Title
Comte Rodomontade Demi - Taux Faux
Artist
Jim Williams
Medium
Drawing - Found Art And Short Story
Description
JE SUIS RODOMONTADE!
INTRODUCTION TO THE ANCESTRY OF THE RIGHT HONORABLE RANTIN N. RAVEN-FAUX VI, THE MAYOR OF MYASSA, FLORIDA (WHERE YOUR PAST IS OUR FUTURE).
The US revolution brought out many unexpected heroes of the cause, perhaps the least of whom was The Mayor's French ancestor, Comte Rodomontade Demi-Taux Faux, Count of DelMonte Crisco.
Claiming to be a relative of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, Marquis de Lafayette, and General in the American colonial army, the Count was commissioned as a Colonel in the Georgia militia. He became notorious for his clever uses of the militia to facilitate his strategic use of withdrawal from confrontations with British forces. He was so well known for his tactics that his militia unit became renowned as the Redneck Runners and the Colonial Cowards. His daring and imaginative escapes into the Okeefenokee resulted in the nick-name "Swamp Faux". The strategic placement of observers gave him the ability to never come within 50 miles of the conflict and to move further south at a moment's notice. When the Count and his horse disappeared, it was the signal for the militia unit to run. Using these tactics, he was known to have never lost a man to the His Majesty's Royal Army. The same could not be said of Okeefenokee alligators, who, upon seeing the fleeing Count, would gather behind him awaiting the troops.
After the revolution and due to his continued flight south, Rodomontade found himself in the Spanish held territory of Florida, where he successfully hid from survivors and relatives of his former miltiamen. Occasionally and unexpectedly appearing in Spanish or native settlements covered with mosquitos, chiggers and leeches, he would steal food, clothing, horses, firearms and anything else that he could carry off, including the occasional farmer's or Indian's daughter. He managed to survive this way until he heard of Florida becoming a territory of the United States and that former French nobleman Prince Achille Murat had taken up residence in St. Augustine. He found his way to St. Augustine and attached himself to the Murat entourage. Achille, raised as French royalty, had neither needed nor learned the habits of civilized society, never bathing, never changing clothes or boots until they fell off of him. He was noted for hawking and launching the largest loogies anyone had ever seen in every direction no matter who was standing there and was awarded a 36 square mile plot of territory by Lafayette where modern day Myassa County would be founded just to get his disgusting self away from St. Augustine. Upon reaching his new plantation, his advisors began trying to train him how to behave around civilized society, just in case any ever arrived in Myassa. (As of now, none has.) His advisors were, of course, further appalled when his first concession to their advice was to station Rodomontade to walk and stand to his right in order to spit on him.
Serendipitously, one day a member of the Raven Clan of the local Myassa tribe of the Apalachee Creek Nation was seen by Achille walking with a large, very shaggy dog. Spontaneously Murat offered to exchange Rodomontade for the dog in order to spit on the dog instead, thinking it less demeaning to himself than spitting on Count Faux. The tribesman agreed to the deal. Why not? It wasn't his dog. The Raven clan were known for their abilities to acquire the possessions of others through trickery, guile, misdirection, threat and thievery. The Count fit right in and was welcomed to the clan with the hand of the Raven clan leader's oldest daughter, Ravin' Bootie. It was a match made in Myassa and the Raven-Faux line was begun.
... To be continued ...
The picture was found online. Only the story was changed to protect the innocent.
See the ongoing story in my Short Story gallery:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/wacks-museum.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=536130
Uploaded
February 8th, 2015
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Comments (28)
Patricia Keller
Fantastic work. Love the description, too. l/f/p/t
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you very much, Patricia. Only the description was by me. The engraving was added to illustrate the description.
Marian Voicu
Excellent drawing, Jim! L/F
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you, Marian. I don't know who did it and I think it's a very old engraving. I found it online. The story is mine.
Hartmut Jager
By the 'Holy Golly' JIM you are right , - just about everyone (with a few exceptions of course !) fits into your and my named loony folks. :-)
Hartmut Jager
"They' are the nitwits like 'The Donald' and other imbecile pretend political, religious and economic leaders. :-)
Hartmut Jager
Lovely 'creatures' doing their lovely things. Hardly any difference from what 'they' are doing today. :-)
Edan Dixon
Jim, I love this! I want to congratulate you on being featured on the homepage of Freelance and Self-Taught Artists Unite! Thank you for the contributing such stunning work to the group page!
Bunny Clarke
Outstanding and fabulous work. The history that goes with these are fabulous.
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you, Bunny. History has a habit of getting twisted. Every good ancient oral historian wanted to be known for his rippin' yarns.
Latha Gokuldas Panicker
Wow !!! Love the wonderful story and its amazing depiction, through your art,Jim !!!!!! (F/L)
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you very much, Latha. I found the image online. Now that you've reminded me I'll add that to the description. Thanks again.
Lynda Lehmann
Remarkable creative narrative and art, brimming with wit and intelligence! F/V and faved!
Jim Williams replied:
I'm very glad that you are enjoying this story and hope you enjoy the rest as well. Thank you, Lynda.
Robyn King
Amazing story love this so much Jim!! Your imagery is fantastic goes perfectly with the story you wrote!!
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you very much, Robyn. I hope you continue to enjoy meeting the rest of the family.
Lina Tumarkina
Thank you, Jim. The story is an enjoyable read. And I really like your artistic perception of the world.
Jim Williams replied:
Thanks again, Lina. I've found that things really get messed up when I take myself seriously. I've had many "artistic" expressions: dance, music, artwork, writing, performance, and I love it when people laugh with me about them.
Lina Tumarkina
This is such a weird narrative, that you have told the public. I have actually read every single word, unbelievable! The pics look as if they have been taken from an old book. Whatever it is, I really like the absurdity and the unpredictability of it all. You made me laugh, Jim! l/v/f
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you so much, Lina. There are actually bits of truth in the story: Lafayette and Murat did immigrate to the Americas and Florida and held large land grants in north Florida. Lafayette was a revolutionary war hero and Murat actually was an uncivilized disgusting pig who used a shaggy dog as a spittoon. There was a revolutionary war military leader called the "Swamp Fox" whose militia attacked British forces and withdrew into swamps where the Redcoats couldn't follow. The Comte's state of constant retreat came from my brother's real life war experiences as a US troop advisor for a Vietnamese battalion whose commander was an abject moron who purchased his military commission, as was common for our "allies" in ARVN. Much of the Myassa imagery has come from found pictures which illustrate an already existing story line. My FAA gallery, "Wack Myassa" is the repository of the ongoing story. I hope you will enjoy it all.
Lyric Lucas
Super cool! Great fantasy! LF
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you, Lyric. I'm hoping that everyone can enjoy The Comte's madness as much as he did. I hope you also enjoy Part Daux.
Stephanie Grant
Wonderful!!! Love the story!!
Jim Williams replied:
Thanks, Stephanie. I've introduced the beginning of the geneology chart and the end. I just have to fill in the intervening 200 years.
Miroslava Jurcik
Wow ! Cant wait for part 2 ! l/f
Jim Williams replied:
Thanks, Miroslava. I've written some and researching more. I can't wait to see what happens either.
Denise Dube
Oh I am really looking forward to more of this series! LF
Jim Williams replied:
Thank you, Denise. I'm collecting my thoughts and finding pictures for it. I'm working on something more current but I'm looking for inspiration in the geneological arc.