Le Jongleur de Notre Dame


Le Jongleur de Notre Dame is a religious miracle story by the French author Anatole France, first printed in 1890 in a newspaper and later published in a short-story collection in 1892 and based on an old medieval legend. Similar to the later Christmas carol The Little Drummer Boy, it tells the story of a juggler turned monk who has no gift to offer a statue of the Virgin Mary except for his ability to juggle well. Upon doing so, he is accused of blasphemy by the other monks, but the statue comes to life and blesses the juggler. It was made into an opera by composer Jules Massenet in 1902, but "straight" dramatic versions have also been produced.

Adaptations of the story

None of the film or television versions have been released on DVD.
During the Golden Age of Radio, the story was broadcast several times, usually under the title "The Juggler of Our Lady," and nearly always on the then-popular radio series Family Theater. But another adaptation featured on "Family Theater" was titled Joppe the Juggler. It was broadcast during the Christmas season of 1950, and starred Wallace Ford as the juggler, with opening and closing remarks by Spencer Tracy. Screen Guild Theatre broadcast a version in 1940 narrated by Ronald Colman, with songs provided by Nelson Eddy.
In 1980, an anthology of science fiction stories titled The Best of All Possible Worlds for Ace Books featured five of Spider Robinson's favorite stories by select authors, together with a favorite story recommended by each of those authors. Mr. Robinson contributed a self-translated version of the story, titled "Our Lady's Juggler," in response to learning that the story was Robert A. Heinlein's favorite short story of all time.