PARIS - After two centuries of misbehavior, a puppet named Guignol is still tweaking authority figures and getting away with it.

Guignol began making mischief in 1808, and celebrates his 200th birthday this year. The puppet remains a French icon, with at least 10 Guignol theaters for children in Paris. The word "guignol" has entered the French language as a synonym for clown. "The Guignols" is also a long-running TV show for adult viewers, a satire with life-size puppets that comments on the public personalities and events of the day.

What accounts for the longevity of this rascal and his hold on the French imagination ? One reason may be Guignol's roots in the rebellious energy that followed the French Revolution. According to Pascal Pruvost, who directs the outdoor puppet theater in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in the 19th arrondissement, Guignol is a free spirit with a license to commit nonsense. "Adults have the power," Pruvost says. "Guignol gets to act against authority. He gets to do what's forbidden."

Before the performance, Pruvost rings a brass hand bell to call his audience to the show.

The theater fills with eager children, along with parents and grandparents. I sit near the front to watch Guignol in a production titled "The Singing Competition." You needn't speak French to see that Guignol sets the tune to which the other characters dance. As he polishes off his adversary with expertly administered whacks of his large stick, the children near me rise as one, cheering on their hero as if in gleeful reenactment of the storming of the Bastille. With his cat, Minouchet, Guignol wins an aristocrat's bag of gold, then leads the audience in a merry sing-along. The children know all the words to the popular nursery song.

Pruvost worries that the rough-and-tumble personality of Guignol has been diluted over the years. Along with a partner who helps him work the puppets, Pruvost is doing his best to restore the edge of authenticity. He points out that Guignol's exploits began by appealing to adult taste. "The satire on TV is closer in spirit to how Guignol started," says Pruvost.

In the 1800s, an unemployed silk worker named Laurent Mourguet invented Guignol in Lyon. Mourguet had been a street peddler before trying his hand as a tooth-puller in an era before dentistry. His puppets originally were intended to attract, and distract, customers - comedy as relief from the pain of life. Since Mourguet was illiterate, the Guignol shows that evolved were not written down. "It's oral tradition," says Pruvost. "I take from what I've seen; I adapt and improvise."

[...] For now, if you find yourself in one of the great parks of Paris, listen for the hand bell. An ageless rascal is calling you to mischief.