''The Boy and the Blind Man'' () is the name of a 13th-century French play; considered the oldest surviving French

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

. It is an

anonymous work Anonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the case of very old works, the author's name may simply be lost over the course of history and time. There are a number ...

. In the play there are two scoundrels, a "blind" beggar and his servant boy. The blind beggar has a secret hoard of coins, which the boy tricks away from him. The boy deceives, robs then beats his master – the trickster has become the tricked. It was a simple play with no props and could be performed by two actors anywhere. It probably is one of many performed by wandering jongleurs catering to the tastes and theme of market days and fairs. An important business for the actors was to collect money from spectators, and the actor's beggar-man part in the play allowed for comic audience participation. Because the deceiver is deceived, along with

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...

action, it is considered the oldest surviving farce in

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

. This means it is the oldest to survive in written form, but is very probably part of a much older

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

. This "trickster is tricked" theme, and that of the cuckolded husband, were the main preoccupations of the medieval farceur. The play is in many respects identical to the first chapter of '' The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes'', a

picaresque novel The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for ' rogue' or 'rascal') is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but appealing hero, usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...

published anonymously in Spain in 1554. The play may have served as source material for the book, or both may have emerged from a common folktale.

References

*''Le Garcon et l'Aveugle.'' Trans. Richard Axton and John E. Stevens. In ''Medieval French Drama.'' Oxford: Blackwell, 1971. pp. 195–206. *"The Beggar Boy and the Blind Man: A French Farce of the Thirteenth Century." Trans. Reginald Hyatte. ''Allegorica: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Literature'' 9 (1987–88): 165-93. * D. Whitton (2003)
"Theatre in France before 1300
(MS Doc). * -- . "La Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes.

Bilingual online edition. Medieval French theatre French plays Medieval drama 13th-century plays {{13thC-play-stub