ABSTRACT
Babion, TNK, Q 'Bavian,' a character in the morris dance. The word is an archaic spelling of 'baboon.' The rural fellow dressed as the Babion says nothing except when taking instructions from Gerald the Schoolmaster at 3.5, when he is warned not to offend the ladies in a passage somewhat reminiscent of the lion passage in MND 1.2.60-78. He is described (134) as having a 'long tail and eke long tool,' meaning a long phallus. Besides the fact that real baboons—creatures of great wonder to Renaissance Englishmen—have a tendency to indelicate displays, this detail of the costume was also characteristic of ancient Greek satyr plays. It is usually assumed that there was also a Shebabion in the morris dance, as in Francis Beaumont's antimasque to The Masque of Grayes-Inn and the Inner Temple (1613).
