule the priests thus: After lying still for a year, these Brahmans, the frogs, have uttered their voices, inspired by the rain-god!

In the like vein is the "Upanishad," which compares the priests, the Brahmans, who circle round the holy fire, each holding the robe of him who walks before him, to a row of puppies, each holding in his mouth his predecessor's tail.

The holy Brahmans are compared to frogs and puppies.

The Dhammapada of the Buddhists says:

If a fool be associated with a wise man, even all his life, he will perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup.

The Chinaman is grave and serious. Confucius is a Chinaman par excellence, as he practically formulated the