An ethnologist comes to interview a Marseillais of old stock.These humble cheerful Marseillais have never heard of ethnologists but they pretend they do and Honoré begins to tell the story of his dear city :Honorius ,his Roman ancestor ,founded Massilia when he married the Ligure tribe chief's daughter ;then ,later on,in the Pompey/Ceasar rivalry days ,Honoris,another forefather,made the wrong choice,and ,besieged by Julius' armies,he invented the game of Pétanque to stave off boredom..