“The clown, so named after a spinning top, performed each night at the Cirque Diable with his black pig, Babette. The routine began with the animal curled into the cradle of Toupie’s arms, the little pig costumed in a white cap and gown of lace. Next, Babette would jump to the ground to scamper about, the clown running after her, Toupie falling first over bales of hay, before stepping into two red fire buckets and clanking about in them like clogs. Men and women laughed because Babette was dressed for a baptism, the sight of her kicking off her vestments delighting them. Children laughed at Toupie’s round white face and fat behind, at the buckets on his feet, and the way he tried, and failed, to catch Babette in his butterfly net. Come the end of Toupie’s act, the old clown bowing, children would hang their hands over the sides of the circus ring to rub Babette’s bottom, the pig pushing its haunches against their fingers with rude delight.”
