B692 <=> B694 [BTG XXXVII France, p. 693]

“These ‘good means’ are called there ‘fairs,’ and at the present time such fairs are held in the principal squares of all their towns and villages in turn, and moreover, just in those squares in which, about two centuries ago, the three-brained beings there usually held discussions on what they call ‘religious-moral subjects.’

“In justice it must be said, my boy, that these French fairs are very very gay places.

“I confess that even I myself liked to visit them and pass there an hour or two, thinking about nothing.

“At these French fairs everything can be had ‘cheap’ and ‘fine.’

“For instance, every being there, for a trifling fifty centimes, can ‘whirl’ to complete ‘stupor’ on various what are called ‘pigs,’ ‘chameleons,’ ‘whales,’ and so forth, and on various American and non-American new inventions designed just to produce ‘stupor.’

“If a being recovers too quickly from all these ways of getting ‘stupefied,’ he can then have there, also for a few more centimes, something very tasty, most often prepared right on the spot.

“It is true that from these tasty things the beings, as far as their stomachs are concerned, often become . . . h’m . . . h’m . . . but what is this in comparison with the pleasure they have had in eating them.

“And in case any of the ordinary beings there wishes as they say to ‘try his luck’ again for a few centimes, he can satisfy this desire there also on the spot; he may try his luck in every way, for at those famous French fairs there is every means of gambling that exists there on the planet Earth, for speculation as well as for fun, and almost all their games of chance are seen there.

“In a word, all the games, beginning with the ‘roulette of Monte Carlo’ and ending with the game of ‘Snipsnapsnorum.’”