Colas Breugnon

The readers of “Jean-Christophe” certainly never expected this new volume, but they cannot be more surprised than I am myself. I had sketched out other works,--a play and a nove...

“Three little birds set off on a journey, three bold companions; the Wren, the Red-Breast, and their friend the Lark; Wren, brisk as quicksilver and proud as Artaban, soon spied...

People laughed at first as they saw us flying past them, but it did not take them long to catch the idea, and the town was soon like an ant-heap when you thrust a stick into it....

He has put up a sort of scaffolding in the roof of his house among the chimneys and from there he carefully studies the movements of the heavenly bodies, and tries to discover t...

Somewhat fatigued by all this conversation, we then resumed the worship of Bacchus, the only god respected by all three; even Chamaille declared that all the monks and sermons i...

“The best of luck!” said he, holding out his bottle, and when I shook my head he still pressed it on me. “At least you will have a bite of dinner,” he said, thinking of course I...

One afternoon in this very month of May,--our summers must have been hotter in those days,--the air was like an oven, a furnace seven times heated; for hours black threatening c...

“Belette,” said I, “perhaps on the whole things are better as they are; we get along well enough like this for an hour or two, but if we had had to spend our lives together, you...

Nothing is so agreeable as to be praised for talents which we do not possess; so he fairly beamed as he answered, “Your tongue is long enough in all conscience, but now I should...

“It won’t be the better for her coming,” said one would-be wit, and another cried, “Good luck never comes single; you stay with us, Colas, and she goes!” And he drank to my health.

Not far off above the tops of the trees, my sad eyes lighted on the towers of the Château of Cuncy, and I felt that there they had found something on which they might rest with...

“What are you afraid of, Denis?” said I. “You are among friends,--do you think that walls have ears? Here, Gangnot, go and stand in front of the door with that hammer of yours,...

Racquin had been sent to Nevers for trial; but it was a question whether he fell under the jurisdiction of the Duke or the King, so he stood a fair chance of getting off scot fr...

I only went to town when it was absolutely necessary to replenish my store of provisions and news, and when I was there I carefully avoided my sons, having given out that I had...

From that day, the world might have come to an end without my knowing what had happened; my eye was fastened on my fishing line, waiting for a bite. What monster am I now to dra...

It is a sign of our times, this relaxation of those ties between men, the home, family, and religion; each trusts in his own wisdom now, and wants to live for himself alone. I a...