THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN GAMES OF CARDS GARGANTUA KNEW HOW TO
PLAY.--WHAT IT WAS HE SAID AFTER HE HAD GONE THROUGH THE LIST, AND WHAT
IT WAS PONOCRATES REMARKED.
[Illustration: Initial T.]
The first thing Gargantua did, on rising from the dinner table, would
be to call out in a cheery voice:--
"SPREAD THE CARPET!"
The servants understood what that meant very well. Gaily they would
unroll a large carpet, stretch it free from wrinkles, and then, in a
twinkling, lay a pack of cards in the very middle of it. Then the Giant
and his friends would sit down on the carpet, and begin playing cards.
There were just two hundred and fifteen of these games which Gargantua
knew how to play. Their names would sound odd to the card-players of
this day, and I give some of the oddest on the list, so that you may
know what queer games were then the fashion with the Giant and his
friends:--
The Bamboozler.
The Potatoes.
Scotch Hoppens.
The Cows.
The Tables.
To Steal Mustard.
Skin the Fox.
Sow the Hay.
Sell the Hay.
The Monkey.
The Combs.
The Coat-brush.
Nine Hands.
Partridges.
The Keys.
The Birch Tree.
Ninepins.
I pinch thee without laughing.
Figs of Marseilles.
Draw the Spit.
Each of these games took a whole day, lasting between dinner and the
time to enjoy a nap. Gargantua always thought it necessary to prepare
for his afternoon sleep by taking a little drink. His companions
must have been heavy drinkers,--regular old topers of the jolly
order,--because the allowance every day called for eleven pots of wine
for each man. After drinking such a quantity they would naturally feel
drowsy. They would then stretch themselves on the carpet, and snore
away, each snorer playing a different tune through his nose, in the
midst of the cards lying loosely around, and the emptied pots,--all
except Gargantua, whose breathing on such occasions was always of the
hurricane fashion, whether awake or asleep. He would sleep for two or
three hours like a good Christian, without thinking of any evil thing,
and without muttering a single bad word in his dreams. On waking, he
had a trick of giving his great ears a half-dozen shakes,--why, I don't
know,--and then bawling out for fresh wine, which he drank down in one
great gulp. Then came the only study for the day, which was rather a
mystery for all parties. Nobody could say exactly what it was, and
Master Ponocrates only smiled when asked about it. It lasted for a few
minutes only, after which Gargantua would mount, in high state, an old
mule which had already served nine kings, and briskly ride away to see
where the good people of Paris caught their rabbits.
On his return, he had a habit of running in and out of the kitchen,
with his broad nostrils swollen out like balloons, to find out what
particular roast was on the spit, until the cook, already in a stew,
was ready to tear his hair in despair. But cooks may be ever so vexed,
the meat will roast on the spit all the same, and at last get done to
a turn. All things being ready, Gargantua would sit down at table. He
always managed to have a large company of gentlemen present, who were
only too willing, for the honor of being invited to dinner by a Prince,
to serve as his attendants, should he ever need their services. Among
those of high birth who usually dined with him at this time were the
Lords De Fou, De Gourville, De Grignaut, and De Marigny.
[Illustration: GARGANTUA LOOKS INTO THE KITCHEN.]
After supper, Gargantua--being in the liveliest humor, and disposed to
look on the world with a broad laugh, showing the largest and whitest
of teeth--would play a little, or else pay an open-air visit to some of
the many pretty young ladies living in the neighborhood,--their houses
being too small for him to enter,--and, on such nights, he would not
get home until midnight. Sometimes, when he did not go out, he would
take another little supper about eight o'clock, and still another
before midnight. Then he would sleep without snoring until eight
o'clock next morning.
It was a great day for Gargantua when he reached the end of his two
hundred and fifteen games; or, rather, he intended that it should be
a great day. He had said nothing to any one; but, when he woke that
particular morning, he was noticed to be in a gayer mood than usual
while he was dressing himself, and after he had gamboled and rolled
around his bed, and stretched his limbs on it, and made his own
great tent with one leg and the sheet, and given a neat turn to his
long locks with his German comb, and gone through his usual gaping,
coughing, spitting, groaning, sneezing, and hiccoughing. But, being in
some things a very simple Giant, indeed, he had not noticed that his
teacher, Ponocrates, had very keen eyes, and could use them too. Why,
Ponocrates knew when the last game was to be played just as well as
Gargantua himself did, and he had made up his mind to be somewhere in
the room when it closed. Sure enough, listening in a corner of the big
chamber, he heard some one say: "_Here we are on our last game!_" To
which Gargantua shouted in reply: "Ho! ho! The _last_ game! Don't be
too sure of that. Gentlemen, to-morrow we shall play just as well as
to-day."
"How, Prince?" asked Ponocrates, softly, coming out of his corner.
"How, good Master? Why, by beginning our games over again."
"Not so fast; not so fast, Prince. To-morrow Your Highness will begin
with ME!"