If I Were King. Or Queen. An Invitation to the Surrealist Café

Street art (c) 2103 Fred le Chevalier

Okay, time for another gathering at the Surrealist Café. This time we'd like you to invent your own government, with YOU as the leader, and to pick your nickname. E-mail your game entry to us by Friday, October 18, 11:59 p.m., Paris time, and we'll post it on Saturday's Paris Play.  

Here's how this topic evolved: A few weeks ago, my cousin and I were talking about that dashing French king, Henri IV, le Vert-Galant. Hank wondered if there were other names besides his namesake, Henry, that French and English kings had in common. 

I looked up French and English kings and found one other: Charles. And was struck by two things: how many English queens there have been, how few French queens. And that what the French lack in gender equality, they (sort of) make up for in amusing nicknames for kings.

Street art (c) 2103 Fred le Chevalier

Kings of France

The Franks:

• Clodion- the Hairy (c. 400-447)

 The Merovingians:

• Childeric III the Fainéant (the Do-nothing) (714-743) 

 The Carolingians:

• Pepin the Short (715-751)
• Charles I the Great (or) Charlemagne (742-768)
• Louis I the Debonaire or Pious (778-814)
• Charles II the Bald (823-840)
• Louis II the Stammerer (846-879)
• Charles the Fat (839-888)
• Charles III the Simple (879-929)

The Capetians:

• Robert II the Pious (972-1031)
• Louis VI the Fat (1084-1137)
• Louis VIII the Lion (1187-1226)
• Louis IX or Saint Louis (1214-1270)
• Philippe III the Bold (1245-1285)
• Philippe IV the Fair (1268-1314)
• Louis X the Haughty (1289-1316)
• Jean I the Posthumous (1316-1316)
• Philip V the Long (1293-1316)
• Charles IV the Fair (1294-1322) 

The Valois:

• John II the Good (1319-1364)
• Charles V the Wise (1338-1380)
• Charles VI the Mad or Beloved (1368-1422)
• Charles VII the Victorious (1403-1461)
• Charles VIII the Affable (1470-1498)
• Louis XII the Father of the People (1462-1515)

The Bourbons

• Henri IV Green-Galant (the gay blade) 1553-1610)
• Louis XIII the Just (1601-1643)
• Louis XIV the Great (1638-1715)
• Louis XV the Loved (1710-1774) 

It started sounding to me like a Surrealist game. Just like the governments of so many countries lately. So many of them seem to be tumbling down, or to be, at best, shaky.

Street art (c) 2103 Fred le Chevalier

Last week, I read Plato’s The Republic again for a fictional classroom scene. Plato discusses four kinds of government, and how they evolve or devolve into one another:

• timocracy (the government of the best, of honour);
• oligarchy (a government in which the rulers are elected for their wealth, in which the rich have power and the poor man is deprived of it);
• democracy (where freedom and frankness prevail);
• tyranny (slavery). 

And I wondered, if we gathered together next Saturday right here at the Surrealist Café in Paris Play, what would those of you who join us want to include in your ideal State? Which three things—values, or services, or goods—would you deem most important for a humanitarian kingdom?

Street art (c) 2103 Fred le Chevalier

And what would you like your subjects to call you, what nickname that summed up your life as head of state would please you?

Street art (c) 2103 Fred le Chevalier. Ravaillac was the assassin of Henri IV.

And, even more telling, what would your detractors call you? We're sure Nixon would have wanted to go down in history as Richard the Diplomat, but probably history will remember him as Dick the Tricky. Then there's Slick Willy, Gerald the Bumbling, and Bling-Bling Sarko. 

Albert Einstein wrote that "Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought." In other words, creativity arises from putting unexpected things together. Isn't that the essence of Surrealism?

Einstein knew the power of play. So does every child. Which I suppose means that none of us are ever too “important” or “unimportant” to play.

Maybe we can dream up some more effective government on this planet by playing together. Or at least have some Surrealist fun, the way we did as kids for hours and hours a day. Once again, use this link to E-mail your game entry to us by Friday, October 18, 11:59 p.m., Paris time, and we'll post it on next Saturday's Paris Play.

Street art (c) 2103 Fred le Chevalier