Un lion apparaît sous les traits d’un enfant!
Son fils et son élève! . . . Adrien! Oui, lui-même![9]
As to Bidel, every one recollects that in July, 1886, at the fair de Neuilly, a lion mangled all one side of his neck.
Two of my friends were amongst the spectators of this duel—the painter, Edouard Detaille, and my dear comrade Paul Hervieu.
When Detaille reached home, on the same evening, he made a rapid sketch of the conflict between the man and the lion whilst the impression was still fresh in his memory. He has kindly authorized me to reproduce it here. The effect is of a cat playing with a bird. Bidel’s coat was torn into fine shreds by the scratching of the claws from the collar to the waist, showing the flesh underneath. On his side, Paul Hervieu was good enough to send me the valuable notes which you are about to read. He addressed them to me in the form of a letter, which has been published in the Monde Illustre.
“The accident took place on one evening in July, 1886, at the Neuilly fair. The weather was heavy and stormy, and the lion-tamer had one foot bandaged for gout.
HYPNOTISM IN A WILD BEASTS’ CAGE.
[p153]
“However, the performance was nearly over, and it seemed as though everything would soon be safely ended, in spite of the unusually refractory voice and attitudes of Sultan, a fine dark-maned lion (for the lionesses, although I believe they are all blonde like Eve, can choose between dark-or light-coloured manes amongst their large-headed lords).