He followed the beach for a long time without coming to any dwelling.
He and his companion were obliged to live for several days on
shell-fish, and principally on mussels and lumpets, which cats love
above all things. They came at last to a mill, not far from which rose
the walls and towers of a castle high upon the cliff. Yvon entered the
mill, carrying the cat on his left arm. He saw there four men, in their
shirt-sleeves, armed with sticks and earnestly engaged in chasing the
mice which ran about in every direction, so as to hinder them from
cutting holes in the sacks and eating the flour.
“How much trouble you take for a small matter!” said he to them.
“How is it a small matter? Do you not see that if we should let them,
these vile beasts would eat both the wheat and the flour and would
reduce us to die of hunger?”
“Ah, well! here is a little animal” (and he showed them his cat) “that,
all by himself, in less than an hour, will do more work than you four
in a whole year; he will very soon get rid of all your mice.”
“This little animal? You are joking, doubtless; he does not seem at all
dangerous. What do you call him?” (In that country they had never seen
a cat.)
“He is called Mr. Cat. Do you wish to see him work?”
“Yes; let us see something of what he can do.”
Yvon let go his cat, which was very hungry. The mice, which were not
afraid of it, never having seen a cat, made no haste to run into their
holes, and it made a frightful slaughter of them. The four men watched
it work, in great astonishment, and in less than an hour the whole
threshing-floor of the mill was strewn with dead mice. There were heaps
of them in every direction. The men with the sticks and the miller
could not recover from their astonishment. One of them ran to the
castle, and said to the lord,--
“Make haste, my lord, and come to the mill; you will see there what you
have never seen before in your life.”
“What is it?” asked the lord.
“A man has arrived from some country, we know not where, bringing with
him a little animal that appears to be very mild and gentle, yet which
in the wink of an eye has killed all the mice against which we have had
so much trouble to defend your wheat and your flour.”
“I trust this may be true!” cried the lord.
He hastened to the mill, and seeing the great work of the cat, he stood
still, filled with admiration, his eyes and his mouth wide open. Then,
seeing on Yvon’s arm the author of all this carnage, which, well fed
and happy, and its eyes half closed, was making a continuous sound like
that of a wheel turned by the hand of a spinner, he asked,--
“And is it this animal, that looks so gentle and sweet, which has
worked so bravely?”
“Yes, my lord, it is indeed,” replied the four men armed with sticks.
“What a treasure such an animal must be! Ah! if I could only have it!
Will you sell it to me?” asked he of Yvon.
“Willingly,” replied Yvon, passing his hand down the back of his cat.
“How much will you take for it?”
“Six hundred crowns, with lodging for myself and good board in your
castle; for my friend, the cat, will not work well if I do not stay
with him.”
“Agreed! shake hands.”
And they shook hands.
Yvon was accordingly installed in the castle, having nothing to do
every day but eat, drink, go walking, and from time to time to make a
visit to his friend, the cat, at the mill. He had become the friend of
the lord, and also of his daughter; for he was a very handsome young
man. His acquaintance with the young girl became very intimate; and he
got from her all the gold and diamonds that he wanted. But the time
came when he thought it was most prudent for him to go away; so he
disappeared one night without saying anything, taking with him the best
horse in the castle stable to carry him, and all that he took away from
the old lord.
Now we will follow him no farther, since his fortune is made, but see
what has become of Goulven and his cock.
After having walked a long time, and getting farther and farther from
home, Goulven at last reached a country where there were no cocks. One
evening, about sunset, overcome with fatigue, he came to a beautiful
castle, and knocked at the door.
“What do you want?” asked the porter.
“Lodging for the night, if you please, for my little comrade and
myself.”
“Come in,” said the porter to him; “you may lodge here, for my master
is charitable.”
He ate in the kitchen with the servants, then went to sleep in the
stable with the stable-boys and wagoners, taking his cock with him.
In that country they were obliged to go each morning to look for the
day. So in the barn where he was with his cock, Goulven heard the
conversation of the stable-boys and wagoners. They were saying to each
other,--
“To-morrow morning we shall have trouble again when we go to look for
the day. Let us grease the axle-tree well, so that the wagon will run
more easily, and not break down, as it did the other day; for see how
many wagons are already broken, and many horses worked to death, and
the master is displeased, and says that we shall ruin him.”
“Yes, grease the axle-tree well before we go to bed.”
Goulven listened, astonished at what he heard; and, as the lord and the
servants had told him that they had never seen a bird like his cock,
the idea struck him that he might make something out of it; so that he
cried to the stable-boys and the wagoners,--
“Do not be so troubled and anxious, my friends. I will undertake your
task.”
“You will undertake to go yourself, all alone, to look for the day
to-morrow morning?”
“Yes; I and my companion.”
“But, unhappy man, if you do not bring it, or if you are late
returning, the master will have you hanged on the spot.”
“Let us alone, I tell you, and go to sleep quietly.”
Accordingly, the stable-boys and wagoners went to sleep without
greasing the wagon or making any of the usual preparations.
The cock crowed out from the loft about three o’clock in the morning.
“What is that?” cried the wagoners and stable-boys, awakened by this
song that they had never heard before.
“It is nothing,” replied Goulven; “do not disturb yourselves. My
comrade only announces that he is about to go in search of the day.” So
they went to sleep again.
About four o’clock the cock crowed again, and they woke up as before,
and cried,--
“What is it? what is it?”
“It is my comrade, telling you that he is coming with the day,” replied
Goulven; “get up and see.”
So they got up, and saw with astonishment that, sure enough, the day
had come without their having been to look for it with so much trouble.
They hastened to go and tell their master.
“Master, if you only knew--”
“What is it? What has happened that you should come to wake me so
early?”
“You know the stranger whom you lodged last night, with his little
animal that he called a cock?”
“Well, what has he done?”
“What has he done? Why, this little animal, that does not look as if he
were anything in particular, is stronger than all your horses together,
and will be able to spare you much expense, and us much trouble. Would
you believe it? he has brought us the day this morning all by himself,
without horses or wagons, while we slept quietly.
“It is impossible; you are mocking me!”
“Nothing is truer, however; and you have only to assure yourself of it
by keeping the man and his little animal at the castle and watching
with us to-night.”
“Very well; tell him to remain, so that I can see this thing.”
So they told the man with the cock to remain with his animal.
When evening came, after supper, the servants, the stable-boys, and
the wagoners went to sleep as usual, and Goulven climbed again to the
loft, with his cock, after having told them that they need not disturb
themselves at all, and that he would undertake to bring the day back
again at the appointed hour.
About three o’clock in the morning the lord, who had not gone to bed,
came also to the stable to see and hear for himself what took place.
The cock crowed the first time on the cock-loft.
“What is that?” asked the lord.
“It is my comrade, just setting out to look for the day,” replied
Goulven; “do not be disturbed. Wait quietly; he will not be slow in
returning.”
At four o’clock the cock crowed again.
“Why has the cock crowed?” asked the lord.
“Because he has just arrived, bringing the day back to us,” replied
Goulven. “Open the door, and go out, and you will see.”
The lord went out of the stable, and saw that day had really dawned,
all rosy and bright (it was the month of May), without his horses and
his iron-bound wagons having gone to look for it. He was filled with
amazement, and could not understand it. He called Goulven, and said to
him,--
“The wagons that they break for me, the horses they cripple for me,
going every morning to look for the dawn, are ruinous to me; if you
will sell me your little animal, you will do me a great service; how
much do you ask for it?”
“A thousand crowns,” replied Goulven, “and to remain with it at the
castle, well fed, well clothed, and having nothing to do but to go
walking for my pleasure where I will.”
“Agreed,” said the lord.
So Goulven lived at the castle, the happiest of men, having nothing
to do every day but eat, drink, sleep, and go out walking. The cock,
for his part, never failed to bring the day back at the proper hour,
and all were very well satisfied with their services. Goulven also
made love to the lord’s daughter, who had noticed him because he was
a handsome fellow, and having behaved just as Yvon had done under the
same circumstances, he ran away also, when he thought the moment had
come, taking with him not only the thousand crowns that he had gotten
for the cock, but handsome presents which he had received from the
young lady, and which he bore off on the best horse in the lord’s
stable.
Of the three brothers, we have already seen two entirely successful;
one with his cat, the other with his cock. Now let us see what became
of the third, Guyon, the man with the ladder.
After having walked a long time, going always straight before him, and
carrying his ladder on his shoulder, and having gone a great distance
from his own country, he found himself one day in front of a grand
castle, surrounded on all sides by high walls, and brambles and thorns.
At the window of one of the towers he saw a young lady of remarkable
beauty. He stopped to look at her; she smiled, and they soon began to
talk together. The lady told him that her husband, the lord of the
castle, was absent. He was a jealous wretch, who kept her a captive in
this tower with only a servant for company, and allowed her to receive
no one else. She had grown very weary of her tower and wished very
much to go out of it; but her lord had taken away the keys, and until
his return she was obliged to stay locked up. He was expected to return
the next day.
“I can come to you without a key, if you will permit it,” said Guyon.
“How can you, unless you change yourself to a bird? Into this castle,
no man but my husband ever enters, and if any other should succeed in
getting in, he would never go out alive.”
“We will see about that,” said Guyon.
Then he leaned his ladder against the wall. Alas! it was too short.
But the lady and her servant held the curtains out to him, and at
last he reached them, to their great joy. The next morning, early, he
departed by the same way by which he had come. As he had greatly amused
the young lady and her servant, to whom such good fortune had never
happened, they filled his pockets before he left with gold, jewels, and
diamonds.
As Guyon was going quietly along, carrying his ladder on his shoulder,
he met the lord returning, who said to him as he passed,--
“You appear much burdened and very much fatigued, my good man.”
“A little,” replied he; and each went on his way.
As soon as the lord had entered his castle, his wife, who knew
nothing, and who had never seen any other man but her husband near
enough to speak, made haste to tell him everything. To her great
astonishment, her lord was furious.
“How could he get into the tower?”
“With an instrument that he called a ladder. And he amused us very
much; and before he left, to reward him, we filled his pockets with
gold, jewels, and diamonds.”
“Ah! miserable woman, what do you say? You have given my gold and my
jewels and diamonds to this creature?”
And he was furious, and stamped his feet and pulled out his hair.
“I shall run after him, and if I catch him!--”
“Do him no harm, I beg you,” said the wife, who could not understand
her husband’s anger.
The latter took the best horse from his stable and was soon off at
great speed in pursuit of Guyon. But Guyon, who thought he would be
followed, looked behind him, from time to time; and as he saw him just
as he came near a house covered with slate which was by the roadside,
he placed his ladder against the wall, mounted to the roof, and began
to throw down the slate tiles, as a tiler does when repairing an old
roof. When the lord arrived in front of the house, he stopped his
horse, and addressing Guyon, said,--
“How now, tiler, have you seen a man go by who carried a ladder on his
shoulder?”
“Yes, indeed! my lord; he passed by only a moment ago.”
“Which way did he go?”
“He kept on straight along there; hold on, you can see him still from
here. Come up, and you will see him.”
Then Guyon descended, and the lord, leaving his horse, climbed upon
the roof. But as soon as he had done so, Guyon took away the ladder,
mounted the horse, taking his ladder with him, and set off at a full
gallop, leaving the lord swearing and storming on the roof.
At the end of a year and a day, exactly, the three brothers, mounted on
fine horses and dressed like lords, met at the cross-roads where they
had parted, and found their father waiting for them.
They had all three made their fortunes with the cat, the cock, and the
ladder; and they married rich women, and built three fine castles, one
for each, and a fourth, finer than the others, for their old father.
Told by Marguerite Philippe, September, 1873.
F. M. LUZEL.
THE COCK’S WIFE
A STORY OF THE DISTRICT OF METZ
Once upon a time there was a cock’s wife who was scratching with all
her might in a great heap of rubbish, and seemed deeply absorbed in her
task.
“You are very silly, Cock’s-wife,” said a man who passed by, “to waste
your time so, and wear out your feet so uselessly.”
“You are mistaken, my good fellow; I am not wasting my time, for I have
just found a purse with a hundred crowns.”
“Really?”
“See here!”
“Come, my good creature, lend me a hundred crowns; I will return them
in eight days.”
“Very well; here they are,” said the Cock’s-wife, putting the purse
into his hand:--she could never refuse to do a kindness.
At the end of the week, the Cock’s wife, seeing that her debtor did not
return, began to fear that she had been deceived, and indignant, she
started in the direction of the house where the fellow lived. As she
was going along, at a turn in the road she met a ladder.
“Where are you going, Cock’s-wife?” asked the ladder.
“I am going to a fellow’s house to get back a hundred crowns that I
lent him. Will you come with me?”
“Gladly!”
“Very well; get inside of me,” said the Cock’s-wife.
Cock’s-wife went on her way, and a little farther on she met a river.
“Where are you going, Cock’s-wife?” said the river.
“I am going to a fellow’s house to get back a hundred crowns that I
lent him. Will you come with me?”
“With pleasure,” replied the river.
“Very well; get inside of me,” said the Cock’s-wife.
The Cock’s-wife started off again; when in the midst of a wood she came
across a wolf.
“Where are you going, Cock’s-wife?” asked the wolf.
“I am going to a fellow’s house to get back a hundred crowns that I
lent him. Will you come with me?”
“I will.”
“Very well; get inside of me.”
In spite of the weight of her three companions, the Cock’s-wife got
safely to the end of her journey.
“Good morning, my man, good morning,” said she, as she entered: “I have
come to ask you to pay me my hundred crowns.”
The fellow, who had made up his mind not to pay his debt, fell upon the
Cock’s-wife, seized her by the wings, and threw her into a well near
the house. Although stunned by the fall, the poor creature did not lose
her senses.
“Ladder, ladder, come out of me,
Or I am a lost Cock’s-wife,”
cried she.
The ladder obeyed immediately; and the Cock’s-wife rapidly climbed the
ladder, and jumped out of the well.
The fellow, who had thought she was drowned, could not control his
anger when he saw her. He sprang on her again, and threw her into his
oven.
When she felt the heat of the flames, she cried in an eager voice,--
“River, river, come out of me,
Or I am a lost Cock’s wife.”
The river flowed out immediately and put out the fire.
The Cock’s-wife, rejoiced at having so happily escaped so many dangers,
was going away unsuspectingly, when she was again seized by the fellow.
“Ah! vile beast,” he screamed, “you thought to escape me, but you
shall not succeed;” and saying these words, he threw her violently
between the legs of his oxen standing close together in a narrow
stable, sure that they would certainly trample her.
“Wolf, wolf, come out of me,
Or I am a lost Cook’s wife.”
At this despairing appeal, the wolf jumped out, and in a few moments
killed the oxen, and then the man.
The Cock’s-wife took the hundred crowns, which she found hidden in
the fellow’s house, in the bottom of a desk, and after having warmly
thanked the ladder, the river, and the wolf, she returned to her own
country, where she led ever afterwards a peaceful and honored life.
Told by the widow Madame Richet, aged 77 years, at Woippy, near Metz.
NÉRÉE QUÉPAT.
THE CASTLE HUNG IN THE AIR
A SAILOR’S STORY
Once upon a time there was a fisherman whose only possessions consisted
of a little cabin by the seashore, his boat, and his nets. He had a son
who went fishing with him, and he was so good-looking that as he passed
along every one turned to look at him. He had also three daughters,
very nearly of the same age, and all three as beautiful as the day.
The fisherman, who was old, died; his son became the head of the
family, and at all eventides he went in his boat to fish, so as to get
something to eat for all his household.
One day as he was setting out to go to the strand, he saw before his
door three handsome lords, who asked his permission to enter his cabin
to rest themselves there a few moments, as they came from a distance
and were tired. He consented very willingly, and welcomed them to the
best that he had. They seated themselves in the cabin, and were so
struck with the beauty of the sisters that they all three fell in love
with them. A few days after, they married them, and the next day after
the wedding the three nobles, who were the king of Fishes, the king of
the Birds, and the king of the Rats and the Mice, wished to take their
wives away to their own kingdoms. Before leaving their brother-in-law,
they each made him a present. Two of them gave him large purses full
of gold, but the gift of the third was only an old snuff-box. The
fisherman put it into the pocket of his jacket, without even having a
desire to open it, for he thought that his brother-in-law had wished to
mock him.
The fisherman grew very lonely after his sisters were gone, and as he
had a well-filled purse, he dressed himself as a well-to-do countryman,
left his cabin, and went to Paris. For two years he led a gay life
there, as he wanted nothing, having his pockets full of money; but
he finished all the same by seeing his last crown; and when he had
nothing left but debts, his friends turned their backs on him, and he
was turned out of his house. Then he remembered his village and his
little cabin, and he resolved to return there and once more take up
his trade of fisherman. But when he came to the little creek where he
had left his boat, he saw it no longer; for the north wind had carried
it away, and he found only his grapnel and some bits of half-rotten
ground-tackling. He went into his cabin, which had also suffered much
from wind and weather, and began to fumble in the pocket of his jacket
to see if he could find there some five-franc pieces. But he turned his
pockets in vain, there was not even one poor penny; there was nothing
there but the old snuff-box that his brother-in-law had given him. He
was on the point of throwing it into a corner, but he thought that
perhaps it contained some tobacco, and he opened it. As soon as he had
raised the lid, he heard a small voice, which said to him,--
“Master, what do you want?”
“What do I want?” murmured the fisherman, much astonished at hearing
a voice, but seeing no one. “There are a great many things; at this
moment I would like a table with a good dinner on it.”
Immediately a table was set before him covered with bread and meats;
there were also bottles of wine, and even coffee and brandy were not
forgotten. The fisherman, who had fasted somewhat for some time, ate
with a good appetite; then, when he was no longer hungry, he opened his
snuff-box again, and ordered it to transport him to the chamber of the
king’s daughter. Immediately he rose gently above the clouds as if he
had been borne on the wings of the wind, and saw beside him a princess
as beautiful as the day, and who slept so quietly that one could
scarcely hear her breathe. In the morning he opened his snuff-box
again so as to return to his cabin before the princess was awake. For
three days he had himself served with good meals, and for three nights
he remained gazing upon the king’s daughter as she slept; but he would
not awaken her, lest he should frighten her and give her trouble.
However, the princess’ father causes it to be trumpeted throughout his
kingdom and in the neighboring countries that his daughter was of an
age to be married, and that he would give her to the one who should
bring him the greatest quantity of grain; for the harvest had been bad,
and his subjects were threatened with famine. Wagons were to be seen on
the roads coming from every direction, loaded with grain; and in all
the ports ships whose holds were filled with wheat. The young fisherman
was delighted to hear of the king’s promise, for he thought that,
thanks to his snuff-box, he should be able to become the husband of the
princess who pleased him so much.
He opened his snuff-box, and immediately he heard the small voice
saying,--
“Master, what do you want?”
“I would like thousands and thousands of wagons loaded with wheat, so
that no one could be able to carry as much to the king’s palace as I.”
Accordingly the roads were covered, farther than the eye could reach,
with wagons, and the fisherman took them to the king, who found that
he alone brought more grain than all the others together. Eight days
after, the fisherman married the princess, who was not sorry for it,
because he was a handsome fellow.
The day after the wedding he opened his snuff-box and asked of it a
beautiful castle which should be hung from the sky by four golden
chains, near the palace of his father-in-law. As soon as he had spoken,
he saw the castle in the sky, hanging from the clouds by four golden
chains. It was so beautiful that nothing had ever been seen equal to
it, and it shone as if it had been made entirely of gold. When the king
saw this beautiful palace which glistened in the sun, he asked his
son-in-law what it could be.
“Sire,” replied the fisherman, “it is my castle that my invisible
workmen have built this night above your garden. If you wish to come
and look over it, you will see that it is perfectly furnished.”
The king embraced his son-in-law, for he was charmed to see him with
such a beautiful castle; and when he had gone over it from the garret
to the cellar, he proposed to him to go hunting, and they both started
off.
Meanwhile one of the princess’s old lovers came to the castle hung
by the golden chains, and looking over it, he perceived in a corner
an old worn-out snuff-box. Very much astonished to see it in such
a place, he wished to open it to find out what there was inside;
immediately he heard a small voice, which said,--
“Master, what do you wish for?”
“What do I wish for?” replied the lord. “I wish that this castle may be
transported more than four hundred and fifty leagues from here.”
In a moment he felt the castle move, and he saw it pass over great
forests and vast seas, which it crossed in the wink of an eye. At last
he saw it stop in the midst of a country where, as far as the eye could
reach, not a living soul could be seen.