The next day the master takes him into a field, and says to him:
"You must mow all this meadow." He says to him, "Yes."
The master goes away. At eight o'clock the servant comes with
the breakfast. She had a basket full of provisions; there were six
loaves, half a ham, and six bottles of wine. Our lad was delighted.
The servant was astonished to see that all the meadow was mown, and
she goes and tells it to the master. He too was pleased to see that
he had such a valuable servant. He tells him to go and cut another
meadow. Before mid-day he had it all down. The servant comes with
the dinner, and was astonished to see how much work he had done. She
brought him seven loaves, seven bottles of wine, and ever so much ham,
but he cleared it all off. The master gives him again another field
of grass to cut. Before night he had done it easily. Our master was
delighted at it, and gave him plenty to eat. The servant too was
highly pleased.
As long as he had work the master said nothing, but afterwards,
when he saw that all the harvest served only for the servant to eat,
he did not know how to get rid of him. He sends him to a forest in
which he knew that there were terrible beasts, and told him to bring
wood from there. As soon as he has arrived a bear attacks him. He
takes him by the nostrils and throws him on the ground, and twists
his neck. He keeps pulling up all the young trees, and again a wolf
attacks him; he takes him like the bear by the nostrils, throws him
down, and twists his neck.
In the evening he arrives at the house, and the master is astonished
to see him return. He gave him a good supper; but he was not pleased,
because he had torn up all the young trees. At night the master turns
over in his head what he could do with his servant, and he determines
to send him into a still more terrible forest, in the hope that some
animal will devour him. Our lad goes off again. He tears up many large
trees, when a lion attacks him. He kills him in a moment. There comes
against him another terrible animal, and he finishes him off too. In
the evening, when he comes home, he said to himself:
"Why does my master send me into the forest? Perhaps he is tired
of me."
And he resolves to tell him that he will leave the house. When he
arrives his master receives him well, but cannot understand how it
is that he comes back. He gives him a good supper, and our lad says
to him:
"It is better for me to go off somewhere. There is no more work for
me here."
You may reckon how pleased the master was. He gives him his wages
at once, and he goes away. He goes off, far, far, far away; but soon
his money is exhausted, and he does not know what is to become of him.
He sees two men standing on the bank of a river. He went up to them,
and the men ask him if he will cross them over to the other side of
the water. He answers, "Yes," and takes them both at once on his back;
and these men were our Lord and St. Peter. Our Lord says to him in
the middle of the stream:
"I am heavy."
"I will throw you into the water if you do not keep quiet, for I have
quite enough to do."
When they had come to the other side, the Lord said to him,
"What must I give you as a reward?"
"Whatever you like; only give it quickly, for I am very hungry."
He gives him a sack, and says to him, "Whatever you wish for will
come into this sack."
And he goes off, far away. He comes to a town, and passing before a
baker's shop he smells an odour of very good hot loaves, and he says to
them, "Get into my sack," and his sack is quite full of them. He goes
off to a corner of a forest, and there he lives by his sack. He returns
again into the town, and passes before a pork-butcher's. There were
there black puddings, sausages, hams, and plenty of good things. He
says, "Come into my sack," and as soon as he has said it the sack
is full. He goes again to empty it as he had done with the loaves,
and he returns into the town. In front of an inn he says, "Come into
my sack." There were there bottles of good wine and of liqueurs,
and to all these good things he says, "Come into my sack," and his
sack was filled.
He goes off to his corner of the forest, and there he had provision
for some days; and, when he had well stuffed himself, he went out for
a walk. One day he saw some young girls weeping, and he asks them,
"What is the matter with you?" They answer that their father is very
ill. He asks if he can see him. They tell him, "Yes."
He goes there then, and the poor man tells him how he has given his
soul to the devil, and that he was expecting him that very day, and
he was trembling even then. Our Fourteen asks if he will let him be
on a corner of the bed, that he might see the devil. He tells him,
"Yes." He then hides himself with his sack. A moment after the devil
arrives, and our lad says to him:
"Come into my sack."
And as soon as he had said it, in goes the devil. Judge of the joy
of our man! Our lad goes off to some stone-breakers, and says to them:
"Hit hard! the devil is in this sack."
They went at it, blow upon blow, stroke upon stroke, and the devil
went:
"Ay! ay! ay! let me out! let me go! ay! ay! ay!"
The lad said, "You shall bring me, then, a paper, signed by all the
devils of hell, that you have no rights over this man." The devil
agrees, and he lets him go. In a moment he comes back with the paper,
and the lad makes him go into the sack again, and has him beaten by
the stone-breakers, while he carries the precious paper to the former
man; and think how happy they were in that house!
Our man goes off, walking, walking, on, and on, and always on, and
he grew tired of this world. He said to himself, "I should like to
go to Heaven." He goes on, and on, and on, but he comes to hell;
but as soon as ever the devils saw that it was Fourteen they shut
all the gates. He goes off again, far, far, very far, and comes to
Heaven. There the gates are shut against him. What does Fourteen
do? He put his sack in through the keyhole, and says to himself:
"Go into the sack."
As soon as he has said it he finds himself inside, and he is there
still behind the door; and when you go to Heaven, look about well,
and you will see him there.
Catherine Elizondo.
We add another version of this popular tale, collected by M. Vinson
from M. Larralde de Lesaca, of St. Pée-sur-Nivelle:--