Part 9

"But what have you to fear from a poor man who only wants a little bread, and who will be off immediately afterwards?"

At last the old woman rises to go to her cupboard, and our man takes her little tinder-box. The old woman runs after him, wishing to catch him, but our man is ahead. She overtakes him just as he is leaping into the ship. The old woman takes hold of the skin of his neck, and tears it all right down to the soles of his feet. Our runner falls down, and they do not know whether he is alive or dead; and the old woman says:

"I renounce him, and all those who are in this ship."

The captain goes to the serpent, and says to him:

"We have the tinder-box, but our runner is in great danger. I do not know whether he will live; he has no skin left from his neck to the soles of his feet."

"Console yourselves, console yourselves, he will be cured by to-morrow. Here is the medicine and the good drink. Now, you are saved. Go on deck, and fire seven rounds of cannon."

He mounts on deck and fires the seven rounds of cannon, and returns to the serpent, and says to him:

"We have fired the seven rounds."

He says to him, "Fire twelve rounds more; but do not be afraid. The police will come here; they will handcuff you. You will be put in prison, and you will ask, as a favour, not to be executed before that they have visited the ship, in order to prove that there is nothing in it to merit such a chastisement."

The captain goes on deck, and fires the twelve rounds of cannon. As soon as he has fired them, the magistrates and the police arrive; they handcuff the men, the sailors, and the captain, and they put them in prison. The sailors were not pleased; but the captain said to them:

"You will soon be delivered."

The next day the captain asks to go and speak to the king. He is brought before the king, and the king says:

"You are condemned to be hanged."

The captain says to him, "What! because we have fired some cannon-shots you are going to hang us!!"

"Yes, yes, because for seven years we have not heard the cannon in this city. [102] I am in mourning--I and my people. I had an only son, and I have lost him. I cannot forget him."

The captain says to him: "I did not know either this news or this order, and I beg you not to kill us before going and seeing if there is anything in the ship which condemns us justly."

The king goes with his courtiers, his soldiers, and his judges--in a word, with everybody. When he has mounted on deck, what a surprise! The king finds his dearly-loved son, who relates to him how he had been enchanted by an old woman, and that he remained a serpent seven years. [103] How the captain every day went to walk by the seaside, and every day left him his life, saying to him, "The good God has made you too;" and having seen the captain's good heart, "I thought he would spare me, and it is to him that I owe my life."

He goes to the court. The men are let out of prison, and they give the captain a large sum of money for a dowry for his two daughters, and the ship for himself. To the sailors they give as much as they like to eat and drink for all the time they wish to stop there, and afterwards enough to live upon for the rest of their lives. The king and his son lived happily, and as they had lived well, they died happily also.

Gachina, The Net-maker.

DRAGON.

A king had a son who was called Dragon. He was as debauched as it is possible to be. All the money that he had he had spent, and still more; not having enough, he demanded his portion from his father. The father gives it him immediately, and he goes off, taking with him a companion who had been a soldier, and who was very like himself. [104] Very quickly they spent all their money. While they were travelling in a forest they see a beautiful castle. They enter and find there a table ready set out, and a magnificent supper prepared. They sit down to table and sup. Nobody appears as yet, and they go up-stairs to see the house, and they find the beds all ready, and they go to bed. They pass a very good night. The next morning Dragon gets up and opens the shutters, and sees a dazzling garden.

He goes down into the garden, still without seeing anybody; but in passing under a fig tree, a voice says to him:

"Ay! ay! ay! what pain you have put me to, and what suffering you are causing me!"

He turns on all sides and finds nothing. He says:

"Who are you? You! I do not understand it. Appear!"

The voice says to him, "I cannot to-day; but perhaps to-morrow you will see me. But in order to do that you will have to suffer severely."

He promises to suffer no matter what for her. The voice says to him:

"To-morrow night they will make you suffer every kind of torture, but you must not say anything; and if you do that, you will see me to-morrow."

They had spoken all this before the soldier friend, but he had heard nothing of it.

They go to the house and find the dinner quite ready. Dragon would have wished that night had already come, to know what it was he was to see. He goes off to bed then, and after eleven o'clock he feels that something is coming, and his whole body is pricked all over. He keeps quite silent, because he wished to see the voice. And when the cock crew "Kukuruku!" he was released (from his torture). He lies waiting for daybreak to go to the fig tree. Day did not appear as soon as he would have wished it, and he goes running to the garden and sees under the fig tree, coming out of the ground as high as her shoulders, a young girl, and she says to him:

"Last night you have suffered in silence, but the next night they will make you suffer much more. I do not know if you can bear it without speaking."

He promises her that he will suffer still more in order to save her.

As usual, they find the table ready for dinner and for supper. He goes off to bed. There happens to him the same thing as in the preceding night, but they do him still more harm. Happily he lies still without speaking. The cock crows "Kukuruku!" and they leave him quiet. As soon as daylight has come he goes off to the garden, and he sees the young lady visible as far as the knees. Dragon is delighted to save this beautiful girl, but she says sadly to him:

"You have seen nothing up to this time. They will make you suffer twice as much."

He says that he has courage to endure anything, because he wishes to get her out of that state. When night comes, he perceives that two are coming instead of one. One of them was lame, and he says to him (and you know lame people and cripples are the most cruel). [105] He says then to the other:

"What! You have not been able to make this wretched boy speak! I will make him speak, I will."

He cuts off his arms and then his legs, and our Dragon does not say anything. They make him suffer a great deal, but happily the cock crows "Kukuruku!" and he is delivered. He was much afraid what would become of him without hands and without feet; but on touching himself he feels with pleasure that all that is made right again. While he is in bed he hears a great noise. He lies without saying anything, being frightened, and not knowing what might happen to him, when all of a sudden this young lady appears and says to him:

"You have saved me; I am very well pleased with you. But this is not enough; we must be off from here immediately."

All the three go off together, and travel far, far, far away, and they arrive in a city. The young lady did not think it proper to lodge in the same hotel with them. Next morning the young lady gets up very early, and goes in search of the landlord of the hotel, and says to him:

"A gentleman will come here to ask for me. You will tell him that I have gone out, and if he wishes to see me he must come to the fountain at the Four Cantons [106]--but fasting--and he is to wait for me there."

The next morning the young gentleman goes to the hotel, and they tell him what the young lady has said. On that very day he goes to the fountain, taking his comrade with him, and fasting; but as the young lady had not yet arrived, forgetting himself, he put his hand in his pocket, and finding there a small nut, he eats it. As soon as he has eaten it he falls asleep. [107] The young lady arrives. She sees that he is asleep. She says to his companion:

"He has eaten something. Tell him that I will return, but tell, tell him, I beg you, to eat nothing."

She leaves him a beautiful handkerchief. Dragon wakes up as soon as the young lady is gone. His comrade tells him that she had come, and that she had told him not to eat anything. And he shows Dragon the handkerchief. He was very vexed at having eaten, and would have wished that it was already the next day. He starts then very, very early, and waits for the young lady, and, as was fated to happen, finding a walnut in his pocket, he eats it. He immediately falls asleep. The young lady appears and finds him sleeping. She says that she will return again the next day, but that he must not eat anything. She leaves him another handkerchief. Dragon awakes as soon as she has gone. Judge with what vexation. His friend tells him that she said that she would return the next day, but that he must do his best not to eat anything. He goes then the third day without eating anything, but, as was to happen, despairing of seeing the young lady, who was late, arrive, he takes an apple from an apple tree and eats it. He falls asleep immediately. The young lady comes and finds him asleep. She gives his comrade a ring to give to Dragon, telling him that if Dragon wishes to see her he will find her in the City of the Four Quarters. Dragon is very vexed, and he says to his friend:

"The good God knows when I shall find this city, and it is better for you to go in one direction (and I in another)."

Thereupon they separate. Dragon goes off, far, far, far away. He comes to a mountain; there he sees a man, who had before his door holy water, and whoever made use of it was well received. He goes in, therefore, and asks him if he knows where is the City of the Four Quarters. He tells him--

"No; but there are the animals of the earth and of the air, and that the latter might perhaps guide him there."

He whistles to them. They come from all quarters, and he asks them if they know where is the City of the Four Quarters? They tell him "No." Then the man says to him--

"I have a brother on such a mountain, who has many more animals than I have; he has them all under his power, that man has."

Dragon goes off then, and arrives there; he asks of that man if he knows where the City of the Four Quarters is? He tells him "No," but that he has animals which will know it, if anyone ought to know it. He whistles to them. He sees the animals, small and great, coming from all quarters. Dragon was trembling with fright. He asks them one by one if they know where the City of the Four Quarters is. They tell him "No;" but the man sees that one animal is wanting, and that is the eagle. He whistles, and he comes. He asks him, too, if he knows where the City of the Four Quarters is. He says to him--

"I am just come from there."

The man says to him,

"You must, then, guide this young gentleman there."

The eagle says to him, "Willingly, if he will give me a morsel of flesh each time that I open my mouth."

Dragon replies, "Yes, willingly."

He then buys an ox. The eagle tells him to get upon his back. The man climbs up there with his ox, and when he opens his mouth he gives him a morsel of the ox, which kept gradually diminishing.

They were obliged to cross over the sea, and there was no bridge to it there. The ox was finished when they were in the middle of the sea, and there was a great rock there. The eagle opens his mouth again, and, as there was no more beef, what does he do? As he was afraid of being left upon that rock, he cuts a morsel from the back of his own thighs, and puts it in his mouth. [108] They arrive on the other side of the sea. The eagle leaves him there, saying to him,

"You are in the City of the Four Quarters. Do your own business here. I am going off to my own home."

This young gentleman asks what is the news in this city. They tell him that the king's daughter is going to be married to-day. In this city it was permitted only to the wedding party to enter the church, but Dragon had bribed one of the keepers with money, (saying) that he would stop quiet in a corner of the church. It was also the custom in this city to publish the banns at the moment of marriage. When the priest began to publish them, Dragon came out of his corner, and said--

"I make an objection."

He goes to the young lady, who recognises him; and he shows her the ring and the kerchiefs, and asks her in marriage. She says--

"This shall be my husband; he has well deserved it."

He was still lame, as a piece of his flesh was still wanting. They were married then. The other bridegroom went back home quite ashamed. The others lived very happily, because both had suffered much. Then I was there, now I am here.

Louise Lanusse, St. Jean Pied de Port.

EZKABI-FIDEL.

As there are many in the world, and as we are many of us, there was a mother who had a son. They were very poor. The son wished to go off somewhere, in order to better himself, (he said); that it was not living to live like that. The mother was sorry; but what could she do? In order that her son may be better off, she lets him go. He goes then, travelling on, and on, and on. In a forest he meets with a gentleman, who asks him where he is going. He tells him that, wishing to better himself, he had gone away from home to do something. This gentleman asks him if he is willing to be his servant. He replies, "Yes." They go off then together, and come to a beautiful place. After having entered, the gentleman gives him all the keys of the house, saying that he has a journey he must make, and that he must see the whole house--that he will find in it everything he wants to eat, and to take care of the horses in the stable. The gentleman goes away as soon as he had seen all the house and the stable. There were a lot of horses there, and in the midst of them all a white mare, [109] who said to him,

"Ay! ay! Fidel, save me, I pray you, from here, and get me outside. You will not be sorry for it."

Fidel stops at the place whence this voice came. A moment after, the white mare says to him,

"Come near the white mare; it is she who is speaking to you."

Fidel goes up to her, and says to her that he cannot let her go--that the master has not given him any other work to do (than to take care of the horses), and that he certainly will not do any such thing. The mare said to him,

"Go and fetch a saucepan, and when I shall have filled it with water, you will wash your hands and your head."

Fidel does as the mare told him, and is quite astonished at seeing his hands shine, and he says to her that he does not wish to have them like that, but that, as to his head, he could hide it. [110] The mare told him to wash his hands in the water, and that they would become again as they were before.

The time goes on, and the time returns. A long time had passed, and the master had never returned. And one day the mare said to him,

"Fidel, do you know how long you have been here?"

He says to her, "I don't know at all--six months, perhaps?"

The mare says to him, "Six years have passed, and if the master arrives when seven years shall have passed, you will be enchanted--you, too, as we all are here--and the master is a devil."

After that he heard that, Fidel is frightened, and he says to himself that it would be better to do what the white mare had said--to get on her back, and both to escape from there. They go off then, both of them. When they had gone some little distance, the mare asks him if he sees anything behind him.

He says, "Yes," that he sees something terrible, but in the clouds; but that it is something terrific. [111] The mare gives the earth a kick with her foot, and says to it,

"Earth, with thy power form a dense, terrible fog where he is."

They go on again, and the mare says again--

"Look back again, if you see anything."

Fidel says to her, "Yes, I see again this terrible thing; it is coming after us quickly, and is going to catch us."

The mare at the same time says again to the earth, in striking it with her foot,

"Let it hail stones, and hail there where he is as much as can possibly fall."

They go on. The mare says again,

"Look back, if you see anything."

He says to her again, "He is here, this terrible monster. It is all up with us now--we cannot escape him; he is quite near, and he comes with speed."

The mare strikes the earth with her foot, and says to it--

"Form before him a river, and let him drown himself there for evermore."

He sees him drown himself there. The mare says to him,

"Now you shall go to such a spot. The king lives there. You will ask if they want a gardener, and they will tell you 'Yes.' You will stay there without doing anything, and the work will do itself by itself, without your doing anything. Every day three beautiful flowers will come up in this garden. You will carry them to the three daughters of the king, but you will always give the finest to the youngest." [112]

It was the custom to carry the dinner to the gardener, but it was the youngest of the daughters who carried it to him. From the first day the gardener pleased the young lady, and she said to him one day that he must marry her. The lad said to her that that cannot be, that she ought not to think of marrying with a person of low birth and who has nothing, and that she must not dream any such dreams. This young lady falls ill. The father sends for the doctor, who says, after having touched her pulse, that she is ill of love; and the doctor goes to tell it to the king. The father goes to the young lady and tells her what the physician has said to him--that she is not so very ill. The daughter says to him:

"In order to cure me you must send and fetch the gardener. Let him give me some broth and I shall be cured."

The father sends to fetch him directly, has him washed and properly dressed, and makes him carry the broth. There was among the court an old, old nurse; she was a witch, and as she knew what the physician had said, she goes and hides herself in the young lady's bedroom before the gardener came there, in order to know what the young lady would say to him. The young lady said to him:

"Yes, and you shall marry me; I will not marry anybody else but you, whatever you may say."

The lad said to her: "No, no, I will not hear that mentioned."

The nurse had heard all that had passed, and she goes and tells it immediately to the king. The young lady was cured, and goes to carry the dinner to Fidel. Fidel had a habit of always giving the first spoonful of the soup to the dog. He gives it him that day too, and as soon as the dog has eaten it he falls stark dead. When the young lady saw that she goes and tells it to her father. The father sends for a big dog, and gives him some of the soup, and as soon as he has eaten it he falls dead. Judge of the anger of that young lady. She goes and takes this old witch and has her burnt. She goes to look for Fidel in a little house which was at the bottom of the garden, and she sees his head bare. [113] It was shining like the sun, and she entirely lost her own head for it, and she said to him, that he must marry her. As she left him no peace, her father said to her:

"If you will marry him, do so; but I will not give you anything. You must go and live in a corner of the mountain with your husband; there is a house there, and there you must stop. You may come only one day a week to see me."

That was all the same to this young lady, (and they are married), and go off there. As the king had given her no money, when Fidel's hair grew she went from time to time to the goldsmiths, who said to her that they had not money enough belonging to them to pay for the gold that she brought them. And they lived there very happily.

One day Fidel heard that the king was engaged in a great war, and he told his wife to go to her father and tell him that he too wished to go to this war. This young lady goes to tell her father her husband's commission. Her father says to her:

"What is the use of a young man like that who has never killed anything but mole-crickets? Let him stop at home."

His daughter says to him: "At least he is your son-in-law!"

The father then says to her: "He may come on such a day."

Fidel goes as they had told him. He asks the king for a horse and a sword. The king gives him a horse blind and lame. Fidel was not pleased with it. He begins his march, wishing to get on as quickly as possible, but when he had gone a little distance, the horse sticks in the mud, and cannot in any way get out of it. While he is there, the white mare comes to him. She gives him a beautiful horse, and a lance and a sword, and tells him that he will see his brothers-in-law encamped round a city, but not to stop there with them, but to ride straight to the city; that the gates will be shut, but as soon as he shall have touched them with his lance they will be broken to pieces, and that they will make peace with him. He does as she told him, and starts off on his horse like the lightning, without paying the slightest attention to his brothers-in-law. He goes up to the city, and as soon as he has touched the gates with his sword they are in pieces. He enters the city, and all the world comes out and makes him a thousand fêtes. They declare that they wish for no more war. They give him the key of the treasury and all the papers, and he retires from there with all the honours. When he returns he tells his brothers-in-law to retire--that the war is finished. They go back again. He stops at the place where he had left his old horse in the mud. He sends away his beautiful horse with all his things, and Fidel stops there, not being able to drag his old horse out of the mud. When his brothers-in-law pass, they mock at him (and ask him) if it is there that he has passed all his time. He tells them, "Yes." The others go on ahead, and at length he also arrives at the king's house. He leaves his old horse there and goes off home. He does not tell his wife what has happened, and they live in their hole.

The king was getting old, and he had entirely lost his sight. Somebody gave him to understand that there was a water which made people young again, and another which restored sight. He told his sons-in-law that they must go (and look for it)--that he could not live long like that. And both of them start off. Their wives, at starting, had given each a golden apple. [114] They go far away; but they find nothing. Tired at last, they stop in a beautiful city. They take each of them a wife, and they live according to their fancy. When Fidel saw that his brothers-in-law did not arrive, he said to his wife that he must go off; perhaps he might be able better to find the waters which his father wanted. He goes off without saying anything to the king, and travels on, and on, and on.

He meets an old woman, who says to him, "Where are you going to?" He tells her how he wants a water which gives sight to the blind and makes the old young, [115] and that he would not go back home without finding it. This old woman says to him:

"You will see two animals fighting close to you, and you will gather the herb which makes the dead to live; you will have it boiled, and you will keep this water for yourself."