Joueuse de Tympanon - automate I thought you said there wasn't any magic in your world, Francis?
Although... this is rather more... disturbing... than anything else.
But that isn't magic, my friend! That is the scientific ingenuity of the human race. And it isn't disturbing at all, mon dieu! 
It's a little moving woman.
Are you certain there's not a demon inside?
What?! Of course not!
The key originally inserted is what triggers the mechanism and gives it movement.
It turns gears and winds them up so that when they unwind, the complicated way they're put together and attached to the figure enables her
to move this way. It is so marvelous...
If only I could lend you a book on my world's history
Mine, of course, would be the most fascinating.
...that seems so much more complicated than just, well, using a spell or something.
Or at least it seems that way to me at any rate.
Do you have any books on your history?
Of course! Which is why it is genius. 
Not on the island, ami.