Ferdydurke Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 12, The Child Runs Deep in Filibert Summary

Chapter 12, The Child Runs Deep in Filibert Summary

The great-great grandchild of a Parisian peasant plays a tennis match in Paris. It's a world championship match, and a colonel who is sitting in the crowd becomes jealous of the tennis players. He fires his pistol at the tennis ball, leaving the tennis players swatting at nothing. The two players fall into a brawl. Meanwhile, the colonel's bullet has hit a ship owner sitting on the other side of the court, and he is bleeding profusely from the neck. The ship owner's wife is so upset that she slaps the person next to her, causing the man to have an epileptic seizure.

A man sitting nearby panics and jumps on the lady in front of him, who starts running with him on his back. The crowd applauds riotously. Another man, who has dreamed of jumping on someone's head, follows suit. No one wants the visiting delegates from other countries...
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