Which treats of Education in general, and George of Blanche
lande’s in particular
So George grew up in the Castle side by side with Honey-Bee, whom he
affectionately called his sister though he knew she was not.
He had masters in fencing, riding, swimming, gymnastics, dancing,
hunting, falconry, tennis, and, indeed, in all the arts. He even had a
writing-master. This was an old cleric, humble of manner but very proud
within, who taught him all manner of penmanship, and the more beautiful
this was the less decipherable it became. Very little pleasure or profit
did George get out of the old cleric’s lessons, as little as out of
those of an old monk who taught him grammar in barbarous terms. George
could not understand the sense of learning a language which one knows as
a matter of course and which is called one’s mother tongue.
He only enjoyed himself with Francoeur the squire, who, having knocked
about the world, understood the ways of men and beasts, could describe
all sorts of countries and compose songs which he could not write.
Francoeur was the only one of his masters who taught George anything,
for he was the only one who really loved him, and the only good lessons
are those which are given with love. The two old goggle-eyes, the
writing-master and the grammar-master, who hated each other with all
their hearts, were, however, united in a common hatred of the old
squire, whom they accused of being a drunkard.
It is true that Francoeur frequented the tavern “The Pewter Pot”
somewhat too zealously. It was here that he forgot his sorrows and
composed his songs. But of course it was very wrong of him.
Homer made better verses than Francoeur, and Homer only drank the water
of the springs. As for sorrows the whole world has sorrows, and the
thing to make one forget them is not the wine one drinks, but the good
one does. But Francoeur was an old man grown grey in harness, faithful
and trustworthy, and the two masters of writing and grammar should
have hidden his failings from the duchess instead of giving her an
exaggerated account of them.
“Francoeur is a drunkard,” said the writing-master, “and when he comes
back from ‘The Pewter Pot’ he makes a letter S as he walks. Moreover,
it is the only letter he has ever made; because if it please your Grace,
this drunkard is an ass.”
The grammar-master added, “And the songs Francoeur sings as he staggers
about err against all rules and are constructed on no model at all. He
ignores all the rules of rhetoric, please your Grace.”
The Duchess had a natural distaste for pedants and tale-bearers. She did
what we all would have done in her place; at first she did not listen to
them but as they again began to repeat their tittle-tattle, she ended by
believing them and decided to send Francoeur away. However, to give him
an honourable exile, she sent him to Rome to obtain the blessing of the
Pope. This journey was all the longer for Francoeur the squire because
a great many taverns much frequented by musicians separated the duchy
of Clarides from the holy apostolic seat. In the course of this story
we shall see how soon the Duchess regretted having deprived the two
children of their most faithful guardian.
V
Which tells how the Duchess took Honeybee and George to the
Hermitage, and of their encounter with a hideous old woman
That morning, it was the first Sunday after Easter, the Duchess rode out
of the castle on her great sorrel horse, while on? her left George of
Blanchelande was mounted on a dark horse with a white star on his black
forehead, and on her right Honey-Bee guided her milk-white steed with
rose-coloured reins. They were on their way to the Hermitage to hear
mass. Soldiers armed with lances formed their escort and, as they
passed, the people crowded forward to admire them, and, indeed, all
three were very fair to see. Under a veil of silver flowers and with
flowing mantle the Duchess had an air of lovely majesty; while the
pearls with which her coif was embroidered shone with a soft radiance
that well-suited the face and soul of this beautiful lady. George by her
side with flowing hair and sparkling eyes was very good to see. And on
the other side rode Honey-Bee, the tender and pure colour of her face
like a caress for the eyes; but most glorious of all her fair tresses,
flowing over her shoulders, held by a circlet of gold surmounted by
three gold flowers, seemed the shining mantle of her youth and beauty.
The good people said, on seeing her:
“What a lovely young damsel.”
The master tailor, old Jean, took his grandson Peter in his arms to
point out |Honey-Bce to him, and Peter asked was she alive or was she an
image of wax, for he could not understand how any one could be so white
and so lovely, and yet belong to the same race as himself, little Peter
with his good big weather-beaten cheeks, and his little home-spun shirt
laced behind in country fashion.
While the Duchess accepted the people’s homage with gracious kindness,
the two children showed how it gratified their pride, George by his
blushes, Honey-Bee by her smiles, and for this reason the Duchess said
to them:
“How kindly these good people greet us. For what reason, George? And
what is the reason, Honey-Bee?”
“So they should,” said Honey-Bee.
“It’s their duty,” George added.
“But why should it be their duty?” asked the Duchess.
And as neither replied, she continued:
“I will tell you. For more than three hundred years the dukes of
Clarides, from father to son, have lance in hand protected these poor
people so that they could gather the harvests of the fields they had
sown. For more than three hundred years all the duchesses of Clarides
have spun the cloth for the poor, have visited the sick, and have held
the new-born at the baptismal font. That is the reason they greet you,
my children.”
George was lost in deep thought: “We must protect those who toil on the
land,” and Honcy-Bee said: “One should spin for the poor.”
And thus chatting and meditating they went on their way through meadows
starred with flowers. A fringe of blue mountains lay against the distant
horizon. George pointed towards the east.
“Is that a great steel shield I see over there?”
“Oh no,” said Honey-Bee, “it’s a round silver clasp, as big as the
moon.”
“It is neither a steel shield nor a silver clasp, my children,” replied
the Duchess, “but a lake glittering in the sunshine. The surface of
this lake, which seen from here is as smooth as a mirror, is stirred by
innumerable ripples. Its borders which appear as distinct as it cut in
metal are really covered by reeds with feathery plumes and irises
whose flower is like a human glance between the blades of swords. Every
morning a white mist rises over the lake which shines like armour under
the midday sun. But none must approach it for in it dwell the nixies who
lure passers by into their crystal abodes.”
At this moment the bell of the Hermitage was heard.
“Let us dismount,” said the Duchess, “and walk to the chapel. It was
neither on elephants nor camels that the wise men of the East approached
the manger.”
They heard the hermit’s mass. A hideous old crone covered with rags
knelt beside the Duchesss, who on leaving the church offered her holy
water.
“Accept it, good mother,” she said.
George was amazed.
“Do you not know,” said the Duchess, “that in the poor you honour the
chosen of our Lord Jesus Christ? A beggar such as this as well as the
good Duke of Rochesnoires held you at the font when you were baptized;
and your little sister, Honey-Bee, also had one of these poor creatures
as godmother.”
The old crone who seemed to have guessed the boy’s thoughts leaned
towards him.
“Fair prince,” she cried mockingly, “may you conquer as many kingdoms as
I have lost. I was the queen of the Island of Pearls and the Mountains
of Gold; each day my table was served with fourteen different kinds of
fish, and a negro page bore my train.”
“And by what misfortune have you lost your islands and your mountains,
good woman?” asked the Duchess.
“I vexed the dwarfs, and they carried me far away from my dominions.”
“Are the dwarfs so powerful?” George asked.
“As they live in the earth,” the old woman answered, “they know the
virtue of precious stones, they work in metals, and they unseal the
hidden sources of the springs.”
“And what did you do to vex them?” asked the Duchess.
“On a December night,” said the old woman, “one of them came to ask
permission to prepare a great midnight banquet in the kitchen of
the castle, which, vaster than a chapter-house, was furnished
with casseroles, frying-pans, earthen saucepans, kettles, pans,
portable-ovens, gridirons, boilers, dripping-pans, dutch-ovens,
fish-kettles, copper-pans, pastry-moulds, copper-jugs, goblets of
gold and silver, and mottled wood, not to mention iron roasting-jacks,
artistically forged, and the huge black cauldron which hung from the
pothook. He promised neither to disturb nor to damage anything. I
refused his request, and he disappeared muttering vague threats. The
third night, it being Christmas, this same dwarf returned to the chamber
where I slept. He was accompanied by innumerable others, who pulled me
out of bed and carried me to an unknown land in my nightgown. ‘Such,’
they said as they left me, ‘such is the punishment of the rich who
refuse even a part of their treasure to the industrious and kindly dwarf
folk who work in gold and cause the springs to flow.’”
Thus said the toothless old woman, and the Duchess having comforted her
with words and money, she and the two children retraced their way to the
castle.