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PARTISAN REVIEW
And in any case, for the matinee on December 24 it's very simple–
I'll buy all the seats . Entrance will be free ... for children ."
This Christmas performance was to remain memorable in the
history of the circus . Children flooded in from several leagues
around, whole coachloads of them in some cases, because schools ,
reformatories, and orphanages had been notified. Some mothers who
were refused entry had the idea of tying their children together so
that they shouldn't get lost, and roped parties of five, six, and even
seven brothers and sisters were to be seen climbing up onto the tiers .
What act the red dwarf performed that day no one will ever
know because it was witnessed by no one but children, and he swore
them to secrecy. At the end of the show they gave him a tremendous
ovation and he, standing squarely in the sawdust on his immovable
legs , his eyes closed with bliss - he allowed himself to be submerged
in this storm of tenderness, this tempest of sweetness, which cleansed
him of his bitterness, justified him, illuminated him. Then , children
in their thousands surged into the ring, surrounded him in a
tumultuous , caressing floodtide, and carried him off in triumph and
in song.
Behind the red and gold curtains leading to the stables, the
riders, the tamer, the Chinese conjurers , the flying trapeze artists ,
the Nepalese jugglers, and behind them the tall, grotesque silhouette
of Agrippina, all retreated, effaced themselves, amazed by this
savage hymn.
"Let him be," said d'Urbino. "He's with his own kind, he's being
ieted by his own people . For the first time in his life, maybe, he is no
longer alone. As for me, I have my slogan : Lucius Gag-Nero,
emperor of children . I can already see my playbill : the Red Dwarf in
a toga with his sword and crown, and with the crowd, the immense
crowd of little people, not one of whom is a fraction of an inch taller
than him! But what a matinee, my friends, what a matinee!"
