Like many others in the world, there were a mother and her son;
they were poor, and the young man, when he grew up, wished to go from
home, to see if he could better his position. His mother lets him go
with great reluctance. He goes on, and on, and on through terrible
forests. He comes to a beautiful house, and asks if they want a
servant. They tell him "Yes," and to come in; and then they tell him
how they go at night to rob people, and sometimes to kill them; and
they ask if he would go too. He says "Yes," and in the middle of the
night he sees the chief of the robbers arrive, with all his company,
laden with gold and silver; and he remained a long time with them.
One day the chief said to him, "At such an hour a rich gentleman on
horseback will pass by such a place, and you must go and rob him;
and, if he will not give it up willingly, you must kill him."
Our lad had had enough of this trade; but he told the chief that he
would do it. He stays then, waiting for this gentleman, and at last
he sees him coming. He presents himself before him, and says,
"Your purse or your life!"
The gentleman gives him his purse and all the money that he had,
and he had a great deal. He said to him, "It is not enough yet. You
must give me your fine clothes too, and your horse."
They exchange clothes, and the gentleman goes off, very glad, although
he had old clothes on, because he had spared him his life. Instead
of returning to the robbers' house, what does our lad do? He goes
off on horseback with his money to his mother's house. Everyone
was astonished at his arrival, and that he had made his fortune so
quickly. He goes to his mother, and judge of her joy! He tells her
how it is that he has become so rich, and that it all happened far,
far away. His mother told it to others, and at last this news comes
to the ears of the mayor, who sends his servant to this young man to
tell him to come to his house on the morrow without fault.
He goes then, leaving his mother in tears. His mother told him to
tell the mayor how he had made his fortune so quickly. He tells him
what business he had pursued, but that it was very far away, and that
he had never killed anybody. The mayor said to him,
"If you do not steal my finest horse from my stable this very night,
I will have you killed to-morrow." [137]
This mayor was very rich, and he had a great many servants and a
great many horses. There were three of them finer and more valuable
than the others. Our lad goes home and consoles his mother. He
asks her to give him his old clothes which he wore formerly, and,
putting them over the others, he takes a big stick, and goes off to
the mayor's, crawling along like an old man. He knocks at the door,
and asks shelter for the night. A lad comes to him, and says--
"We shall not give you shelter in this house to-night. You may go
on farther."
But he begs so much, and asks him to give him at least a corner of the
stable--that he does not know where to go to--that at last they let
him enter, and give him a little straw (to lie down on). Our lad hears
what they say to each other. Three lads were to stop till midnight on
the three finest horses, and at midnight three other servants were to
take their places. What does our lad do? They were asleep on their
horses. As soon as he hears midnight, he goes and gives one of them
a knock, and says to him,
"It is midnight; go to bed."
Half asleep, the lad goes off to bed; the others were still asleep on
their horses. He mounts on the horse--he had chosen the finest--and
opens the doors very gently, and goes off at a trot, without looking
behind him. He goes home, and his mother is very delighted to see
her son.
The next day he goes to market to sell his horse. When the mayor
gets up he goes to the stable, and sees that his finest horse is
missing. The servants were sleeping on their horses, and the others
in bed. He gets into a rage, and does not know what to do. He sends
to the mother's to ask her where her son is. She replies that he
is gone to sell a horse. They tell her that the mayor summons him
immediately. The mother grows sad again, and tells her son what they
have said to her, and off he goes.
The mayor says to him, "What a fellow you are! You won the game
yesterday, but if you do not steal from our oven to-night all the
bread that is in it, it shall be all over with you."
The mayor assembles all the municipal council and all his friends,
thinking he would have some fun while guarding his oven. They had
dances, and music, and games, and brilliant lights, and all sorts of
amusements, and all this in front of the oven. What does our lad do? He
takes a little hammer, and goes behind the oven. He makes a hole,
and by that takes out all the loaves, and puts them in his basket,
and goes home.
The next day the mayor was proud because they had not stolen his
loaves, and because they had so well guarded the door of the oven,
and he sends his servant to fetch a loaf for breakfast. When she
opens the door of the oven, she sees the sun through the other end
of the oven. Judge of their astonishment! The mayor was in a red-hot
passion. He sends to fetch the lad. They go and ask his mother where
her son is. She answers, "Selling bread." And they tell the mayor. He
sends to tell her to tell her son to come to him as soon as he comes
home. The poor mother is again in great distress. When her son arrives,
she tells him the message, and off he goes.
The mayor says to him, "Yesterday, too, you have hit the mark; but
you have not finished yet. This very night you must steal the sheets
which we have under us in our bed, otherwise your life shall be put
an end to." [138]
He goes home, and he makes an image of himself from his old clothes;
and, when night is come, he goes off dragging it to the mayor's. The
mayor had placed guards at all the windows and doors, with arms. Our
lad ties his image to a long stick, and, by drawing a cord, he hoists
it against the wall. When the guards see a man climbing up the wall
near a window, they fire, and all begin to cry out "Hurrah!" At this
noise the mayor leaps out of bed, thinking that they have killed him,
and that he must go and see him too. Our lad takes advantage of this
moment to enter the house, and he goes to the mayor's bed, and says--
"It is cold, it is cold;" and keeps pulling and pulling all the
bed-clothes to his side. When he has all, he says to the lady:
"I must go and look again, to be quite sure, and to see if they have
buried him."
The wife said to him, "Stop here then; you will come back dead
of cold."
He goes off, and escapes very quickly, as well as he can, with
the sheets. The others are out-doing each other, one beating, the
other stabbing, the other pulling about (the image). At last they go
in-doors, quite out of breath. All are pleased, and proud that they
have their lad at last down there.
The mayor goes to bed, and his wife says to him:
"Now, at least, you will remain here without any more of this going
and coming down there, and making me all cold."
"I have not been going and coming. I!"
"Yes, yes; you were certainly here just now, you too."
He gets into bed, and he keeps turning and moving about, not being
able to find the sheets. At last, getting impatient, he lights the
candle, and he sees that the sheets are not there. Judge of their
anger; they did not know what to do. The wife said to him:
"You had better leave that man alone, or some misfortune will happen
to us."
He will not listen to anything, and goes off. He sends to fetch him
as soon as daylight comes. They find his mother, and ask her where
her son is. She answers:
"He has gone to sell some sheets."
They say to her, "You will send him to the mayor's when he comes
home." And this poor woman is again in great trouble, for at last
(she thinks) they will make an end of her son. She sends him again
to the mayor's, who says to him:
"This time you shall not escape me. If you do not steal all the money
of my brother the priest, you are done for." [139]
The brother of the mayor was rector of this town. When evening came
our lad hides himself in the church, and dresses himself in the finest
of the church robes, (used only) for the highest festivals. He lights
all the candles and the lamps, and at midnight he begins to ring all
the bells at full swing--dilin, don; dilin, don, don; dilin, don. The
rector comes running with his servant to see what is happening in
the church, and they see on the high altar someone, who says to them:
"Prostrate yourselves. I am the good God. I am come to fetch you. You
must die; but before dying you must bring here all the money, and
all the riches that you have in your houses."
The priest goes and brings everything. He makes the priest go to the
top of the tower, and says to him:
"You are now going into purgatory, but afterwards you will go to
heaven."
He makes him get into a sack, takes hold of one end, and drags him
down the stairs, bumping, zimpi eta zampa, on all the steps. He cried,
"Ay! ay!" and he says to him:
"This is nothing; soon you will be in heaven."
And he carries him like that to his brother's chicken-house, and leaves
him there. The next morning the maid goes to feed the fowls. She sees
a sack, and touches it, and the sack moves. The girl goes off running
to tell her mistress what she has seen. Her mistress goes and touches
it, and the sack does the same thing. She is frozen with fright,
and goes to her husband, and says:
"You see that I told you right to let that man alone. At present,
what will become of us? What can there be in that sack?"
The gentleman immediately sends someone to fetch this lad. He was
just at that moment at home, and they tell him that the mayor orders
him to come directly. They tell him to open the sack. He touches it,
and the sack gives a leap; and he says that he will not open it,
not for ten thousand francs.
"I will give you ten thousand francs."
"No! not for twenty thousand."
"I will give them you."
"No, no, no! not even for forty thousand."
"I will give you thirty thousand."
"No, no, no, no! not even for forty thousand."
"And for fifty thousand?"
He agreed to open it, and he hands them their brother, the priest,
whom he had left without a sou. After having got his fifty thousand
francs, our lad went off well satisfied to his home, and lived
there rich with his mother; and the mayor lived with his brother,
the priest, poorer than he was before. And if they had lived well,
they would have died well too.