GARGANTUA AS A BABY.
[Illustration: Initial W.]
When Father Grandgousier heard that the name which the very oldest
of the Wise Women had found for his son had been fixed for all time,
he was delighted beyond measure, and said to Queen Gargamelle, while
rubbing the palms of his great hands together:--
"So the witch has fastened 'Gargantua' on my boy after all. By my
crown! what we have to do now is never to let Master Great Throat be
empty. Now, tell me, my dear, where are we to get milk enough for that
throat?"
The Queen looked at her baby; then she looked at her husband; then she
looked into herself, and, finding nothing there to say, smiled, and
said nothing.
[Illustration: THE QUEEN LOOKED AT HER BABY.]
When Father Grandgousier called into the Queen's chamber, for a secret
conference, his Royal Butler, who, first asking permission of their
Majesties, called the Royal Steward, who called the Royal Dairyman,
who called the Chief Milkman. After a long talk behind closed doors,
the whole party filed out of the royal apartments, the Chief Milkman
holding in his hand a scroll, showing a large, red seal, and tied many
times around with a broad, red ribbon, the Royal Butler closing the
line and looking wise as a privy-councillor.
The scroll contained an order, authorizing the Chief Milkman--as
there were not cows enough in the whole kingdom to give such milk as
was needed for the young Prince--to furnish the remainder. So there
were brought to the royal cattle-yard seventeen thousand nine hundred
and thirteen cows, all famed for the richness of their milk. Master
Gargantua had, luckily, with the milk of these cows, enough to keep
him alive until he was a year and ten months old. Then the wise old
Doctor thought that the child ought to be taken more into the fresh
air. In fact, what the Doctor really wanted, and was half crazy about
not finding, was a carriage suited to the young Prince. A common baby
carriage would not do at all. At last a youthful page, who dearly loved
the strong oxen he had seen during the frequent visits he was fond of
making to the royal stables, thought a fine large cart, not too pretty
but very strong, and drawn by oxen, might do. The oxen were ready, but
they could not be used until the Royal Carpenter had measured and made
a cart that would hold the young giant.
[Illustration: AN UNCOMMON BABY CARRIAGE.]
There never was a happier baby than Gargantua the first time he was
placed in the cart. He was, in truth, a marvel of a baby, both because
his body was so big and his face was so broad that, from much drinking
of milk and good wines, he could boast of several chins,--some said
nine; others swore there were ten,--which lapped each one over the
other, as if they felt they were good company. Every day he would be
taken out to ride. Then when he was tired he would cry, "Drink! drink!
drink!" Whenever that cry was heard, presto! the cart would come to a
stand-still, the oxen would begin to munch, and everybody would make a
rush to the wine-cellar. Of course, the King's son always had the best
wines, and the lackey who was lucky enough to reach him first when he
cried for drink always had the right to a cupful for himself. So it is
quite certain that never was a baby so well waited on as was Gargantua.
He cried "_Drink! drink! drink!_" so often that all the servants got
to be sad topers from skipping off to the cellars whenever he called;
and it turned out at last that even the tinkling of an empty glass, as
a knife would strike against it, or the sight of a flagon or a bottle,
would make him jump up and dance with joy, and start him afresh to
bawling for "Drink! drink! drink!" and the lackeys to scampering to the
wine-cellar after the wine.
[Illustration: THE SERVANTS GOT TO BE SAD TOPERS.]