Rabbit, Run

the new kid. They're popular because they make people laugh. Well, 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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. 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 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 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, 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 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 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.

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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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,