In La Malle de Berlingue (Berlingue’s Trunk), Duranty comes up with a complex plot with numerous twists and turns based on a traditional prop of glove-puppets theatre: a trunk. Here, it is used to make corpses disappear, and passes through the hands of different characters. In the end, all’s well that ends well: none of the characters are truly dead and the rightful owner of the trunk retrieves it.

Henry de Graffigny rewrote Duranty’s play but with some slight modifications and using the title La Malle fantastique (The Fantastic Trunk); he published it under his name in 1911.

Berlingue asks his wife to keep his travel trunk during his day of absence. The wife, jealous that the trunk receives more attention than she does, takes advantage of his absence to go party with Arlequin. After an unfortunate blow of the stick from Arlequin, Mme Berlingue drops dead. Arlequin hides her corpse in the trunk, makes the husband’s doubts vanish, and gets rid of the Apothicaire (Apothecary) who had come to visit him. On his way to the boulangerie, where he is planning to destroy the corpse by putting it in the oven, he encounters Pierrot who steals the trunk and discovers the body. Pierrot sells the trunk to a merchant who sells it back to Arlequin, who wants the merchant to take it back. The merchant’s screams alert the Gendarme (Constable) who arrests Arlequin and wants to hang him. Arlequin runs away and pushes the Gendarme (who gets run over): the trunk opens in the impact and brings Mme Berlingue back to life. As the merchant claims ownership of the trunk, Mme Berlingue goes back home to relate everything to her husband. The Commissaire (Superintendent) arrives and, in disbelief of the merchant’s tale, requisitions the trunk. Berlingue arrives and wants his trunk back. The Commissaire accuses him of murdering the Gendarme and wants to hang him. The Gendarme comes back to life. Mme Berlingue convinces the Gendarme to un-hang her husband and to take his place. When the Commissaire returns, he finds the Gendarme hanged but still alive; they both abandon any hanging plans, for no one was murdered.