War and Peace Volume 3, Part 2, Chapter 26 Summary

  • Meanwhile, over on the French side of things, we get a totally hilarious chapter mocking Napoleon.
  • Napoleon’s palace prefect comes with a gift.
  • While Napoleon gets a massage, the prefect sets the present up like a surprise. Finally, the unveiling – it’s...a portrait of little Napoleon, Jr.!
  • Napoleon is clearly strongly aware that his every move now is being recorded by History with a capital H. He comes up to the portrait and looks at it with fatherly love, thinking how it will make a nice contrast in the eyes of his audience with the whole war thing.
  • Then he orders the portrait to be paraded around outside so everyone can have the joy of looking at their future ruler.
  • Finally, he asks them to take it away, since his son is too young to see a field of battle. He’s really acting up a storm.