HOW FRIAR JOHN COMES TO THE FEAST, AND HOW KING GRANDGOUSIER HAD
RECRUITED HIS ARMY.
[Illustration: Initial I.]
It was, of course, at this same supper, of which the three Very Fat
Cooks were so proud, that the old King, as soon as ever the company
were seated, started to give the whole story of the wicked war which
Picrochole had made on him. When he came to that part of his story, in
which he had to speak of the wonderful things Friar John had done in
the Abbey vineyard, nothing would do but that the brave monk should be
invited to the Palace to receive the thanks of the whole joyous party.
Gargantua sent post-haste for Friar John.
In a little while--for the Abbey was not very far off--here came the
good Friar on King Grandgousier's own mule, with his famous staff held
firmly in his right hand. When he was once fairly in the dining-room, a
thousand caresses and another thousand compliments greeted him.
"Welcome, Friar John! Thou comest in good time! Welcome, brave cousin!"
shouted Grandgousier.
"We have kept your seat for you, Friar John," roared both Grandgousier
and Gargantua in a sort of giant concert.
And so, at last, seated on the right hand of Grandgousier, the Friar
was prevailed on to tell, in his own way, the story of his great fight
for the Abbey. Nothing would do them but that everybody should jump
up to see and feel for himself the glorious staff, with which so many
valiant deeds had been done.
Then the staff was reverently placed in a corner of the room.
[Illustration: FRIAR JOHN ARRIVES.]
After supper, there was a long consultation about what ought to be done
with Picrochole. As is always the way, one said one thing; another
unsaid it; one had a plan; some one else had something better. It was
finally resolved not to wait for another day, but to start the very
next midnight, which--it being now two o'clock in the afternoon--was
only ten hours off. While some young men were sent out as spies to
bring word what Picrochole was doing, the rest began to arm themselves
with breast-plate and back-plate and all the iron and steel plates they
could get hold of. There was a little trouble about what Friar John
was to wear. They wanted to put their iron and steel stuff on him; but
the brave monk wouldn't agree to it. He rushed to the corner where his
staff was, grasped it with both hands, and waved it in the air, saying,
"Don't trouble yourselves about me, good friends. _This_ is what I
saved my Abbey with! I know _it_, and it knows _me_; it is good enough
for _me!_ I am heart and soul with you. All I ask for is a stout horse,
and you will find me with my staff by your side whenever you want me."
"Very well, Friar," Gargantua said, laughing. "Every conqueror has the
right to choose his weapons. _You_ are a conqueror; keep yours."
When all the clocks were striking midnight, Gargantua left the Palace
with Ponocrates, Friar John always carrying his staff, Gymnaste,
Eudemon the page, and twenty-five of the most adventurous knights, all
armed from head to foot, and mounted like great Saint George himself,
each with a stout archer behind him.
These were to be followed, the next morning, by the whole army, which
had been recruited in a fashion that would look very strange to-day.
Let me tell you how it all was!
Before Gargantua had come back from Paris, and while Picrochole
was still galloping with his wicked soldiers over rich fields, and
trampling down fruits and vines, and cursing and cutting and slashing
away, and killing just as the fancy took him, Father Grandgousier had
sent messages to his friends and neighbors living a hundred miles
around, telling them all about the war; how his son Gargantua, in whom
he trusted, was far away in Paris, studying hard at his Latin; and
asking them to help him just as much as they could in money and men. It
was in this way that it was made as clear as the bright sun shining in
heaven at noonday, how many friends the good old Giant really had. Some
might say all this was because he was a Giant; but I think it was not
so much that as because he had always, through a long life, been kind
and gentle to little men.
Taking what one Prince, and another, gave in money, Father Grandgousier
raised among his neighbors one hundred and thirty-four million and two
and a half crowns of pure gold.
When he read their lists, giving the number of soldiers each one was
able to lend him, he found that he would have:--
15,000 men at arms.
32,000 cavalrymen.
89,000 arquebusiers.
140,000 volunteers.
That is to say, 276,000 stout soldiers, all well equipped and
provisioned for six months and four days. To which were to be added:--
11,200 cannon.
47,000 double cannon, etc.
The good old Giant felt very grateful; but he swore, nevertheless, a
round oath that there was no need for him to accept so great an army.
Where was he to put two hundred and seventy-six thousand soldiers?
Where could he store away fifty-eight thousand cannon? If he could only
be sure that his Gargantua would come home in time, why, he wouldn't
care for any army at all!
"If my boy Gargantua should once get among that Picrochole gang, he
would scatter them over the border quicker than they ever crossed it,"
he was saying to himself all the time.
Meanwhile, that rogue Picrochole was going on at such a rate with his
pastime of cursing, killing, cutting, and slashing at men, and ravaging
vineyards, and burning houses, that Grandgousier found that he had
really to do something that would strike terror. So he sent another
Royal Messenger to his friends the Princes, telling them that he would
be satisfied, for the present, with
2,500 men-at-arms.
66,000 infantry.
26,000 arquebusiers.
22,000 pioneers.
6,000 light cavalry.
122,500 men, all to be well equipped and provisioned by his friends, as
promised. He added, in a postscript, that all else he needed would be
two hundred pieces of heavy artillery.
[Illustration: THE ADVANCE GUARD STARTS.]
"Let them come at once," he said. "If my little boy should choose to
stay among those wild Paris lads, they may be useful. But if he once
gets home, I wouldn't give that"--snapping his fat old fingers--"for
the whole Picrochole gang!"
* * * * *
For a wonder, the army got to the Palace a week before Gargantua
reached it.
[Illustration: GRANDGOUSIER'S ARMY.]