Apes and Angels

In the dim corridors of a Parisian wax museum, a diminutive night watchman known as Papa Chibou keeps the place alive after the lights go out. With a wax‑like complexion and a flourish of a horseshoe moustache, he has become as much a fixture as the figures he guards. Though he lives among the silent statues, he delights in the romance of his solitary vigil, treating each night as an adventure.

When the doors close, Papa Chibou begins his peculiar rounds, greeting the wax incarnations of Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, revolutionary heroes, and even notorious villains. He dusts, adjusts, and even converses with them, offering jokes, gentle admonitions, and whimsical counsel to the captured martyrs and ferocious lions. The result is a delightful, slightly absurd tableau where history, myth, and imagination mingle, inviting listeners to wander the shadowy galleries and share in his quiet, mischievous companionship.