March 9, 2021 • 9 mins
Some people are just incredibly skilled at bringing delight to the rest of us. How they got there, and what their work entailed, though, is often a bit more curious.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Every class has a clown, the person who
sits in the back and cracks jokes about the teacher,
or lightens the mood with a well timed jab at
the new kid. They're popular because they make people laugh. Well,
(00:48):
maybe not the teachers. It's their humor and lack of
respect that lands them in trouble. But a class clown
only has detention to worry about. Back in the fifteenth
and sixteen centuries, though insulting an authority, for gear could
land you in jail or worse. Luckily, for Nicholas Ferrial,
he could talk his way out of anything. Barry All
(01:08):
was also known as La Fevrial or Tribula, and he
was a jester, a performer who entertained kings and nobility
with songs, dancing, magic, tricks and jokes. And though men
were often employed as fools, for the court. The occasional
female jester was known to perform for the royals as
well as their children. Jesters were more than entertainers, though
in some cases, when news was too grim to bear,
(01:31):
it was the fool who would deliver it in such
a way as to make it more palatable. It's unknown
as to whether Triboulet ever gave the king bad news,
but he was certainly no stranger to it himself. One time,
trouble was performing for a crowd when he decided to
pick on a particular nobleman during his routine. He told
joke after joke at the man's expense, which got the
(01:52):
nobleman heated, and he turned to triple A and threatened
to kill him. The jester, frightened by the man's anger,
ran to the king and explained the situation. The king
told him not to worry, and that if the nobleman
actually did kill him, he'd have him beheaded. Fifteen minutes later.
Troub A then asked, would it be possible to behead
him fifteen minutes before. That wasn't the only time his
(02:15):
wits got him into and out of a jam. During
another performance, tribal A lost control of himself and slapped
the king on the rear. Incensed, the King spun around
and told him that he would have him executed for
such disrespect. Sometime later, after he had regained his composure,
the King gave Tribula the opportunity to redeem himself by
(02:36):
coming up with an apology that was even more insulting
than the smack on the bum. The jester thought for
a moment and then responded, I'm so sorry, your majesty
that I didn't recognize you. I mistook you for the queen.
And it worked, and Tribula was spared an early death.
The man's greatest strength was also his greatest weakness. He
(02:57):
could not help himself from poking fun at the people
who employed him. After all, it was kind of what
he was hired to do. Unfortunately, like politics at Thanksgiving dinner,
there were just some subjects not to be touched, no
matter how tempting. In troubles case, that subject was the queen.
He had entertained French King Francis the first for many years,
(03:17):
and so he thought he could get away with cracking
some jokes at the expense of the man's wife. Even
though Francis had expressly forbidden it. Not one to listen
to authority. Tribal A did it anyway, and he was
met with an order of execution. Far more than just
an idle threat. This time he was actually going to
be killed. However, because of his years of service to
(03:38):
the king, Francis allowed him to choose his preferred manner
of death. Tribal didn't waste any time. He invoked the
names of two patron saints of insanity and asked that
the king let him die of old age. Francis, floored
by his response, agreed and had the gesture banished from
the realm instead. Tribula died in thirty six at the
(04:01):
age of fifty seven. It wasn't exactly the old age
that he hoped for, but still not bad for a
guy who slapped a king on the rear and lived
to tell about it. Everyone has a side of themselves.
(04:27):
They won't let others see a darkness or a strangeness
that they'd rather keep to themselves. Sometimes they hide it
to protect themselves from the harsh judgments of their friends
or family, or they do it to shield their loved
ones from something they might not understand. For young Helen
All that mattered was her reputation. Helen was born in
the summer of eighteen sixty six in London. Her parents
(04:49):
were wealthy, educated and artistic, and they encouraged her to
explore her outdoors. Helen spent a lot of time studying
the animals on their property. She kept quite a few
as pets too, including mice, rabbits, bats, and even insects
like butterflies, all of which lived in the house. It
was a menagerie, but nobody minded, as it provided an
(05:11):
ideal learning environment for the budding biologist. In fact, her
experience caring for and learning about animals allowed her to
foster her own passion for art. She began sketching and
painting the various critters that she was in charge of.
Her love of animals and her penchant for journaling and
drawing eventually led her to the sciences, namely botany and mycology,
(05:33):
the latter being the study of fungi. Unlike many women
of the Victorian age, she went to college and even
wrote a treatise on germination of the spores of a
particular fungus. Her male peers dismissed it as bunk, even
though it was entirely correct, Helen only worked harder. Her
sketches and paintings were manifestations for a desire for knowledge
(05:54):
not only of the exteriors of plants had fungi, but
their interiors as well. In fact, with all living things,
she had an innate desire to understand how they worked,
what made them tick. With plants, it was a matter
of plucking them from their stems and studying them in
a lab. Animals proved more difficult, though especially the living ones.
At the time, euthanizing an animal to examine its anatomy
(06:16):
was commonplace as part of scientific endeavors. Helen was never
cruel and always gentle when performing such grim tasks. After all,
she did care for these creatures. However, she also had
a natural curiosity and was constantly fighting to be heard
as a woman in a male dominated field. As a result,
she may have gotten a little carried away with her studies.
(06:38):
For example, while babysitting her younger brother's pet bats, Helen
found that she was unable to care for them properly,
so she set one of them free. The other one
she boiled and taxidermied to understand its bone structure. She
had dozens of animals in her collection too, such as
dor mice and rabbits, all of which seemed to be
more than just exhibits to be studied. They were companions.
(07:02):
Perhaps such fascinations went back to her childhood. Her parents,
although loving and generous, that also sheltered her from other
children for much of her upbringing, too many germs and
bad influences. They thought, rather than send her to school,
they brought private tutors or governesses into the house. The
animals acted as surrogates for her friends, so in her
(07:22):
mind they were almost like people. As she got older,
Helen stopped drawing mushrooms and plants and started illustrating characters
modeled on the animals she knew as a child. She
started painting mice and bunnies for the family Christmas cards,
which led her to getting hired as an illustrator of
nursery rhyme books. Helen also traveled, spending her holidays in
(07:44):
England's Lake District and as far as Scotland. However, no
matter how old she got or how far she went,
she always remained in contact with her former governesses. One
of the women, Annie carter More, eventually had a child
of her own, but in eighteen ninety three he came
down with scarlet fever, so Helen started sending him letters
(08:04):
to help him pass the time while he was in
bed and quarantine. Among the nice notes, she included the
drawings of her little mice and rabbit characters. One such
letter proved so popular the boy's mother suggested Helen turned
it into a story, so she did. She self published
in at first just for her loved ones, but a
vicar who had gotten his hands on it believed the
(08:25):
book to be something special, something the rest of the
world should get to enjoy. He helped Helen find a
publisher for what they called the Bunny Book, and not
long after her main character has made their debut, Lopsy
Mopsy Cotton Tale and Peter The Tale of Peter Rabbit
went on to become one of the best selling children's
(08:45):
books of all time, and Helen Beatrix Potter became a
literary hero to millions of children around the world. Just
don't tell them about the stuffed rabbits. I hope you've
enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the
(09:06):
show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
learn all about it over at the World of Lore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
(00:27):
of Curiosities. Every class has a clown, the person who
sits in the back and cracks jokes about the teacher,
or lightens the mood with a well timed jab at
the new kid. They're popular because they make people laugh. Well,
(00:48):
maybe not the teachers. It's their humor and lack of
respect that lands them in trouble. But a class clown
only has detention to worry about. Back in the fifteenth
and sixteen centuries, though insulting an authority, for gear could
land you in jail or worse. Luckily, for Nicholas Ferrial,
he could talk his way out of anything. Barry All
(01:08):
was also known as La Fevrial or Tribula, and he
was a jester, a performer who entertained kings and nobility
with songs, dancing, magic, tricks and jokes. And though men
were often employed as fools, for the court. The occasional
female jester was known to perform for the royals as
well as their children. Jesters were more than entertainers, though
in some cases, when news was too grim to bear,
(01:31):
it was the fool who would deliver it in such
a way as to make it more palatable. It's unknown
as to whether Triboulet ever gave the king bad news,
but he was certainly no stranger to it himself. One time,
trouble was performing for a crowd when he decided to
pick on a particular nobleman during his routine. He told
joke after joke at the man's expense, which got the
(01:52):
nobleman heated, and he turned to triple A and threatened
to kill him. The jester, frightened by the man's anger,
ran to the king and explained the situation. The king
told him not to worry, and that if the nobleman
actually did kill him, he'd have him beheaded. Fifteen minutes later.
Troub A then asked, would it be possible to behead
him fifteen minutes before. That wasn't the only time his
(02:15):
wits got him into and out of a jam. During
another performance, tribal A lost control of himself and slapped
the king on the rear. Incensed, the King spun around
and told him that he would have him executed for
such disrespect. Sometime later, after he had regained his composure,
the King gave Tribula the opportunity to redeem himself by
(02:36):
coming up with an apology that was even more insulting
than the smack on the bum. The jester thought for
a moment and then responded, I'm so sorry, your majesty
that I didn't recognize you. I mistook you for the queen.
And it worked, and Tribula was spared an early death.
The man's greatest strength was also his greatest weakness. He
(02:57):
could not help himself from poking fun at the people
who employed him. After all, it was kind of what
he was hired to do. Unfortunately, like politics at Thanksgiving dinner,
there were just some subjects not to be touched, no
matter how tempting. In troubles case, that subject was the queen.
He had entertained French King Francis the first for many years,
(03:17):
and so he thought he could get away with cracking
some jokes at the expense of the man's wife. Even
though Francis had expressly forbidden it. Not one to listen
to authority. Tribal A did it anyway, and he was
met with an order of execution. Far more than just
an idle threat. This time he was actually going to
be killed. However, because of his years of service to
(03:38):
the king, Francis allowed him to choose his preferred manner
of death. Tribal didn't waste any time. He invoked the
names of two patron saints of insanity and asked that
the king let him die of old age. Francis, floored
by his response, agreed and had the gesture banished from
the realm instead. Tribula died in thirty six at the
(04:01):
age of fifty seven. It wasn't exactly the old age
that he hoped for, but still not bad for a
guy who slapped a king on the rear and lived
to tell about it. Everyone has a side of themselves.
(04:27):
They won't let others see a darkness or a strangeness
that they'd rather keep to themselves. Sometimes they hide it
to protect themselves from the harsh judgments of their friends
or family, or they do it to shield their loved
ones from something they might not understand. For young Helen
All that mattered was her reputation. Helen was born in
the summer of eighteen sixty six in London. Her parents
(04:49):
were wealthy, educated and artistic, and they encouraged her to
explore her outdoors. Helen spent a lot of time studying
the animals on their property. She kept quite a few
as pets too, including mice, rabbits, bats, and even insects
like butterflies, all of which lived in the house. It
was a menagerie, but nobody minded, as it provided an
(05:11):
ideal learning environment for the budding biologist. In fact, her
experience caring for and learning about animals allowed her to
foster her own passion for art. She began sketching and
painting the various critters that she was in charge of.
Her love of animals and her penchant for journaling and
drawing eventually led her to the sciences, namely botany and mycology,
(05:33):
the latter being the study of fungi. Unlike many women
of the Victorian age, she went to college and even
wrote a treatise on germination of the spores of a
particular fungus. Her male peers dismissed it as bunk, even
though it was entirely correct, Helen only worked harder. Her
sketches and paintings were manifestations for a desire for knowledge
(05:54):
not only of the exteriors of plants had fungi, but
their interiors as well. In fact, with all living things,
she had an innate desire to understand how they worked,
what made them tick. With plants, it was a matter
of plucking them from their stems and studying them in
a lab. Animals proved more difficult, though especially the living ones.
At the time, euthanizing an animal to examine its anatomy
(06:16):
was commonplace as part of scientific endeavors. Helen was never
cruel and always gentle when performing such grim tasks. After all,
she did care for these creatures. However, she also had
a natural curiosity and was constantly fighting to be heard
as a woman in a male dominated field. As a result,
she may have gotten a little carried away with her studies.
(06:38):
For example, while babysitting her younger brother's pet bats, Helen
found that she was unable to care for them properly,
so she set one of them free. The other one
she boiled and taxidermied to understand its bone structure. She
had dozens of animals in her collection too, such as
dor mice and rabbits, all of which seemed to be
more than just exhibits to be studied. They were companions.
(07:02):
Perhaps such fascinations went back to her childhood. Her parents,
although loving and generous, that also sheltered her from other
children for much of her upbringing, too many germs and
bad influences. They thought, rather than send her to school,
they brought private tutors or governesses into the house. The
animals acted as surrogates for her friends, so in her
(07:22):
mind they were almost like people. As she got older,
Helen stopped drawing mushrooms and plants and started illustrating characters
modeled on the animals she knew as a child. She
started painting mice and bunnies for the family Christmas cards,
which led her to getting hired as an illustrator of
nursery rhyme books. Helen also traveled, spending her holidays in
(07:44):
England's Lake District and as far as Scotland. However, no
matter how old she got or how far she went,
she always remained in contact with her former governesses. One
of the women, Annie carter More, eventually had a child
of her own, but in eighteen ninety three he came
down with scarlet fever, so Helen started sending him letters
(08:04):
to help him pass the time while he was in
bed and quarantine. Among the nice notes, she included the
drawings of her little mice and rabbit characters. One such
letter proved so popular the boy's mother suggested Helen turned
it into a story, so she did. She self published
in at first just for her loved ones, but a
vicar who had gotten his hands on it believed the
(08:25):
book to be something special, something the rest of the
world should get to enjoy. He helped Helen find a
publisher for what they called the Bunny Book, and not
long after her main character has made their debut, Lopsy
Mopsy Cotton Tale and Peter The Tale of Peter Rabbit
went on to become one of the best selling children's
(08:45):
books of all time, and Helen Beatrix Potter became a
literary hero to millions of children around the world. Just
don't tell them about the stuffed rabbits. I hope you've
enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe
for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the
(09:06):
show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was
created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works.
I make another award winning show called Lore which is
a podcast, book series, and television show and you can
learn all about it over at the World of Lore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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