PART I                                                                                                                                      Back              Home             Next

Chapter 3

The Young Acrobat

First entertainments for children Sermons • Acrobatics • Bird nesting

Many times you have asked me at what age I began to take an interest in children. When I was ten years old, I did what was possible at my age and formed a kind of festive oratory. Take note.

  Though I was still pretty small, I was studying my companions' characters. When I looked closely at someone, I could usually gauge what he was thinking. This gift won me the love and esteem of the boys my own age, and I was thus in demand as judge or friend. For my own part, I tried always to help and never to hurt. So my companions were quite fond of me. I would take their side when quarrels broke out. Though I was not very big, I was strong and brave enough to stand up even to older companions. Whenever arguments, questions, or quar­rels of any kind arose, I acted as arbiter, and everyone accepted my decisions with good grace.

  But it was to hear my stories that they flocked round me. They loved them to the point of folly. I drew on many sources for my anecdotes — sermons, catechism lessons, and stories I had read in The Kings of France, in Wretched Guerino, and in Bertoldo and Bertoldino.¹

  When I appeared, my companions and even grown-ups would run to me in a crowd and clamor for a story from a fellow who scarcely understood what he had read. At times, along the road to Castelnuovo or in some field I would be surrounded by hundreds of people, anxious to hear what a poor child had to say. Apart from a good memory, I lacked any knowledge; but they seemed to think I was a great scholar in their midst. "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."²

In the wintertime, everyone wanted me in the stable³ to tell stories. All sorts of people used to gather to spend five or even six hours of their evenings listening, motionless, to selections from The Kings of France. The poor speaker used to stand on a bench so that all could hear and see. These occasions were described as "listening to a sermon" since we would always begin and end the storytelling with a sign of the cross and a Hail Mary. 1826.⁴

  When the weather was fine, especially on Sundays and feast days, a few strangers would come along to swell the ranks. Things were getting a bit more serious now. The entertainment now extended to tricks I had picked up from acrobats and magicians I had watched in the marketplace⁵ and at fairs. I used to watch them closely to get the hang of the tricks, then go home and practise till I had mastered the skill. You can imagine all the falls and tumbles and bumps and crashes I was always having! But would you believe that by the time I was eleven I could juggle, do midair somersaults and the swallow trick,⁶ and walk on my hands. I could walk, jump, and even dance on the tightrope like a professional acrobat.

  From the programme of one holiday in particular you can get an idea of our general routine.

At Becchi there was a field in which grew several trees. One of them, a pear tree that is still there, was very helpful to me then. I used to sling a rope from it to another tree some distance away. I had a table with a haversack on it, and on the ground a mat for the jumps. When I had every­thing set up and everyone was eager to marvel at my latest feats, I would invite them to recite the rosary and sing a hymn. Then standing on the chair, I preached to them or, better, repeated as much as I could remember from the explanation of the gospel I had heard in church that morn­ing; or sometimes I recalled episodes from something I had heard or read. After the sermon there was a short prayer, and then the show began. At that point you would have seen, just as I am telling you, the preacher transformed into a professional acrobat.

  I did the swallow trick and somersaults, walked on my hands, got myself out of a tied sack, swallowed coins and then produced them from someone's nose. I multiplied balls and eggs, changed water into wine, killed and chopped up a chicken and then brought it back to life again so that it crowed better than before. These were part of my stock in trade. I walked the tightrope like an ordinary path, jumped and danced on it, and hung by one foot or one hand, sometimes by two.

This went on for several hours. At the end of it I was tired. A short prayer brought proceedings to a close, and everyone went about his business. Those who cursed or engaged in bad talk or refused to join in the prayers were not allowed to watch the show.

  At this point you might ask me: Going to fairs and mar­kets, watching magicians, getting props for my shows —all these took money; where did I get it?

  I had several ways. Any money that my mother or others gave me to buy some tidbit, little tips, gifts, all this I saved for this purpose. I was also quite clever at catching birds in cages, snares, and nets and with birdlime; I was very good at finding birds' nests. Whenever I had gathered enough of these, I knew where I could get a good price for them. Mushrooms, plants used for dyes, heather⁷ were all another source of money for me.

  Now you might ask me, Did my mother mind my wast­ing my time playing magician?

  I assure you that my mother loved me dearly, and I had boundless trust in her. I would not take one step without her approval. She knew everything, saw everything, and let me do it. Indeed, if I needed something, she willingly came to my help. My companions and generally all the spectators gladly gave me what was necessary to provide them with those amusements.

Notes

1. The Kings of France and Wretched Guerino refer to Carolin-gian epic romances put into the vernacular by Andrea da Barberino in the fifteenth century. These stories were drawn from Tuscan or Franco-Venetian sources and were used as a wellspring for a number of popular novels.

The same is true of Bertoldo, a tall tale from the sixteenth-century Bolognese Giulio Cesare Croce. He portrayed a de­formed but cunning peasant who wormed his way into favor with King Alboino and won his confidence. The author extended the adventures to Bertoldo's son Bertoldino.

2. Don Bosco quotes the proverb in Latin: Monoculns rex in regno caecorum.

3. For want of better accommodations, the stables served as community centers for the Piedmontese peasants in the win­ter months. Fuel was precious, and the body heat of the farm animals helped warm their masters. Sometimes the peasants even slept in the stables in the winter.

4. The text gives the date without explanation. At the begin­ning of the chapter, Don Bosco indicated that he was doing this already when he was ten. This would be the winter of 1825-1826. Perhaps he only meant to help his sons, reading these recollections, keep their chronological bearings.

5. At Castelnuovo, as in every town, the town square became an open marketplace one day a week. The farmers would set up booths, or just their carts, to sell their produce or live­stock to one another and to the townsfolk. They would also buy necessary goods and exchange news and gossip. These weekly markets were natural targets for acrobats and other entertainers wandering from village to village. The weekly market remains customary in Castelnuovo today. In the larger cities one or more squares serve as daily markets not only for foodstuffs but also for leather goods, toys, clothing, electronic goods, etc.

6. The swallow trick consisted of grasping a pole set firmly into the ground, raising the body rigidly to a position horizontal to the ground, and then, legs apart, spinning around the pole. The opened legs were supposed to remind one of a swallow's tail.

7. Wayside herbs and flowers were long used to make house­hold dyes. Synthetic dyes have now replaced them. Perhaps John used to collect madder (rubia tinctorum} for red color­ing, mignonette (reseda luteold) or bedstraw (galium veruni) for shades of yellow, and woad (isadis tinctorid) for blue. Other flora common in the Monferrato region had their own useful qualities.

The word here translated "heather" is treppio in Don Bosco’s text. Even Ceria is not sure of its meaning since it is not to be found in Italian dictionaries. He guesses that Don Bosco meant it for the Piedmontese trebi or terbi, which would be erica in Italian, a kind of heather whose bristles are useful for making rough brushes such as those used to comb down horses.