Chapter M: D'abbadie's Version (5)

Fidel goes as they had told him. He asks the king for a horse and a sword. The king gives him a horse blind and lame. Fidel was not pleased with it. He begins his march, wishing to get on as quickly as possible, but when he had gone a little distance, the horse sticks in the mud, and cannot in any way get out of it. While he is there, the white mare comes to him. She gives him a beautiful horse, and a lance and a sword, and tells him that he will see his brothers-in-law encamped round a city, but not to stop there with them, but to ride straight to the city; that the gates will be shut, but as soon as he shall have touched them with his lance they will be broken to pieces, and that they will make peace with him. He does as she told him, and starts off on his horse like the lightning, without paying the slightest attention to his brothers-in-law. He goes up to the city, and as soon as he has touched the gates with his sword they are in pieces. He enters the city, and all the world comes out and makes him a thousand fêtes. They declare that they wish for no more war. They give him the key of the treasury and all the papers, and he retires from there with all the honours. When he returns he tells his brothers-in-law to retire--that the war is finished. They go back again. He stops at the place where he had left his old horse in the mud. He sends away his beautiful horse with all his things, and Fidel stops there, not being able to drag his old horse out of the mud. When his brothers-in-law pass, they mock at him (and ask him) if it is there that he has passed all his time. He tells them, "Yes." The others go on ahead, and at length he also arrives at the king's house. He leaves his old horse there and goes off home. He does not tell his wife what has happened, and they live in their hole.

The king was getting old, and he had entirely lost his sight. Somebody gave him to understand that there was a water which made people young again, and another which restored sight. He told his sons-in-law that they must go (and look for it)--that he could not live long like that. And both of them start off. Their wives, at starting, had given each a golden apple. [114] They go far away; but they find nothing. Tired at last, they stop in a beautiful city. They take each of them a wife, and they live according to their fancy. When Fidel saw that his brothers-in-law did not arrive, he said to his wife that he must go off; perhaps he might be able better to find the waters which his father wanted. He goes off without saying anything to the king, and travels on, and on, and on.

He meets an old woman, who says to him, "Where are you going to?" He tells her how he wants a water which gives sight to the blind and makes the old young, [115] and that he would not go back home without finding it. This old woman says to him:

"You will see two animals fighting close to you, and you will gather the herb which makes the dead to live; you will have it boiled, and you will keep this water for yourself."

This lad goes on a little farther, and he sees two lizards fighting so fiercely that one kills the other. The one who was left alive takes a blade of grass and touches the dead and rekindles his life. [116] Fidel gathers this grass, and goes off to this old woman. The old woman gives him two bottles, telling him that the one is for giving sight to the blind, and the other for making old men young; that he must not sell these waters for money, but must make an exchange of them for two golden apples which his brothers-in-law have in this very city, and that it is to them that he must give this water.

Fidel goes into the city, and as soon as he has entered, he cries:

"Who wishes to buy the water that gives sight to the blind, and the water which makes old men young?"

His two brothers-in-law appear, and say that they must have some of this water, and ask what it costs. And he tells them that he does not sell it, but only gives it in exchange for golden apples. These gentlemen willingly make the exchange. But they wish to make trial of it directly; they bring an old blind dog, and immediately he grows young again. Judge how pleased they were with their water of power. They set off to the king, and this water makes him become very young and gives him sight. The king wishes to have great rejoicings, and invites all his friends in the neighbourhood. Fidel arrives at home, and says nothing to his wife. When he hears that the king is going to have rejoicings, he sends his wife to ask the king if he would not like them to go there too; that they would help, one in cutting the wood, and the other in serving at table. She did not wish to go there at all. She told her husband that she would a hundred times sooner stop at home; but her husband sends her off by force, (saying) that they ought to be there on that day. She goes, then, the poor woman, against her wish. She asks her father if he does not want some one to help on the feast day. The father says, "No!"--they have servants enough. An old general who was sitting by his side said to him:

"Why do you not let them come?"

Then the king said, "Come then on such a day."

Fidel and his wife go. While they are at breakfast the old general asks Fidel if he also does not know something to relate? He replies "Yes," that he knows some (stories), but more than one would not be pleased with what he would tell. Then the king says, placing his sword upon the table:

"The point of my sword shall know news of the heart of him who shall speak."

Fidel begins then, how he went to the war with an old horse, blind and lame, but that in spite of that he had carried off the keys of the treasure and the papers. The king says to him that he has not seen them yet--that he is still expecting them. Fidel takes out the papers and gives them to the king. He gives also the keys of the treasury. The king assures himself that they are the real ones. He then narrates how he has sold in exchange for two golden apples that precious water. At this instant his wife rises and says to him:

"Where have you these golden apples--you?"

As it is she who has spoken the first words, Fidel takes up the king's sword and strikes his wife dead. [117] The king was grieved to see that, but Fidel says to him:

"Do not disturb yourself for that; as I have taken away her life I will give it her again."

He takes out his water which rekindles dead men, and rubs some on her temple, and she suddenly returns to life. Everyone is astounded at this great deed, and at all that he has already done. The king tells him that he has already gained the crown, but that he must be cured of this terrible scab [118] first. His wife rises, takes off his kerchief which he had upon his head, and shows the shining head of her husband, saying:

"See, this is the scab of my husband!"

The king says that the crown will shine much better on his head. He goes to fetch it, and places it upon this precious head. He banishes his sons-in-law with his two daughters to the same desert place where Fidel formerly lived. And Fidel and his wife lived much richer than the king was. His precious head gave him this power; and as they lived well they died well too.

Laurentine.

We have another version almost identical with the above, except at the commencement. Ezkabi really has the scab. On his journey, after leaving his home, he pays the debts of a poor man whose corpse is being beaten in front of the church, and buries him. There is nothing about a white mare. An old woman is the good genius of the tale. He goes as gardener, and the king's daughter falls in love with him, from catching a sight of his golden hair from her window; for the rest the stories are identical, except that this is a shorter form than the above.

THE LADY PIGEON AND HER COMB. [119]

Like many others in the world, there was a mother and her son; they were very poor. This son wished to leave his mother and go away, (saying) that they were wretched as they were. He goes off then far, far, far away. He finds a castle in a forest, and goes in and asks if they want a servant, and it is a Tartaro who comes to him. He asks him:

"Where are you going to like that, ant of the earth?"

He says that, being very poor at home, he wished to work to better himself.

The Tartaro says to him, "As you have told the truth I spare your life, ant of the earth, and in a few days you will go away from here. Three young ladies will come to bathe in the water in my garden. They will leave their pigeon-robes under a large stone, and you will take the pigeon's skin which is in the middle. [120] The two young ladies will come out of the water and will take their skins. She who stops in the water will ask you for her skin, but you shall not give it her before she shall promise to help you always."

The next day our lad sees that the young ladies are in the water. He goes and does as the Tartaro tells him; he takes the middle one of the three skins, the two young ladies take their skins, and the third asks him to give her hers. The lad will not give it her without her promise. The young lady will not give her word. He then says to her that he will not give it her at all. The young lady then says to him that he may reckon upon her, that she gives him her word, and that he shall go to-morrow to her father's house, that he will take him as servant, and that he lives in such a place. The lad goes off then the next day and finds this beautiful house in a forest.

He asks if they want a servant? They tell him, "Yes," but that there is a great deal of work to do there. The next morning (the father) takes him into the forest and says to him:

"You must pull up all these oaks with their roots, you must cut them into lengths, and put the trunks on one side, the branches on another, and the roots by themselves, each in their place. Afterwards you will plough the ground, then you will harrow it, then sow the wheat; you will then cut it, and you bring me at noon a little cake made out of this wheat, otherwise you will be put to death." [121]

The lad says to him, "I will try."

He goes then to the forest and sits down pensive. It was already eleven o'clock when the young lady appears to him. She says to him:

"Why are you like that, so sad? Have not I promised that I would help you? Shut your eyes, but all the worse for you if you shall open them."

She throws a comb into the air, [122] and says:

"Comb, with thy power tear up these oaks with their roots, cut them into lengths, put the trunks together, and the branches, and the roots too by themselves."

As soon as it was said it was done. She throws another comb, and says to it:

"Comb, with thy power turn up this ground, harrow it, and sow the wheat."

As soon as it was said it was done. She throws another comb, and says:

"Comb, with thy power make a cake of this wheat when you have cut it."

Our lad was curious to know what was taking place, but the young lady said to him:

"Woe to you and to me if you open (your eyes). [123] Nothing will be finished for us."

He does not open them, and the cake is cooked. Twelve o'clock was going to strike. She says to him:

"Go with speed, you have no time to lose."

The lad goes to the king and brings him the cake. The king is astonished. He says (to himself), "That is a clever lad, that," and he wishes to be assured of it by looking out of window; and, after having seen that this huge forest had been torn up, he is astonished. He sends away the lad, and goes and tells it to his wife. His wife says to him, "Take care that he is not in league with your daughter." [124]

The husband says to her, "What do you mean? They have never seen each other."

This husband was a devil. The young lady told our lad that her father is going to send him to fetch a ring in a river far away. "He will tell you to choose a sword from the midst of ever so many others, but you will take an old sabre and leave the others."

The next day his wife told him that he ought to send him to fetch a ring which he had lost in the bed of a river. He sends him then, and tells him that he must choose a sword; that he will have quantities of evil fish to conquer. The lad says to him that he will not have those fine swords, that he has enough with this old sabre, which was used to scrape off the dirt.

When he arrived at the bank of the river he sat there weeping, not knowing what to do. The young lady comes to him, and says:

"What! You are weeping! Did not I tell you that I would always help you?"

It was eleven o'clock. The young lady says to him:

"You must cut me in pieces with this sabre, and throw all the pieces into the water."

The lad will not do it by any means. He says to her:

"I prefer to die here on the spot than to make you suffer."

The lady says to him, "It is nothing at all what I shall suffer, and you must do it directly--the favourable moment is passing by like this, like this."

The lad, trembling all over, begins with his sabre. He throws all the pieces into the river; but, lo! a part of the lady's little finger sticks to a nail in his shoe. The young lady comes out of the water and says to him:

"You have not thrown everything into the water. My little finger is wanting." [125]

After having looked for it, he sees that he has it under his foot, hooked on to a nail. The young lady gives him the ring. She tells him to go without losing a moment; for he must give it to the king at noon. He arrives happily (in time). The young lady, as she goes into the house, bangs the door with all her might and begins to cry out:

"Ay! ay! ay! I have crushed my little finger."

And she makes believe that she has done it there. The king was pleased. He tells him that on the morrow he must tame a horse and three young fillies. [126] The lad says to him:

"I will try."

The master gives him a terrible club. The young lady says to him in the evening:

"The horse which my father has spoken to you about will be himself. You will strike him with all your might with your terrible club on the nose, and he will yield and be conquered. The first filly will be my eldest sister. You will strike her on the chest with all your force, and she also will yield and will be conquered. I shall come the last. You will make a show of beating me too, and you will hit the ground with your stick, and I too will yield, and I shall be conquered."

The next day the lad does as the young lady has told him. The horse comes. He was very high-spirited, but our lad strikes him on the nose, he yields, and is conquered. He does the same thing with the fillies. He beats them with his terrible club, they yield, and are conquered; and when the third comes he makes a show of hitting her, and strikes the earth. She yields, and all go off.

The next day he sees the master with his lips swollen, and with all his face as black as soot. The young ladies had also pain in the chest. The youngest also gets up very late indeed in order to do as the others.

The master says to him that he sees he is a valuable servant, and very clever, and that he will give him one of his daughters for wife, but that he must choose her with his eyes shut. And the young lady says to him:

"You will choose the one that will give you her hand twice, and in any way you will recognise me, because you will find that my little finger is wanting. I will always put that in front."

The next day the master said to him:

"We are here now; you shall now choose the one you wish for, always keeping your eyes shut."

He shuts them then; and the eldest daughter approaches, and gives him her hand. He says to the king:

"It is very heavy, (this hand); too heavy for me. I will not have this one."

The second one approaches, she gives him her hand, and he immediately recognises that the little finger is wanting. He says to the king:

"This is the one I must have."

They are married immediately. [127] They pass some days like that. His wife says to him:

"It is better for us to be off from here, and to flee, otherwise my father will kill us."

They set off, then, that evening at ten o'clock, and the young lady spits before the door of her room, saying:

"Spittle, with thy power, you shall speak in my place." [128] And they go off a long way. At midnight, the father goes to the door of the lad and his wife, and knocks at the door; they do not answer. He knocks harder, and then the spittle says to him:

"Just now nobody can come into this room."

The father says, "It is I. I must come in."

"It is impossible," says the spittle again.

The father grows more and more angry; the spittle makes him stop an hour like that at the door. At last, not being able to do anything else, he smashes the door, and goes inside. What is his terrible rage when he sees the room empty. He goes off to his wife, and says to her:

"You were not mistaken; they were well acquainted, and they were really in league with one another, and they have both escaped together; but I will not leave them like that. I will go off after them, and I shall find them sooner or later."

He starts off. Our gentleman and lady had gone very far, but the young lady was still afraid. She said to her husband:

"He might overtake us even now. I--I cannot turn my head; but (look) if you can see something."

The husband says to her: "Yes, something terrible is coming after us; I have never seen a monster like this."

The young lady throws up a comb, and says: [129]

"Comb, with thy power, let there be formed before my father hedges and thorns, and before me a good road."

It is done as she wished. They go a good way, and she says again:

"Look, I beg you, if you see anything again."

The husband looks back, and sees nothing; but in the clouds he sees something terrible, and tells so to his wife. And his wife says, taking her comb:

"Comb, with thy power, let there be formed where he is a fog, and hail, and a terrific storm."

It happens as they wish. They go a little way farther, and his wife says to him:

"Look behind you, then, if you see anything."

The husband says to her: "Now it is all over with us. We have him here after us; he is on us. Use all your power."

She throws again a comb immediately, and says:

"Comb, with thy power, form between my father and me a terrible river, and let him be drowned there for ever."

As soon as she has said that, they see a mighty water, and there their father and enemy drowns himself. [130]

The young lady says, "Now we have no more fear of him, we shall live in peace."

They go a good distance, and arrive at a country into which the young lady could not enter. She says to her husband:

"I can go no farther. It is the land of the Christians there; I cannot enter into it. You must go there the first. You must fetch a priest. He must baptize me, and afterwards I will come with you; but you must take great care that nobody kisses you. If so, you will forget me altogether. Mind and pay great attention to it; and you, too, do not you kiss anyone."

He promises his wife that he will not. He goes, then, on, and on, and on. He arrives in his own country, and as he is entering it an old aunt recognises him, and comes behind him, and gives him two kisses. [131] It is all over with him. He forgets his wife, as if he had never seen her, and he stays there amusing himself, and taking his pleasure.

The young lady, seeing that her husband never returned, that something had happened to him, and that she could no longer count upon him, she takes a little stick, and striking the earth, she says:

"I will that here, in this very spot, is built a beautiful hotel, with all that is necessary, servants, and all the rest."

There was a beautiful garden, too, in front, and she had put over the door:

"Here they give to eat without payment."

One day the young man goes out hunting with two comrades, and while they were in the forest they said one to the other:

"We never knew of this hotel here before. We must go there too. One can eat without payment."

They go off then. The young lady recognises her husband very well, but he does not recognise her at all. She receives them very well. These gentlemen are so pleased with her, that one of them asks her if she will not let him pass the night with her. [132] The young lady says to him, "Yes." The other asks also, "I, too, was wishing it." The young lady says to him:

"To-morrow then, you, if you wish it, certainly."

And her husband says to her: "And I after to-morrow then."

The young lady says to him, "Yes." One of the young men remains then. He passes the evening in great delight, and when the hour comes for going to bed, the young lady says to him:

"When you were small you were a choir-boy, and they used to powder you; this smell displeases me in bed. Before coming there you must comb yourself. Here is a comb, and when you have got all the powder out, you may come to bed."

Our lad begins then to comb his hair, but never could he get all the powder out, such quantities came out, and were still coming out of his head; and he was still at it when the young lady rose. The lad said to her:

"What! you are getting up before I come."

"And do you not see that it is day? I cannot stop there any longer. People will come."

Our young man goes off home without saying a word more. He meets his comrade who was to pass the night with this young lady. He says to him:

"You are satisfied? You amused yourself well?"

"Yes, certainly, very well. If the time flies as fast with you as it did with me you will amuse yourself well."

He goes off then to this house. The young lady says to him, after he had had a good supper:

"Before going to bed you must wash your feet. The water will be here in this big copper; when you have them quite clean you may come to bed."

Accordingly he washes one, and when he has finished washing the other, the first washed is still black and dirty. He washes it again, and finds the foot that he has just well washed very dirty again. He kept doing like that for such a long time. When the young lady gets up, the gentleman says to her:

"What! You are getting up already, without me coming?"

"Why did you not then come before day? I cannot stay any longer in bed. It is daylight, and the people will begin (to come)."

Our young man withdraws as the other had done. Now it is the turn of her husband. She serves him still better than the others; nothing was wanting at his supper. When the hour for going to bed arrives, they go to the young lady's room; when they are ready to get into bed, the young lady says to him:

"Put out the light."

He puts it out, and it lights again directly. He puts it out again, and it lights again as soon as it is put out. He passes all the night like that in his shirt, never being able to put out that light. When daylight is come, the young lady says to him:

"You do not know me then? You do not remember how you left your wife to go and fetch a priest?"

As soon as she had said that he strikes his head, and says to her:

"Only now I remember all that--up to this moment I was as if I had never had a wife at all--how sorry I am; but indeed it is not my fault, not at all. I never wished it like that, and it is my old aunt who kissed me twice without my knowing it."

"It is all the same now. You are here now. You have done penance enough; your friends have done it too. One passed the whole night getting powder out of his head, and the other in washing his feet, and they have not slept with me any more than you have. At present you must go into your country, and you must get a priest. He shall baptize me, and then we will go into your country."

The husband goes off and returns with the priest, and she is baptized, and they set out for his country. When they have arrived there, she touched the earth with her stick, and says to it:

"Let there be a beautiful palace, with everything that is needed inside it, and a beautiful garden before the house."

As soon as it is said, it is done. They lived there very rich and very happy with the old mother of the lad, and as they lived well they died well too.

Laurentine Kopena.

SUGGESTED EXPLANATION OF THE ABOVE TALE (THE LADY-PIGEON AND HER COMB).

This legend seems to us to be one of the best examples in our collection of what may be called atmospherical, or climatological myths.

The story opens with man in misery, without the aid of cultivation and agriculture. The old king we take to be a personification of winter; his daughter of spring, warmth, and fertility--of what the French call "la belle saison." The comb, with which she does her marvels, is the power which draws out her golden hair, the sun's bright rays. The young man, who, without her aid, can effect nothing, is man in relation to the frozen ground, which needs her aid to quicken it into fertility. It is the old Sun-god, the Cyclops, who tells him where to find, and how to woo, his fairy bride. But spring and earth are as yet both fast bound in winter's dominions. There he must go, and learn what he must do, if they are to be married. The felling of the forest, the sowing and ripening corn, and the cooked cake, teach him that he can only succeed by her help; and yet he does not see how she does it--man cannot see the corn grow, etc. The summer warmth and fertilizing power, typified by the ring, still lies buried in the frozen waters. The taming of the horses shows the need and help of domestic animals in agriculture. These things are necessary to be known ere spring can free herself from winter's dominion and marry her chosen lover. Winter would still hold her fast; but even in his own home her influence works secretly against him. He does not suspect that she is in league with her lover. But at length they are joined together; they flee, and the great struggle between winter and spring has fairly set in. She is able to hide her flight a little while; but he discovers it, and pursues and nearly overtakes her. But, by means of her comb, scattering abroad her warm rays, she works wonders. He is stopped by rough, wintry roads. Her path is through fair and pleasant ways; the storms, and hail, and rain of early spring assist her, but it is the mighty inundation of the swollen rivers which finally overwhelms him, and sweeps him for ever away.

But their union is not complete yet. She cannot enter the Christians' land. The natural powers of earth and sky have need of agriculture and civilization for their full expansion. And man, frightened at the toil, is lured back again to the nomad hunter life. He forgets his bride in the pleasures of the chase. He spends the winter thus, but is drawn back by the attraction of his waiting bride in spring. She has food in abundance; he is hungry. Other wooers come; she cheats and deludes them, till her true husband appears, and submits to her once more. Then is the full marriage of earth and husbandry, and man wedded to the summer's warmth and glow.

All parts of the tale are not equally clear, nor do we positively affirm that we have interpreted it aright. But there can be no doubt that we have here a nature allegory; and, told as it is by those who have not the most remote suspicion of its meaning, many things in it must needs be confused; the wonder is that the details are still so clear and so little distorted as they are. And, if this be the interpretation, or even if this kind of interpretation be allowed in this case, then we must consider if it is not to be extended to every case in which the several incidents occur, though they are now mingled and confused with circumstances with which they had no original connection.

LAUR-CANTONS. [133]

There was a man who was very rich. He wished to get married, but the young girls of this country would not marry him, because he had such a bad reputation. One day he sent for a vine-dresser, who had three daughters, and said to him,

"I want to marry one of your three daughters; if I do not marry them, so much the worse for you--I will have you killed."

This vine-dresser goes away home in sadness. He tells his two eldest daughters what Mr. Laur-Cantons had said to him. The daughters tell him that they will not marry; it is useless to ask them. The father stays indoors in his grief, and his youngest daughter comes home. He tells her, too, what has happened, and this one says to her father,

"Do not be so sad; as for me, I will marry him, and nothing shall happen to you."

The father and the daughter go off then. He marries this young girl. And, as Mr. Laur-Cantons was very rich, he had quantities of beautiful dresses made for her. He had gold by hogsheads full, and this young girl was very happy with this gentleman.

After some time the king summoned him to go to the army, and he was obliged to go. He said to his wife, "Amuse yourself well," and he leaves her plenty of money.

His wife says, "No," she will remain at home till he comes back, and will not see anybody until his return. Mr. Laur-Cantons set off for the court. When he was there, a merchant attacks him on purpose to vex him and put him in a passion, and tells him that he will get into his wife's house, and he wagers all that he has in his shop, and Mr. Laur-Cantons bets 100,000 francs that he will not get in. This merchant then goes off to the lady's house. He knocks at the door, and says that he comes with a letter from her husband, and begs her to open the door. But they do not open it. They tell him to put the letter in the hole; and, after having remained all night at the door in vain, he goes off to the forest in a rage, kicking and stamping about with his feet, because he had lost all that he possessed. An old woman passes by there, and says to him,

"What is the matter with you, that you are in such great trouble?"

"Be off with you, quickly, or I will give you two good boxes on the ear." This woman was a witch. This man was sorry a moment afterwards for not having listened to this old woman, and he goes off after her:

"Just now I treated you very badly, but I must now tell you my trouble. I have lost all that I possess in a bet with Mr. Laur-Cantons that I would get into his wife's house, but I have passed the whole night there, and have not been able to get in."

"If you have only that it is nothing, and I will arrange that."

She goes with a basket of apples and knocks at the door, and says that she is the lady's nurse, and asks them to open. They open for her. The young lady shows her her dresses for the marriage day and for the next day too, her gold chain, and all her pretty things. While she is putting by her dresses the witch takes her gold chain, which had the lady's name on it; and the lady did not observe it, and did not miss anything when she shut up the others, because she had full confidence in her, believing that she was really her nurse, since she said so.

The witch goes off to find the merchant and gives him the gold chain. The merchant gives her as a reward a complete set of new clothes. The merchant goes off joyfully to find Mr. Laur-Cantons, and shows him from a distance the gold chain. Imagine what was the rage of the gentleman. He goes off home immediately. He knocks at the door, saying that it is the master who is there; he enters, and says to his wife, with harsh voice, to go upstairs and put on her wedding dress and her gold ornaments. She comes down without putting it on at all, and he says to her:

"Where are your gold ornaments?"

"Not being able to find them, I have put on those of the next day."

When he has got on horseback he tells her to get up behind him. This young lady, having suspected something, had taken a great deal of money with her. When they had gone a short way he dismounts. He puts his wife into a chest and throws her into the sea. On the sea-shore there are always people looking about, and when the chest was seen they caught hold of it as best they could. They begin to knock it, wishing to open it. She says to them from inside:

"Gently, gently, there is someone alive inside here."

After they had opened it she gave them a handsome present, and goes to an hotel, and dresses herself like a gentleman. She asks if there is anyone seriously ill in the town. They say to her:

"For the last seven years the king's daughter is so."

She goes off to seek flowers and herbs in the fields, and she makes acquaintance with the king's physicians; and one day she goes with them to the king's house, and as they come out she says to one of them:

"I, I could cure that young lady."

The king hears that, and bids her to come as soon as possible. At the first visit she gives her something to drink. As soon as she has drunk she moves her head. She gives her to drink a second time, and she sits up on the bed. The third time she gives her to drink she leaps right out of bed. Think what rejoicings there were in the house of the king! He did not know what to do to reward her, but she says to him that she wishes nothing, only she would be made governor of this city. She asks the names of the people at the court. They tell her a great many names, and that of Mr. Laur-Cantons among others. When she has got installed in her palace, she has Mr. Laur-Cantons brought up before her between two policemen. She asks him what he has done with his wife. He says to her that he knows nothing about her.

She points to the gallows:

"If you do not tell the truth, that shall be your reward."

He tells her then how that a merchant had come to tempt him; how he had made a bet, and that he had come back with her gold chain, and then, having got into a passion, he had thrown her into the sea in a chest. She sends to fetch this merchant. He, too, tells how, in order not to lose all he had, and not being able to get into the house, a woman had brought him the chain. The merchant did not tell the truth at the first questioning--it was after having been threatened that he confessed it. She sends for the witch between eight policemen, and asks her how she had got the gold chain from the lady's house. She tells the whole truth as it had happened. As the governor had had seven barrels of powder placed one above the other, they put the witch on the top, and set fire to the barrels from below. The witch goes up in the air with the fire, and nobody sees her any more. They hang the merchant as well. Mr. Laur-Cantons was on his knees before the governor, begging pardon of him for his wicked actions. She pardons him, and made him governor and she remained governess. She sent for her father, and they lived very happily.

If that is not true, may it happen (to me) like that.

Louise Amyot,
more than 70 years old.

THE YOUNG SCHOOLBOY.

Once upon a time there was a gentleman and lady. They had a child. The father was captain of a ship. The mother regularly sent her son to school, and when the father came back from his voyages he asked his child if he had learnt much at school. The mother answered, "No, no! not much."

The father went off for another voyage. He comes home the second time. "My child, what have you learnt at school?"

The child answers his father, "Nothing."

"You have learnt nothing?"

The captain goes to find the schoolmaster, and asks him if his child does not learn anything.

"I cannot drive anything into that child's head."

The boy comes up, and the father, asks him again what he has learnt at school.

"This is all. (To understand) the song of the birds."

"O, my son, the song of the birds! the song of the birds! Come, come on board ship with me."

And he carries him off. While they were on the voyage a bird comes and settles on the end of the ship, singing, "Wirittitti, kirikiriki."

"My son, come, come, instead of beginning by learning the art of a captain you have learned the song of birds. Do you know what this bird sings?"

"Yes, my father. I know he sings that I am now under your orders, but you shall also be under mine."

What does this captain do? He takes a barrel, knocks out the head, and puts his son into it. He closes up the barrel and throws it into the sea, and a storm casts it ashore.

A king was walking there just at that moment, and he finds this barrel and sends for his men. They begin to try and break open the barrel, and the boy cries out from inside:

"Gently, gently, there is someone inside."

They open the barrel, and the boy comes out from inside. The king takes him home, and he marries the king's daughter.

One day the father of this boy was caught in a great storm, and the captain is thrown by the tempest on the sea-shore. He went to the king, and saw his son. The son recognised the father, but the father did not recognise the son at all, and he became his own son's servant. One day he said to him:

"Do you know who I am?"

"No, sir."

"I am such an one, your son. At such a time you threw me into the sea in a barrel, and now the bird's song has come true."

And after that the father and the son lived together very happily.

Estefanella Hirigaray.

The following seems to be a variation of the same:--

THE SON WHO HEARD VOICES.

Like many others in the world, there was a gentleman and lady. They had several children. There was one whom they did not love so much as they did the others, because he said that he heard a voice very often. He said also that this voice had told him that a father and a mother would be servants to their son, but without saying that it was they. When the mother heard that she got very angry, taking it for herself. They were very rich, and they had two men-servants. This mother told these servants to go with her son and kill him, and bring his heart back to the house.

The next day she said to her son:

"You must go for a walk to such a place with these servants, and you may stop there till twelve o'clock."

The lad goes off quietly with the servants, and when they had gone a little distance, the two servants begin to talk loudly, and to dispute, and get angry. He goes up to them, and sees what they are quarrelling about. The one wished to kill him, and the other did not. They fought, and the one who did not wish to kill him got the better of the other. And they said that they would kill a big dog which they had with them, and that they would carry his heart to their mistress. Before the servants returned the mother had already begun to be sorry.

Our young man wandered from place to place, and wandering like that, he said to himself that he must go to Rome. He meets with two men who tell him that they are going to Rome too, and they will make the journey together. They loved this young lad very much, because they saw that there was something in him different from the rest. When night came they all go to a house hidden in a thick forest. They ask shelter for the night. They tell them to enter, and give them a good supper. Our young lad hears the voice, and it says to him:

"You are in a very unhappy place here. It would have been better if you had not come here."

The other men said to him, "What is that? What is that?"

"Nothing at all. It would have been better to have gone elsewhere."

When they had finished supper, they show them to bed, but our young gentleman does not go to sleep. He hears in the middle of the night a great noise made by the robbers, who were returning home laden with silver. The woman said to them:

"Go gently. We have three men here, and they say that one of them is very rich."

Our young man hears that. He wakes his comrades, and they jump out of the window and escape. They walk on the whole day. When night comes they see a beautiful house, and they ask to be lodged there that night. They said to them:

"Certainly, with pleasure, but you will not have much rest; we have a daughter who for seven years shrieks out in pain night and day."

These men say to the young man: "Will not you cure her--you?"

He said to them: "I will try."

(The narrator had forgotten how this was done).

They were very rich. When he had cured the young girl, this poor father said to him:

"Sir, it is you who are now the master of this house. Give your orders, and whatever you wish shall be done."

Our young gentleman thanks him very much, and tells him that he is going to Rome, but that he cannot say what he will do later after that. This young lady had a beautiful ring on her finger. The father cut this ring in two, and gave him one-half. They depart, and at length they arrive close to Rome, and as they come near all the bells begin to ring of themselves. Everyone comes out:

"Where is he? What is this? It is the Holy Father [134] who must be coming!"

They take our young gentleman and make him the Holy Father.

The mother of this man was growing sadder and sadder, she was slowly languishing away, and they could no longer recognise her. She had never told her husband what she had done, but she asked him to go to Rome; and she ended by telling him what a terrible thing she had done, and that she believes that she will get pardon there, if he would go with her with the two servants who had also sinned. They arrive at Rome. This poor mother had such great grief, and such a weight at her heart that she wished to make her confession aloud in the middle of the church at Rome. [135] Chance willed it that her son was in this church. When he hears that he goes opening his arms to the arms of his mother, saying to her:

"I forgive you, I am your son."

The joy and the happiness kill the father and mother on the spot. He takes the two servants home with him, and gives to him who did not wish to kill him the half of the young lady's ring, and he married her, and lived happily in the midst of riches. He told the servant who wished to kill him to go to the mountain and to be a charcoal-burner, and he is still there making charcoal; and this charcoal which you see here was brought from his house.

THE MOTHER AND HER (IDIOT) SON; OR, THE CLEVER THIEF. [136]

Like many others in the world, there were a mother and her son; they were poor, and the young man, when he grew up, wished to go from home, to see if he could better his position. His mother lets him go with great reluctance. He goes on, and on, and on through terrible forests. He comes to a beautiful house, and asks if they want a servant. They tell him "Yes," and to come in; and then they tell him how they go at night to rob people, and sometimes to kill them; and they ask if he would go too. He says "Yes," and in the middle of the night he sees the chief of the robbers arrive, with all his company, laden with gold and silver; and he remained a long time with them.

One day the chief said to him, "At such an hour a rich gentleman on horseback will pass by such a place, and you must go and rob him; and, if he will not give it up willingly, you must kill him."

Our lad had had enough of this trade; but he told the chief that he would do it. He stays then, waiting for this gentleman, and at last he sees him coming. He presents himself before him, and says,

"Your purse or your life!"

The gentleman gives him his purse and all the money that he had, and he had a great deal. He said to him, "It is not enough yet. You must give me your fine clothes too, and your horse."

They exchange clothes, and the gentleman goes off, very glad, although he had old clothes on, because he had spared him his life. Instead of returning to the robbers' house, what does our lad do? He goes off on horseback with his money to his mother's house. Everyone was astonished at his arrival, and that he had made his fortune so quickly. He goes to his mother, and judge of her joy! He tells her how it is that he has become so rich, and that it all happened far, far away. His mother told it to others, and at last this news comes to the ears of the mayor, who sends his servant to this young man to tell him to come to his house on the morrow without fault.

He goes then, leaving his mother in tears. His mother told him to tell the mayor how he had made his fortune so quickly. He tells him what business he had pursued, but that it was very far away, and that he had never killed anybody. The mayor said to him,

"If you do not steal my finest horse from my stable this very night, I will have you killed to-morrow." [137]

This mayor was very rich, and he had a great many servants and a great many horses. There were three of them finer and more valuable than the others. Our lad goes home and consoles his mother. He asks her to give him his old clothes which he wore formerly, and, putting them over the others, he takes a big stick, and goes off to the mayor's, crawling along like an old man. He knocks at the door, and asks shelter for the night. A lad comes to him, and says--

"We shall not give you shelter in this house to-night. You may go on farther."

But he begs so much, and asks him to give him at least a corner of the stable--that he does not know where to go to--that at last they let him enter, and give him a little straw (to lie down on). Our lad hears what they say to each other. Three lads were to stop till midnight on the three finest horses, and at midnight three other servants were to take their places. What does our lad do? They were asleep on their horses. As soon as he hears midnight, he goes and gives one of them a knock, and says to him,

"It is midnight; go to bed."

Half asleep, the lad goes off to bed; the others were still asleep on their horses. He mounts on the horse--he had chosen the finest--and opens the doors very gently, and goes off at a trot, without looking behind him. He goes home, and his mother is very delighted to see her son.