The red book of animal stories/Recollections of a Lion Tamer

RECOLLECTIONS OF A LION TAMER

Among my very earliest recollections is that of running and playing, along with other little urchins, in front of a heavy caravan, at whose horses’ heads walked my father. We were about to halt for the night, at Laval, which we could see perched on the hill-side in front of us.

The weather was fine, the sun shone brightly, and we ran gaily to and fro, like so many puppy-dogs let out to play, shouting and laughing about nothing at all, as delighted to arrive at a strange place for to-night as we should be to set off to-morrow morning for a fresh one.

Suddenly there arose a cry—a cry of anguish—that still echoes in my ears, mingled with a horrible sound as of crunching bones. Swiftly I turned round; in the place where my father had been stood a group of men, some stopping the horses, some kneeling round a formless mass under the wheels. Terrified and weeping, I ran back as fast as my little legs would carry me, to find that this dead weight was all that remained of my father. In a jolt of the waggon the shafts had struck and knocked him down: one wheel had gone over his feet, the other had crushed in his head; life was extinct. We were fatherless, and my mother was left in sole charge, not only of her little children, but also of the menagerie.

My father had been, first, a travelling pedlar; then, after his marriage, he had started a panorama of scenes from Napoleon’s wars, and when the public grew tired of that he obtained some curious animals, and by degrees acquired enough to stock a travelling wild beast show. Fortune seemed to smile upon him at last, and this venture was in a fair way to become a success, when his life was cut short in this sudden fashion.

My mother strove her utmost, for the sake of her little ones, to carry on the business; but what can a woman do alone at the head of a menagerie? how can she cope with coarse, rough grooms, and foul-tongued stable-men? She soon married again, a painter from Nantes, and for two years we lived very happily together, till he, too, died suddenly, and we were left a second time fatherless.

Thinking she was doing the best for us, she took a third husband, an Italian, named FaÏmali; hot-tempered and fretful, he was a real household tyrant. For some years I had the good fortune to escape from his ill-humours, being brought up by an uncle near Mayence, and educated by the monks; but, my education finished, I was obliged to return to my parents and travel about with the show, and then my miseries began. The ill-treatment I received at the hands of my step-father! the blows, the cuffs he bestowed on me! The chief cause of his displeasure was jealousy; having been early accustomed to go freely in and out among the animals I had lost all fear. I had served my apprenticeship amongst them, beginning with the wolf and ending with the lion, and passing through all the progressive stages—each less amiable than the preceding—of jackal, leopard, hyena and panther. I had learnt to look upon them all as friends, and where another would see a menace in quivering lips, curling over jaws bristling with white and shining teeth, I saw nothing but a smile of welcome.

Being then fearless, young, slight and active, I interested and attracted the public more than my step-father did, hence his ill-humour with me. When I appeared on the scene rounds of applause greeted me, to be repeated when I withdrew, the sounds following even into the dressing-room. All the applause my step-father ever bestowed on me was a box on the ear!

It was his way, and I suppose he meant well; still, as I did not appreciate that sort of playfulness, I decided that we must part. Useless to ask his permission, it would not have been granted, for if I was his rival, I was at the same time the attraction of the show. I drew the public, and thus increased the receipts.

Therefore it must be done silently, secretly. One fine day, accordingly, after an unusually severe beating, I slipped away to seek my fortune for myself, with the sum of 2½d. in my pocket. It was not a large sum with which to begin the world, but I was fifteen, strong, and full of confidence in myself and in my good star.

The first day I spent wandering about on the hill-side, enjoying my liberty and the fresh air, and subsisting on a loaf of bread and a draught of water from a spring. Next day I spent in similar fashion; but at the end of it even this frugal fare had exhausted my slender resources. After that I wandered about the country, getting a few scraps at one farm, a drink of milk at another, and sleeping at night in the stables of a third. At the end of a week, however, I had enough of this vagabond existence, and went down to the nearest town in search of work.

In the market-place a gaping crowd of rustics surrounded a strange sort of vehicle, whose owner, a quack dentist and vendor of miraculous ointment, was holding forth in praise of his wares. I immediately proffered my services in any capacity whatsoever, and was promptly engaged as head-groom and drum-major, being, needless to say, the sole and only occupant of both posts. I filled these functions with satisfaction to myself during about six months, for though badly paid, I was well fed and independent. One evening, however, my master informed me suddenly that he had no longer sufficient means to carry on the business, and therefore had no further need of my services. He sold his wretched screws of horses, burst my big drum, and I was again turned adrift on the world, with no larger fortune than before. This time, however, I had gained experience and credit; by means of the latter I bought a pedlar’s pack, and, like my father before me, started on my travels.

These, however, did not last long, a woman who kept a grocer’s shop insisted on adopting me and taking me into her business; but I quickly wearied of that uncongenial occupation, and, thanks to my good looks, and to my capacities as orator—acquired while with my late master, the dentist—I was soon engaged as showman in a travelling waxwork exhibition. My duties there were light and easy, but the inactive life, in the midst of these inanimate figures, was wearisome and monotonous to one of my stirring nature.

The only break in the sameness of my existence was on Sundays, when a young and charming girl named Maria, an orphan, spent the day with my master and his family. As the weeks rolled on into months, and these in turn succeeded each other, little by little we fell in love, and when at last circumstances separated us we found how indispensable we had become to each other. What caused us to part was the arrival in the neighbourhood of Bernaleo’s menagerie. It was a fine one, and the animals it contained were not only numerous but formidable of aspect. All my old passion for wild beasts instantly revived, and it was, at all events, an active, stirring life, such as my nature required, I offered my services, and these being promptly accepted, I thought I had at last attained my desires. But no, I was not yet satisfied. I soon found the animals to be so tamed, so subdued, so docile, that there was no excitement, no risk in going amongst them. They aroused themselves from their sleep and went through their exercises so submissively, so mechanically, that at times I had a mad desire to seize them by the mane, and to cry out: ‘Try to be fierce, can’t you?’

And so we went on, slowly travelling towards the south—each day each performance exactly like the preceding; till at last a red-letter day dawned in my career. It happened at Bayonne, in this way: The performance was just about to begin, one afternoon, the band was tuning up, and the spectators were already assembling in crowds at the foot of the wooden steps leading to the arena, when the cry arose: ‘Ather has escaped!’

Now, Ather was a young royal tiger, noted, perhaps with some slight exaggeration, for his ferocity; the only one, in fact, of all our animals not a sluggard. Everyone had seen him prowling to and fro in his cage, rubbing himself against the bars, at times lashing his tail in a fury, while his bloodshot eyes darted flame and fire. In the menagerie he was tractable enough, but at liberty, out of doors—his prey all ready to hand—who could answer for the consequences?

In one instant the public fled helter-skelter into the houses, up on the roofs, some even climbing the nearest trees. As for me, feeling that my long looked for opportunity had now arrived, I straightway set off on his track: under the burning afternoon sun. I had been a considerable time in his pursuit, when a window was cautiously opened, and a voice said, almost in a whisper; ‘He is there;’ while a hand pointed to the half-open door of a locksmith’s workshop, which, in contrast to the brilliant sunshine outside, seemed a cavern of darkness. In I plunged—at first I saw nothing; but after a few seconds, becoming accustomed to the darkness, I perceived the fugitive, with flaming eye and slavering jaws, crouching in a corner all ready to spring. Another instant and he would leap on me, seize, and rend me. I forestalled him, however, and it was I who leapt upon him! What a combat ensued! what roaring, raging, foaming, scratching! Fortunately it was of short duration, or it would have been all over with me.

Seizing him with my large, strong hands by the scruff of the neck, I slung him over my shoulder, and, neither staggering nor stumbling under this enormous burden, I bore him in triumph back to the menagerie. You may

I SEIZED HIM BY THE SCRUFF OF THE NECK

imagine that I was pleased with myself, and will probably suppose that my fortune was made and my position assured for the rest of my life. Anything but that; my master was on his way into Spain, and, as I did not know Spanish, be had no further need for my services. Here was I turned adrift again, and not much further advanced than when I received the same treatment at the hands of my late master the quack dentist. At Bordeaux I gained a livelihood for a while by making and selling little balloons. Then a naturalist took me with him to Havre, where I found another menagerie, Planet’s, in which I succeeded in obtaining a berth. My new employers treated me well, and I threw myself ardently, passionately, into the study of my work, observing, reflecting, and laying the foundations of my future career. Now that I felt my prospects becoming more assured I ventured to let my thoughts return to Maria, who, I felt, had become indispensable to me. A fortunate chance bringing us with our respective shows to the same place, I dared to tell my secret to her, and to ask her to unite her lot to mine. Her consent I readily obtained; but her adopted parents withheld theirs till I should have gained a position of my own. I determined to conquer every obstacle in order to win her. With this end in view, I thought to introduce a new element into the profession; to become, in fact, not an exhibitor of tamed and subdued animals, but a real tamer of the fierce and unvanquished. By one means and another, therefore, I contrived to become the possessor of a cargo of freshly caught forest-bred animals, whose ferocity had hitherto daunted the courage of the most audacious. I dared them, I defied them, and I quelled them. It was a real battle, that might at any moment end in slaughter. When I entered the cages it was often doubtful if I would ever come out alive; and frequently I have heard sighs of relief from the spectators when I emerged safe and sound. The expenses were heavy, if it were for the keep of the animals alone; and often I have gone without dinner myself in order that they might fare well; it was better so to do, for if I had put them on short commons they might have avenged themselves by devouring me!

At last my success was generally acknowledged. I paid off all my debts, and became absolutely my own master. Not till then did I dare to demand again the hand of Maria, which this time was granted me. We were soon married, and then we proceeded very humbly to start a menagerie of our own. We began at Lyons with a monkey named Simon—whose antics were a constant source of amusement— some serpents and some crocodiles, also two or three boas, which last we kept in our bed-room in the little hotel where we lodged; but as they continually slept the sleep of the just they disturbed no one. From time to time we received additions to our establishment. One evening there arrived a cargo of crocodiles, which, until they could be properly caged, were deposited, still in the cases in which they had travelled, in a kind of cellar opening on the courtyard. There Maria and I, accompanied by men with lighted lanterns, went to work to unpack them.

All creatures of the crocodile tribe are totally wanting in grace and charm, and cannot safely be recommended as household pets. Unlike all other creatures, they have the lower jaw immovable, while the upper one closes on its prey with a spring, both jaws being furnished with no less than 175 teeth. They are clothed in an invulnerable coat of mail, and their tail is a powerful weapon, that shatters, mangles, destroys, everything that comes in contact with it. Added to all these other attractions they are at no time of amiable disposition, particularly after ill-treatment or in confinement, and if they escape they become the most ferocious of creatures. Now ours had just undergone long imprisonment on board ship, and one of them escaped.

What a scrimmage then took place! The men made for the door, all the lights went out, Maria and I climbed on a table, two of its legs gave way and we were hurled on to the floor beneath, vainly groping along the walls for the door, and pursued by terrible growlings and flappings of tails against the floor and furniture. At last I found the door handle, and we were safe. But safety alone was not enough. I had paid more than 150l. for the brutes, and I could not afford to let one escape, nor to let them destroy each other. Taking a lighted torch in my hand I returned to the fray, and presently succeeded in imprisoning under a seat the monster, who measured no less than four yards long.

Shortly after this unpleasant incident we lost one of these costly pets by death; injured at the time of its capture, it suddenly fell ill and died at the end of twelve hours. Not only was this a great loss to us—for it was one of our finest, and had cost, alone, 80l.—but we were due next day at Seyne, near Toulon, with all our beasts, and how could we appear without the advertised number? A happy idea struck me: I went to a naturalist, whom I knew in the town, and asked him to come to my aid by stuffing the animal, and thus passing him off as a sleeping crocodile. What a night we spent—cutting him up, cleaning him out, stuffing him, and putting him together again; but before the morning dawned our task was accomplished, and stretched on a little stage the creature had all the appearance of a bona-fide sleeping crocodile.

Taking one of the liveliest of the small ones, I made him furiously flap his tail and open wide his terrible jaws, purposely exaggerating his ferocity, and at the same time giving the usual explanations out of the natural history books. When I saw that I had sufficiently excited my audience I turned towards the stuffed crocodile, and said with trembling voice:

‘Oh, what you have just seen is nothing! Now if this sleeping crocodile would but awake, then you would see something really terrifying. One blow of his tail, and this shed would be shattered to atoms; as to his jaws, he has only to open them—— But you shall see for yourselves; you have only to say the word and I will awake him at once.’

‘Oh, no!’ exclaimed the audience with one voice, ‘by no means awake him!’ and this was just as lucky for me. By means of this same ruse I succeeded, day after day, in drawing fresh spectators. At Marseilles alone, where I made a stay of three weeks, after paying off all expenses I had a clear gain of 100l. This sum I laid out in fresh purchases—a lioness named Saïda, two hyenas and two

THE LION TAMER OFFERS TO WAKE THE (STUFFED) CROCODILE!

wolves, next a panther, and, later, a bison and a black bear.

These last were the cause of a disagreeable scene that took place one night at Avignon. After an unusually heavy day, I was sleeping peacefully in my waggon, when I was aroused by an appalling noise, bellowings of pain and furious growlings, accompanied by terrible blows, which made the walls and floors resound. Evidently a fierce fight was going on somewhere. Hastily dressing, I hurried to the scene, and discovered that the black bear had contrived to overthrow the bars which separated his cage from that of his neighbour, the bison, upon whom he had fallen, and, hugging him bear fashion, was now, with his long sharp tusks, pitilessly devouring his hump, buffalo hump being esteemed a delicacy. The danger was imminent, for if in their struggles the door should become open there was no end to the consequences that might ensue. Throwing myself between the combatants I held one by the neck while I sent the other flying back to his den. Thus the peril was averted, and next day it was as if nothing had happened, except that the bison was humpless.

The success of my menagerie had now become so generally acknowledged that, after visiting all the principal towns in the south of France, I crossed the frontier and went south into Italy, where each stopping-place was the scene of fresh triumphs. In Florence the king and all his court were present at a performance, where I surpassed myself in daring and audacity. The king applauded louder than anyone, and afterwards desired that I should be presented to him in order that he might congratulate me himself. Encouraged by my successes, I determined to push on to Rome. There a terrible catastrophe came near taking place. I was seated, one afternoon, at the desk taking the tickets, just as the performance was about to begin, and the enclosure was already crammed with people, when suddenly there were heard heart-rending cries, succeeded by furious roarings, and frantic shrieks of ‘Help! help!’ In an instant I was in the enclosure, where I found general panic, women fainting, men yelling, and all eyes turned in the direction of the lions’ cage, where Venturelli, one of my men, hung suspended in mid-air from the claws of four lions; one was devouring his arm, blood from which spurted in all directions.

To raise the bars and slip into the cage was the act of a second. How I was not torn in pieces myself I know not, for I was defenceless, with neither firearms, stick, whip, nor weapon of any kind, but my two powerful fists; hitting out right and left with these I ordered the lions to their dens. They obeyed me, and slunk away submissively, letting fall their hapless victim, who was picked up almost lifeless and conveyed to the hospital, where, however, he recovered from his wounds. I asked him afterwards how he came to let himself be caught.

‘Ah, sir,’ he answered, ‘am I not your pupil? As I was passing near these gentlemen’ (for he always spoke very respectfully of the lions) ‘I thought I would like to pat them; three were sleeping, but the fourth awoke his comrades, and if you had not been there, sir, I should surely have been made mincemeat of.’

It was at Rochefort that I received my first wound: a lion in a sulky fit defied me, growling and showing his gleaming tusks. I lashed at him with my whip, and he sprang upon me. I darted aside, but not in time to avoid a blow from his heavy paw, the claws of which tore open my thigh. I punished him; but he was, perhaps, to be excused, for the performance that evening took place under peculiar circumstances; there being no gas we were obliged to light with candles, and no doubt this unusual illumination irritated and annoyed him, for no one can imagine how small a thing will put out a wild beast.

Lyons was the scene of a terrible disaster. While there I received from Africa a superb lion, recently captured and still untamed, packed in a solid cage, and that enclosed in a special van, on which was a label with a full description of its formidable contents; no risk need have been run by anyone coming in contact with it. But, unfortunately, while the train which bore the monster to its destination was being shunted in a siding, a cattle drover, named Picart, was foolhardy enough, in spite of all warnings and precautions, to risk his life, first in offering a piece of bread through the bars, and next, as his sleeping majesty took no notice of this affront, in attempting to pat the lion on the head. Then arose the king of beasts in his wrath, and, quick as lightning, the unhappy man’s arm was seized upon, crunched and snapped off, with no more ado than a dog would make over a chicken bone. His piercing cries promptly brought the railway officials to the rescue, armed with pitchforks and iron bars; but, alas! it was already too late, the monster was licking his lips over the sanguinary morsel, while the unhappy victim of his own folly was writhing in agonies, which mercifully soon ended in death. I gave a performance next evening for the benefit of the widow and children, during which I entered the den of the rebellious lion and publicly chastised him.

After several weeks’ successful performances at Lyons I proposed to make a stay at Marseilles; and, in order to convey my living freight thither, chartered a train of forty trucks. Decidedly Lyons station brought me bad luck: it now witnessed a tussle with an elephant, who positively declined to enter the car destined for him; no persuasions, no coaxings would induce him to budge—the more I pommelled him the more he resisted; finally we were obliged to resort to force. A strong rope was passed around his legs, at the other end of which was a gang of nearly a hundred men, who, dragging and tugging, only succeeded in embarking the unwilling passenger as the train gave the warning whistle for departure.

The white bear and the elephant were the cause of the first really serious danger I ever ran. In the midst of an exercise the white bear, irritated by some trifle, suddenly threw itself on the elephant, who, surprised by this unexpected and unmerited attack, set to work slowly and methodically to repel his assailant. Feeling myself the natural peacemaker, I threw myself between the combatants, with the result that I became the assailed party. Hugged in the close embrace of the common enemy, I should soon have ceased to breathe: a few minutes more and it would have been all over with me; but, summoning all my remaining strength, I hammered with my two strong fists on the brute’s nostrils till the blood, flowing in torrents, blinded and bewildered him. Profiting by this state of affairs, I slipped from his grasp, and seizing a stout ash stick that stood handy, I belaboured him soundly, which speedily had the effect of calming him, and soon he was ambling sanctimoniously along as if nothing had happened.

All these accidents only increased my passionate love for my career. In answer to all remonstrances I maintained that having triumphed over so many perils I was bound to continue triumphing. But I reckoned without the little proverb of the pitcher that goes often to the well. One ill-fated day the forebodings of my friends (and also rivals) were fulfilled, and I made my last appearance as a lion tamer.

One hot July afternoon, at Neuilly, I perceived, as soon as I entered the menagerie, a certain excitability among the animals, about which, however, I did not excite or disturb myself, putting it down to some atmospheric cause, and feeling confident that, should any commotion take place, I should be able to quell it. The afternoon performance passed without a hitch; when the evening one began, I entered the cages as usual, and there passed tranquilly before me—each in his turn—the first, second, third, and fourth lions, and next, the two white bears. Finally, I was left alone with Sultan, the same who, a short while before, had devoured the arm of the unhappy cattle drover. He was a fine black African lion, eighteen years of age—the prime of life among his tribe. He could at no time truthfully be accused of good nature, and I perceived at once that evening that he was in one of his worst humours. When I ordered him to leap the bar, as usual, he sulked in a corner and refused. When I cracked my whip at him he growled, and the more I urged him the louder he growled, showing his teeth and beating the air with his heavy tail.

To withdraw from the cage and leave him master of the field would have been to acknowledge myself beaten, and that would not have been in keeping with my character. I determined to conquer him, and, in this determination, I advanced a step forward. Now it happened that I was then suffering from rheumatism, particularly in my knee, and as I stepped a sudden shoot of pain caused the knee to bend, and me to fall to the ground!

Instantly I knew that I was lost. In a moment Sultan was upon me, one heavy paw resting on my head, while with the other he tore, gashed, clawed my quivering flesh.

On all sides resounded cries, shrieks from terrified women, frantic calls for help from men. I, and I alone, uttered no sound, I knew the necessity for calm and the danger of the slightest false move. Seizing the raging animal by the skin of the throat, I twisted it with all my force, in hopes of strangling him. By degrees his frantic movements began to cease, and his powerful muscles to relax. Suddenly he turned his head; something behind was taking his attention off me. What was happening was this: two of my men had succeeded in entering the cage, and, with red-hot irons, were attacking his flanks. Profiting by the momentary respite, I managed to raise myself to a sitting posture, and I shortly found myself upright again; once on my feet I felt that I was safe, and would resume my position as master. Summoning all my resolution, I advanced on the rebel, and peremptorily ordered him to his den. I compelled him, though sullenly, to obey me, and would next have proceeded to chastise him with an unsparing hand, but I yielded to the clamour of the public and allowed my rescuers to lead me from the cage. The only concession I obtained was permission to make my bow before the audience, whose sympathies I had thus involuntarily aroused. I admit that my clothes were hardly in a fit condition for a public appearance—I was covered from head to foot with blood and sand; one sleeve was in rags, the lappets torn off my coat, and the collar altogether missing. Then I had to submit to be taken home, put to bed, and let the doctors examine my wounds. These numbered no less than seventeen: my arms were lacerated, my shoulders were beaten black and blue, while my throat—and this was the most painful of all—was torn open. Three weeks was I obliged to keep my bed, it was even reported that I would never leave it. But, at length, I regained my liberty, and the first use I made of it was to revisit the menagerie. I had grown a thick beard, the collar of my coat was turned up, and the brim of my hat slouched down over my face, rendering me almost unrecognisable; but I had hardly set foot in the arena than Sultan scented me and greeted me with an angry growl. Flattening himself against the bars, he stood, his claws stretched out, ready to spring upon me; his eyes blazing with rage, and every bristle on end, while the evil expression on his horribly contorted face, plainly said: ‘What! not dead yet? Wait till the next time I get hold of you!’ I could with difficulty be prevented going into his cage and paying off old scores at once; but I was constrained to content myself with visiting all my other friends, while Sultan followed my every movement with an angry eye.

I was impatient, as soon as my health should be completely re-established, to begin my performances. When that happy evening at length arrived I entered the cages as calmly as of old, and the exercises were gone through without any impediment. When it came to Sultan’s turn, to my surprise he contented himself with growling, and did not attempt to attack me. I kept none the less on my guard, for I knew that he was revengeful, and was only awaiting his opportunity, the result proving that I was not mistaken.

This opportunity arrived one evening in October, when, the directors of the Zoological Gardens in Paris being present, I naturally was on my mettle, and wished to let them see of what I was capable. Sultan seemed to grasp the situation, and a repetition of the former scene took place. This time, however, I was prepared, and stood firm on my legs, not flinching under his onslaught. It was a veritable combat, but I was the stronger, and though armed with nothing but a whip, I succeeded in forcing him, outwardly tamed, to obey me.

Needless to say that from that day our relations continued somewhat strained, and at every performance I foresaw a fresh explosion. It required all my strength, all my determination, to cope with his animosity, which each day seemed to augment, and every time that I left him I was worn out in mind and body from the sustained efforts.

At length my hour struck, though not in the way I had anticipated. Suddenly I became aware that my right cheek had lost all feeling, my upper lip was drawn up, and my right eye glazed. The doctors were hastily summoned, and pronounced me to be paralysed! The strain of my continued efforts had been too great, my machinery was worn out, and I, so active, so greedy of life and movement, was condemned to perpetual repose. Farewell in future to all emotions and ovations! farewell to all the pleasure daily received from the applause of the public!

No more should I appear among my animals, to lord it over them, as of old; in future I must be reduced to the rank of simple spectator, condemned to watch others perform feats taught them by me, and enact the rôle I had created for myself, and had filled with such signal success throughout so many years.