Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. You tell the librarian that you are looking for information on the beginning of Louis XIII's reign, which is the background of the events in "The Three Musketeers". She takes you to the archive room, where all the documents are placed on shelves according to the century they belong. You must go to the shelf number:
2. Now that you have found the correct shelf, you grab a pile of old newspapers and you head towards an empty table. You sit down and... oops! You realize that you've just sat on something. You quickly get up and you are surprised to find out that it's a book on French authors. You take it and you sit on the chair again (this time you make sure there is nothing on it) and you open the book. You are happy to discover that in the 19th century there was another famous quartet, only this time it involved not musketeers, but novelists. They were: Cherville, Noël Parfait, Alexandre Dumas and...
3. Delighted about what you have just found out, you start going through the newspapers. Thanks to your faithful dictionary you are able to translate the words and understand their meaning. The front page of an edition of "Paris Aujourd'hui" makes you curious. You read the title of the biggest article: "Great Royal Wedding Planned". You read further about the wedding between Louis XIII, the King of France and the Spanish Princess Anne of Austria. You remember from history class that by that time Louis was 14. At his age his father was already known for his love affairs. What was his father's name again?
4. You grab another newspaper, it's called "L'espion de Lyon", and you open it at the ads page. In the SELL column you can read a small ad: "Béarn pony, 13 years old, yellow colored, with no hair in his tail, having windgalls on his legs. He goes with his head lower than his knees, so you won't need a martingale. Nevertheless, he is able to perform eight leagues a day." You laugh loudly, and everyone turns their head in your direction. They look like they have never seen such behavior in a library before. But you don't mind them and get on with your reading. You wonder who could've written such a funny ad, but you soon realize to whom the horse belonged.
5. You can't help smiling when you think about the yellow horse, but you soon forget about it when you find in another newspaper, "Le Soleil de Marseille", a whole page dedicated to sports. Wondering what were the games played in that century you quickly scan the articles. In one of them you find an interesting game: "jeu de paume". You don't find it in the dictionary, but you do remember that the four musketeers loved this game and used to play it. It resembled a game played nowadays, which includes a ball and two opponent sides.
6. Suddenly you notice an old lady approaching your table. She is carrying lots of documents from the archive room, so you kindly get up and offer to help her. You relieve her of the load, placing all the documents on the table. She seats down next to you, almost whispering with a gentle voice "merci". You answer her in your lousy French, and then you see an old newspaper on the floor. It must have fallen from your pile when you got up earlier. You take it and you start reading it. It's called "Viennent les Parisiens". You turn the page and you read the next ad: "Gentleman from Béarn. New in town. Looking for a loyal lackey, brave enough to adventure by my side everywhere I go." Of course you know who will become this adventurous gentleman's lackey.
7. You can feel someone starring at you. You stop reading and you look around. It's the old lady, and she looks really angry. She starts shouting at you in French, but you don't understand a word she's saying. She keeps yelling and pointing at the newspaper you are holding. You now realize that it was hers. Trying to apologize, you hand her the newspaper. Infuriated, she heads to another table. Again, you feel that everyone is gazing at you. Embarrassed, you get back to your reading. On the front page of "L'Importance de France", dated October 3rd 1626, are written with large bold characters the following words: "Great Ball to be Held Tonight at the City Hall". You suddenly remember the famous jewels worn by Queen Anne that night, the ones successfully retrieved by the brave d'Artagnan. That entire hullabaloo for saving the Queen's honor, endangered by Richelieu's mischievous intrigues! Of course, you can also remember the exact number of diamonds the jewel had on the ball night.
8. Looking outside the window you can see the sun going down and you remember the librarian telling you that the archive room will close at 9 p.m. So you try to hurry up because tomorrow you have to go back home and you want to get to read all the newspapers. "Dangerous mission. Required: a brave man ready to adventure overseas in England to retrieve a very precious object. The honor of a great court figure is at stake. Substantial reward." This is what you read when you turn the page to the ads section. It all sounds just too familiar and you could only imagine who is that "great court figure". Then, the person in England who held the "precious object" surely must be...
9. You grab another paper. This time it's a local gazette called "Le Quotidien d'Amiens". You open it at page number five and you start reading an interesting looking article: "One week ago our peaceful town was disturbed by the fuss created by a gentleman who opposed arrest in the "Golden Lily" inn. As we have been informed, this man was accused of being a coiner of bad money. In his attempt to fight back he was overwhelmed and he had to retreat in the nearby cellar. Later it was found out that he was innocent and that he actually was a musketeer of His Majesty, our King. Unfortunately, when the innkeeper tried to apologize and invited him to come out of the cellar, the clever musketeer thought it was a trap and refused the invitation. «There is our wine in bottles, and our wine in casks; the beer, the oil, and the spices, the bacon, and sausages. And as we are prevented from going down there, we are forced to refuse food and drink to the travelers who come to the house; so that our hostelry is daily going to ruin», says the unfortunate innkeeper, whose provisions are daily consumed by the stubborn musketeer. His name has not been revealed yet." Oh, perhaps they didn't know his name, but you certainly do.
10. Amused by the things you have just read, you open the newspaper "Bonjour Toujours" at the ads page, wondering what other issue you are going to find. Here's an interesting one: "I am an honorable and trustworthy musketeer. I am in the search for suitable equipment that I will need in the upcoming battle near La Rochelle. I need two horses, one really strong for myself and one for my lackey. I already have a beautiful, hard earned saddle, arrived directly from England. I will also need a chest and a new extra large uniform. My recommendations are high: I am financially supported by the wife of a respectable, well-known lawyer." Who could have written this ad, you wonder!?
11. Below this ad you find another one: "Noble gentleman would like to pawn a valuable family inheritance. It's a sapphire ring, worth 2000 crowns. I hope I will receive in trade at least 1000, which I intend to split with my friend, a soldier in captain des Essarts' troops." You realize it's Athos who placed the ad in "Bonjour Toujours". His friend, the soldier in captain des Essarts' troops, must be...
12. The librarian comes. She tells you that it is 9:00 p.m., and she must close the library. Realizing you are the only one left, you ask her for another 5 minutes. She doesn't say anything, but she leaves the room irritated. The next newspaper is an English one. It's called "The Truth of Portsmouth" and it's dated August 24th 1628. The front page is all black, and the main title, written in white characters, is occupying almost the entire page: "Duke of Buckingham is Dead". You read about his assassination and you remember from the "The Three Musketeers" his last gesture before dying, which is not stated in the article. He gave La Porte, a messenger who had just brought a letter from the Queen, the mission to deliver to his beloved Anne three objects: "the scent bag of white satin on which her cipher was embroidered in pearls", "the silver casket in which the diamond studs were kept", and...
13. You quickly grab the next one, "La Tribune de Béthune", and you find an article about a funeral: "Yesterday at the Carmelites convent was held the funeral in honor of a recently arrived nun, named Ketty, who died poisoned. At this sad event, against all monastic custom, participated five gentlemen: four musketeers of the King and one English Lord". You know better! Her name wasn't Ketty; that was just a way to hide her real identity from those who were searching for her. Her name was actually...
14. You grab the very last newspaper, "Les Mystères du Terre". The front page has an interesting head title: "Une crime mystérieuse", that's French for "A mysterious crime". You're very curious about it and you are eager to read it, but the librarian almost kicks you out of the building. Fortunately, you manage to take the newspaper with you, without her noticing. Being so dark outside, you head towards a street lamp to read it: "Yesterday a few men were fishing in the Lys river, when they accidentally found the dead body of a woman which was brought to the surface of the water by the fast currents. It was covered with a red cloak. The fishermen were afraid to unfold it, so they called the authorities, who found out that the woman had died by decapitation. Her identity hasn't been determined yet. The only sign of identification is a tattoo on her left shoulder - the woman is branded..." Terrified, you stop reading any further. It suddenly starts raining. Thank goodness you have your raincoat with you. You put it on and then you fold the newspaper, placing it safely in your front pocket. Even if the authorities never found out who the woman had been, you have no doubt that the article is about...
15. Suddenly, all the lights go out and you hear a really loud whistle. Through the dense darkness you can discern hundreds of French policemen who are coming to arrest you. All this fuss for an old newspaper! You feel lots of hands grabbing you. The police forces are all over! But why doesn't that annoying whistle stop?! You open your eyes and... you find yourself at home in bed. You instinctively turn off the alarm clock. My Goodness! It was nothing but a dream! ... Come to think about it, it was all too silly, going to France to search the archive for the characters of a book. But it all seemed so real! Although... it couldn't have been! There were hardly any newspapers in that century and even so, they couldn't have possibly written about fictional characters. You remember reading on the Internet that the first French newspaper ever published was called...
Source: Author
iridiana
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
agony before going online.
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