The Three Musketeeers

The three musketeers, for all their charm, are really nothing more than members of a street gang. They hang about in public places, making a nuisance of themselves and angling to get into fights with the Cardinal's guards. 

It's just Crips and Bloods with rapiers instead of uzis. 

And it's all about nothing. King and Cardinal are actually on the same side. The Cardinal may be wily and unscrupulous, but the king is a mean, ridiculous, money-mad playboy who fails to repay the loyalty he's given. Underneath all the colourful carry-on,  Dumas' universe is as empty as Samuel Beckett's. 

I'd forgotten or never realised- because I read him first as a serious-minded teen with a passion for literachur- just how funny Dumas is.

Wonder If They Get Any Pupils...

I guess the word must mean something nice in Urdu, but you'd think that someone might have pointed out  to them before they had the letterheads printed that Sham School Of Motoring doesn't exactly inspire confidence.