In this collection, P. L. Jacob has gathered farces, soties, and morality plays that dramatize the central element of these works, the ruse. A ruse that sees the person who conceived it chaotically losing control, ensnaring themself rather than others. This peripeteia explains the lasting hilarity of these plays. The works presented here are representative of the three genres: Maistre Pierre Pathelin, Le Nouveau Pathelin, Le Testament de Pathelin, Moralité de l’aveugle et du boiteux, La Farce du munyer, La Condamnation de Bancquet.
