This shadow play was described in an anonymous article published on August 31, 1797 in the anti-republican and anti-jacobin newspaper Le Thé ou le Journal des dix-huit (The Tea or the Newspaper of the Eighteen), created by Bertin d’Antilly on April 16, 1797. These short sketches were part of the repertoire of the well-known Théâtre de Séraphin, which specialised in Chinese shadow puppetry and stood in the galleries of the Palais-Royal garden. They were performed either before or after a shadow play (the most famous of which was Le Pont cassé), or with string puppets or rod marionettes. Every sketch was introduced by a barker and ended with the catchphrase “Disparais!” (Disappear!)

A monstrous-looking woman appears. She is mad and furious, vain and proud, a troublemaker and an insolent woman. She is accused of having murdered her family and her lovers. A sick and lonely woman is crying on a bed which is falling into pieces. A general is sitting on his strongbox, surrounded by officers and deputies waiting to be permitted to speak. He is receiving mail. A young man draws two cards to look into his future. A man in his forties is blaming himself for the death of his wife and daughter. In a Dutch school, old men are dressed as children. Three donkeys carrying sponges are swimming across a river. A sleepwalker is calling for help because someone wants to hang him. Guards arrest a burglar and send him to prison. A car with five wheels is running over people. A young man kills a Jacobin disguised as a soldier, because he attacked him.