Dangerous prank Francois Rabelais, or How to get to Paris for free

François Rabelais was considered one of the most educated people of the 16th century. It is difficult to name a case in which this Frenchman would not succeed. He was a writer, poet, philosopher, theologian, physician. And he also had a great sense of humor and used it not only in his work, but also in life. One of his wonderful jokes, though life-threatening, went down in history.

Rabelais traveled a lot and often found himself in various difficult situations. One day, during his travels, he ended up in Lyon, in the east of France. The writer was robbed the day before and he did not have a penny in his pocket. But he needed to urgently get home to Paris. The resourceful Rabelais quickly came up with a simple but very dangerous way to overcome 400 km for free.

Rabelais took three paper bags, poured sugar into them and made the inscriptions: “Poison for the King”, “Poison for the Queen” and “Poison for the Heir”. He left them in his inn room in a conspicuous place and went for a walk. Soon a servant came to his room to do the cleaning. He found bags with inscriptions and immediately reported them to the owner of the hotel.

Without thinking twice, he rushed to the guards of the law and informed on a dangerous conspirator. Soon after Francois Rabelais, a bailiff arrived with guards armed to the teeth. The writer was arrested and immediately taken to Paris in a prison carriage. It cannot be said that the road was comfortable, but the joker overcame the distance to the capital very quickly.

Immediately upon arrival, he appeared before the judges, who were already rubbing their hands in anticipation of the disclosure of a dangerous conspiracy. But Rabelais upset them. He honestly admitted that extreme need forced him to take such a step. He also poured the contents of three bags into his mouth in the presence of everyone and, of course, did not die.

He was lucky that the judges turned out to be people with a sense of humor. They laughed for a long time at Rabelais's trick, and then justified him and let him go. But it must be said that the satirist took a big risk, because if they were stupider, he could be left without a head in no time or go to hang out at Montfaucon. In the 16th century, they did not stand on ceremony even with those who were simply suspected of conspiracy.