SHOWING WHY THE LEAGUES ARE SO MUCH SHORTER IN FRANCE THAN IN GERMANY.
[Illustration: Initial A.]
A short time after the famous dispute, Pantagruel heard two very
startling bits of news. One was that his father Gargantua had been
transported to the country of the Fairies by Morgan, in the same way
that she had already carried off Ogier the Dane and King Arthur. The
other was that, on hearing of this, and taking advantage of it, the
Dipsodes, or Thirsty people, Gargantua's neighbors, had swarmed from
their fortresses and ravaged a large part of Utopia, and were even then
besieging the chief city of the Amaurotes. When Pantagruel heard this
bad news he boiled with rage. He left Paris without a word of good-by
to anybody, for the affair called for speed. He was accompanied only
by his special train, which included his master Epistemon, Panurge,
Eusthenes, and Carpalim. From Paris he went to Rouen. While on the
road, Pantagruel noticed that the French leagues were very short when
compared with those of other countries, which he had seen in his
travels. He asked Panurge how this could be. Then Panurge, who was
never at fault, after turning up his long nose, told him this little
story:--
[Illustration: PANTAGRUEL MARCHES TO ROUEN.]
"In the old days, when that fine King Pharamond reigned over France,
there were no leagues, no metes, no furlongs, no recognized boundaries
between different countries; nothing, in fact, to show where one
country began and where another ended. That just old King resolved to
make all this right. So he caused to be brought together in Paris two
hundred of the brightest and prettiest girls and boys to be found in
all France, whom he feasted well for eight days. After it the King
called the two hundred children before him, and gave them a sum of
money large enough for their expenses during a long journey. He then
commanded that they should not go out by the same gate, but start away
on different roads, here and there, as their fancy took them out from
the city. He further told them that, wherever they should stop to play
and run about in the bright sunshine, and gather flowers, or chase the
beautiful butterflies, they should leave a stone there to show that
they had done so.
"That stone would mean, '_This is one league_.'
"It was summer time in the pleasant, flowery, laughing month of June,
when the skies seem more full of blue, the fields more full of green,
and the roses more full of red, than they are at any other time,
that the gentle King Pharamond had gathered these innocent children
together. The whole party, with bright cheeks and merry laughter,
started from Paris by one road and another. How could the children help
feeling happy when the skies were so blue, the fields so green, and the
roses so red, and when the butterflies would fly so near the ground,
as if only too glad to be run after and caught! And then each boy and
girl knew that their generous King had given them so much money that,
to their simple fancies, it seemed as if they could never spend it all,
try as hard as they might.
"In those bright June days, full of light, and green, and blue, they
were always crying out: 'Let us stop! Oh, let us stop to play.'
"So they used, at first, to stop at every turn of the road to skip and
gambol about in the fields, to gather the pretty flowers, to chase the
brilliant butterflies, to sing back to the singing-birds in the trees,
and to breathe in the sweet summer air, after which, with ringing
laughter and the merriest shouts, they would leave a big stone to mark
the spot where they had been so happy.
"This explains, my lord," said Panurge, making a face, "why _our
leagues in France are so short._"
"I see, I see," said the good Pantagruel, who had fallen into deep
thought.
"But the longest summer must come to an end," Panurge went on to say.
"And when children stop at every turn of the road to play in the sun,
and to run in the fields, and to pluck the flowers, and chase the
butterflies, and sing with the singing-birds, they are only robbing
themselves of their own glad time. For Autumn, with his clouds that
hide the sun, and his ugly days, and his chilly nights, must be very
patient if he does not soon begin to think it high time for him to
come on the scene. So it got to be quite another thing for the poor
children the farther they went from Paris, because they soon found out
that King Pharamond's gift, large as it was, could not last forever.
The more they travelled, the worse the weather, the nearer they came
to the bottom of their purse, the heavier grew the road, and the more
tired their little bodies became. At last, all that the weary children
prayed for was that they might reach the end of their hard journey as
fast as possible. But Autumn himself was getting very old by that time,
and fierce Winter, with his chilling breath, and his hands of ice,
and his mantle of snow, was beginning to wonder when brother Autumn
was going to give him a chance of dropping his shining mantle over
field, lane, and road. There were no longer any blue sky; no longer any
green fields; no longer any red roses for the children; and the bright
butterflies were all dead now, and the singing-birds were all mute.
"All that the poor little children could now do, wringing their hands,
was to cry: 'Let us go on! Oh, do let us go on!'
"So, too sad to think of play, but remembering always the command of
their good King, they walked, or rather limped, along the highway, and
would rest as little as they could until they had reached Germany, and
gone to the very end of that country, to make sure that they had done
their duty."
After telling this legend of King Pharamond and his two hundred little
children, Panurge remarked, with a very ugly grin:--
"And this, Your Highness, is why _those cursed German leagues are so
long._"