THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE 
 
 fe mtir ( 
 
 P TJ 1ST C EC I N E L 3L O . 
 
 ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH OF OCTAVE^ FED1LLET 
 
 AND 
 
 mfedlisljeb fottjj ue ^itirbre!) pcsigia. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 346 & 34S BKOADWAY. 
 1858.
 
 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 PUNCHINELLO 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 S'lOWS HOW ONE OF THE AUTHOR'S ANCESTORS BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH 
 THE FAMILY OF SIGNOR PUNCHINELLO MYSTERIOUS BIRTH OF THE 
 HEROMARVELLOUS EVENTS. 
 
 ;! ! ^ |?ROM his earliest infancy, 
 
 my grandfather's great- 
 uncle had shown a strong 
 desire for travelling; but, 
 owing to a variety of 
 causes, which it is scarcely 
 worth while to record, the 
 worthy gentleman reached 
 the age of sixty without 
 having ever pushed his 
 exploring expeditions be- 
 yond Greenwich Park. 
 "It is really absurd," he 
 would frequently say to 
 himself, "that the man 
 who of all others wishes 
 most to travel should be 
 
 the very one that has seen the least of the world. For I 
 cannot flatter myself that seeing the world consists in a 
 ramble from my house in Little Britain down to Black- 
 heath." In the course of time these reflections produced so 
 strong an influence upon my grandfather's great-uncle,
 
 4, THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 that he could control his feelings no longer : he accord- 
 ingly started one day post-haste to Southampton, whence 
 he embarked in a vessel 
 bound to Naples. 
 
 Now it was my worthy 
 ancestor's intention to pro- 
 ceed from Naples, which 
 my young readers will re- 
 collect is the capital of the 
 Two Sicilies, to the Levant, 
 from thence to pass into 
 Jndia,and afterwards to pay 
 Me American continent a 
 visit ; so that, thus taking 
 all the world in his way, 
 he might eventually regain 
 his snug parlour in Little 
 Britain, having previously 
 enjoyed a little breathing- 
 time at the Cape of Good 
 Hope. But, alas ! all these 
 stupendous projects were 
 suddenly cut short ; for he 
 had scarcely been in Naples three days when he died of 
 apoplexy, after eating too freely of macaroni. 
 
 This incident was doubly provoking ; for it put a com- 
 plete stop to the projected travels of my grandfather's 
 great-uncle, and deprived posterity of that truly wonderful 
 narrative of his adventures which he had intended to write 
 I must observe, that when his carpet-bag was sent back to 
 England, through the courtesy of the Neapolitan autho- 
 rities, the first page of a contemplated " Diary " was dis- 
 covered between two shirts: this is so deeply interesting 
 that I cannot help regretting the absence of all that was to 
 have followed. 
 
 I place on record this fragment, which remains a monu
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 nient of my ancestor's splendid talents, and has a direct 
 relation to the subject of the present volume: 
 
 x\ GRANDFATHER'S GREAT UNCLE'S TRAVELLING IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 The First Day. Arrived at Naples. Dear me ! 
 
 The Second Day. Dear me ! dear me ! 
 
 The Third Day. Went for a little trip on the waters of the bay. 
 The boatman's name is Punchi. His wife has a strange little monkey, 
 whom all the inhabitants, twenty-five miles round, have been to see. 
 
 This " strange little monkey " was our hero himself, who 
 changed the paternal name of Punchi into the more plea- 
 sant and endearing one of Punchinello ; which afterwards 
 was altered to the more famous denomination of PUNCH. 
 The boatman Punchi and his wife dwelt in a little 
 white cottage near the shore, where their skiff was moored. 
 These worthy people had been married for twenty years ; 
 and night and day did they deplore their childless con- 
 dition. This was es- 
 pecially felt by the 
 poor woman, who was 
 compelled to remain 
 alone the greater part 
 of the day, while 
 her husband was em- 
 ployed in fishing, or 
 in rowing people about 
 on the blue waters of 
 the bay. Poor Dame 
 Punchi, in her sorrow, 
 had purchased a little 
 cradle wherein she 
 might rock alike her cares and her hopes, in waiting a 
 change for the better ; and sometimes she beguiled her 
 solitude by singing a simple air over the cradle, as if to 
 lull a newly born infant to repose. 
 
 One evening, while Dame Punchi was bewailing, as
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 
 usual, that heaven had refused to bless her with a family, 
 
 her husband who was wearied of his wife's incessant com- 
 
 plaining, and who moreover was in liquor on that occasion 
 
 rose abruptly from 
 
 his seat, and, striking 
 
 his fist upon the table, 
 
 exclaimed, "Why the 
 
 dickens do n't you stop 
 
 your mouth!" 
 
 "Holy Virgin, have 
 
 mercy upon us!" cried 
 
 poor Dame Punchi. 
 Scarcely had she 
 
 uttered these' words, 
 
 when a huge cat, as 
 
 black as soot, which 
 
 apparently sprang from 
 
 beneath the bed, darted 
 
 between the legs of the boatman, who was tripped up and 
 
 thrown sprawling on the 
 floor. The cat made it3 
 escape by the door, which 
 happened to be ajar. But, 
 at the same moment, a 
 little bird, concealed in 
 the folds of the curtains, 
 flew across the room, 
 and, having gently 
 pecked at the hair of 
 Dame Punchi as it 
 passed, disappeared by 
 the open window. 
 Before the worthy couple could recover from the fright 
 
 which these incidents produced, another strange occur- 
 rence increased their alarm ; for, all of a sudden, there 
 
 came from the cradle so peculiar a cry, that it seemed as if
 
 THE LIFE OF PDNCHINELLO. 
 
 the being, from whose mouth it issued, had a hazel-nut stuck 
 in its throat. 
 
 " Wife, do see what that is ! " said Punchi, trembling 
 from head to foot, and quite sobered by all these wondrous 
 events, although still kept by fear in a sprawling position 
 on the floor. 
 
 Thereupon the poor woman approached the cradle in an 
 agitated manner, but she was ready to die with joy when 
 ?he beheld in it a little human being rolling about and 
 clapping its hands with delight. 
 
 " Oh ! the dear child ! " exclaimed Dame Punchi, taking 
 the diminutive creature in her arms. 
 
 A mother's eyes are often blind to the defects of her 
 offspring, and Dame Punchi was not the woman to be dis- 
 heartened by the appearance of a hump or a bump more or 
 less. Now this lovely child 
 had but two such excrescences 
 one in front, growing from 
 the chest in the form of a 
 comma (,), and the other on 
 the back, rising up to harmo- 
 nise with the first, in the shape 
 of a note of interrogation (?). 
 The face was not disagreeable, 
 if we except a nose that re- 
 sembled the beak of a parrot, 
 and showed a violent inclination 
 to meet a chin curving directly 
 upwards, so that the two features 
 formed a kind of arch over a mouth as large as a door-way. 
 
 "The dear child! the little treasure!" repeated the 
 good woman, gently caressing the dwarf-like being. 
 
 " Let me have a look at him !" said Father Punchi, who 
 still persisted in retaining his recumbent posture upon the 
 floor, " Do let me have a look at him ! But, dear me ! how 
 ugly he isl Well, that certainly is a son to be proud of,
 
 8 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 with his hump behind and his bump before ! And he is 
 not even ashamed of that precious nose of his I Give n.e 
 the brat, and I'll throw him 
 into the sea ! 
 
 But, dear young readers, this 
 was easier said than done ; for, 
 scarcely had Father Punchi 
 thus expressed his kind inten- 
 tions, when the little fellow 
 ^ V sprang from his mother's arms, 
 t's^ and it would have done your 
 hearts good to see how he 
 gambolled about with his 
 funny spindle-legs, making 
 such grimaces all the time that it was enough to kill one 
 with laughing. Then, on a sudden, he threw himself for- 
 ward, and balancing his little person on the bump before, 
 turned round with the rapidity of a teetotum. When ho 
 had done this, he fell at the feet of Father Punchi, and 
 pulled him gently by the 
 beard, making the most 
 curious face in the world 
 at the same instant. 
 
 This was irresistible! 
 Father Punchi, who had 
 never laughed so much 
 before in all his life, and 
 who, by the by, had a 
 pain in his side for a week 
 afterwards, was softened 
 in a moment. 
 
 "Egad!" cried he to 
 his wife, as he embraced the little being tenderly, so that 
 the good woman was quite overjoyed, " even if he has the 
 hump of a dromedary I shall keep him, for he amuses me 
 exceedingly."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SCBPRISINO PROGRESS OF YOUNG PUNCHINELLO HOW HB GOES TO 
 COURT THE ADVENTURE OF A DONKEY THAT DID NOT DANCE THE 
 TIGHT ROPE THE MANNER IN WHICH PUNCHINELLO DISMISSES THE 
 NEGRO AMBASSADOR. 
 
 FTER six weeks had elapsed, 
 little Punchinello bore the ap- 
 pearance of being at least six- 
 teen years old ; so rapid was his 
 growth, and so precocious his 
 intellect. He could speak wisely 
 on a variety of subjects, he rea- 
 soned with great clearness on all 
 topics, and he frequently puzzled 
 his parents by the questions he 
 put to them. His father, perceiv- 
 ing the progress that he made, 
 was resolved to bring him up as a street porter ; for the dear 
 child, charming as he was, caused some slight difference in 
 the domestic economy of the cottage, and since good luck 
 would have it that he should grow so quickly, it was 
 deemed wise to profit thereby. Accordingly, Father 
 Punchi said to him one morning at breakfast, " Punchinello, 
 my boy, you are now big enough to get your own living, 
 and I should advise you to go down to the quays and look 
 out for work. You will make a good thing of it by 
 carrying travellers' baggage." 
 
 " Do n't talk such nonsense," exclaimed Punchinello 
 respectfully, " I have got another project in my head." 
 " And what may that be ?" demanded the father. 
 " I mean to go to court," was the reply. 
 "Egad!" cried the boatman, laughing heartily, to
 
 10 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 court, eh? But how will you get there, little monkey? 
 for you must know very well that I have no interest in 
 that quarter." 
 
 "I will present myself, without any introduction at 
 all," rejoined Punchinello. 
 
 " And why do you wish to go to court?" 
 
 " That is easily explained. As I have a hump before 
 and a hump behind, 1 ought to learn to read and write;/ 
 and, please God, I may become so learned, that people, 
 when they hear me talk, will forget my deformities. You 
 are too poor to pay for my schooling, and therefore I hope 
 the king will take charge of the expenses of my education. 
 I am almost certain of being able to persuade him to do 
 this for me ; but, in order to make sure of success, I must 
 have a donkey." 
 
 "A donkey !" cried Father Punchi and Dame Punchi, 
 as it were in the same breath. " Where do you suppose 
 we are to procure a donkey ? Perhaps you fancy it is easy 
 to pick one up in the streets?" 
 
 " Nonsense, my dear father ! " cried Punchinello. " Sell 
 your cottage, and rest assured that before night-fall you 
 shall have one much larger aud better furnished. With
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 II 
 
 the produce of the sale of this hovel, you can buy me a 
 nice little donkey." 
 
 "Egad! your son is stark staring mad, wife," cried 
 Father Punchi. " Plague take him, and his donkey !" 
 
 " It is you yourself who are a donkey, Master Punchi," 
 exclaimed the good woman : " may not our son understand 
 these things better than you?" 
 
 In a word, my dear young friends, after an hour's 
 dispute, Father Punchi was won over by a caper which 
 Punchinello cut at a lucky moment : the house was forth- 
 Avith disposed of; a donkey was purchased ; and the result 
 was anxiously awaited by Punchinello's parents. 
 
 The moment the little being was in possession of the 
 much-coveted animal, he leapt upon its back as nimbly as 
 j, rider at Astley's. But whither was he going ? Straight 
 to the king's palace, followed at a short distance by his 
 ? ather and mother, who, having sold their house, now found 
 themselves abroad in the wide world. The people also 
 gathered near and formed in procession, shouting loudly all 
 the while ; for this was no common sight. There was 
 Punchinello, with his two humps, his tight-fitting coat, red
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 on one side and yellow on the other, his red slippers and hie 
 
 gilt cocked hat, cantering along Avith a dignified air. When 
 e reached the vicinity of the palace the procession consisted 
 of at least three thousand persons, without reckoning the 
 dogs, the cats, and the butterflies. 
 
 The king, hearing the loud 
 shouting of the people, ran 
 to his balcony, and all his 
 court placed themselves at, 
 the windoAvs, anxious to learri 
 what object the strange hump- 
 back had in view. Then 
 Punchinello bowed three 
 times to the king and the 
 royal family, and made a sign 
 with his hand that he was 
 about to speak. " Hush J 
 Silence!" cried the multi- 
 tude. 
 " Sire," exclaimed Punchi- 
 
 ^r~ nello, in his hoarse tone, 
 
 " ladies, gentlemen, and good 
 
 people all, I have the honour to inform you that, with the 
 permission of his majesty, my donkey noAv present Avill 
 dance upon the tight-rope. The rope shall be stretched 
 in the air fifty-one feet from the ground, and your humble 
 servant Punchinello \vill mount the noble animal during 
 this extraordinary exhibition." 
 
 " Bravo ! bravo ! " shouted the people, clapping their 
 hands, joyfully. " Long life to Punchinello ! long life to 
 the donkey ! long life to the king !" 
 
 " But Avhen shall all this be done, my humpbacked 
 friend?" asked the king, after boAving to the multitudes in 
 acknowledgment of their kind wishes ; " for I do not 
 hesitate to confess, in the presence of my people, that I am 
 impatient to behold this strange feat." 
 
 9mm
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 13 
 
 "Sire," answered Punchinello, "the exhibition shall 
 take place this evening at seven o'clock, if your majesty 
 will have the goodness to order 
 the lord steward of your ma- 
 jesty's household to supply 
 me with all that I shall require, 
 namely, a rope, two poles to 
 fasten it to, and a ladder to 
 ascend by." 
 
 " Certainly," said the gracious 
 monarch ; " let the lord steward 
 come forward." 
 You must know, dear readers, 
 that this lord steward, whose 
 name was Bugolino, was an 
 ill-natured nobleman, uni- 
 versally hated throughout the 
 kingdom on account of the 
 evil qualities of his disposition, 
 and the cruelty of his amuse- 
 ments. On one occasion he 
 had ordered Father Punchi to 
 be bastinadoed almost to death, 
 upon the absurd pretext that the poor man had trod on the 
 toe of one of his lordship's horses. 
 
 " My Lord Bugolino,',' said the king, " I desire you to 
 make all the arrangements which this interesting humpback 
 requires. Should your negligence deprive me of this 
 twilight diversion, I will have you hanged within an hour. 
 But if Punchinello shall have promised what he cannot 
 perform, he shall be hanged instead." 
 
 " Sire, I agree to those terms," said Punchinello. 
 " Let food be given both to him and his donkey," ex- 
 claimed the king. 
 
 'Punchinello was accordingly conducted into one of the 
 courts 'of the palace, and a servant brought him some 
 
 v.c>r
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 choice morsels from the royal table, thereof Father and 
 Dame Punch! had the larger share, as the reader may well 
 
 suppose. These poor people, however, were far from being 
 at their ease, for they could not possibly imagine how 
 Punchinello would persuade his donkey to dance on a 
 tight-rope elevated fifty-one feet in the air. They therefore 
 already fancied their dear little humpback hung up hard 
 and fast, for having made a fool of the king^ 
 
 " Shal-la-ballah!" cried Punchinello, "do not alarm 
 yourselves ; eat, drink, and be merry, for I will take care 
 what I am about." 
 
 The evening soon came. By order of the lord steward, 
 two enormous poles had been raised in the court-yard of 
 the palace ; and a strong rope was fastened tightly from 
 one to the other. Three magnificent pavilions, lined with 
 gold brocade, and carpeted with the royal standard, had 
 been also erected with marvellous promptitude. The 
 members of the court took their places on the benches 
 prepared for them, and the king was seated upon his 
 throne in the central pavilion. The multitude filled a 
 vast space. There were the worthy citizens crowded pell-
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 15 
 
 mcll together, upon tables, chairs, carts, and house-tops; 
 many of them, too, supporting their wives and children 
 upon their backs. 
 
 Suddenly a shout burst from the crowd, "Here he 
 comes! here he comes!" And, sure enough, Punchinello 
 appeared, mounted upon his donkey, which trotted briskly 
 forward, while he himself bowed right and left to the 
 company. My Lord Bugolino, who remained in the 
 court-yard in order to see that nothing was wanting to 
 render the arrangements complete, held the stirrup while 
 Punchinello dismounted; a ladder stood against one of 
 the poles to which the cord was fastened : Punchinello 
 ascended with the activity of a monkey, and was at the 
 top in no time. Then he waved his hat gracefully to the 
 multitude below ; and the people cried, " Bravo ! bravo ! 
 Look ! the donkey is going to dance now ! and yet it is a 
 strange idea ! Will he dance with his four legs ? and must 
 he have a pole to balance himself?" And all this time 
 Lord Bugolino held the donkey by the bridle at the foot 
 of the ladder. 
 
 " Now, Punchinello, my good friend,"- exclaimed the 
 king, growing impatient, " you have bowed and scraped 
 quite enough. Begin the exhibition; I am dying with 
 curiosity."
 
 16 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO- 
 
 "Sire," replied Punchinello, from the eminence on 
 which he was perched, " I am ready." 
 
 After waiting a few moments, and perceiving that 
 Punchinello did not move an inch, the king exclaimed 
 angrily, "Well, humpback, what are you stopping for? 
 do you want any thing ?" 
 
 " Saving your presence, sire," was the humble reply, 
 "I want the donkey." 
 
 "What! you want the donkey?" ejaculated the mo- 
 narch, growing more and more passionate. " Are you endea- 
 vouring to make a fool of me ? Did you not promise that 
 the donkey should dance the tight-rope ? " 
 
 " And I can safely repeat that promise, sire," rejoined 
 Punchinello ; " all I require is, that the donkey may be 
 brought up to me ; for if I know how to make the animal 
 dance the tight-rope to perfection, I am completely igno- 
 rant of the way to induce him to walk up a ladder. I 
 only undertook the dancing part, sire; the rest is the 
 business of your lord steward. He agreed that all neces- 
 sary arrangements should be complete ; and, shal-la-ballah I
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 17 
 
 it is precisely the most important one of the whole that 
 he has omitted!" 
 
 At these words all the members of the court burst out 
 laughing, and the people clapped their hands; for there 
 was not a soul present who was not delighted with the 
 embarrassment of my Lord Bugolino. Even the king 
 himself sat laughing upon his throne until the tears ran 
 down his august cheeks, and he was compelled to wipe his 
 eyes several times ere he could utter a word. 
 
 "My Lord Bugolino, do you hear?" at length ex- 
 claimed his majesty; "hasten to fulfil the very proper 
 demand which Punchinello makes upon you." 
 
 " 13 ut, sire," said Lord Bugolino, ready to burst with 
 rage. 
 
 'No answer, my lord," interrupted the monarch; 
 "make the donkey ascend the ladder." 
 
 Lord Bugolino accordingly dragged the animal to the 
 
 foot of the ladder, and tried to persuade the poor beast to 
 mount; but the donkey naturally remained as obstinate 
 as ever. 
 
 " Gee up, gee up !" cried Lord Bugolino. 
 
 "Hee haw, hee haw!" answered the donkey, braying
 
 18 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 with all his might, which created much laughter amongst 
 the assembled crowd. 
 
 " Wretched animal!" ejaculated the lord steward; 
 w will you mount the ladder ? Gee up ! " 
 
 " Hee haw, hee haw !" repeated the animal, setting its 
 fore feet firmly, and then drawing its body back so that its 
 haunches almost touched the ground. 
 
 " Vile beast !" cried the lord steward, surveying the 
 donkey with desperate vexation ; then, going behind the 
 animal, he endeavoured to push it for ward with all his 
 strength, until he became quite purple in the face, and 
 seemed ready to burst. 
 
 "Hee haw, hee haw!" brayed the obstinate beast. 
 
 "There, then; take this and this and this," roared 
 Lord Bugolino, striking desperate hard blows upon the 
 animal's hind quarters. But this time the donkey had got 
 the best of it in spite of the thrashing ; for he suddenly 
 
 kicked out his hind legs, and laid my Lord Bugolino, high 
 steward of the royal household, sprawling upon the 
 ground. 
 
 " Bravo ! bravo !" shouted the populace, unable to re- 
 strain their joy. 
 
 Quickly as thought, Punchinello descended from hia 
 perch, and raised my Lord Bugolino, who was not seriously 
 hurt, although he pretended to be so in order to have an 
 excuse for hurrying away to the most retired part of the
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 19 
 
 palace. Punchinello made only one bound to reach the 
 royal pavilion, where, prostrating himself before the king, 
 he implored pardon, with so comical an expression of 
 penitence, that the king, who was that day in a merciful 
 humour, replied, " Well then, little joker, I will forgive 
 
 you ; but it is only on condition that you will exercise 
 your extraordinary powers of invention, so as to release 
 me from the terrible dilemma I am placed in with respect 
 to the marriage of my daughter." 
 
 It is here necessary to acquaint our readers with the 
 precise nature of the dilemma in which so mighty a king 
 found himself involved, and the particulars of which were 
 well known to all Naples. A few years previously, the 
 monarch, being threatened with invasion by a Turkish 
 fleet, had demanded succour, in the shape of men and 
 money, of the King of the Negroes. The King of the 
 Negroes had responded favourably to this solicitation, 
 upon condition that he should receive in exchange the 
 hand of the Princess of Naples, who was considered a per- 
 fect miracle of beauty, as soon as she reached a marriage- 
 able age. The King of Naples, urged by the pressing 
 nature of his position, had been compelled to accept thia
 
 20 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 condition ; and the 
 Turks were eventu- 
 ally cut to pieces by 
 the combined forces 
 of the two sovereigns. 
 Since that period the 
 princess had grown 
 up ; and, on the very- 
 day when Punchi- 
 nello appeared at the 
 court of Naples, the 
 ambassador of the 
 King of the Negroes 
 had arrived with great 
 pomp in the city, at- 
 tended by a train of 
 five hundred black 
 
 gentlemen, clad in tigers' plans, and wearing gold 
 
 rings on their necks, their arms, and their ancles. Now 
 
 this ambassador came with the 
 
 simple and sole object of 
 
 claiming the unhappy princess 
 
 in the name of the king, his 
 
 master. So ill-assorted a mar- 
 riage was contemplated by all 
 
 Naples with sorrow and indig- 
 nation; for, in proportion as 
 
 the princess was favoured with 
 
 both mental and personal 
 
 beauties, so was the King of 
 
 the Negroes marked by all 
 
 kinds of deformity. 
 
 Accordingly a murmur of ^ 
 
 approbation rose amongst the 
 
 crowd, when Punchinello thus 
 
 answered his majesty: " Sire.
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 21 
 
 it would be downright cruelty to send the princess, who 
 is a perfect star of beauty, amongst the lions, tigers, and 
 negroes." 
 
 " That is also my idea, good humpback," said the king; 
 while the princess turned aside to wipe away the tears 
 which dimmed her beauteous eyes. " But what can I do, 
 for I have pledged my word? In plain Italian, my honour 
 is compromised." 
 
 " What ! " ejaculated Punchinello, "/foes the treaty 
 merely record the obligations which bind your majesty ? 
 Has the King of the Negroes no condition to fulfil on 
 his side?" 
 
 "Alas!" answered the sovereign, "in the dilemma in 
 which the approach of the Turks involved me, I promised 
 all that was asked of "me ; and I am, moreover, bound to 
 give my daughter a dowry into the bargain. As for my 
 intended son-in-law, he was no doubt determined to make 
 merry at my cost ; and he accordingly added an ironical 
 clause to the treaty, whereby he binds himself to give the 
 princess nothing save a pair of slippers to be made of the 
 most rare material which I can devise, so long as it really 
 exists on the face of the earth." 
 
 "Shal-la-ballah !" shouted Punchinello. "Dry your 
 tears, beautiful princess! the King of the Negroes shall not 
 even touch you with the tip of his little finger. Sire, 
 allow me to speak to this ambassador. It will not be long 
 ere I send his black excellency away with all his sable 
 body-guard."
 
 32 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 The king, with a slight shake of the head, which im- 
 plied a doubt as to the result, sent to desire the presence 
 of the negro ambassador, who, together with all his suite, 
 occupied the pavilion on the left hand. The moment his 
 black excellency and Punchinello were face to face and 
 a very strange pair of faces it was too the latter spoke 
 
 in the following manner : " Illustrious envoy, Jwu are no 
 doubt a man of great intellect ; I therefore feel convinced 
 that it is not your wish to carry off that beautiful princess 
 against her inclination ? " 
 
 " My instructions are to take her away with me, and 
 I shall obey them," returned the ambassador rudely. 
 
 " Very well," continued Punchinello ; " and yet it will 
 be an easy matter for your excellency to restore happiness 
 to the hearts of the king, the queen, and the princess, 
 without offending your master. Your excellency may tell 
 his sable majesty, for instance, that the prince'ss has suddenly 
 become so ugly that she quite disgusted you ; or that she
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 23 
 
 has gone mad; or has taken to drinking; or has married 
 some one else ; or even that she has got a couple of humps, 
 like me ; or any thing else you choose." 
 
 " A thousand thunders ! " cried the ambassador ; " why- 
 do you bother me with your humps?" 
 
 " Shal-la-ballah!" ejaculated Punchinello; "is this the 
 pig that we have got by the ears ? "Well, be it so. Now, 
 most noble ambassador, are you not bound by treaty to 
 present the princess a pair of slippers made of any material 
 ehe may choose ?" 
 
 " Precisely so," answered the ambassador ; " that is, 
 upon condition the materials chosen be in existence on 
 the earth!" 
 
 " Better and better ! " exclaimed Punchinello ; " and if 
 you refuse a pair of slippers made of the material so speci- 
 fied, there is to be no marriage?" 
 
 "You have spoken correctly," returned the envoy, 
 laughing with an insolent air of defiance. 
 
 " Now then, most conscientious ambassador," cried 
 Punchinello, "the princess has so good a taste that she 
 fancies nothing upon earth to be equal in beauty to your 
 skin, both on account of its jet black hue, and its glossy 
 brilliancy. Will your excellency, 
 therefore, order a pair of slippers, 
 double-soled, to be immediately 
 made of that rare and costly mate- 
 rial? Should you, however, pre- 
 fer keeping your skin for your 
 own personal use, make to your 
 master what excuse you choose 
 provided he leaves us quiet in 
 future. That is all I have to 
 say: so good night go and be 
 skinned elsewhere if you will." 
 The ambassador, who, no doubt, 
 had strong reasons for not being skinned alive, decamped
 
 21 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 as fast as his legs would carry him, and embarked on 
 board the ship that brought him, followed by all his 
 negro gentlemen. Indeed, such was his haste to depart, 
 
 that he forgot to pay his debts. The King of Naples, 
 however, was so rejoiced at this happy event, that he 
 announced his intention of paying them from his own 
 private purse, so that no one might be injured by the hur- 
 ried flight of the ambassador. 
 
 Meantime Punchinello was the object of a thousand 
 congratulations and tokens of friendship on the part of the 
 courtiers; for they naturally supposed that he would 
 immediately rise high in the royal favour. And, sure 
 enough, the king desired him on the spot to specify the 
 nature of the recompense which he desired in return for 
 the important service rendered to the royal family. 
 
 " Sire," said Punchinello, " I require four things of 
 your majesty. The first is, that you will receive me 
 amongst your pages, and give me masters to instruct me in 
 all the services r 
 
 " Granted," exclaimed the king. 
 
 " The second is, that my donkey, to whom I owe so 
 much, may not in future be compelled to turn the mill, 
 but that he be permitted to graze in your royal meadows." 
 
 "He shall eat of his fill of my pastures," said the 
 king. 
 
 "The third," continued Punchinello, "is, that your
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 25 
 
 majesty will enable my father and mother to live in com- 
 fort for the rest of their days.** 
 
 " Granted most willingly," said the king. " What ia 
 your fourth request?" 
 
 " The fourth is, that your majesty will permit me to 
 kiss the hand of the princess." 
 
 And every one was delighted with the prudence and 
 wit of Punchinello. 
 
 The king was graciously pleased to allow him to kiss 
 the fair hand of his daughter; and the princess, smiling 
 with all her heart, held out her hand to the happy little 
 humpback, who gently touched the four fingers with hia 
 lips ; but, on reaching the thumb, he threw aside all cere- 
 mony, and smacked it right cordially.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PUNCHINELLO BECOMES THE KING'S PAGE THE THREE LAUGHABLE 
 
 ADVENTURES OF MY LORD BUGOHNO FIRST LAUGHABLE ADVENTUHB 
 PUNCHINELLO'S SECRET. 
 
 very same evenng 
 Punchinello took up his 
 abode in the king's palace, 
 and became a royal page. 
 His father and mother were 
 not neglected; for the king 
 gave them a pretty little 
 cottage which stood in the 
 royal gardens, and was 
 shaded by orange-trees. 
 Dame Punchi had nothing 
 to do but spin golden and 
 silken thread for the 
 princess, who often called, 
 during her morning walks 
 in the garden, to chat with 
 the good old couple. 
 The young pages, who were Punchinello's companions, 
 were at first inclined to joke with him on account of his 
 humps and ugly face ; but, in a short time, they all be- 
 came his friends ; for some were afraid of his wit, and the 
 rest loved him because he was very good-natured. When 
 a person is both clever and good, he is sure to be liked by 
 every one ; and no one thinks of looking whether such a 
 person be handsome or ugly. 
 
 Punchinello, according to his request, was provided 
 with masters to teach him all things useful : he knew very 
 well that natural talents are of little value unless assisted 
 by learning; and he made up his mind to gain so much
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 
 knowledge, that persons would never think of looking at 
 
 his humps and ugly face when he was talking to them. 
 
 Already his powers of invention had made the king very 
 
 fond of him, and the 
 princess very friendly 
 with him. Indeed, the 
 princess, ever since that 
 evening when he did 
 her so great a service, 
 by sending off the ne- 
 gro ambassador, always 
 gave him something or 
 other very nice when 
 she met him, and, most 
 frequently, oranges, of 
 which Punchinello was 
 very fond. 
 
 In spite of this kind- 
 ness, Punchinello did not escape some little annoyances ; 
 
 for he had a dreadful enemy in the person of my Lord 
 
 Ernest Bugolino, who never 
 
 forgave him for having made 
 
 his lordship the laughing- 
 stock of the court. Now this 
 
 bad man Bugolino, by virtue 
 
 of his office of lord steward, 
 
 had to look after the pages, 
 
 and see that they did their 
 
 duty; and he was always 
 
 thinking how he could set 
 
 the king against our poor 
 
 little friend with the two 
 
 humps. When any trick 
 
 was played in the palace, 
 
 if, for instance, some lord put 
 
 his hand into his pocket, and found a mouse nibbling at a
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 nut ; or if an ambassador walked gravely into the king's 
 presence, dragging a little cart made of card- board, and 
 fastened to the train of his robe whenever such things as 
 these happened, then Lord Bugolino always said, " Ah ! 
 any one can see that Master Punchinello has had a hand 
 in this." But as the king seldom took any notice of what 
 the lord steward said about Punchinello, this wicked noble- 
 man made up his mind to ruin the poor little humpback by 
 means of some vile trick or another. 
 
 He knew that the king was very fond of a little bird, 
 the colour of fire, which the Sultan of Bengal had sent 
 him; now this little bird was silent all day, but when 
 evening came and the dew began to fall, it would warble 
 the most beautiful airs* which delighted every one who 
 heard them. 
 
 Lord Bugolino, like all stupid and wicked people, hated 
 music ; so one day he twisted the neck of the little warbler 
 of Bengal, and went 
 and hid it under 
 Punchinello's bed. 
 The next morning, 
 as every one in the 
 palace was wonder- 
 ing what could have 
 become of the poor 
 little bird, Lord Bu- 
 golino sent a servant s 
 to search the rooms 
 
 'where the pages R- " ^^^ ==r^- 
 
 slept, and, of course, the dead body of the bird was found 
 under Punchinello's bed, because his lordship had put 
 it there. You may guess how angry the king was when 
 he heard this, and he ordered Lord Bugolino to have 
 Punchinello well flogged with fifty lashes on the part 
 where such punishments are generally inflicted. 
 
 Punchinello was greatly vexed at the affront thus put
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 29 
 
 upon him, and he made 
 up his mind to revenge 
 himself in some way or 
 another upon Lord Bu- 
 golino. He noticed this 
 nobleman was a great 
 dandy in his dress, and 
 thought himself very 
 handsome ; now this was 
 a weak point which the 
 humpback resolved to 
 attack. 
 
 The very next morning the walls of the palace, inside 
 and out, were found covered with a vast number of pla- 
 cards containing these words : 
 
 IN A FEW DAYS WILL BE PUBLISHED, 
 
 THE SEVENTY-THREE-AND-A-HALF WAYS OF 
 TYING A CRAVAT. 
 
 BY LORD BUGOLINO. 
 
 The whole court laughed heartily at the expense of his 
 lordship, who had no great difficulty in guessing the author 
 of this squib. 
 
 On another occasion, when the king gave a grand ball, 
 this wicked nobleman, who was very vain of the lightness 
 with which he danced, suddenly found himself unable to 
 lift up his feet just at the very moment when he wanted to 
 perform a favourite polka step, for the soles of his shoes 
 had been secretly covered with a kind of wax, which stuck 
 fast to the floor when it became heated. It required four 
 strong men-servants to move the nobleman from the spot ; 
 and when he went to wipe the perspiration from his face, 
 for he was very warm through rage and shame, he rubbed 
 his cheeks with a handkerchief that had .been strewed with 
 soot. Presently he looked at himself in the glass, and, aa
 
 30 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 you may suppose, he was the only one in the room who did 
 not laugh at his face which was as black as a sweep's. 
 
 Some time after this provoking adventure, the conver- 
 sation in the king's apartment turned upon the rich dress 
 and fine appearance of Lord Bugolino. 
 
 " Yes, he does wear very nice clothes," said Punchinello, 
 " and he may be very handsome : though no one, seeing 
 him dressed, would fancy that there was any thing the 
 matter with him." 
 
 " What is the matter with him?" asked the king. 
 "Your majesty cannot be ignorant of that, surely?" 
 said the cunning little humpback. 
 " What do you mean ?" 
 
 " Sire, any one of your majesty's courtiers will explain 
 it, " 
 
 The king then questioned his courtiers, but one and all 
 declared that they did not know what Punchinello meant. 
 His majesty was dying with curiosity, so he pressed the 
 page to speak out. 
 
 " Sire," said Punchinello, " I thought that this matter 
 was well known, but as I alone appear to know any thing 
 about it, it is better for me to keep the secret." 
 
 " I promise not to 
 betray it, if you will 
 tell me," cried the 
 king. "Indeed, as 
 your sovereign, I 
 command you." 
 Punchinello then put 
 his lips to the king's 
 ears, and said in a 
 whisper, " Sire, the 
 Lord Ernest Bugo- 
 lino is covered with 
 small feathers." 
 "What!" exclaimed the king, "covered with feathers! 
 Is it possible?"
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 81 
 
 " Very possible, sire. He is completely covered like a 
 bird, every where, save on his head, neck, and hands." 
 
 " Well ! now I am no longer astonished that he should 
 dance with so much lightness!'''' said the king; "but, fea- 
 thers, indeed ! It is really wonderful ! " 
 
 " Sire, his lordship is covered ; and when he sits down, 
 ygur majesty may suppose that he does not find himself 
 very much at his ease." The king burst out into a loud 
 laugh, rubbing his hands merrily together. The lords 
 and ladies of the court who were present saw the king 
 laugh ; and, of course, supposing that Punchinello's secret 
 must be something very good, they, one after the other, 
 took him aside, and begged him to admit them to his 
 confidence. 
 
 " I will tell you the secret with pleasure," said Punchi- 
 nello, giving the same answer to each ; " but only on con- 
 dition that you will not reveal it again." 
 
 Then he related the same 
 story he had told the king ; 
 and, thanks to this method 
 of confiding his secret, 
 under the pledge of silence, 
 to every one, there was not 
 a soul in the palace, down to 
 the scullions, who had not 
 speedily learnt that Lord 
 Earnest Bugolino was co- 
 vered with feathers beneath 
 his garments. It is from 
 - this circumstance, that all 
 ^^jT" secrets, which are not faith- 
 fully kept, have ever since 
 been called, "Punchinello's secrets" 
 
 In due course Lord Bugolino entered the royal apart- 
 ment to play cards with the king. His presence was the 
 signal for stifled laughter, cunning glances, and roguish
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 smiles, the real cause 
 of all which his lord- 
 ship was very far from 
 suspecting. Some per- 
 sons present even went 
 so far as to stand 
 upon tiptoe and look 
 down his back, be- 
 neath his lace collar, 
 in order to see where 
 
 ___ ^ ^ the feathers began. 
 
 - A The worst of all this, 
 
 in respect to Lord Bugolino, was, that, having lost several 
 games, he observed, " Your majesty, I have just been well 
 plucked." 
 
 At these words every one present burst into a fit of 
 laughter ; and the king could not help saying, " Well, my 
 dear Ernest, you have done quite right." 
 
 Lord Bugolino, who could not make out what they all 
 meant with their laughter and their strange observations, 
 retired to his own apartments to reflect on these mortify- 
 ing events. 
 
 Punchinello did not, however, think his chastisement 
 repaid by the tricks he had already played on Lord Bugo- 
 lino. He had noticed that every evening, at the same 
 hour, this nobleman went in secret to a beautiful arbour, 
 in one corner of the royal gardens, and dug up the earth 
 in a certain spot. Punchinello, who was curious to learn 
 the meaning of this, turned up the earth in the same place, 
 and discovered a bag of gold. Lord Ernest was a miser ; 
 and, fearful of being robbed (for wicked people are always 
 suspicious), he had buried his money. Punchinello was 
 much too honest to think for a single moment of taking 
 what did not belong to him : he accordingly covered up 
 the treasure as he had found it, and then hastened, leaping 
 and skipping joyfully along, to the king, who was at
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 supper in his great marble halL "What is there new?" 
 demanded the sovereign, when he saw Punchinello. 
 
 " Sire," answered the humpback, in a low voice, " your 
 lord steward must belong to some family of birds. He is 
 not only covered with feathers ; but he goes farther still 
 he lays eggs ! " 
 
 " What !" cried his majesty; " do you mean to tell me 
 that Lord Bugolino lays eggs?" 
 
 " Sire," said Punchinello, " it is very certain that he 
 does really lay eggs." 
 
 "Nonsense !" exclaimed the king, greatly surprised. 
 " Sire," added the mischievous little page, " if your 
 majesty will come with me to-morrow evening, all doubts 
 on this point shall be cleared up." 
 
 On the following evening, the king and Punchinello 
 passed through the gardens together, his majesty feeling 
 very curious to see his lord 
 steward lay eggs. When 
 they reached the arbour, 
 they concealed themselves 
 amongst the trees, and soon 
 saw Lord Ernest drawing 
 near. He entered the ar- 
 bour very cautiously, look- 
 ing about him on all sides; 
 then, with his back turned 
 towards the place where the 
 king and Punchinello were 
 concealed, he stooped down 
 to bury some more money. 
 "Upon my honour," whispered the king to Punchi- 
 nello, '" I do really believe that you are quite right. This 
 is the funniest thing I ever knew ! A man must have 
 very little to do when he amuses himself by laying eggs. 
 But why the dickens does he dig up the ground?" 
 " He is burying the eggs," replied Punchinello. 
 
 531
 
 34 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 " Ah ! I see," said the king, twiddling his forefingers 
 
 in a very serious manner. " There can be no doubt of it; 
 
 jny lord steward lays eggs." 
 
 At this moment the nobleman rose, and retired slowly, 
 - >^ -a<- '! .thinking of his hid- 
 
 -^ i^K|i den treasure. The 
 king lost no time in 
 entering the arbour, 
 '^^^'^H-l '-. while Punchinello 
 lighted a lantern. 
 "Here is the place," 
 said the king. 
 Very well," re- 
 turned Punchinello ; 
 and, with his knife, 
 he began to dig up 
 the earth, but not in 
 
 the precise spot where he knew the gold to be buried. 
 
 " Goodness gracious!" cried the king, all on a sudden, 
 
 as he watched the proceeding with the most lively interest; 
 
 "here is one egg! here ^n^^?^^ 
 
 is another ! here is a 
 
 third! here isafourth!" 
 
 and, thus counting 
 
 them one after another, 
 
 he found as many as 
 
 twelve. " By my royal 
 
 crown," continued his 
 
 majesty, turning them 
 
 over with the tips of 
 
 his fingers, " one might 
 
 almost think they were 
 
 turkeys' eggs." 
 
 This great sovereign 
 
 was not very far wrong ; for Punchinello had taken them 
 
 in the morning from the royal turkeys' nests.
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 85 
 
 " Well, I shall take them away," exclaimed the king ; 
 " and I know very well what I shall do with them." 
 
 He accordingly held up his purple robe like an apron, 
 so as to carry the eggs in safety ; and in this way he re- 
 turned to the palace, attended by Punchinello, who held 
 the lantern. 
 
 Now there was at Naples, my dear young readers, a 
 college of twelve learned men, whose business it was to 
 look into every thing wonderful or strange that might 
 occur. The king sent that very same evening to order the 
 twelve learned men to come to the palace without delay ; 
 and, on their arrival, he explained to them the singular 
 
 event he had witnessed 
 by means of Punchinello. 
 He also placed the eggs 
 before them. A small 
 stove was brought in; 
 one of the eggs was plain 
 boiled; the rest were made 
 into an omelette; and 
 three of the most learned 
 of the wise men were 
 formed into a committee 
 of taste. From the re- 
 port of these sages, the president of the college gave the 
 following opinion to the king : 
 
 " Although the eggs of the Lord Ernest Bugolino have 
 the shape of turkeys' eggs, they differ completely in their 
 taste. Their flavour is that of pine-apples; and as so 
 wonderful a thing ought to be fully explained, his lordship 
 is prayed, in the name of the king, and for the advance- 
 ment of science, to appear before a special committee, 
 which, being divided into several sections, may visit foreign 
 colleges, and thus obtain a complete explanation of the 
 subject." 
 
 In spite of the lateness of the hour, some of the learned
 
 SO THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 men went straight to acquaint Lord Bugolino with the 
 president's opinion. The nobleman was in bed ; but the 
 moment the message was delivered to him he jumped up, 
 and began skipping about like a madman, so that the wise 
 men began to suspect that Punchinello had deceived them 
 all; for they now saw very clearly that Lord Bugolino 
 had not a single feather upon his body, and it was but fair 
 to suppose that the story of the eggs was untrue also. 
 We cannot say who looked the more foolish, Lord Bugo- 
 lino, or the learned men ; it is, however, certain that they 
 one and all made up their minds to punish Master Punchi- 
 nello for the absurd trick which he had played them,
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 SECOND LAUGHABLE ADVENTURE OF LORD BUGOLINO WHAT HAPPENED 
 TO THE WIGS OF THIS NOBLEMAN AND THE TWELVE LEARNED MEN. 
 
 j\EXT morning Lord Bugolino, followed by the twelve 
 learned men, presented himself to the king, who, in spite 
 of his dignity, could not help laughing in his sleeve when 
 
 he saw them all 
 come in. The lord 
 steward, speaking 
 in the name of the 
 whole body, as- 
 sured his majesty 
 that "the state 
 would be shortly 
 ruined, if the im- 
 pudence of Mas- 
 ter Punchinello were not put an end to, for nothing was 
 sacred in the eyes of the humpback. He has already found 
 means to turn the respectable body of wise men, and even 
 myself (the lord steward), into ridicule before the court 
 and city. In a short^time, if he be not punished, we shall 
 see him make a laughing-stock even of your majesty; 
 and we therefore pray your majesty to chastise this great 
 offender, so as to save the country and the throne from ruin." 
 The king, upon hearing this discourse, wore a serious 
 aspect, and ordered Punchinello to be brought before him. 
 " Master page," said the king, " I must frankly admit 
 that your last joke gave me much amusement ; I even 
 laughed with the queen, as we talked about it, during a 
 great part of the night. It is not the less certain, how- 
 ever, that you made fools of us all of me as well as of 
 those learned gentlemen. This -is very wrong, and ia
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 likely to set a bad example. I cannot, therefore, help order- 
 ing you, my poor little humpback, to receive five hundred 
 
 blows of a stick 
 upon the soles of 
 your feet." 
 "Sire," exclaim- 
 ed Punchinello, 
 " may I be at 
 least permitted to 
 choose the kind of 
 stick with which 
 I am to be chas- 
 tised?" 
 
 " You may," an- 
 swered the king. 
 " Then, sire, I beg that it may be a sugar-stick," said 
 Punchinello. 
 
 " No, no," cried the king, severely ; " we are not joking 
 at present. I am, moreover, in no humour for mirth ; be- 
 cause the princess, my daughter, has been for some days 
 plunged into a profound melancholy, of which the physi- 
 cians declare she must shortly die, if we do not find means 
 to make her laugh. And this is impossible ! The poor 
 creature is as gloomy as death. Nothing calls a smile to 
 her lips." 
 
 " I will make her laugh ! " ejaculated Punchinello. 
 " You ! can you make my daughter laugh ? " 
 " This very day, sire." 
 
 "Well and good," said the king. "At that rate I 
 will forgive you the five hundred slaps with the stick; 
 but if you do not succeed you shall receive a thousand. 
 " Gentlemen," added the king, turning towards Lord 
 Bugolino and the twelve wise men, "ye shall be the 
 umpires." 
 
 " I hope that they will," said Punchinello to himself. 
 When the monarch asked the humpback if he required
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 39 
 
 any thing to assist him in doing what he had proposed, 
 Punchinello said, that all he wanted was about fifteen 
 pigeons from the royal dove-cotes. The king gave him leave 
 to take them ; and all the court went immediately into the 
 gardens. The princess placed 
 herself at a window, in obe- 
 dience to a positive order 
 which the king gave her; for 
 she had no heart for any 
 amusement ; and it was quite 
 wretched to see how pale and 
 thin she had grown, while 
 h er eyes were always filled 
 with tears, caused by her 
 melancholy state of mind. 
 
 " It is very clear," said the people on all sides, " that the 
 fear of the five hundred slaps has turned poor Punchinello's 
 head ; for he never can make our sweet princess laugh/' 
 
 But it was chiefly from Lord Bugolino and the twelve 
 learned men that Punchinello received the most cutting 
 taunts, and the most cruel jokes, for 
 having undertaken so hopeless a task. 
 Punchinello shortly made his ap- 
 pearance, bearing on his back a large 
 cage in which there were fifteen of 
 the royal pigeons. 
 
 " What is he going to do?" said 
 the king. " Alas ! my daughter does 
 not laugh ; and really I, myself, can 
 see nothing to laugh at." 
 
 "In the* meantime Punchinello 
 placed his cage at the feet of Lord 
 Bugolino and the twelve wise men, 
 saying, in a polite manner, "My lord and gentlemen, I 
 trust you will be. able to judge better than any one else 
 the value of my joke."
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 He then took from the cage one of the pigeons, which 
 he fondled for a short time, in the midst of general attention ; 
 
 but the princess 
 still went on weep- 
 ing sadly ! All on 
 a sudden Punchi- 
 nello let the pigeon 
 go, and it imme- 
 diately flew up- 
 wards. No one had 
 observed that there 
 was a piece of fine 
 silk fastened to the 
 bird's leg, the other 
 end of which re- 
 mained in Punchi- 
 nello's hand. While 
 Lord Bugolino was 
 following the pi- 
 geon with his eyes, 
 like every one pre- 
 sent, the mischievous page adroitly fixed to the noble- 
 man's wig a fishing-hook, which he had fastened to the 
 silk; and now, behold! the wig suddenly flies up into 
 the air ! 
 
 At this droll event, and at the sight of my Lord Bugo- 
 lino, who leapt up as high as he could to try and catch his 
 wig, shouts of laughter broke forth so loud, that some 
 folks who make great things of trifles said, they were 
 heard nearly eight miles off at sea ! Still the merriment 
 thus occasioned knew no bounds, when Punchinello, who 
 had seized the first moment of surprise to fasten, with 
 great skill and speed, the twelve other hooks to the wigs 
 of the learned men, suddenly let the pigeons escape, and 
 the twelve wigs flew up into the air after that of the lord 
 steward. Then was it that the princess, who had not
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 41 
 
 emiled until now, followed the example of all the rest, and 
 began to laugh so heartily that she was forced to hold her 
 sides, for she could not stop 
 herself. As for the king, he 
 was so rejoiced at this event 
 that he knew not what he 
 did ; and he actually hugged 
 a greasy kitchen-boy who 
 happened to be passing at 
 the time. In a word, his 
 courtiers were obliged to 
 carry him away to the palace. 
 The pigeons and the wiga 
 were soon out of sight in the clouds; while the lord 
 steward and the twelve learned men, with their bare heads, 
 took to their heels as hard as they could, pursued by the 
 shouts and laughter of all the good folks in the beautiful 
 city of Naples.
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THIRD AHD LAST LAUGHABLE ADVENTURE OF tORD BUGOLINO HIS COLD 
 IN THE HEAD, AND WHAT IT LED TO. 
 
 1 HE great lords of the kingdom, and the learned men of 
 the country, all thought themselves affronted by the joke 
 of the wigs. They therefore went, half-a-dozen at a time, 
 to the palace, with very long faces, and for the purpose of 
 praying the king to have Punchinello put to death. Having 
 heard all that they had to say, the king declared that " it 
 was very kind of them to wish for the death of a person 
 who had just saved the life of the. princess, his daughter; 
 that Lord Bugolino and the learned gentlemen of the col- 
 lege might think themselves lucky in having helped to effect 
 that cure ; and that any one who was not satisfied had only 
 to say so in order to be dismissed from office without delay." 
 
 The lords and learned men made great haste to depart ; 
 for they were mightily alarmed at this assurance on the 
 part of the king ; and if their faces were long before, they 
 were now quite hideous, so crest-fallen had they become. 
 
 Having got rid of these persons, the king sent for 
 Punchinello, and advised him to travel a little, in order to 
 complete his education. Punchi- 
 nello saw that this was a polite 
 way of sending him off; but he 
 
 was ver y g^j f r fr e h a( i i n o 
 
 known that he was like a fish out 
 of water amongst so many foolish 
 ^rj^ persons, and that the city of Na- 
 ~~ "^.f pies was not the stage which suited 
 him. He was also so far advanced 
 in his studies, that his masters had 
 nothing more to teach him ; while 
 he actually made discoveries in 
 science of which they themselves
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 43 
 
 were totally ignorant. In a word, Punchinello, like all 
 clever persons, felt himself attracted towards England, as 
 it were to his native land. He, therefore, agreed with the 
 king that it would be better for him 
 to travel ; and it was settled that he 
 should depart in two days without 
 delay. 
 
 The news of this intention on 
 the part of Punchinello could not 
 be kept secret; and it gave great 
 comfort to the heart of Lord Bugo- 
 lino and to the twelve learned men 
 of the college. To speak the truth, 
 the entire court, with the exception of the princess, felt 
 rejoiced at the idea of getting rid of one who was always 
 a source of fear, for wit is ever dreaded by stupidity. 
 
 But the people of Naples took quite another view of 
 Punchinello's idea of leaving them. " He is going away !" 
 they said, in the great squares, through all the streets, from 
 door to door, from window to window, from pillar to post : 
 " he is going away, our dear Punchinello ! the only one who 
 ever punished that wicked Bugolino ! the people's cham- 
 pion ! He is going to leave us : let us shed all our tears, 
 and drink all our wine to his health ! Alas ! alas ! we shall 
 lose him for ever the dear humpback ! Let us get tipsy 
 with our good wine to drown our grief! We will pass the 
 night in feasting and dancing! Alas ! alas!" 
 
 Thus spoke the people of Naples, my dear young 
 readers half laughing, half crying, like the sun in an 
 April storm. Bugolino was indeed greatly disliked, be- 
 cause it was his duty to levy the taxes, and he performed 
 the task in a very cruel manner; so that, as there is no 
 other comfort for the wretched than to laugh at the ex- 
 pense of those who make them suifer, it was not with- 
 out cause that the Neapolitans were sorry to lose 
 Punchinello.
 
 44 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 While the humpback was tying a cord round his box, 
 and packing up his books, 
 his guitar, and his mathe- 
 matical instruments, a depu- 
 tation of the fishermen and 
 the poorer orders of Naples 
 was announced. Punchinello 
 received those excellent 
 people with proper modesty, 
 being quite astonished at 
 the honour done him. The 
 spokesman stated, how 
 deeply Naples grieved at the 
 idea of Punchinello leaving 
 them, and wound up his flattering speech in the following 
 manner : " Yes, Master Punchinello, you do well to 
 depart, since you have the power; but we, dear friend, 
 cannot ! We have children ; we are old ; and we are 
 bound to this country. We shall now be left, when you 
 are gone, to the cruelty of this hated lord steward, unless 
 you can find some means to prevent it." 
 
 "I will think of what can be managed, my good 
 friends," answered Punchinello, melting into tears. 
 
 The deputation then retired, overjoyed at the hope 
 which their favourite had held out. 
 
 Punchinello was well aware that tne king would for- 
 give his great lords almost any thing save a breach of 
 etiquette. Thus Lord Bugolino had lately killed .a man 
 with a horse-whip; and all the punishment he had re- 
 ceived was a gentle box on the ears. On the same day, a 
 courtier, who, by an oversight, had put on his cap while in 
 attendance on the king, during a walk, was immediately 
 seized and put to death. It was, therefore, necessary to 
 induce Lord Bugolino to commit some breach of etiquette; 
 but, unfortunately, no one was more skilled in that science 
 than is lordship; and rather than fail in any single point
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 45 
 
 in that respect, he would have suffered any thing. Etiquette 
 was all he knew ; but he knew it well just as all simple- 
 tons are well versed in some one particular subject. 
 
 Still Punchinello did not despair of making the lord 
 steward commit some great error, which should not only 
 be a grave offence against the rules of the palace, but at 
 the same time a breach of etiquette altogether unequalled. 
 I must tell you that Lord Bugolino was very fond of 
 snuff; and he would not remain five minutes without 
 taking a pinch. 
 
 Punchinello knew how to act, and passed the night in 
 making a mixture of snuff and of the powdered root of a 
 certain plant, which he had found out while studying 
 botany. This root was of so strong a nature, that it gave 
 an immediate cold to any one whose nose it touched, and 
 produced such a violent desire to sneeze, that sneeze one 
 must, or die of the pain. Punchinello having well mixed 
 the snuff and the powdered root together, put it all into a 
 box exactly like the one which Lord Bugolino carried. 
 
 On the following evening (the one before the day 
 fixed for Punchinello's departure), Lord Bugolino was 
 on duty as principal lord of the bedchamber ; and his 
 office was to hand the king his night-shirt, when that 
 monarch retired to rest, according to the custom of those 
 times. 
 
 Before Lord Ernest ascended to the royal chamber to 
 fulfil that ceremony, the page who attended upon him, 
 cunningly took the snuff-box and handkerchief from his 
 master's pocket ; for Punchinello had desired him to do so, 
 When the lord steward was in the king's presence, he 
 felt in his doublet for his snuff-box ; and, not finding it, he 
 desired his page, who was in the antechamber, to go and 
 fetch it. This page met Punchinello on the stairs; and 
 the humpback gave him the box containing the prepared 
 mixture, saying, "Please to hand it to your master just at 
 the moment when the king is about to put on his night-
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 shirt." The page, thinking that some mischief was in- 
 tended, was too fond of a joke not to do as he was desired. 
 He accordingly waited in the antechamber, peeping 
 through the key-hole into 
 the royal apartment, until 
 the proper moment had ar- 
 rived. Then, hurrying into 
 the chamber, and pretending 
 to be out of breath, he gave 
 the box to the lord steward, 
 who was already holding the 
 royal night-shirt in his hand. 
 Lord Bugolino could not 
 resist the desire to take a pinch ; and he indulged himself 
 with a good one. At that instant the king took off his 
 day-shirt ; and at the very same moment the lord steward 
 suffered from the 
 effect of the pre- 
 pared snuff. He 
 felt suddenly taken 
 with a desire to 
 sneeze, and quick- 
 ly sought for his 
 handkerchief. It 
 was not in his 
 pocket ; and he 
 could not wait an- 
 other minute no, 
 not a second longer. 
 His head seemed 
 to swim round ; 
 and, behold ! the lord steward sneezes over the night-shirt 
 which he holds in his hand ! 
 
 " What !" cried the king, " is that you, Ernest blow- 
 ing your nose on the night-shirt of your king!" 
 
 "Sire," said Lord Bugolino, but another sneezing
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 47 
 
 fit came on ; and again, and again half-a-dozen times 
 did the nobleman use the royal night-shirt as a pocket- 
 handkerchief. 
 
 " Ernest ! lord steward ! Bugolino ! my lord ! " cried 
 the king, who was shivering in the cold. But that nobleman 
 heard nothing ; and, to wind up his disaster, he rolled the 
 shirt into a ball, and placed it in his pocket. 
 
 " Give me another night-shirt ! " said the king, in a 
 furious rage ; " and arrest that insolent blower of noses 
 that false advocate of etiquette !" 
 
 " Sire sire!" cried the nobleman. 
 " These are kitchen manners!" exclaimed the sove- 
 reign, who, in his turn, would now hear nothing that was 
 said: "our royal shirts are nothing but common jack- 
 towels in your eyes !" 
 
 But, alas ! an event which it was not easy to foresee, 
 threw on Punchinello's head all the peril which for a 
 moment seemed to threaten the lord steward. The king, 
 who was dotingly fond of snuff, took a pinch from the fatal 
 box, which Lord Bugolino had placed open on a table 
 close at hand ; and, as his majesty, 
 in the rage and fury of the instant, 
 completely crammed his nose with 
 the mixture, he was attacked with 
 such a fit of sneezing, that he was 
 forced to get rid of the pain in his 
 nostrils. Not finding a handker- 
 chief within reach, he did not hesitate a moment to use the 
 royal day- shirt in the same way as Lord Bugolino had 
 treated the royal night-shirt. 
 
 This occurrence served as an excuse for the conduct 
 of the lord steward; and Punchinello, who had hurried 
 into the room at the noise, as well as all the other in- 
 mates of the palace, saw well that he was undone. 
 
 "Sire," he exclaimed, fearful that the blame of his 
 > xult should fall upon the young page who had aided him
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 in playing off the trick, " there is only one guilty person- 
 and he is at your royal feet !" 
 
 "Let him be hanged this moment!" cried the king, 
 between two sneezing fits. "Let his father and mother 
 be driven from the palace, and his donkey drowned without 
 legal process!" 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 HOW PUNCHINELLO DESTROYED AN ARMY OF A HUNDRED THOUSAND 
 FRENCHMEN WITHOUT A SPARK OF GUNPOWDER PUNCHINELLO 
 
 1 HE king ordered that the execution of Punchinello 
 should take place that very night, by the light of torches ; 
 for no delay could be granted in 
 the case of a person who had 
 exposed the royal dignity to such 
 a gross affront. Without losing 
 any time, the gibbet was set up 
 in the middle of the court-yard 
 of the palace; the foot-guards 
 were ranged round in battle 
 array; and behind them were
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 49 
 
 the people, all dumb with grief. At the palace win- 
 dow stood the king and Lord Bugolino, eager to view 
 
 the cruel sight. The 
 executioner, having fixed 
 the halter round the neck 
 of poor Punchinello, was 
 already half way up the 
 ladder, and the king gave 
 the signal to turn the 
 victim off. But, at that 
 dreadful moment, a great 
 noise was heard amongst 
 the crowd; and a soldier 
 on horseback, all covered 
 with dust and blood, gal- 
 loped up to the palace. 
 Stopping beneath the win- 
 dow at which the king was 
 seated, he cried, " Sire, I 
 bring you the sad news 
 that your army has been cut to pieces by the French general, 
 Mic-mac, who is marching against Naples, at the head of a 
 hundred thousand men, and by to-morrow evening he will 
 be at your gates ! " Scarcely were these dreadful tidings 
 
 uttered, when the foot-guards were seized with a sudden 
 panic, and ran away in all directions.
 
 60 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 "Alas!" said the king, "I have not a single soldier 
 left to fight for me against my enemies. Who will now 
 save me and my people from that general slaughter which 
 must befall us by the close of this day, which I now see 
 dawning in the east?" 
 
 " I will," cried Punchinello, " if you will not proceed 
 any farther with this hanging business !" 
 
 At these words, which were received by the multitudes 
 with the liveliest joy, the king hurried away from the 
 window, and came down to embrace Punchinello, whose 
 pardon he begged for having been too hasty in wishing 
 him hanged. The king then ordered every one to obey 
 Punchinello's commands throughout that day, as they 
 would his majesty himself. 
 
 No sooner had Punchinello received this authority, 
 than he directed all the looking-glasses in Naples, of what- 
 ever shape, great and small, round and square, even to the 
 most tiny pocket mirrors, to be brought into the great 
 square of the palace. Then, having found out the road by 
 which the French were coming, he had all the looking- 
 glasses conveyed in wagons outside the city, and hung 
 them along the walls and across the road. So numerous 
 were those mirrors, that they covered the entire wall of the 
 rampart for a distance of nearly a mile and a half; and they 
 were all so close together, that there was not room, my 
 dear young readers, for you to put even the tips of your 
 
 little fingers be- 
 tween any of 
 them, however 
 small those little 
 fingers may be. 
 Punchinello then 
 placed along the 
 outer edge of the 
 moat beneath the 
 walls, a thousand
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 51 
 
 caudles with good long wicks, ready to be lighted in a 
 
 moment. These pre- 
 parations being com- 
 plete, Punchinello and 
 thirty men, all holding 
 lighted candles in their 
 hands, stationed them- 
 selves along the ram- 
 parts, to await the 
 coming of the enemy. 
 As soon- as it was night, 
 the great French army 
 reached a hill near Na- 
 ples, and halted awhile 
 to breathe, in case of 
 an attack. General 
 Mic-mac, the French 
 commander, ordered his 
 spy-glass to be brought 
 
 to him, and, "looking towards the plain where he supposed 
 
 Naples to be situated, he 
 
 began to spy right and left; 
 
 but as it was pitch dark, he 
 
 could not see any thing. 
 
 At that moment Punchi- 
 nello, who knew by the sound 
 
 of arms that the enemy were ^ 
 
 drawing near, gave a signal _T 
 
 to his men; and they imme- v- 
 
 diately lighted all the candles .' 
 
 along the edge of the moat, by 
 
 means of long poles which 
 
 they thrust over the rampart. 
 
 Startled by this sudden illu- 
 mination, General Mic-mac 
 
 called for his lieutenant in _ = - A
 
 52 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 a loud tone: "Come hither, Colin Tampon," said he; 
 "there are our enemies, lighting the lamps in their watch- 
 towers." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," answered Colin Tampon ; " I see the 
 Neapolitan army very plainly." 
 
 But, dear readers, what he saw was nothing more nor 
 less than the French soldiers themselves, infantry and 
 cavalry, reflected in the looking-glasses with which the 
 walls were covered. "Well, upon my honour!" cried 
 General Mic-mac, looking more attentively than ever 
 through the spy -glass, " they are numerous enough ! But 
 what astonishes me is, that so large an army makes so little 
 noise ! What order ! what discipline ! Ah ! what do I 
 see? The Neapolitan general is quizzing me through a 
 spy-glass ! Oh ! the rascal ! He has had the impudence 
 to dress himself like me ! But, how dreadfully ugly he is!" 
 This was a good joke, my dear readers, because General 
 Mic-mac was taking his own shadow all the time for the 
 Neapolitan commander. 
 
 " Let me have a look," cried Colin Tampon, taking the 
 spy-glass in his turn. "What did you say, general? 
 Why that impudent commander, who is quizzing us, is 
 exactly like me!" 
 
 " No such thing ! " said General Mic-mac, once more 
 putting the telescope to his eye. "He is like me, I 
 tell you." 
 
 " And I say that he is like me," exclaimed Colin Tam- 
 pon, getting into a rage. 
 
 "Like you, insolent fellow!" cried the general draw- 
 ing his sword. And those two great chiefs would have 
 fallen together by the ears, if at that moment Punchinello 
 and his thirty men had not begun to shout, and then to 
 blow trumpets with all their might. 
 
 "Attention! To arms!" cried the French general, 
 immediately forgetting his quarrel with Colin Tampon ; 
 " The enemy are advancing! March and at them !" Then
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 53 
 
 eeeing the reflection of his own army in the looking- 
 glasses, he exclaimed, "They are coming they are 
 coming ! March forward in double quick time ! Let the 
 trumpets sound! And you, my brave cavalry, gallop!" 
 
 In obedience to this order, the French horse-soldiers 
 rushed headlong towards the town, followed by the in- 
 fantry. The nearer they came to the ramparts, the more 
 vivid grew the reflection in the mirrors, and consequently 
 the nearer seemed the enemy. On, on went the French 
 troops, frightened themselves at the fierce gestures and 
 terrible grimaces which they thought the Neapolitans were 
 making at them, but which they really beheld in the look- 
 ing-glasses. On, on they rush, General Mic-mac, Colin 
 Tampon, and all as fast as their legs would carry them. 
 And now they have reached the walls: they fancy them- 
 selves close to their enemies they raise their weapons to 
 attack them but, ah ! away they go horses and men 
 one over the other all tumbling headlong amongst the 
 lighted candles, and over into the moat which was full 
 of water ! 
 
 The hundred thousand Frenchmen were every one 
 drowned ; and you may suppose, my dear young readers, 
 how cordially the people of Naples received Punchinello 
 when he came down from the ramparts. "Behold our 
 deliverer!" they cried in all directions; " long live Punchi- 
 nello!" 
 
 In the meantime the king, owing to the popularity 
 . l of Punchinello, was suddenly 
 seized with a dreadful fit of 
 jealousy : he thanked him coldly 
 for his services, and then shut 
 himself up in his private room 
 with Lord Bugolino. Those 
 two envious persons laid a plot 
 to get rid of Punchinello by 
 means of poison ; and this was 
 to be done the very next morning, by mixing the drug
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 with some chocolate and cream, of which poor Punchinello 
 
 was very fond. 
 
 Fortunately for our little friend the princess overheard 
 
 all that passed ; and she hastened, as quickly as her light 
 feet could take her, to the chamber 
 of the page, to whom she owed all 
 her present happiness. When Punch- 
 inello learnt the sad tale, he was 
 almost broken-hearted at such base 
 ingratitude, and let a tear fall upon 
 the hand of the good princess, who 
 was not angry with him for it, 
 then, stopping only a few minutes 
 to embrace his father, his mother, 
 
 and his beloved donkey, he went that night secretly on 
 
 board a Spanish ship, that was bound for England. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DREADFUL DANGER WHICH PUNCHINELLO INCURRED DURING THE 
 VOYAGE HOW HE ESCAPED FROM IT HIS INTERVIEW WITH A TURKISH 
 PIRATE. 
 
 A HE sailors on board the Spanish ship, not having the same 
 motives for treating Punchinello with | 
 
 civility as the good people of Naples, 
 soon began to make game of him on 
 account of his deformity and his two 
 humps. The captain, who was very 
 ignorant of his duty, and, like many 
 stupid persons, ill-natured into the 
 bargain, could not lose so good an 
 opportunity of having some fun; he, 
 therefore, began by asking Punchi- 
 nello if he did not mean to ease him- 
 self of some of his luggage, pointing ^ 
 at the same time to the humps.
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 65 
 
 Punchinello replied, with a smile, that he made it a 
 rule always to carry his baggage about with him, for fear 
 that any one should steal it. 
 
 The captain retorted by saying, that Punchinello was 
 quite right to go to England, where handsome men were 
 a great deal thought of, and where he was certain to cap- 
 tivate the heart of some princess. 
 
 Punchinello declared, that he was not going to England 
 on that account, but because he had heard that the English 
 looked upon those persons as very ignorant who made 
 game of their fellow-creatures. Having said this, he turned 
 on his heel and went to his cabin, leaving the captain quite 
 sulky and ashamed of himself. 
 
 Early next morning, when Punchinello went upon deck 
 to see the sun rise, he met the captain, who pushed him 
 rudely away, saying, " Go back to bed : you can't come 
 here when I 'm busy in giving orders." 
 
 Punchinello declared, that so far from wishing to get 
 in the captain's way, he meant to make himself useful; 
 and, to begin, he warned the captain that a dreadful storm 
 would soon come on. 
 
 " You are a pretty fellow," cried the captain, " if you 
 think to teach me my duty." 
 
 " As you please," said Punchinello ; " but if you do 
 not take my advice, the vessel will be wrecked." 
 
 The captain only laughed at the humpback's prophecy, 
 and was amusing himself at the poor little fellow's expense, 
 when the wind suddenly changed, the waves rose moun- 
 tains high, and the ship began to dance up and down like 
 a shuttle-cock. Punchinello then approached the captain, 
 who was quite frightened at the storm, for those who are 
 cruel towards the weak, are always cowards in the face of 
 danger, and said to him very coolly, " I told you, sir, that 
 you would be wrecked." 
 
 The captain flew into a dreadful rage ; and, instead of 
 placing his vessel in a state to weather the storm, he
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 thought only of punishing Punchinello for having made 
 him look silly before his men. 
 
 " Wicked humpback ! " he cried, " if I must be wrecked, 
 you shall be drowned first ! And it will serve you right ; 
 for you must have dealings with the Evil One to be able to 
 foresee a tempest, when I, who have been a sailor for five- 
 and -twenty years, never thought that it was coming. Now, 
 my lads," he continued, turning towards his affrighted crew ; 
 ^^ /-/... , "it is this vile hump- 
 
 back, this wizard, that 
 has brought the tempest 
 upon us. Let us throw 
 him into the sea!" 
 "Yes, overboard with 
 H him ! " shouted the crew. 
 And, in a moment, poor 
 Punchinello was hoisted 
 over the ship's side, and 
 suspended between hea- 
 ven and ocean. In that 
 desperate state he did 
 not lose his presence of mind. 
 
 " Shal-la-ballah ! my good fellows," he exclaimed, " you 
 will not have much time to make yourselves merry with 
 my defith; for I see in the distance a certain somebody 
 who will soon punish you for your conduct to me." 
 
 All eyes were now turned towards the point which 
 Punchinello indicated; and at the distance of about a 
 mile they saw the sails of a pirate vessel. 
 
 "Alas!" cried the captain, " we shall all be stuck upon 
 spikes !" and, throwing himself upon the deck, he rolled 
 about whimpering like a child. 
 
 " My good friends," said Punchinello, " your captain id 
 a dreadful coward. If you were not going to drown me, I 
 could save you from the pirate without even firing a pistol, 
 as I know the Turkish language well."
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 57 
 
 At these words the sailors replaced Punchinello on the 
 
 deck, and throwing themselves on their knees around him, 
 
 implored him to for- 
 get the past, and not 
 to leave so many poor 
 men, who had large 
 families at home, to 
 the barbarity of the 
 Turks. As for the 
 captain, they tied him 
 hands and feet, and 
 begged Punchinello 
 to take the post of 
 that cowardly fellow. 
 
 Thus is it, my dear children, that, sooner or later, virtue 
 
 and knowledge reach their 
 
 proper place in the world, and 
 
 obtain their reward at the 
 
 hands of men. 
 
 Punchinello ordered the 
 
 sailors to carry the captain 
 
 down into the hold, so that his 
 
 piteous moans might not be 
 
 heard. He then went to his 
 
 cabin, and dressed himself like 
 
 a Turk, which gave him the 
 
 most comical appearance in the 
 
 world. He had, moreover, 
 
 sprinkled his clothes with a 
 
 liquid, the smell of which made 
 
 every one around him feel 
 
 sick; and, having thus pre- 
 pared himself, he leapt into a 
 
 boat, which very soon put him 
 
 on board the pirate vessel. At sight of this extraor- 
 dinary being, in a Turkish costume, and smelling so very
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 disagreeably, the corsairs, who held their noses, could not 
 
 help feeling greatly surprised. 
 
 "It is nothing," exclaimed 
 Punchinello; and, moving on, 
 he at length arrived in pre- 
 sence of the pacha who com- 
 manded the pirate ship. 
 " Salamalek, my lord pacha," 
 said Punchinello, speaking 
 in the Turkish language. 
 " By Mahomet !" murmured 
 the pacha, holding his nose, 
 "th ere is a very strange sm ell." 
 " Oh ! it is nothing at all," exclaimed Punchinello. 
 
 "Friend pacha, I 
 
 was made a pri- 
 soner by those vile 
 
 Spaniards, whose 
 
 vessel I hope you 
 
 intend to take. I 
 
 have had the good 
 
 luck to escape, 
 
 and " 
 
 " But, my dear 
 
 humpback," inter- 
 rupted the pacha, 
 
 " what diabolical 
 
 smell is this?" 
 " It is nothing 
 
 at all, I can as- 
 sure you," returned 
 
 Punchinello. " I was informing you, that I had the good 
 
 luck to escape, and " 
 
 " But you smell dreadfully bad," again interrupted the 
 
 pacha. 
 
 "It is nothing," once more observed Punchinello.
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 69 
 
 " I escaped from those Spaniards, friend pacha, and I 
 hope " 
 
 "By my beard!" quoth the Turkish chief, "between 
 you and me, young man, you are really unbearable with 
 this smell." 
 
 " It is nothing," said Punchinello. 
 
 " Nothing ! " exclaimed the pacha ; " I can put up with 
 it no longer. In one word, you poison me !" 
 
 " It is nothing, I assure you," returned Punchinello ; 
 " it is only the plague ! " 
 
 " The plague !" cried the pacha, stopping his nose more 
 firmly than before : "the plague!" 
 
 " Yes, my dear pacha," said Punchinello ; " it is only 
 the plague. Nothing more, I can assure you. All the 
 sailors on board the Spanish ship are dying of it ; so that 
 you will not have the least difficulty in taking the vessel ! " 
 
 " By Mahomet ! " exclaimed the pacha, " I will have 
 nothing to do with either you or the vessel, plaguy little 
 humpback that you are ! Off with you ! Throw him into 
 his boat ! The rascal has got the plague ! Make all sail 
 to get away, my lads : the Spanish ship is plague-stricken ! " 
 
 Scarcely had the Turkish chief uttered these words, ere 
 Punchinello had gained the boat, which very soon con- 
 veyed him back to the Spanish vessel, where he was 
 received with transports of joy : for the pirates were 
 already sailing away with all their canvas spread, and 
 were soon out of sight. 
 
 Punchinello, after a fine voyage, brought the ship into 
 Portsmouth harbour; and the poor Spanish sailors, who had 
 discovered in him as much kindness of heart as intelligence, 
 wept when they took leave of him.
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 IV TTHICH THE GREAT BtACK. CAT APPEARS ONCE MORE PUNCHINELLO** 
 JOURNEY WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM ON HOUNSLOW HEATH. 
 
 JL HE moment Punchinello had landed at Portsmouth, he 
 resolved to buy a horse on which he might ride straight to 
 London; for he was in a violent hurry to reach that 
 famous city. At the very inn where he stopped, he met 
 with a good horse, full of spirit, and that could gallop with 
 any other horse in the world. While Punchinello was 
 
 standing in the 
 yard bargain- 
 ing with the 
 landlord, a huge 
 black cat came 
 and rubbed it- 
 self against his 
 legs, mewing 
 gently all the 
 time. 
 
 "Is that your 
 fine cat? "asked 
 Punchinello. 
 " Yes, good 
 stranger," an- 
 swered the Bo- 
 niface, who was a roguish kind of fellow. 
 " He is very handsome," said Punchinello. 
 " He is my best postilion," returned the landlord, rattling 
 in his pocket the money which the humpback had just paid 
 him. 
 
 " I really don't understand you, my good man," said 
 Punchinello. " Explain yourself." 
 
 " I mean that this cat knows the road to London as well
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 61 
 
 as anybody. I often give him as a guide to people 
 going that way; and they 
 have been quite delighted 
 with him." 
 
 " Oh ! since that is the 
 case," said Punchinello, "I 
 will take him with me, if 
 only for the purpose of see- 
 ing how far you are a rogue." 
 He then paid for the hire 
 of the cat, as he had paid for the purchase of the horse ; 
 and leaping upon the latter, he galloped off at a brisk pace. 
 
 Away, away went Punchinello as hard as he could go ; 
 while the cat ran onwards in front with wonderful 
 
 f A 
 
 ; Well, that is certainly a most singular animal," said 
 Punchinello. 
 
 But in a short time his surprise was changed into alarm, 
 when he observed that the cat every moment went quicker 
 and quicker, and that the horse followed as if bewitched. 
 
 .. . _ ~ 
 
 Punchinello tried to check the speed of the animal on 
 which he rode ; but all in vain. The cat and the horse
 
 62 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 seemed to be both mad. In a short time ihe traveller saw 
 the trees, houses, towns, and steeples pass by like things 
 in a dream ; while the people cried out in astonishment, 
 " Stop ! stop ! " But before even the words were uttered, 
 cat, horse, and rider were out of sight ! 
 
 " Who can he be ? " asked the country people one of 
 another. 
 
 "Shal-la-ballah!" cried Punchinello, "friend cat! 
 little darling ! sweet puss ! do stop ! sha'n't we dine any- 
 where ? What can it all mean ? Why do you go at this 
 rate? Holla! Shal-la-ballah! Pray let us stop !" 
 
 But all these appeals only served to make the cat go 
 the more quickly; and Punchinello continued to cleave 
 the air, holding himself on one side in order to breathe. 
 Listen, my dear children, to the end of this strange adven- 
 ture. At nightfall, the great cat, the horse, and Punch- 
 inello reached Hounslow Heath in the same rapid manner ; 
 when the entire party were suddenly swallowed up in the 
 earth, disappearing as if by magic. 
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 SHOWING WITH WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE PUNCHINELLO FOUND HIMSELPJ 
 AND HOW HE STUCK THEM ALL ON A SPIT IN THE MIDST OF THEIR 
 DIVERSIONS. 
 
 JN the middle of Hounslow Heath, and at the very spot 
 where Punchinello had been swallowed up, there was a 
 large trap-door that moved upon an axis or pivot ; so that 
 with the least pressure the trap-door gave way: and it 
 only required a person to place his foot on either side of it, 
 in order to be swallowed up that moment. 
 
 Punchinello and his horse had fallen, neck and heels, 
 amongst about thirty people, whose faces were almost 
 entirely covered with hair. Besides wearing plumed hats
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 63 
 
 slouched nearly down to their mustachoes, their legs were 
 buried in boots that came up to their waists. Add to sili 
 
 this, a fierce aspect, and 
 the fact of their being 
 armed to the very teeth, 
 and you may then easily 
 imagine how terrible 
 this band of robbers 
 looked by the light of 
 twenty torches. 
 "Good evening, gen- 
 tlemen," said Punchi- 
 nello, who came head 
 foremost into the midst 
 of that amiable com- 
 pany. 
 
 "Hurrah! you are wel- 
 come, Master Punchi- 
 nello," exclaimed the 
 robbers, laughing; for 
 such they really were. 
 " Call me Punch, if you please," said our humpbacked 
 friend ; " for now that I am in England, I mean to stay 
 here, and make myself and my name quite English, I can 
 assure you." 
 
 " Hurrah ! " again shouted the robbers. " Welcome, 
 worthy Punch ! " 
 
 The chief of the band now came towards Punch (for 
 so we must call him in future, since he has expressed his 
 desire to shorten his Neapolitan into an English name). 
 This chief was called Captain Griffinhoof : a large black 
 patch covered one of his eyes and half that side of his 
 face ; and, as if this were not enough to please him, the 
 dreadful man had a nose so ridiculously long that he could 
 not help looking at it. 
 
 Master Punch," said Captain Griffinhoof, " we wanted
 
 64 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 amongst us a clever fellow, and we know you well by 
 name. That is why I sent 
 my great cat, Black-skin, 
 and one of our band, who 
 acted as the landlord, to 
 Portsmouth, for the purpose 
 of getting you into our com- 
 pany. I hope you will stay 
 with us ; because if you re- 
 fuse, I shall be oblied (with 
 
 " I know myself so well as 
 to feel convinced that I 
 should be worth nothing 
 boiled, " said Punch : " I am therefore yours, gentlemen, 
 without another word." 
 
 " Give us your hand, then," cried Griffinhoof, " and 
 follow me." 
 
 The robbers then left the little platform which was 
 beneath the trap-door, and began to descend into the sub- 
 terranean cavern, by means of a sloping path, so steep that 
 Punch was scarcely able to keep his legs. On reaching 
 the bottom of that neck-breaking road, which was at least 
 five hundred feet long, Punch, arm-in-arm with Captain 
 Griffinhoof, entered a row of caverns into which the sun 
 never shone, and which were lighted day and night by 
 lamps hung to the roof. It was there that this band of 
 robbers lived ; and consumed in a riotous manner the pro- 
 duce of their depredations. Punch, in spite of the civility 
 with which he was treated, soon saw that he was always 
 watched, and that he must not think of escaping from the 
 dreadful place by ordinary means, unless he was prepared 
 to leave his skin behind him. He passed the night in 
 thinking of a bold plan by which he might get away, and 
 resolved to brave a thousand deaths rather than stay there.
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 65 
 
 That very evening Captain Griffinhoof was obliged to 
 go out of the cave on business ; and as he took with him 
 about ten of his men, our hero thought the opportunity a 
 good one for the bold plan which he had formed ; he there- 
 fore resolved not to put it off. 
 
 On the following morning, as soon as they were up and 
 dressed, the robbers placed Punch amongst them at table, 
 where they began to eat and drink like gluttons and drunk- 
 ards as they were. When Punch saw that they were 
 warm with their wine, he said, " Well, upon my word, 
 gentlemen, you lead a charming life here ! but I must 
 confess, that after these feasts I greatly regret the loss of 
 
 the game of play, which aided the digestion so well at the 
 court of Naples." 
 
 " And what was that ? " asked every one of the band. 
 
 " I mean," said Punch, " ' the game of railroad.' * No- 
 thing is more easy. It consists only of running down a 
 
 * It is therefore clear that Punch was the first who imported the 
 idea of Railroads into England. Translator.
 
 66 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 very sloping path, in little carts which roll in a straight 
 line by means of grooves, or of pieces of iron fixed on each 
 side of the road ; so that, in either way, the wheels must 
 run properly. Now nothing would be more easy than to 
 arrange every thing fit for the game on that sloping path 
 by which I came down here yesterday." 
 
 " By my whiskers ! " cried the robbers on all sides, as 
 they jumped up from the table ; " what a clever fellow this 
 humpback is ! Comrades, to work ! You must help us, 
 Punch. In a couple of hours we will begin the game." 
 And now behold all these rogues falling to in good 
 earnest, with hatchet, saw, 
 plane, and hammer ; some 
 making little wheels, which 
 they presently fastened to 
 large boxes that served as 
 carts; and others fixing on 
 each side of the sloping path 
 large beams with grooves cut 
 in them for the vehicles to 
 slide comfortably in. Punch 
 went about from one to the 
 other, looking at the work, 
 giving advice, and, when he 
 was not observed, leaping and capering with joy. 
 
 In a short time all was ready. Twenty carts (for 
 each robber would have one to himself) were rolled up to 
 the little platform beneath the trap-door on the heath, 
 and they were then fastened one behind the other on the 
 railroad. By tho advice of Punch and to make the 
 whole scene more splendid the roof and the sides of the 
 cavern were lighted up with a vast quantity of torches, so 
 that the place looked very brilliant. 
 
 Punch asked to be allowed to remain at the bottom of 
 the sloping path, so as to have a full view of the gama ; 
 and this request was granted. The robbers even begged
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 67 
 
 him to give the signal for setting the train in motion, by 
 clapping his hands together three times. 
 
 This he did ; and the twenty carts, each containing a 
 robber, began to descend the path with an awful speed. 
 But what is Punch doing now? Suddenly, and just 
 when the train is in the midst of its whirling course, he 
 takes from behind his back a kitchen-spit about twenty- 
 five feet long, and holds it straight out, point first, towards 
 the foremost robber. Ah ! dear readers, what fright was 
 shown in the faces of all those banditti ! You can almost 
 
 hear their cries! And, 
 behold ! there they 
 are raving like mad- 
 men in their carts, 
 from which they can- 
 not get out without 
 being dashed to pieces, 
 so great is the speed 
 of the train! They 
 are therefore forced, 
 willing or unwilling, 
 to rush upon the spit! 
 On they come on 
 on ! and now there is 
 the foremost, thun- 
 dering down in his 
 cart, while twenty- 
 five feet of steel pass 
 through his body ! The others, seeing the fate of their 
 comrade, made dreadful faces, as you may suppose. But 
 it is all of no use: on on they come, one after the 
 other, spitted like larks on a skewer, in a manner that 
 would have pleased the best cook in all Europe ! It was a 
 fearful death but one which such rogues well deserved. 
 
 Punch, after this grand exploit, did not wait for the 
 return of Captain Griffinhoof. He placed the spit, with
 
 68 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 its novel sort of joints, in a cart which he found in the 
 stables of the cavern ; and, having harnessed six of the 
 robbers' horses to it, led it safely out of the place. He 
 then took the first road which offered itself, and in a short 
 time reached the town of Brentford. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE SURPRISE THAT WAS IN STORE FOR PUNCH AT BRENTFORD. 
 
 lil T the sound of the cart rattling through the old town 
 of Brentford, the people were soon at their windows ; but 
 they only remained there a few moments, for as soon as 
 they saw Punch with his strange show (the spit of the 
 robbers being stuck upright in front of the cart), they 
 made only one leap from their windows into the street. 
 
 Punch soon told them how he had killed the robbers ; 
 and those who were at first inclined to laugh at his comi- 
 cal dress and ugly person, now shook him by the hand ; 
 for the people of Brentford were continually in fear of 
 being attacked by this band of robbers infesting Houn- 
 slow Heath. 
 
 Punch, anxious to escape from the caresses of the 
 crowd, inquired where the magistrate lived, as he was 
 resolved to acquaint him with all that had happened. But 
 the people, having taken the horses from the cart, insisted 
 in dragging the conqueror of the robbers to the house of 
 the magistrate. 
 
 When Punch entered the parlour where the* magistrate 
 was sitting, he was for a moment struck dumb; for behind 
 the magistrate stood a person with a nose exactly like the 
 one which he had seen the night before belonging to the 
 face of Captain Griffinhoof. This nose was not, indeed, 
 such an one as you meet every day in the streets, or 
 which you would very soon forget after having seen it, 
 if only for a moment ; it was a nose that stood out straight
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 69 
 
 like the pole of a coach ; and near the end was a large 
 mole, from which sprouted three 
 long red hairs, waving like a 
 plume of feathers. 
 Two such noses never existed 
 at the same time under the sun. 
 Punch could not, therefore, be 
 mistaken ; and, in spite of the 
 absence of the black patch 
 which the day before covered 
 Captain Griffinhoof's eye, he 
 was not at a loss to perceive 
 that this person joined to- 
 gether the offices of a robber 
 chief and Jack Ketch. For 
 that he was actually the Jack 
 Ketch of the county, Punch 
 discovered by something which the magistrate said to him 
 almost at the same moment that Punch entered the room. 
 It was not, therefore, a matter of surprise that the Brent- 
 ford police had never been able to find out the robbers' 
 hiding-place; because Jack Ketch had always been em- 
 ployed to head the officers of justice in their search. 
 
 Punch wisely pretended not to know Jack Ketch 
 again ; and Jack Ketch was very 
 glad on that account. Our hero 
 gave the magistrate a complete 
 history of his escape from the 
 robbers' cave; and Jack Ketch 
 did not lose a word that was 
 said, though he pretended to be 
 very busy playing with his great 
 black cat which purred at his feet. 
 
 The magistrate was much pleased with all that Punch 
 told him ; but as he was forced to go to London that mo- 
 ment on particular business, he ordered Jack Ketch to 
 
 fnlrp r>nrp f\f PnnrVh. n.nrl invitp liim fr rlinnpv.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 SHOWS WHOM PUNCH MET IN PRISON THE MAGIC TAIL A MEANS OF 
 
 ESCAPE TILL THEN UNKNOWN. 
 
 A S soon as the magistrate had left the room, Jack Ketch 
 said, " Come with me, Master Punch, to my house close 
 by ; and I will give you for dinner a beautiful pigeon-pie, 
 a nice hash, and a bottle of good wine." 
 
 Alas ! my dear young readers, it is in vain that we have 
 hidden from you up to this moment the weak point in our 
 hero's character; but, perhaps, his liking for sweetmeats 
 and oranges has already made you guess that Punch was 
 as fond of good eating and drinking as of doing good to his 
 fellow-creatures. Jack Ketch's offer was therefore a tempt- 
 ing one at the moment, when poor Punch was very hungry 
 after the fatigue of the morning. 
 
 "With pleasure," said Punch; and, forgetting all his 
 prudence, he went with Jack Ketch to his house, and
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 71 
 
 eat down to a table, on which the pie, the hash, and the 
 wine were already served up. 
 
 Jack Ketch was on one side of him, and the black cat 
 on the other. But what passed at that dinner we cannot 
 for the life of us tell ; Punch himself having confessed 
 afterwards, that he forgot all about it. We must, therefore, 
 suppose that he drank so much wine as to lose his memory ; 
 which is certainly a great stain upon his character ! 
 
 There is, however, no doubt about one thing ; which is, 
 that when Punch awoke next morning, he found himself 
 lying on straw in a nasty damp place, into which the rays 
 of the sun could only penetrate through a small loop-hole 
 of a window. He knew directly that he was in prison ; 
 and he was also quite sure that Jack Ketch had sent him 
 there to get him out of the Avay. Poor Punch was now 
 very unhappy : he was afraid that he should never again 
 see the beautiful fields ; and, with his head leaning on his 
 hand, he called to mind the pretty cottage in which his 
 father and mother lived, the kind things those good folks 
 had said to him when he left them, and the mournful 
 look which the donkey threw on him when he bade the 
 poor animal " Good by," for ever. All this made Punch 
 weep and sigh. 
 
 " Who is it moaning here ?" suddenly exclaimed a voice 
 near Punch. 
 
 " I am," said our hero, " the unhappy son of a fisherman; 
 I am humped behind and before, and am tired of glory." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked the voice. 
 
 " Alas ! " replied Punch, " I was anxious by my wit 
 and talents to make people forget the deformity of my 
 person : it was in vain that I obtained an entry into 
 palaces, and access to great men; injustice and enmity 
 thrust me forth again. But who are you, my unhappy 
 comrade ?" 
 
 " I am Goodman Patience," said the voice ; " and my 
 business is to go about with a puppet-show to amuse poor
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 people and little children, from whom I never take any money. 
 
 To do better I am waiting till the world itself becomes bet- 
 ter, which must happen sooner 
 or later; and, in the meantime, 
 I expose the vices and follies 
 of the world on the little stage 
 where my puppets play. It 
 was this that provoked the 
 wicked magistrate against me ; 
 for he is no better than Jack 
 Ketch himself." 
 " By my nose ! " cried Punch 
 but he was stopped short 
 in a cruel manner; for the 
 door of the dungeon grated 
 
 on its hinges, and the magistrate entered, followed by Jack 
 
 Ketch and the huge black cat. By the light of a torch 
 
 which the gaoler brought in, Jack Ketch (by order of the 
 
 magistrate) read to the two prisoners their sentence, which 
 
 was, that they were 
 
 to be hanged within r _ ; 
 
 an hour, under the 
 
 pretext that they had 
 
 belonged to the band 
 
 of robbers. Punch 
 
 cried out against this 
 
 great injustice ; but 
 
 the magistrate walk- 
 ed coolly away, and 
 
 Jack Ketch laughed 
 
 in our poor hero's 
 
 face, as he shook the 
 
 halter at him. Punch 
 
 was furious at this impudence ; and he banged the door 
 
 so hard behind Jack Ketch that the black cat's tail 
 
 was caught, and cut off at the very root. In a few
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 73 
 
 moments the tail began to 
 change its form, and took the 
 shape of a rope entangled 
 in a strange manner. This 
 was the shape of it. Ah!" 
 cried Punch, holding this 
 wonderful tail in his hand, 
 "my dear friend, Goodman 
 Patience, do you think that 
 we should do well to wait 
 until that rogue Jack Ketch 
 comes to fetch us to the 
 gallows?" 
 
 "By no means," returned 
 Goodman Patience ; " but 
 what can we do?" 
 " I will tell you," said Punch. 
 "Either I am very wrong, 
 or else this tail is some magic 
 tail. Now, I have read in 
 an old book of a witch, who, 
 when she travelled, had no 
 other means of conveyance 
 than her black torn cat's 
 
 tail ; and that all she did was to name the place to which 
 
 she wanted to go." 
 
 " Let us try it," said 
 
 Patience : " it is proper to 
 
 use the weapons which for- ( " 
 
 tune provides us with, in > ^ 
 
 order to vanquish the rogues 
 
 who have confined us in this f^ 
 
 dungeon. Good people like fe- 
 us may surely do this; mE 
 
 and, besides, we have no ' 
 
 choice." Punch placed himself 
 4 
 
 icte on tiie 
 
 the
 
 74 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO; 
 
 tuft of which he held instead of a bridle, and Goodma 
 Patience got behind him. 
 
 Are you all right? " cried Punch. Good! We shall 
 now see! Off to London!" 
 
 The magistrate and Jack Ketch came in at that mo- 
 ment; but they were struck dumb in the door-way on 
 seeing the two prisoners disappear up the chimney; and the 
 three red hairs on Jack Ketch's nose turned white that 
 very instant. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 PUNCH IN LONDON WHY THIS HISTORY, IN ORDER TO BE QUITE TRUE, 
 STOPS SHORT OP THE USUAL WINDING UP. 
 
 wCARCELY had Punch time to observe they were in 
 motion, when he and Goodman Patience found themselves 
 in the middle of London. It was a fine day in the spring- 
 time, and all the streets were filled with people. 
 
 " This is a city where 
 I should love to pass 
 my life," cried Punch, 
 "away from kings, 
 lord stewards, and 
 Jack Ketch e's." 
 " And what can hin- 
 der you, my dear 
 friend," said Good- 
 man Patience. 
 " The only ob- 
 jection is," answered 
 Punch, " that I have 
 not a penny in my 
 pocket, all my few 
 things having been 
 left at Brentford ; and, unfortunately, I am just this kind
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 75 
 
 of person that I love to eat too much rather than 
 not at all." 
 
 " Listen," said Goodman Patience ; " I have an idea 
 in my head, and I think it is a good one. I will establish 
 my little theatre in the streets of London; and it cannot 
 fail to succeed if you will be the chief actor. With your 
 wit and strange appearance (pray forgive me, Master 
 Punch) we must gather crowds about us." 
 
 "I have no doubt of it," said Punch; "and I must 
 confess that I thought of the same plan. Since I have 
 found amongst great people only envy and wickedness, 
 what better use can I make of the wit which heaven has 
 given me, than by employing it to amuse those poor folks 
 who have no money to spend in pleasure, and the little 
 children, too, who are so innocent and so good ! I am poor 
 myself, and of humble birth: the wickedness of men, 
 while it continues so great as it now is, will never allow 
 me, I see well, to raise myself up as I once wished, that I 
 might be better able to comfort those who suffer. In the 
 meantime, I Avill devote to the world the only gift with 
 which heaven has endowed me, and which is mine to use 
 as I will. I will make people laugh! Then, when I see 
 the rosy cheeks of dear children expanding into smiles, I 
 shall feel happy." 
 
 " Shake hands," said Goodman Patience ; " to-morrow 
 we will begin." 
 
 "One moment," cried Punch; "I have a condition to 
 propose. It is that one of your puppets shall be dressed 
 up as Jack Ketch, so that I may thrash him as much as I 
 like, in remembrance of the rogue with the long nose at 
 Brentford." 
 
 "With all my heart !" cried Patience; " and I should 
 have proposed the same to you, if you had not fore- 
 stalled me." 
 
 On the following morning Punch made his first ap- 
 pearance. I leave you, my dear young readers, to judge
 
 76 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 how great were the surprise and pleasure of the people, 
 when there suddenly burst upon them that amusing show 
 called "PUNCH." Every one was delighted with the 
 strange appearance of our hero his two large humps hia 
 long crooked chin his hoarse and yet charming voice 
 and the dexterity with which he handled his stick ! But 
 no words can explain the joy of the crowd, when Jack 
 
 Ketch came on the stage, and the following conversation 
 took place : 
 
 Jack Ketch. Do n't you know me ? 
 
 Punch. Oh, yes ! I know you very well ; and I hope 
 you are very well, and that Mrs. Ketch is very well, and 
 all the little Ketches are very well? 
 
 Jack Ketch. Mr. Punch, you are a very bad man 
 Why did you kill the doctor?
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 77 
 
 Punch. In self-defence. 
 
 Jack Ketch. That will not do I 
 
 Punch. He wanted to kill me. 
 
 Jack Ketch. How ? 
 
 Punch. With his physic, to be sure ! 
 
 Jack Ketch. That's all nonsense! You must be 
 hanged. 
 
 Punch. You would not be so cruel ? 
 
 Jack Ketch. Why were you so cruel as to kill the 
 doctor ? 
 
 Punch. That is no reason why you should be cruel, 
 and kill me too.* 
 
 Jack Ketch. I have come on purpose for you ; and 1 
 will have you to hang. My name is Jack Ketch. 
 
 Punch. I knew that before : so ketch that. 
 
 And Punch belaboured his enemy with such hearty 
 good-will, that the crowds were obliged to hold their sides 
 for laughter. 
 
 In a word, Punch found himself so happy in England, 
 after such numbers of unpleasant adventures in Italy, that 
 he resolved to settle in this country, Every evening, 
 however, when the day's diversions are over, he gets astride 
 on the black cat's tail, which he has carefully preserved, 
 and hies off to Naples to say " Good night " to his parents. 
 
 It was on the occasion of one of those nocturnal visits, 
 that he thought of recalling himself to the memory of the 
 good people of Naples, and to ridicule once more the great 
 men of the country, by whom he had been so badly 
 treated. He went, with this intention, to one of the most 
 crowded theatres in Naples; and, covering his face with 
 a mask, appeared upon the stage between the acts. The 
 people thought that one of the performers had put on a 
 
 * Here is a proof how the ready wit of Punch never forsakes him. 
 In a single sentence he refutes the doctrine that man by law should 
 be allowed to exercise power over the life of his fellow-creatures.- 
 Translator.
 
 78 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 dress so famous, in order to play some particular part; 
 and no one imagined that it was Punch himself. The 
 people were not the less excited by the idea; but their 
 transports knew no bounds when Punch spoke. Nosegays 
 and garlands showered upon him from all parts. Next 
 day the whole city was busy in repeating the sallies of 
 the mysterious actor, to the great mortification of the 
 courtiers and the wise men of the college, against whom 
 all those sayings were levelled. Encouraged by this suc- 
 cess, Punch appeared every evening on the stage at 
 Naples, and amused the people at the expense of their 
 enemies. Thus is it that up to this very day he is thought 
 so famous in Italy. He remained faithful all the same to 
 England, his adopted country. On one occasion only 
 Goodman Patience did not behold him return at his usual 
 hour, and for a fortnight the little theatre was not set up 
 in a single street of London. All the little children went 
 into mourning. Where was he? At Naples, no doubt! 
 But what was he doing there ? What business could detain 
 him? On this point, dear readers, all we can do is to 
 guess; for Punch never spoke upon the subject. Only 
 when he re-appeared on his little stage, it was observed, 
 that his usual gaiety was mixed now and then with a 
 shade of sorrow ; a wrinkle, which appeared to have been 
 traced by some cruel fate, changed the placid serenity of 
 his countenance ; and now and then he was seen to wipe 
 away a tear in secret thus showing a strange contrast 
 with the humours of his performance. Every thing, in a 
 word, seemed to prove that our joyous friend had passed 
 from youth to the mature age of manhood by the common 
 path that of affliction. 
 
 From that time forth Punch insisted that another per- 
 son, dressed as a woman, should appear with him on his 
 litttle stage, and receive no small share of blows until 
 then allotted to Jack Ketch. Such a caprice must appear 
 strange on the part of so good a creature as Punch; and
 
 THE LIFE OP PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 we can only account for it by supposing that the new 
 puppet was meant to represent some faithless young lady 
 to whom Punch had given his heart. 
 
 On this head I heard from a learned Neapolitan (and 
 
 I am inclined to believe the story), that Punch was really 
 detained at Naples during the fortnight in question by the 
 love that he felt for a cer- 
 tain Miss Judy, the daughter 
 of old Mr. Pantaloon, whom 
 you have all seen in the 
 Pantomimes. Miss Judy, 
 however, who had other 
 admirers, was deaf to the 
 sighs of poor Punch; and 
 even made game of him, 
 and this is the reason why 
 he punishes her by means 
 of a person dressed like her- 
 self, and whom he brings 
 upon his stage. 
 Here ends all that I am permitted to tell you con-
 
 80 
 
 THE LIFE OF PUNCHINELLO. 
 
 ccrning the history of Mr. Punch. As he not only 
 appears in person every day before the public, but also 
 addresses the world weekly in that famous paper which 
 bears his name, and which so well expresses the sentiments 
 of a mind that is generous to the humble weak, but terrible 
 to the overbearing strong, it would be very bold on my 
 part, and very unwise, not to let him speak for himself in 
 future, either with his own tongue, or by means of his 
 journal. Go, then, and see him in the streets, dear young 
 friends, the first fine day; or read his useful and witty 
 sayings ; and, in either case, you will be sure to find me 
 amongst the number of his admirers.
 
 GENIUS GOODFELIOW. 
 
 A LONG while ago there was a race of beings called 
 genii. So there would be still, if we chose to believe 
 every man who sets himself 
 up for a genius; but we 
 must not take him at his 
 word. 
 
 Now the genius whose story 
 I am going to tell you was 
 none of your prodigies, or 
 first-rate geniuses. He was 
 only a poor second class 
 genius, who took his seat 
 in the council of the -genii 
 merely by right of birth, 
 and with the good-will and 
 sanction of the titled mem- 
 bers. The first time he 
 appeared amongst them, it makes me laugh to think of
 
 4 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 it, he had taken for his motto, and put upon his little flag 
 of state : 
 
 aS jiou ottgfjt, come toljat tome may. 
 
 And so they called him "Genius Goodfellow." Ever 
 since then this nickname has been given to those plain 
 and guileless spirits who do good either from instinct or 
 habit, and who have not discovered the art of resolving 
 virtue into a principle. As for the nickname of a genius, 
 people have used it and abused it times out of number. 
 But that is no matter to us. 
 
 Now more than a hundred miles off, and long, very 
 long before the Reformation, there lived in an old lordly 
 castle, a rich old dowager, whose name the gentlemen at 
 the Herald's College have never yet discovered. The 
 good lady had lost her daughter-in-law at an early age, 
 and her son had fallen in battle. She was therefore left 
 with none to comfort the sadness of old age save her little
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 5 
 
 grandson and granddaughter, both of whom seemed to 
 have been created to delight the eyes of all who saw 
 them : even Painting, which always vies with Nature, 
 never drew such pretty children's faces. The boy, who 
 was twelve years old, was named Sapphire ; and the girl, 
 who was only ten, bore the name of Amethyst. It was 
 thought, but this I will not vouch for, that these names 
 had been given them on account of the colour of their 
 eyes; and this, by-the-by, reminds me I should tell you 
 that the sapphire is a precious stone of transparent blue, 
 and the amethyst is another stone partaking of the violet 
 colour. 
 
 Yon might travel far and wide without meeting so 
 d an old lady as the grandmother of Amethyst and 
 >phire. She was really too good, a fault which most
 
 6 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 grandmothers easily fall into, but one that rarely makes us 
 uneasy. I shall distinguish her by the name of Lady 
 Toogood, so as to prevent any confusion arising. 
 
 Lady Toogood was so fond of her grandchildren that 
 she brought them up as if she had not the least regard 
 for them. For she allowed them to do as they liked, 
 never spoke to them about their books, and used to play 
 
 
 with them, to stimulate their pleasure, or revive it when 
 she saw they were getting tired of their sports. Now the 
 consequence was that they knew scarcely any thing, and 
 if they had not been inquisitive, like many other children, 
 they would have known nothing at all. 
 
 Now it happened that Lady Toogood had for many 
 years been on excellent terms with Genius GOODFELLOW, 
 whom she had met in her youth at some place or other. 
 I do n't think it was at court. She often upbraided her- 
 self to him, in their private interviews, for not having 
 had sufficient strength of mind to attend to the education
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 7 
 
 of her two little darlings, who might lose her some day 
 or other. The genius had promised to think of the matter 
 so soon as his business would let him ; but he was at that 
 time engaged in seeking for a remedy against the ill effects 
 of education, as conducted by the ignorant pedants and 
 quacks, who were then beginning to palm their systems 
 on the. public. The poor genius had work enough on 
 his hands. 
 
 One summer evening, however, Lady Toogood had 
 gone to bed betimes, as was her custom; good people 
 have such quiet sleep ! Little Amethyst and Sapphire 
 were ia the grand drawing-room talking over those airy 
 projects which so often fill up the leisure hours of child- 
 hood, and they no doubt would soon have grown tired of 
 
 such unprofitable speculations if Nature had not with- 
 drawn their attention to one of her most awful yet 
 most common phenomena. The tempest raged without.
 
 8 
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 Every minute the lightning filled the atmosphere with 
 
 flame, or wheeled about its serpentine flashes against 
 the quivering panes. The trees 
 in the avenue were cracked and 
 split into shivers; the thunder 
 rolled along the clouds like a 
 noisy chariot of brass ; evjpn the 
 steeple of the church seemed to 
 vibrate with alarm, and to min- 
 gle its long lugubrious wailings 
 with the din and clatter of the 
 elements. It was indeed both 
 awful and sublime. 
 Suddenly the servants came in to announce that they 
 
 had admitted a little old man drenched with rain, pierced 
 
 with cold, and to all 
 
 appearance dying of 
 
 hunger, because the 
 
 storm had obliged him 
 
 to stray out of his 
 
 road. Amethyst, who 
 
 in her fright had 
 
 sought refuge in her 
 
 brother's arms, was . 
 
 the first to go to ( 
 
 meet the stranger, but 
 
 as Sapphire was the 
 
 strongest and most 
 
 active, he would soon 
 
 have overtaken his 
 
 sister, if he had not wished to let her have the pleasure of 
 
 being there first; for these dear little children were as 
 
 good as they were handsome. I leave you to judge 
 
 how the stiff and bemxmbed limbs of the poor man were 
 
 comforted by a light sparkling fire, and whether there 
 
 was pienty of sugar and spice in the generous wine
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 which Amethyst herself warmed for him over the burning 
 charcoal; whether he made a good supper, and had a 
 
 good bed, and whether above all, his little hosts gave 
 him a hearty welcome. I shall not even tell you the old 
 
 man's name, because, by-and-by, I wish you to enjoy the 
 pleasure of a surprise. 
 
 When the old man had recovered a little by resting
 
 10 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 . 
 
 his limbs and appeasing his hunger, he became lively 
 and talkative, and the little people took pleasure in 
 listening to him. The young folks of that day were too 
 wise to disdain the conversation of the old, for they were 
 truly conscious they might benefit by it and improve 
 themselves. But now, old age is far less respected than 
 it was then, nor can I wonder that it is so. Youth has 
 eo little to learn ! 
 
 "Children," said the old man, "you have treated me 
 go kindly, that my heart rejoices to think of your happi- 
 ness. For I doubt not that in this noble castle, where 
 you possess all you can wish for, your days must glide 
 away most pleasantly?" 
 
 Sapphire cast his eyes down. 
 
 " Happy indeed !" answered Amethyst. " Our dear 
 Grandmamma is so kind to us, and we love her so much ! 
 We want for nothing most certainly, and yet we often 
 feel dull." 
 
 "You feel dull!" cried the old man, showing signs 
 of surprise and astonishment. "Whoever heard of chil- 
 dren of your age feeling dull, when blest with fortune and 
 intelligence. Dulness of mind is a disease which only 
 afflicts useless, idle, foolish people. Whoever is smitten 
 with this infirmity is a burden to society as well as to 
 himself, and deserves nothing but contempt. But to be 
 endowed by Providence with an excellent disposition like 
 yours, is not enough, you must improve it by study. Do 
 you ever work?" 
 
 "Work!" replied Sapphire, somewhat mortified; "we 
 are rich, as you may easily see by this castle." 
 
 " Beware ! " replied the old man, unable to suppress a 
 smile of bitterness, " the thunder, which has hardly 
 ceased to roar, might have crushed your dwelling as it 
 fell." 
 
 "My grandmother has money enough to provide us 
 with every luxury."
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 11 
 
 "The thieves might carry it off." 
 
 "By the road you came," continued Sapphire, with 
 assurance, " you must have crossed through a plain, which 
 is thirty miles in extent, and filled Avith orchards and corn- 
 fields. On the western side of the hill which overlooks 
 that plain, stands an immense palace, which belonged to 
 
 my ancestors, and in which they collected, after a great 
 outlay, the wealth of ten generations." 
 
 "Alas!" said the stranger, "why must I repay your 
 hospitable welcome by such ill tidings? Time, which is 
 ruthless and spares nothing, has not spared the strongest 
 of your hopes. I coasted for many hours the plain you 
 speak of. It has been succeeded by a lake. I wanted to 
 visit the castle of your ancestors. There was nothing left 
 of it but ruins; and its shattered walls have now given 
 refuge to a few birds of night and beasts of prey. Wolves 
 contend for one half of your inheritance, and owls for the
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 Ife 
 
 other. So fragile, my little friends, and of so little worth, 
 are the riches of mankind ! " 
 
 The children looked at each other. 
 
 The old man, without further seeming to notice them, 
 thus proceeded : " There is but one thing which pro- 
 tects us from these hard vicissitudes, and it is only ac- 
 quired by study and toil. Against this benefit in vain 
 the waters overflow, or the earth quakes, or the sky 
 heaves its bolt. Whoever is blest with it need fear no 
 reverse, so long as he preserves one faculty in his mind, 
 or a single craft in his hand. The pursuit of industrious 
 arts is the true fortune for a husband, and domestic skill 
 is the best ornament of a wife. The man who is master 
 of a useful trade, or a profession of general interest, is 
 richer in effect than the richest; or rather he is the only 
 rich and independent man on earth. Any fortune but his 
 may prove transient and deceitful. It is far less valuable, 
 and does not last so long." 
 
 Amethyst and Sapphire had never yet heard such 
 reasoning before. They looked at each other again and
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 13 
 
 again without answering. But whilst they kept silent, 
 the old man was undergoing a change. His haggard 
 features recovered the graceful lines of youth, and his 
 
 crazy limbs, the sound and robust attitude of strength. 
 This poor man was a benevolent genius with whom my 
 young readers are already acquainted. The two children 
 had little expected his visit. 
 
 " I will not leave you," he added, with a smile, "with- 
 out giving you a trifling proof of gratitude for the kind 
 attention you have shown me. Since dulness alone has 
 hitherto disturbed that happiness which nature has so 
 freely bestowed upon you, take these two rings, which 
 are talismans of great power. By pushing against the spring 
 which opens the collet, you will always find the instruction 
 it unfolds an infallible remedy for this disease of the heart 
 and mind. Still if the mysterious art which made them
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 should for once deceive my hopes, we shall meet again in 
 another year, and then resort to other means. Till then 
 these small presents will keep our friendship alive, and I 
 
 only annex two easy conditions with them: first, you 
 must not consult the oracle in the ring without need, that 
 is to say before your spirits sink ; secondly, you must faith- 
 fully perform whatever it shall decree." ' 
 
 Having said these words, Genius Goodfellow departed,
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 15 
 
 or, as an author, endowed with a more poetic fancy, 
 would perhaps express it, he vanished. That is the way 
 these genii used to take leave. 
 
 Amethyst and Sapphire did not feel dull that night, 
 though I should suppose they had but little sleep. They 
 were thinking of the fortune they had lost, and the years 
 which they had frittered away in idleness, and which were 
 irretrievable. They now regretted the many hours they 
 had spent in vain frivolities, and which might have proved 
 both advantageous and fruitful, had they but known how 
 to employ them. They got up the next morning with 
 heavy hearts, went to look for each other with dread, 
 and, whilst they embraced, tears stood in their eyes. 
 After a moment's uneasiness, the force of habit triumphed 
 once more. So they returned to their old amusements, 
 and were less diverted than ever. 
 
 "I think you are growing weary?" said Amethyst. 
 
 "I was going to ask you the same question, sister," 
 answered Sapphire ; " but I was afraid my curiosity might 
 be reproached as an excuse for my dulness."
 
 16 
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 "I declare," replied Amethyst, pushing against the 
 spring of the collet, " that I am as dull as death !" 
 
 And thereupon she read the following inscription, 
 neatly engraved on the inner plate; whilst, on his side, 
 Sapphire read it also : 
 
 " That is not all," observed Sapphire, seriously. 
 "What the oracle in the ring decrees, we must punctually 
 perform. Believe me, let us try it. Who knows whether 
 labour is more wearisome than idleness." 
 
 " Oh ! as for that, it is impossible ! " replied the little 
 girl. " And besides, the ring will surely afford us some 
 other resource against dulness. Let us try, as you say. 
 One bad day is soon over." 
 
 Without being exactly a bad one, as Amethyst seemed 
 to dread, this first day was not very pleasant. They 
 sent for the master and teachers, who had so often been 
 turned off; because they spoke in a language which seemed
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 17 
 
 difficult because it was strange, but which at length appears 
 pleasing when once we become used to it. 
 
 This brother and sister had not yet reached that point. 
 Twenty times during each lesson the collet was applied 
 to, and half opened ; and as often had the same obstinate 
 inscription appeared in the same place. Not a single 
 word had changed. 
 
 The very same thing continued for one long week, 
 and again the week following. Sapphire could hardly 
 endure his impatience. " People 
 may well say," muttered he, 
 as he was scrawling a task, 
 " that our modern geniuses 
 repeat themselves ! And be- 
 sides," added he, "it must be 
 confessed it is a strange way 
 to cure dulness, to make us 
 more dull than before." 
 After the first fortnight they 
 felt less weary, because their 
 be interested in their studies. 
 After the first~month they felt hardly weary at all, be- 
 cause they had already sown something to reap. They 
 read to divert themselves during play hours, and even 
 during their work ; the books they read were entertaining 
 
 self-conceit 
 
 to
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 as well as instructive; 
 some in Italian, some 
 in French, some in Ger- 
 man : they took no im- 
 mediate part in the 
 conversation of enlight- 
 ened people; but they 
 were able to profit by 
 it, now that their stu- 
 dies had enabled them 
 to understand it. They 
 began to think ; and 
 that life of the soul, 
 which idleness destroys; 
 that life, new to them, seemed sweeter than the first, for 
 they possessed much natural sense. Their grandmother, 
 too, was so happy to see them study of their own accord, 
 and enjoyed their success so delightedly ! I can still remem- 
 ber, that the pleasure they give their parents is children's 
 purest joy. 
 
 The spring was certainly touched a great many times 
 during the first half year; in the seventh, the eighth, the 
 ninth month it was pushed open now and again; but in 
 the twelfth month the rust grew over it. 
 
 Then it was that the genius kept his word and re- 
 turned to the castle ; for a genius of those days was very 
 punctual to his promises. At this second visit, he dis- 
 played rather more pomp, like a wise man who knows 
 how to use his fortune without parading it, because he 
 knows its real value too well. He sprang towai'ds his 
 little friends, and hugged them in his arms ; and, although 
 they did not yet fully understand what they owed him, 
 they made him tenderly welcome before they had summed 
 up in their minds what benefits he had conferred upon 
 them. For real gratitude, like true charity, never reckons 
 what it gives away.
 
 "Well, my children," said he, pleasantly, "you were 
 very angry with me at first, for knowledge is not free from 
 dulness. I have often heard people say so, and there are 
 learned men in the world who make me believe it. But 
 now, no more study, no more science, no more serious 
 labour ! but, instead of these, pleasure, if there be such a 
 thing, playthings, theatres, and holidays ! Sapphire, you 
 shall teach me the last new step. Amethyst, I beg the 
 favour of your hand in the first country dance. I have 
 the pleasure to inform you that you are richer than ever.
 
 20 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 The waters of the lake have subsided, after increasing ten- 
 fold the fertility of the land. The ruins of your palace 
 have been cleared away, and a treasure ten times its 
 original value have been found in the vaults below." 
 
 " The thieves might carry it off," said Amethyst. 
 
 "The lake may return and overlay the land," said 
 Sapphire. 
 
 The genius had not heard, or seemed as if he had not, 
 these last observations. He had entered the drawing- 
 room. 
 
 "This worthy man is very frivolous for his years," 
 said Sapphire. 
 
 "And very stupid for a genius," said Amethyst; "per- 
 haps he thinks I shall not finish the flower vase which I 
 
 grandmamma's birth- 
 day. My master says 
 he could not do better 
 himself." 
 
 "I should be sorry, 
 my good little sister," 
 replied Sapphire, " to 
 surpass you in any 
 thing on that day; but 
 I hope grandmamma 
 will feel all the de- 
 light she can feel, 
 when she sees my six 
 crowns." 
 " Still you must work to effect this," said Amethyst ; 
 
 "for your course of lessons is not ended." 
 
 " And you must work to finish your flower vase," 
 
 replied Sapphire ; " for it is not done either." 
 
 "So then you mean to work?" said Amethyst kindly 
 
 and endearingly, as if she wanted to solicit indulgence 
 
 towards herself.
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 21 
 
 ;;n "To be sure I do," 
 said Sapphire; "and 
 
 rl see no reason 
 why I should leave 
 41 off working, whilst 
 if there is any thing 
 still to be learned." 
 "We have plenty 
 to do then," cried 
 his sister, jumping 
 up with glee. 
 And so saying, our 
 little friends came 
 close up to Lady 
 Toogood, who was 
 too happy. Sap- 
 phire drew near 
 her first as he was the boldest, and begged his grandmamma
 
 22 
 
 GENIUS GOODFELLOW. 
 
 to let them work at least three years longer. The genius 
 who was amusing himself by cutting capers and practising 
 opera figures, broke into a loud 
 fit of laughter, until his eyes were 
 filled with tears of joy. 
 " Work, dear children," said he ; 
 "your grandmamma will allow 
 you, and you can see by her 
 emotion the pleasure she derives 
 from your application. Work 
 then moderately, for too much 
 labour breaks the strongest 
 mind, as too much culture will 
 dry up the most fertile ground. 
 Amuse yourselves sometimes, 
 nay frequently, for at your age 
 bodily exercise is necessary, and whatever relieves the mind 
 after labour, enables it to endure a new task. Return 
 to your toil before you feel pleasure grow tedious. In 
 fine, learn to be useful that you may be loved; and, 
 according to the talisman, be loved that you may be happy. 
 If there be any other happiness on earth than this, I for 
 one could never find it out."
 
 WQOB-GOWIS'S 
 
 IN the Forest of 
 Lyons, near to the 
 hamlet of La Gou- 
 pilliere, and close to a 
 spring well belonging 
 to the chapel of Saint 
 Mathurin, there formerly 
 lived an honest good man,
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOO 
 
 "by trade a woodcutter, whose name was Brisquet, which 
 signifies cleaver with the sharp axe, and who, with his 
 wife Brisquetta, lived very poorly upon the scanty profits 
 of his bundles. 
 
 God had blessed this poor couple with two pretty 
 little children, one of whom was a boy seven years old,
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOCK 
 
 ' 
 
 with a dark sunny complexion, named Biscotin ; and the 
 other was a fair little girl, just turned six, whose name 
 was Biscotina. 
 
 Besides these children they had a mongrel dog, with 
 thick bushy hair, as black as coal all over the body, 
 except at the muzzle, where it grew of a light brownish 
 colour; and there was not another dog like him in all
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOG. 
 
 V 
 
 
 the country round for fidelity to his master and his 
 family. This dog was called Bichonne. 
 
 Now it happened, during a very severe winter, that a 
 great many wolves appeared in the forest of Lyons. Well, 
 
 in that year, when -we had such heavy falls of snow, 
 and when the poor people found it so hard to get their 
 living, these savage wolves, and the severe winter toge- 
 ther, distressed the country people in a fearful manner. 
 But Brisquet, who went to his work all the same, and 
 who, on account of his sharp axe, did not fear the wolves, 
 said one day to his wife Brisquetta, " Goody, I caution 
 you not to let either Biscotin or Biscotina go out until 
 the chief of the wolf-hunters has arrived. It would be 
 highly dangerous for them. They have plenty of room 
 to run about in between the pond and the hill, and YOU
 
 THE WOODCUTTER'S DOG. 
 
 know I have planted stakes all round the pond to prevent
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOG 
 
 their falling into the water. And I likewise warn you, 
 Brisquetta, not to let Bichonne go out, for the dog is too 
 fond of gadding away from home." 
 
 Every day before he went out, 
 Brisquet repeated his warning to 
 his wife Brisquetta. One even- 
 ing he did not come home at his 
 usual time. Brisquetta kept going 
 to the step of the door, then came 
 in, and went out again, and, join- 
 ing her hands in great distress of 
 mind, she exclaimed, " Alas I how
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOG. 29 
 
 late he is to-night ! " Then she went out once more, and 
 cried, "Brisquet, where are you?" 
 
 And the little dog leapt up to her shoulders, as much 
 to say, " Do let me go." 
 
 "Down!" said Brisquetta. "Come, Biscotina, you 
 shall go towards the hill to see whether the good man is 
 coming. And you, Biscotin, shall go along the path by 
 the pond, and mind you take care there are no stakes 
 missing.' And cry out as loud as you can, Brisquet! 
 Brisquet!" 
 
 " Down, I say, Bichonne." 
 
 So the children went on and on, until they met again, 
 at the spot where the path by the pond crossed the path 
 towards the hill. 
 
 "I don't care," said Biscotin; "I'll find my poor 
 father, or the wolves shall eat me !" 
 
 "And so they shall eat me too!" said little Bis- 
 cotina. 
 
 In the meantime, Brisquet had returned home by 
 the high road, because he had a load of small wood to 
 leave with Pierre Packer.
 
 30 
 
 THE WOODCUTTER S DOG. 
 
 "Have you met the children?" said Brisquetta to 
 him, as he crossed the threshold. 
 
 "The children!" said Brisquet; "the children! 
 heavens ! did you let them out ? " 
 
 "I sent them to look for you at the pond and the 
 hill : but you must have come another way." 
 
 Brisquet immediately darted out of the house, with 
 his sharp axe in his hand, and ran first to the hill as fast 
 as he could. 
 
 " Suppose you take Bichonne with you ? " cried Bria
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOG. 
 
 31 
 
 quetta after him. But Bichonne had already scampered 
 forth. 
 
 The little dog ran so fast that Brisquet soon loet 
 eight of him. And it was to no purpose that the poor 
 
 woodcutter shouted out, "Biscotinl Biscotina!" Nobody 
 answered him.
 
 32 
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOG. 
 
 Then the poor woodcutter began to cry, for he thought 
 his children were both lost. 
 
 Now after he had run about for a long, long time, 
 looking everywhere, the poor woodcutter thought he 
 heard the bark of Bichonne. So he went straight to the 
 spot from whence the cry seemed to come, and entered 
 among the trees with his axe uplifted. 
 
 The faithful Bichonne had come up just at the moment 
 when Biscotin and Biscotina were on the point of being 
 
 . ':!. \) 
 
 devoured by a large wolf. He had thrown himself before 
 them, and began to bark, to give Brisquet notice. With
 
 THE WOODCUTTER'S DOG. 33 
 
 one stroke of his sharp axe Brisket slew the big wolf; 
 
 but it was all over with poor Bichonne, he was dead 
 already. 
 
 Then the wood-cutter, with his two children, returned 
 home to their mother Brisquetta. They were all glad 
 to meet again, and yet every one wept. Every eye waa 
 turned on poor faithful Bichonne, who lay lifeless on the 
 floor.
 
 34 
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS D0<3. 
 
 GAUCHARO 
 
 And the woodcutter du^ a grave at the back of his 
 
 little garden, and buried Bichonne beneath a large stone, 
 upon which the village schoolmaster inscribed in Latin: 
 
 HERE LIES BICHONNE, 
 
 THE POOR WOODCUTTER'S DOO.
 
 THE WOODCUTTERS DOG. 
 
 And since then it has passed into a common pro- 
 verb : As unlucky as the woodcutter's doy, who went only 
 once to the woody and the wolf cat him.
 
 THI 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 AUNT LEONARDA 
 
 THE four children of a rich husbandman of Pau were 
 grievously bewailing their father's death the day after his 
 funeral, when they saw an old woman approach the door, 
 whom.they knew directly to be their father's sister. 
 
 " Good day to you, Aunt Leonarda," they exclaimed 
 all four together. " Welcome you are, but you come too 
 latel"
 
 THE SUBTERFUGE. 
 
 " Alas ! my children, at my time of life (for I shall be 
 full seventy come next Michaelmas) a poor woman cannot 
 go sixty leagues -.without stopping : I have been three days 
 on the road. After all, here I am at last," said she, sitting 
 down, and looking sorrowfully about her. " Poor brother ! 
 he is gone before me, and waits for me above ; I have but 
 little time to weep for him, for I shall soon be called away 
 to join him." 
 
 "Drive away those painful thoughts, aunt," said the 
 elder boy. 
 
 "My children," continued Leonarda; "I have some- 
 thing of importance to communicate to you, so listen to me. 
 Marcel, your poor father, you know, was twice married. 
 His first wife, Martha, the mother of Victor and Blanche, 
 was very rich; his second, whose name, was Ligna, the 
 mother of Louis and Katherine, was very poor. Your 
 father had nothing of his own ; so that the whole property, 
 
 lands, farms, cows, and sheep, ploughs, harrows, and all the 
 farming implements, belong to the two eldest children, to
 
 THE SUBTERFUGE. 39 
 
 "Victor and Blanche, the offspring of Martha. Ligna's 
 children have nothing to claim ; the papers left with the 
 notary will prove what I say. However, it was not 
 merely to tell you these things that I came hither, for the 
 notary, or any body else, could have told you all at a 
 proper time and place. The motive of my journey was 
 this: You, Victor, and you, Blanche, possess an ample 
 fortune, you are rich ! Your other brother and your other 
 sister have nothing ; share your store with them, I beg 
 you ; remember they are the children of the same father, 
 and that if God has given you a fortune, it is that you may 
 use it well. But I see that you are already tired of listen- 
 ing to me," said she, perceiving that the two elder ones, 
 thinking only of their new fortune, had ceased to attend to 
 her ; and the two others, overcome with grief, hearkened 
 as little. " It is I who am wrong I have done ; and all 
 I ask of you is, to let me have a chamber to rest in until 
 to-morrow." 
 
 The four children hastened to gratify the old aunt's 
 iesire, and took the greatest care of her ; and the next day
 
 40 THE SUBTERFUGE. 
 
 she set out on her return, accompanied by one of the farm 
 servants, pleased with the kind treatment she had ex- 
 perienced from all her nephews and nieces. 
 
 When it was -time to go to the fields, Louis, holding 
 his pruning-knife in his hand, called to his brother : " Are 
 you coming, Victor ?" 
 
 "No," answered the other; "it is fit for you to work, 
 and earn the bread you eat here ; but for me, I am rich, 
 and take my ease." 
 
 Poor Louis, stung to the quick by this answer, said 
 not a word, but went off to the fields. 
 
 At the same time Katherine went to look for her sister ; 
 she found her in bed, and asked her if she was ill ? 
 
 " No !" replied she. 
 
 " Come, then, get up," said Katherine to her ; " the 
 lye is steeped you must" 
 
 Here she was interrupted by Blanche, who, in a shrill 
 voice repeated, " You must, eh ! Katherine, you must now 
 do the work all alone, and save me the expense of a ser- 
 vant. It is fit the poor should wait on the rich ; and I am 
 rich, you know I" 
 
 Astonished at so different a style and manner, Kathe- 
 rine seemed riveted to the spot, she could not stir. Her 
 sister drew her from her fit of apathy by adding, " Well ! 
 what are you doing, stuck there like a finger-post in the 
 highway ? Come, make haste ; I am willing to keep you 
 in my house, but at least you must earn what you cost me." 
 
 Katherine hurried away, whilst the tears ran down her 
 cheeks. 
 
 That very evening she and her brother spoke together ; 
 after which, they both came to the rich children. 
 
 " It is too painful for us to be servants to our brother 
 and sister," said Louis, speaking for both; "we are all 
 children of one father, and therefore we leave you." 
 
 "To go whither?" asked Victor and Blanche with 
 some degree of concern, to do them justice
 
 THE SUBTERFUGE. 41 
 
 " To any house but yours, cruel sister!" said Katherme. 
 weeping. 
 
 " As you please," returned Blanche ; " only I entreat 
 you both to say in the village that it is your own wish to 
 go; for I would not for the world have the neighbours 
 suppose that either my brother or myself had driven away 
 our own father's children." 
 
 " Do n't be alarmed, Blanche," said Louis, taking^ his 
 sister's arm to lead her away ; "we shall tell the truth." 
 
 The moment that Ligna's children were crossing the 
 door-way, Victor was smitten with remorse, and cried out 
 to his brother : " Louis, you are wrong to be proud ; were 
 I in your place, I would be your servant." Then, seeing 
 that he went his way without turning back his head, he 
 added, "At all events remember, when you want work, 
 come to the farm, and you will find it." 
 
 Louis and Katherine did not even look back to signify 
 that they heard them. Victor rejoined his sister Blanche.
 
 TCHE CHILD., THJE LOAF, AND THE DOG. 
 
 AFTER leaving fheir father's house, Louis and Katherine 
 took up their abode in a little cottage on the margin of a 
 small river abounding in fish. Louis employed himself in 
 
 fishing, and going to market to sell what he caught; 
 Katherine took care of their home, and turned her spinning 
 wheel. Things went on pretty well until winter; but 
 then the river was frozen, and there were no fish to be had
 
 THE SUBTERFUGE. 43 
 
 the thread that Katharine spun was no longer sufficient for 
 the wants of the two poor orphans, and so 'poverty and 
 extreme distress found their way into the little cot. 
 
 However, spring returned again, and summer came 
 after ; and just at harvest time a man called at the humble 
 dwelling of the friendless children. 
 
 "I. have undertaken the crops of this part of the 
 country," said he to them ; " I am now mustering my 
 reapers; will you join my band?" 
 
 "Willingly! willingly!" said Louis and Katherine at 
 once, delighted 'at the prospect of earning a little money. 
 Saying which, they followed the stranger. But judge 
 how astonished were these poor children, when they dis- 
 covered that the field they were going to reap was one 
 belonging to their brother and sister : however, they were 
 already hired, so they went to work. Victor saw them at 
 their task : he came up to them, and observing how poorly 
 they were clad, he said to them : " Oh ! oh ! I see distress 
 has brought you back to me. I might send you about 
 your business ; but I am a good brother, and therefore you 
 may continue to labour in this field as long as aught re- 
 mains to be done." 
 
 Then off he ran, wicked brother, to tell his sister of the 
 meeting ; and she heard his story vrithout pity. 
 
 The next day, however, whilst the reapers were taking 
 their meals, Blanche wished to show herself to Ligna's 
 children in the fine clothes she had worn since her father's 
 death, which had been made for her in town, for she had 
 thrown by her country garments. So she came out, 
 dressed like a young lady, leaning on her brother's arm, 
 and walked up to a large elm, beneath which she expected 
 to meet her poor brother and sister ; but all she found there 
 was a child and a dog. The child was eating a slice of 
 bread and butter ; the dog, which lay down at the foot of 
 the child, seemed so earnestly to beg r for a bit, that Blanche 
 told the child to give him some. The child refused. 
 6
 
 44 THE SUBTERFUPE. 
 
 " Fie, you little glutton, not to give this poor little dog 
 his share !" said Blanche. 
 
 " Ah, Blanche ! Blanche ! " said a voice behind the eim ; 
 " what you say to that child might be applied to yourself, 
 since you have kept all your mother's fortune, not only 
 without sharing it with your father's children, but without 
 even giving them any part of it." 
 
 Blanche turned her head round to see who was speak- 
 ing ; she saw her old aunt Leonarda, resting upon her stick. 
 Without leaving the young girl time to answer her, the 
 old dame continued : " I came up through the meadows ; 
 and when I saw both Louis and Katherine so poorly clad, 
 I made my inquiries, and the reapers told me all the bad 
 behaviour of your brother and you, and the noble pride of 
 Ligna's children, who refused to be servants where they 
 had been masters. Fortunately, I am come to turn the 
 tables upon you." 
 
 *' How, Aunt Leonarda !" said Victor and Blanche 
 together. 
 
 The old aunt sat down on the bench by the side of 
 Blanche, and beckoning to Ligna's children to come for- 
 ward, she said to them: "I have great news to tell you : 
 the fortune did not belong to Martha, but Ligna ; all the 
 property, therefore, goes to her children, instead of 
 Martha's." 
 
 "Are you serious, aunt?" cried the four children 
 together. 
 
 " Very serious; I only wanted to prove you," replied 
 the old aunt. " I had come to an understanding with the 
 notary for that purpose, with a right to restore things 
 to their place in due season. That time is now come ; 
 Louis and Katherine, it is your turn, my children, to be 
 masters here. Come, Louis, give your sickle to Victor, 
 and order him to go and roast himself in the sun, to increase 
 your wealth; come, Katherine, sit you here in the shade, 
 and send your servant Blanche to get your dinner ready.
 
 THE SUBTERFUGE. 
 
 45 
 
 Assume the masters, my children ; be proud and haughty ; 
 it is your turn to drive them away you are rich now ! " 
 
 But without seeming to understand Aunt Leonarda's 
 last words, Louis and Katherine looked at each other. 
 Louis then went and sat down at the feet of Blanche, who 
 looked down with shame and confusion, whilst big tears 
 were gushing from her eyes. 
 
 " Stay with us, dear sister," said he, " and let there be 
 neither master nor servant in this house, but only fond 
 sisters and loving brothers. Say, shall it be so ?" 
 
 Katherine, who had glided silently into the arms of 'her 
 brother Victor, said to him at the same time: " Let us do 
 as we used when our father was living, Victor : he would 
 cut a fine pear into four pieces, and all his children were 
 alike and 'equal . Say, shall it be so?"
 
 46 
 
 THE SUBTERFUGE. 
 
 You are too good," returned the two children of 
 Martha ; " we do not deserve so much kindness ; we have 
 been very cruel towards you. Do as we did, and we shall 
 deserve it all." 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! " cried Ligna's children. And then 
 Louis added, in an earnest voice, " We are all children of 
 but one father ; let us have one fortune, one house, and one 
 field." 
 
 When she saw this noble revenge, Aunt Leonarda 
 burst into tears. 
 
 " Come, Aunt Leonarda," said the four children at 
 once; "come and enjoy the result of your SUBTERFUGE." 
 
 And ever since that day, nothing was talked about in 
 the village but the harmony and the good feeling which 
 prevailed among the four children of Marcel. 

 
 
 ONE morning, in the fine month of April, 1790, farmer 
 Hubert called his son Giles, a boy about twelve years old, 
 and said to him : " My lad, this is the cottage in which you 
 were born, as well as your sister Cicely; on yonder hill 
 stands the church where I married your poor mother who 
 sits weeping in that corner : what then ? why, to-morrow 
 they mean to turn us out of the cottage, and out of the
 
 48 
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 
 village too ; not because we have done any thing wrong ; 
 no, my boy, your father has not disgraced his grey hairs; 
 but the hail-storm has destroyed his crops, and he has fallen 
 behind with his landlord, and cannot pay his rent. The 
 bailiff is severe and ill-natured, but somehow I think his 
 master, the lord, is not so bad. It would be a dreadful 
 thing, indeed, if there were two such wicked men in so 
 small a hamlet as Gentilly. The Marquis of Gentilly 
 returned home last night, as I hear; so Giles, you must 
 put on your best Sunday, clothes, and take your sister 
 Cicely with you, and go together to the castle. Besides, 
 my lad, you are a scholar, and the schoolmaster says, that if 
 you continue to. mind your book as you do, you will be 
 able to read next year, and that you already know your 
 letters pretty well. This is saying a great deal, but still I 
 do n't doubt it may be true. So then, my lad, as you wend 
 your way, you will contrive a neat little compliment to 
 greet his lordship with very prettily ; you will tell him that 
 it is true we owe the money, but that for two seasons now
 
 HONEST HUBERT 49 
 
 the crops have been injured by the hail, that we only want 
 time, and that we will pay him, for we are honest people. 
 You must not, however, say it all in a heap as I do, but 
 settle it as nicely as you can, and fit for my lord's ears ; so 
 that you may come by degrees to touch his heart, and 
 prevent him from turning us out of our cottage. And 
 now, my lad, you understand what I mean ?" 
 
 "Perfectly, father," replied Giles. 
 
 "And so do I understand you, father," said Cicely, 
 whom her mother was just finishing to dress; "and if 
 Giles should forget any thing, I'll be his prompter." 
 
 "God send that^his lordship may only listen to two 
 poor children like themj" said the farmer's wife, wiping 
 her eyes, 
 
 "His lordship is a man, and a man is not a tiger, 
 Goody," returned honest Hubert. 
 
 " He surely cannot eat us," said Giles. 
 
 " Take heart, my children," said the farmer, making a 
 sign to Giles to set out ; " and, Goody, in the meantime let 
 you and I go and pray to God to bless the mission of these 
 poor innocent lambs." 
 
 And then as they went together along the path which 
 led to the castle, said Giles to his sister Cicely : 
 
 1 ( What have you got there in your hand ? " 
 
 " A basket of nice ripe fruit, and a bunch of flowers, J 
 answered his sister, " to present to his lordship."
 
 50 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 "That's not amiss," said Giles, "you are a thoughtful 
 girl ; all I fear is that his lordship w'on't care a button for 
 our fruit and flowers." 
 
 " What ! not for such nice flowers as these ? returned 
 Cicely. 
 
 " Hush ! " said Giles, pointing towards two persons at 
 some distance, who were coming along the path. 
 
 " Bless us ! " cried the little peasant girl, in a tone of 
 surprise, "how fine those people are dressed; see how 
 nicely the young gentleman's hair is powdered, what a 
 neat coat, and what nice polished boots ! 
 
 " And look at the little girl, too," said Giles in turn, 
 " look at the fine feathers in her hat ! and her gown with 
 its long skirt behind ! I suspect, Cicely, the stuff cost more 
 than yours did." 
 
 " How neat, how pretty, they are both!" cried Cicely. 
 
 "They must be my lord and my lady," said Giles, 
 " now 's the time for me to begin my address." 
 
 "I rather think, Giles," said Cicely, these are the 
 children of his lordship, the Marquis of Gentilly, though 
 they are much taller than they were the last time they 
 came down to the country, about two years ago." 
 
 " Yes," returned Giles, " I remember they did not visit 
 us last year, because their mother died, and their father was 
 with the army ; it was the schoolmaster told me so ; and 
 the children of a marquis, you know, never eome to the 
 country all alone." 
 
 "Where are you going, little girl, with your fine pears and 
 flowers? " said the little powdered gentleman, chucking Cicely 
 under the chin, and then taking out a pear, and giving it a bite. 
 
 " Adrian," said the young girl to her brother, I think I 
 know who they are. Are you not farmer Hubert's children ? " 
 added she, turning and speaking to the little peasants. 
 
 " The same, at your service, Miss," replied Giles, look- 
 ing down abashed, and twisting the brim of his hat between 
 his hands.
 
 HONEST HUBERT 
 
 
 ' And what's your pleasure, youngsters? " said Adrian, 
 assuming a look of patronage. 
 
 " We want to speak to my lord, your father, my find 
 young gentleman," answered Cicely.
 
 62 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 "Say on," replied Adrian, "it's the same as if you 
 spoke to himself." 
 
 " This is the matter, Master Adrian," said Giles: " we 
 owe my lord a great deal of money, I do n't exactly know 
 how much it is ; but I think it must be twenty crowns, or 
 ten at least ; father did not tell me the amount." 
 
 " Well," added the little girl, laughing outright, " what 
 next?" 
 
 " Well ! " repeated Giles, blushing and stammering, for 
 that burst of laughter had confounded his ideas, "we are 
 not able to pay . . . and the steward wants to turn us out 
 of our home . . . and that vexes father . . . that makes 
 mother sad ; and that cottage, you see, Miss Angelica and 
 Master Adrian, is the same where sister and I were born, as 
 father says ; for it 's so long ago, and I was so little then, I 
 can 't remember it. It was there too, hard by, in the church, 
 that he was married to mother. In short, the church, the 
 village, and the cottage," continued Giles, more and more 
 embarrassed every moment ; for at every word he spoke the 
 merriment of his little auditors revived, "In short . . . 
 saving your presence ... the cottage "... 
 
 " We wish not to leave it," added Cicely, coming to her 
 brother's relief. 
 
 " It is a fine cottage, truly, to regret," interrupted the 
 little marquis, and speaking to his sister.^ 
 
 " Nay I it is not a castle," Giles ventured to say, " but 
 we can sleep in it, and take our meals in it ; in summer it 
 shelters us from the sun, and in winter from the rain." 
 
 " I can 't conceive how any one can live in a cottage, 
 and still less how they can cry to leave it," replied the 
 little girl, in so disdainful a voice as to bring tears into the 
 poor children's eyes. 
 
 " If you had nothing else though," returned Cicely 
 warmly, "you would be very glad to keep it." 
 
 " Nothing else ! " repeated Angelica, raising her voice ; 
 "^ou are a saucy girl, little one, to compare yourself to me,
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 58 
 
 and my brother* would do well to give you a few lashes with 
 his horsewhip to teach you better manners." 
 
 Terrified at this threat, and still more at the tone in 
 which it was delivered, the little peasant girl screamed with 
 fear, and Giles added in a passion : 
 
 "What! my sister! beat my sister!" said he, placing 
 himself before her, and clenching his fists as if to defend 
 her. 
 
 u And' you too," replied Adrian. 
 
 " Me ! if you like, my lord, you have the right to do it," 
 replied Giles, " you may, perhaps, have the same right to 
 beat my sister, but, blow me, so long as I can stand on my 
 legs, I wo n't allow it ! " 
 
 " Well ! Master Adrian, well ! " said a voice which made 
 farmer Hubert's children tremble from head to foot, for it 
 was the bailiff who spoke, " why do you hesitate to trounce 
 these two troublesome little fools ? " 
 
 " O dear ! we are undone ! " cried the two poor children, 
 bursting into tears. 
 
 As soon as they saw the children's grief, both Adrian 
 and Angelica were ashamed of the fit of anger which they 
 had for a moment felt towards two beings so harmless as 
 those little peasants ; they ran up to them, Angelica took 
 hold of Cicely's hand, and Adrian took hold of Giles's. 
 
 " Do n't cry," said both together, "do n't cry, no harm 
 shall be done to you, that I promise you." 
 
 " Oh ! certainly not, no harm shall be done to them," 
 replied the bailiff; " we shall put them out of the cottage 
 very quietly and gently, and after that, out of the village as 
 peaceably as possible." 
 
 "What," said Adrian, "could you be so cruel, Mr. 
 Bailiff?" 
 
 " Good Mr. Bailiff," said Angelica, looking^ serious, 
 " before you turn my father's tenants out of.their home, 
 you will wait till he returns. He will.be home again in a 
 week, in three days, perhaps to-morrow."
 
 54 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 "I am very sorry to refuse you any thing. Miss, but I 
 cannot wait an hour," said the bailiff, strutting with a look 
 of self-sufficiency in his robe of office. 
 
 "Mr. Bailiff!" cried Adrian, with a flushed face. 
 
 " How children do change ! " said the bailiff, "just now 
 you were going to thrash these little peasants, and now you 
 step in to intercede for them." 
 
 "Just now I was wrong, Mr. Bailiff," replied Adrian in 
 a tone at once sad and dignified, " and I beg of you" 
 
 " Impossible! Mr. Adrian ; the law must take its course; 
 they must pay, or go to prison." 
 
 Adrian was about to make an angry reply, when his 
 sister took his arm. "Nevermind, Adrian," said she, "we 
 are not the most powerful in this case, but we have another 
 means to comfort these children." 
 
 " Yes, fifty crowns which my grandfather gave me when 
 I took leave of him yesterday," answered her brother. 
 
 " I have a trifle more," rejoined Angelica, which my 
 grandmother gave me to buy a new dress." Then she 
 turned to Cicely, and said, 
 
 "Follow me to the castle, Cicely, and don't cry; my 
 brother and I will take upon us to settle with the bailiff." 
 
 " Nor will you have far to go, my dear children," said 
 a middle-aged man, suddenly issuing from behind the base 
 of a statue, where, without being perceived himself, he had 
 seen and heard all ; " you are two little angels, whom your 
 mother when she died left to console me for all my cares 
 and sorrows. Mr. Bailiff," said he, changing his voice, "you 
 have exceeded your authority. As for you, Giles, you are 
 a good brother ; go home and tell your father, that for your 
 sake, I forgive him the money he owes me, and that 1 re- 
 lease him from his farm rent for two years to come, on 
 condition that he shall devote the money to your education. 
 And do you, my children, accompany me in the tour I am 
 about to make in my estates. Let us endeavour to dry our 
 neighbour's tears, that God may one day do the same for us 1"
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 55 
 
 After this speech, the baffled bailiff withdrew covered 
 with shame, the marquis walked off on one side with his 
 two children, whilst Cicely and Giles bent their way to the 
 cottage. 
 
 As soon as they got liome, they related all that had 
 passed ; joy once more took the place of grief, and night 
 came on before these worthy people had left off praising 
 their noble landlord's goodness. At length the farmer's 
 wife said to her husband: 
 
 " Methinks, Hubert, you ought to go and thank my 
 lord before you go to bed." 
 
 " True," said Hubert, standing up, " what could possess 
 me that I never thought of it ? " 
 
 " Are you going by yourself, father?" asked Giles. 
 
 " Yes," said Hubert. " Go to bed, children, it is late." 
 
 He went out. But joy has more power to keep the 
 eyes open than sorrow has ; so when Hubert returned, he 
 found his wife and children still up. 
 
 " Have you seen his lordship ? " said his wife. 
 
 "Yes," said Hubert, as pale, as a ghost, and with a 
 careful heavy brow. 
 
 " And have you thanked him, Hubert?" 
 
 " Yes ... no ... do n't question me, wife, I cannot 
 tell you any thing, good night." 
 
 So saying, the farmer took up a candle, and went into 
 the next room, leaving his wife and children amazed at the 
 answer.
 
 PAKT II. 
 
 THE COTTAGE AND THE CASTLE. 
 
 In 1805, in the heat of summer, and in the merry 
 month of August, two country women belonging to the 
 village of Gentilly, in the environs of Paris, were returning 
 thither from the capital, when they observed a young 
 woman in black pass by them, holding a child by the hand. 
 This meeting by itself would probably not have been noticed 
 had it not been for the lady's appearance ; her dress, which 
 at the first glance, appeared costly, was torn and soiled at 
 the skirt by the brambles and the dust on the highway
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 5? 
 
 whilst her handsome face was bathed in tears ; and all about 
 her excited to the utmost the curiosity and the concern of 
 the two villagers. 
 
 There was another point, too, which puzzled them. 
 That stranger, whom neither of them knew, though they 
 were amongst the oldest residents in the place, went directly 
 forward without asking her way of any one, without look- 
 ing for it herself, and with all the confidence of long and 
 familiar habit. Watching her only, for they were afraid to 
 intrude themselves upon her, because, in spite of her mourn- 
 ful looks, there was a dignity about her that kept them 
 at a distance, they saw her advance with faltering steps 
 towards honest Hubert's cottage, and knock softly at the 
 door. Next she listened to catch the sound of the steps 
 of any approaching inmates ; but the deepest silence pre- 
 vailed within the walls of the cottage, and the strange 
 lady glanced around her, as if hesitating how to act. 
 Then observing that the window shutter, being half with- 
 drawn, allowed any one to look inside, she ran up to the 
 shutter, opened it, looked anxiously for a few moments 
 through the window, then suddenly uttered a piercing 
 shriek, and, would have fallen backward on the earth, 
 but for the two country-women, who by that time had 
 reached the cottage, and supported her in their arms. 
 
 "Dead, dead, they are all dead then!" said she to the 
 two women. 
 
 " Who are dead?" replied one of these; " not honest 
 old Hubert, certainly, nor his wife, nor even his children." 
 
 " But here is no furniture, the cottage is empty," stam- 
 mered the poor lady. 
 
 " Even so ; but every day is not alike," said the other 
 country-woman : " old Hubert, whom the whole country set 
 down to be as poor as Job, went up to the castle of the 
 Marquis of Gentilly, on the day it was put up for sale. 
 Perhaps, madam, you do not know, how some time back, 
 in 1794, when the soldiers of the revolution were quartered
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 
 in these parts, and when many of us poor villagers were 
 turned out of house and home by them, because we stood
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 his lordship, the marquis, who had always been a very 
 kind landlord to all of us, that his lordship fled away from 
 the astle, and, as I've heard emigrated with his chil- 
 
 dren; mui they all died, as report says, in foreign parts. 
 It was thus the castle came to be sold, and as I had 
 the honour to say just now, when the day of the sale was 
 come, who do you think was surprised ? Why the whole 
 village, to be sure; for there at the sale was honest old 
 Hubert, bidding, and bidding, and bidding, higher than all 
 the company so at last he pulls from beneath his great 
 
 coat a large bag full of gold, pays for the castle, and becomes 
 the owner of it, as sure as my name 's Susan. That is the 
 reason why the cottage is empty. But old Hubert and his 
 Wife, and his daughter Cicely, are not a bit prouder for
 
 60 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 that; I don't say a word about the son, who is with the 
 
 army, and who is become a general, or corporal, I do n't 
 well know which, but something in a/, at all events. If you 
 desire to seek their hospitality"
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 61 
 
 " Never! never!" cried the strange lady, who was seized 
 with a nervous trembling from head to foot, "I should 
 lever be so bold ! " 
 
 "As you think fit," replied, the good woman; "but 
 for all that, the Huberts are a worthy set of people. The 
 father, for his part, still goes on tilling the land, just the 
 same as if he had no castle at all ; dame Hubert is become 
 blind, and pretty Cicely has always refused to get married, 
 because she would not leave her mother. Now it seems to 
 my mind, that a person may, without shame, knock at the 
 door of such like people. But, look! here comes Cicely 
 herself, added the woman ; and before the strange lady had 
 had time even to guess what she meant to do, the country- 
 woman cried out 
 
 " Come hither, Cicely, here is a lady who was going to 
 knock at the door of your old cottage, and who refuses to 
 knock at the door of the castle." 
 
 On hearing the name of Cicely, a young peasant girl 
 came running up ; she was no longer the little delicate girl 
 of 1790: Cicely had grown up; and, notwithstanding her 
 peasant's garb, which she still wore, there was a certain 
 dignity of manner, the result of her new education, which 
 was observable in every movement. She advanced quietly 
 towards the stranger, and with the polite and soothing 
 tone of one who is anxious not to give offence by too 
 officious an offer to oblige, she said, 
 
 " If you are fatigued, madam, the castle is close by ?" 
 
 "Oh! my brother!" were the only words the lady 
 could give utterance to. 
 
 "Is he near at hand? we will send for him," said 
 Cicely. 
 
 " I left him unwell on the way, at an inn close to this," 
 answered the fair unknown, struggling to overcome her 
 feelings ; " and I came on before with his child, who, since 
 his mother's death, has always lived with me, to solicit 
 shelter at this cottage."
 
 62 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 "Do you not believe then, madam, that hospitality may 
 be met with in a castle as well as in a cottage?" 
 
 Before the stranger could reply to this question, she 
 was astonished by the appearance of her brother, supported 
 by a young officer dressed in a splendid uniform, and 
 coming towards them. 
 
 " Sister ! " cried the officer, addressing Cicely, " hasten 
 to the castle, order the best bed to be got in readiness ; I 
 have brought you a guest, who though he declines to tell 
 his name, shall be equally welcome to our father's house." 
 
 "And so have I found a guest, or rather two guests," 
 said Cicely, taking the little girl up on one arm, and 
 presenting the other to the lady. 
 
 The two strangers had exchanged together a look of 
 grief and affection ; and, without speaking to each other, 
 but with mutual assent, they followed their guide. 
 
 On their entrance to the castle, it was observed that 
 tears were flowing abundantly from the eyes of the two 
 strangers; and, when afterwards they were ushered into 
 the grand drawing-room, they fell down on their knees, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 "Father! father!" 
 
 "What voice do I hear!" cried Dame Hubert, "Giles, 
 Cicely, who was it spoke?" 
 
 " Two unfortunate travellers, two strangers whom my 
 siste* and I met in the village," answered the young officer, 
 stepping up to his mother. 
 
 " Travellers they may be, but strangers they are not, 
 my son," replied the dame. " Alas ! whoever you be who 
 called upon your father, speak, and tell me, who are you?" 
 
 "Two unhappy travellers, as your son told you, madam," 
 replied the fair stranger, in a tremulous voice. 
 
 " The marquis's daughter ! " said the blind woman, 
 rocking herself in her chair ; " 't is the marquis's daughter ! 
 't is Miss Angelica, and probably her brother ! Do n't 
 deny me," she added with emphasis, "the eye does deceive,
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 63 
 
 but the ear and the heart never do. My children, these 
 are your masters who have come back." 
 
 " Well ! so it is, Dame Hubert, it is I," said Angelica, 
 springing forwards, and taking the old woman's hands in 
 hers; "I, my brother Adrian, and his little girl. Alas! 
 my father died on the field of battle in a foreign land, and
 
 64 HONEST HUBERT 
 
 we were coming to Hubert's cottage, that same cottage 
 which my brother and I once made mockery of, to beg for 
 a refuge against want, for we are ruined, Dame Hubert, 
 and have lost all." 
 
 "Who says that the children of the Marquis of Gentilly 
 are ruined, and have lost all?" spoke the voice of honest 
 Hubert, who had just before come in, with a spade thrown 
 over his shoulder. 
 
 'Is not this castle sold?" asked Adrian. 
 
 ' Yes," returned Hubert. 
 
 ' Have you not bought it yourself?" inquired Angelica. 
 
 ' Yes ; but with whose money ?" the farmer in his turn 
 inquired. 
 
 ' With your own, of course," said Adrian. 
 
 ' With yours," the peasant replied. 
 
 ' How can that be ? " cried the brother and sister in a 
 breath. 
 
 "O just God!" exclaimed the farmer with pious reve- 
 rence, "he who obeys thy commandments is always re- 
 warded. The Marquis of Gentilly receives to-day through 
 his children, the reward for his former benefits. to me. 
 Listen to me, then; listen too, wife and children, till I 
 reveal to you a secret, which I should only have acknow- 
 ledged on my death-bed. You must all of you remember, 
 fifteen years ago, the meeting in the park between my 
 children and those of the marquis ; and not only the release 
 of the debt I owed his lordship, but, moreover, the round 
 little sum which that night Mr. Adrian handed over to me, 
 in his sister's name and his own, to enable me to educate 
 my children. Just at nightfall, my wife had the lucky 
 thought to tell me that I could not go to bed and rest 
 peaceably in it, until I had been to his lordship to thank 
 him for his goodness ; so I took up my hat and stick, and 
 off I set. To shorten the way to the castle, I went 
 towards the back of the park. I had a key in my pocket 
 to let myself in by the little door ; so in I got that vay.
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 65 
 
 But I had not gone far along the dark gloomy walks, 
 before I saw a faint light at a distance. It struck me 
 there might be thieves; so I stole softly on to surprise 
 them, see how many there were, and detect their present 
 object. I moved forward as quietly as possible ; but when 
 I had come close to the light, lo ! it was my lord the mar- 
 quis, who was digging a hole. Just as I came up he flung 
 a bag in, which as it fell, jingled like metal; then he 
 covered it over again with earth, scattered some dry leaves 
 at the top, and went away. It was a secret, therefore, that 
 I had unwittingly discovered, and my duty bade me be 
 silent. You can guess the remainder, marquis," said 
 Hubert, turning to Adrian. " As soon as I found the castle 
 was going to be sold, I dug up the money, and bought the 
 estate. Since then, I have turned the land to good account. 
 I am unable to read or write ; but the money I have re- 
 ceived, is locked up in your honoured father's chest ; you 
 
 shall count it yourself. Your castle is in good order. I 
 have but little in it belonging to me, and this I ask your 
 permission to carry home to my cottage. So, my lord, this 
 house is now yours; I shall return to my cottage. But, 
 first, have the goodness to come with me, and I will settle 
 accounts with you." 
 
 " Settle accounts ! honest, Hubert," repeated the mar-
 
 66 
 
 HONEST HUBERT. 
 
 quis, tears starting to his eyes, and pressing in his own 
 white hands the bronzed and horny palms of the old farmer; 
 "accounts, indeed! and why should you return to your 
 cottage? Remain in the castle, honest Hubert; and if 
 your pretty Cicely has not yet made choice of a husband, 
 you shall be my father ; and we will all live together as 
 one family." 
 
 "You say as one family, noble marquis," said Giles 
 bashfully "so if this young lady does not disdain a 
 peasant risen to be a general?" 
 
 " Together as one family ! " repeated Angelica smiling, 
 and giving her hand to the young officer. 
 
 Not many days afterwards, the villagers of Gentilly 
 were assembled together, to celebrate the marriages of the 
 children of the marquis with the children of the farmer.
 
 JlHEIlE was, once upon a time, a poor man and his 
 poor wife, who were very old indeed, and had no children; 
 
 
 now, this they were sorry for, because they felt that in a 
 few years time they should no longer be able to cultivate 
 
 7
 
 4 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 their beans, and carry them to market to sell. So one 
 day when they were at work weeding their bean-field 
 
 (It was all the property they had, besides a little cot- 
 tage, and I wish I could say I had as much) ; one day, 
 
 then, when they were digging up the weeds, which grew 
 apace, the old woman espied in a snug little corner 
 beneath the thickest tufts, a neat little bundle, very nicely 
 packed, and which enclosed a very fine boy, who appeared 
 by his looks to be eight or ten months old, but who was
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 6 
 
 as wise as other little boys are at t\vo years old, for he 
 
 
 was weaned already. So wise then was he that he did 
 
 not refuse to eat boiled beans, which he would raise to his 
 mouth in a very genteel manner. 
 
 When the old man heard his poor wife exclaim, he 
 came running up from the other end of his field; and 
 when he also had considered, in his turn, the beautiful 
 child which God had sent them, the good old couple 
 embraced each other, and wept with joy ; after which they
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 hastened to return to the cottage, lest the evening clew, 
 which had begun to fall, might hurt their foundling. 
 
 Now as soon as they had ensconced themselves 
 snugly by the hearth only think how great their sur- 
 prise must have been .! for the little child held out his 
 arms, and smiled most lovingly upon them, calling them 
 mama and papa, as if he had never known any other 
 parents. 
 
 Then the old man perched him upon his knee, and 
 cantered him up and down like the young ladies we see 
 on horseback, saying all the while some pretty things to 
 amuse him ; and which the child responded to in his own 
 merry way, that he might take his part with the old man 
 in so agreeable a conversation. All this while the old
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA. ULOSSOM. 7 
 
 woman was making a fine clear fire with dry bean-stalks, 
 which lighted up the whole room; and this she did to 
 comfort Ihe little limbs of their new visitor by its genial 
 
 warmth, and to make him some nice bean pap with a 
 spoonful of honey melted in it, which gave it a delicious 
 taste. 
 
 By-and-by she put him to bed in his swaddling 
 clothes made of fine linen, and which were very white and 
 clean, choosing for his bed the nicest bean-stalks she could 
 find at home, for these poor people did not know what 
 it was to lie upon fine down or feather beds. 
 
 The child slept very snugly on this bed of stalks ; and 
 when he had gone to sleep, the old man said to the old 
 woman, " There is one thing which puzzles me, and that 
 is, what name we ought to bestow upon this beautiful 
 boy, for we do n't know who are his parents, or where
 
 8 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 he comes from." Now the old woman, who had a quick 
 fancy though she was but a poor village crone, answered 
 
 immediately, " Let us call 
 ^^ --^ m ' m BEAN FLOWER ! be- 
 cause it was in our bean- 
 field that we found him, 
 *-- and because he is to be 
 ^- the delight and consola- 
 p^ tion of our declining 
 Y years." The old man 
 agreed that there could 
 V '; ' ' * not be a fitter name. 
 
 I think it useless to tell you how he passed every day 
 and every year, for that would make my story too long. 
 Suffice it to say that the old people grew older every 
 day, whilst little Bean Flower grew stronger and finer at 
 the same time. Not that he became very tall, for he was 
 only two feet and a half high at twelve ; and whenever he 
 worked in his bean-field, which he was very fond of, you 
 could hardly have perceived him from the highroad : but 
 he was so well shaped though small, his face and his 
 manner were so becoming, he was so mild, and yet so 
 firm in his language, he looked so bold in his sky-blue 
 frock and red belt and his fine Sunday cap with a bean 
 flower for a feather to it, that nobody could help admiring 
 him, and many people thought he really must be the 
 child of some fairy. 
 
 I must admit that there were many things which 
 favoured the supposition of these simple people. In the 
 first place, the cottage and its bean-field, on which a 
 single cow would not have found wherewithal to graze 
 a few years before, had become one of the richest domains 
 in the country without any body knowing how. Nothing 
 to be sure can be more common than to see bean-plants 
 growing, blossoming, and ripening in their pod; but t<5 
 behold a bean-field itself grow wider, without having
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 been extended by purchase, or by unjust encroachment 
 on other people's ground, that indeed is a matter beyond 
 the understanding even of the wisest. 
 
 For all that this lucky bean-field kept growing and 
 growing ; it grew towards the north, it grew towards the 
 south, it grew towards the east, it grew towards the west ; 
 and all in vain was it that the neighbours measured their 
 grounds, for the measure was always right with an odd 
 patch or two over, so that they began, very reasonably, 
 to think that the whole country was increasing in size. 
 On the other hand, the beans grew so thick, that the 
 cottage never could have held the crop, had it not widened 
 considerably j and, as one year the bean-fields had every 
 where failed for a distance of five miles off, the value of
 
 10 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 of our good people's crop was greatly increased, on account 
 of the vast consumption of beans which took place at the 
 tables of lords and kings. 
 
 In the midst of this plenty, Bean Flower did all the 
 work himself, he turned the earth over, he picked out 
 the seed, he smoothed the beds, he pulled up the weeds, 
 he dug the ground, he raked, he reaped, he shelled ; and 
 besides all this, he kept the hedges and fences in good 
 order, and then employed the rest of his time in 
 receiving and dealing with the market people, for he 
 could read, write, and cipher, though he had never 
 been to school; he was indeed a blessing to these poor 
 people. 
 
 Now it happened, one night when Bean Flower was 
 asleep, the old man said to his wife, " Little Bean Flower 
 has been very serviceable to us, since he has enabled us to 
 pass away quietly, and without any toil, the few years 
 we have still to live. Though we have bequeathed him
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 
 11 
 
 in our will the whole of this property, we have only 
 restored him his own rights ; and we shall prove ungrate- 
 ful to the child, unless we manage to get him a more 
 suitable lot in life than that of a bean-seller. Pity it is 
 that he should be too modest to take his degree as doctor 
 in a university, and a little bit too short to become a 
 general." 
 
 "It is a pity," said the old woman, "fliat he has not 
 studied enough to know the names of five or six diseases
 
 12 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 in Latin, for then there would be nothing so easy as tc 
 have him dubbed a doctor." 
 
 " As for your law-suits," continued the old man, " I 
 am afraid he has too much sense and judgment ever to 
 make out one of them." 
 
 "1 have always fancied," returned the old woman, 
 " that he would marry Princess PEA BLOSSOM when he 
 came of age." 
 
 " Pea Blossom," said the old man, shaking his head, 
 " is far too great a princess to marry a poor foundling who 
 will have nothing to call his own but a little cottage and 
 a bean-field. Pea Blossom, my old girl, is a match for 
 an alderman, a lord mayor, or even the king himself, 
 if he should become a widower. We are talking of serious 
 matters, and you are unreasonable." 
 
 " Bean F^yer has more sense than we two," answered 
 the old woman, after a little bit of reflection. " Besides, this 
 business is not ours, but his, and it would be ungracious
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 to carry it further without consulting him." And there- 
 upon the good old 
 
 couple shut their 
 
 eyes and fell asleep. |^ 
 The day began ^t 
 
 to peep, when Mas- J 
 
 ter Bean Flower 7; 
 
 jumped out of bed, 
 
 like a diligent boy, 
 
 to run to the fields 
 
 according to his cus- 
 tom. But, guess 
 
 his astonishment, 
 
 when he found his 
 
 Sunday clothes on the box, where he had laid his old 
 
 ones the night before. 
 
 " And yet it is a working day, if there be one, or else 
 
 the calendar deceives me," said he, aside, " and my mother 
 
 must intend to keep holiday without my knowing the 
 
 reason, since she has got ready my fine frock and orna- 
 mental cap. But let it be as 
 she wishes, for I should be 
 sorry to cross her mood in any 
 thing at her great age, and 
 a few hours loss may easily 
 be borrowed from the week, 
 by getting up earlier, and 
 going to bed later." 
 
 And then Master Bean 
 Flower decked himself as 
 smartly as he could ; but first 
 he knelt down and prayed 
 to God for the health of 
 his good old father and 
 
 mother, and the success of his crop. 
 
 As he was preparing to go out, and look upon tho
 
 14 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 field before the old couple awoke, he met the old woman 
 
 on the threshold, bear- 
 ing in her hand a 
 hot smoking porridge, 
 which she placed on his 
 little table along with a 
 wooden spoon. 
 
 " Eat, eat," said she 
 to him ; " and do n't go 
 out without first taking 
 this nice sweetened 
 porridge mixed with 
 green aniseed, as you 
 used to like it when a 
 child ; for you have a 
 great, a very great way 
 to go to-day my darling." 
 " This is very kind of 
 you," said Master Bean 
 Flower, looking at her with surprise; "but whither 
 do you send me?" 
 
 The old woman sat down upon a stool that was by the 
 table, and rested her two hands upon her knee : " You are 
 going in the world," answered she, smiling, "into the 
 world, my pretty flower; you have never seen any but 
 us, and two or three other poor hucksters to whom you 
 sell your beans to provide for the house expenses, like a 
 worthy lad as you are ; and as you are destined some day 
 to be a great man, if the price of beans should not decline, 
 it is but proper, my darling, that you should try and form 
 some respectable connexions. Now I must tell you, then, 
 that there is a large town, about five miles off, in which at 
 every step you go, you will meet with great lords in gold 
 habits, and fine ladies in silver robes, with bunches of roses 
 all about them. Your pretty looks, so affable and lively, 
 cannot fail to strike them with admiration; and I am
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 15 
 
 much mistaken if the day closes before you have obtained 
 eome honourable ap- 
 pointment, in which 
 you may gain a great 
 deal of money with- 
 out doing any work, 
 either at court or in / 
 some public office. So 
 eat, eat, my darling, 
 and don't go without 
 partaking of this nice 
 sugared porridge mixed '? 
 with green aniseed. 
 Now, as you know the 
 value of beans better 
 than you do that of ^ "';' 
 money," continued the ^: 
 old woman, "you must ? 
 sell these six quart 
 measured of pickled 
 beans at the market. I do n't give you more for fear of 
 
 burdening you, besides which, beans are so dear at tho
 
 16 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 present time that you could not bring home the price of 
 them, even though it was all paid to you in gold. And, 
 therefore, we have agreed, your father and I, that you 
 should keep half the sum to spend in proper diversions 
 suited to your age, or in the purchase of well-wrought 
 jewels, to put on every Sunday, such as silver watches 
 adorned with rubies or emeralds, an ivory cup and ball, 
 
 and humming-top. 
 The remainder of 
 the money you can 
 carry to the Sav- 
 ings Bank. Go 
 then, my little 
 flower, now that 
 you have finished 
 your porridge, and 
 take care you 
 are not benighted 
 whilst running af- 
 ter the butterflies, for we should die with grief if you 
 did not return before night. And mind you keep in the 
 beaten track for fear of the wolves." 
 
 " You shall be obeyed, good mother," said Master Bean 
 Flower, kissing the old woman, " although I should feel 
 more pleasure if I spent the day in the field ; as for the 
 wolves, with my hoe I don't fear them." 
 
 So saying, he hung his hoe boldly to his belt, and set 
 out at a steady pace. 
 
 " Return home early," cried the old woman after him, 
 already beginning to regret she had let him depart. 
 
 Bean Flower walked on and on, taking terrible strides 
 like a man five feet high, and looking about him here 
 and there, at the new and strange things which he met 
 on his way, for he had never conceived that the earth was 
 so large and wonderful. However, when he had walked 
 on for an hour, as he reckoned by the sun's height,
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND TEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 and wondered he had not reached the town after walking 
 
 so fast, he thought he heard some one crying after him 
 
 " Bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, 
 
 tee ! stop, Master Bean 
 
 Flower, if you please." 
 "Who calls me?" said 
 
 Master Bean Flower, 
 
 clapping his hand firmly 
 
 to his hoe. 
 
 " Pray stop here, Mas- 
 ter Bean Flower ! Bo, 
 
 bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, tee ! 'tis 
 
 I who speak to you." 
 " Is it true," said Bean 
 
 Flower, directing his at- 
 tention to the top of an 
 
 old hollow pine tree, half < 
 
 decayed, upon which a 
 
 large owl was swinging 
 
 with the breeze ; " and 
 
 what business have you and I together, my fine bird?' 
 " It would be strange if you remembered me," replied 
 ^ssmsv the owl; "for I have 
 never served you ex- 
 cept in secret, as be- 
 comes a delicate owl, 
 and one who is mo- 
 dest and orderly, by 
 *' eating, bit by bit, at 
 my own hazard, the 
 nasty rats who nib- 
 bled every year one 
 half of your crop; 
 and that is why 
 
 your field now produces you enough to buy you a 
 
 pretty little kingdom, if you can rest satisfied with 
 
 sy
 
 DEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM- 
 
 
 it. As for me, 
 the unfortunate and disin- 
 terested victim of devotion, I 
 have not one poor rat left in the' 
 larder for my holidays ; for my eye 
 have become so worn in your service, 
 that I can hardly find my way, even 
 at night. I called to you, therefore, 
 bounteous Bean Flower, to beg you 
 to grant me one of those nice quart 
 measures of beans Avhich you carry on 
 the top of your stick, and which will 
 enable me to eke out my miserable 
 life, until my eldest son comes of age, 
 whose honour you may trust to." 
 
 " What you ask for, Master Owl," 
 cried Bean-Flower, taking one of the 
 three measures of beans off the stick 
 which belonged to himself, " is the 
 just debt of gratitude ; and I am 
 happy to pay it." The owl 
 flew down upon it, snatched 
 it up with beak and claws, and 
 sped back to his tree with 
 one flap of his wing. 
 
 ^ 

 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 19 
 
 v h! what a hurry you are in!" re- 
 s sumed Bean Flower. "May I 
 inquire, Mister Owl, whether I 
 3 am far from the city my mother 
 \ has sent me to ?" 
 H4 " You are just entering upon it, my 
 =^ friend," said the owl ; and having 
 said this, he flew away, and perched upon another tree. 
 
 Master Bean Flower went on his way again, Avith one 
 measure the less for his burden, and almost sure that 
 he was about to reach the great city ; but he had not 
 gone more than a hundred yards when he heard his name 
 again. 
 
 "Ba-a, ba-a, ba-a; bakkee! Stop here, Master Bean 
 Flower, if you please." 
 
 " I think I know that voice," said Bean Flower, turn 
 ing about. "Yes, truly, it is that impudent rogue of a 
 mountain doe, which used always to roam with her little 
 ones about my field to filch a good mouthful. So there 
 you are, Mrs. Marauder ? " 
 
 " Why do you speak of me, as a marauder, Pretty 
 Flower? Ah, your hedges were too well cut, your 
 ditches too deep, and your fences too close for that. 
 All that one could do was to clip off the end of a 
 
 few leaves which stuck out between 
 
 the joints of the 
 hurdle ; and
 
 20 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 when we prune, it is good for the plants, for what saya 
 proverb : 
 
 "That is enough," said Bean Flower, "but tell me, 
 why did you stop me, and what can I do for you, Mrs. 
 Doe?" 
 
 " Alas ! " answered she, shedding big tears ; " ba-a, 
 ba-a, bakkee. I wanted to tell you how a naughty wolf 
 had laten up my husband, the buck, and that AVC are in 
 great distress, my orphan and me, since we have lost our 
 protector ; so that she is in danger of starving unless you 
 come to her relief, poor little kid ! So I called you, noble 
 Bean Flower, to beg you would take pity on us, and to 
 give us one of those nice measures of beans which you 
 are carrying at the end of your stick, and which will 
 be a sufficient supply until we receive succour from our 
 relatives. 
 
 " What you ask of me, Mrs. Doe," cried Bean Flower, 
 taking another of his own measures of beans off the stick, 
 "is a deed of pity and benevolence which I am bound 
 to perform."
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 The doe snapped up the measure with her lips, and 
 with one bound vanished into the thicket. 
 
 Oh 1 how you hurry away," exclaimed Bean Flower,
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 UICPT *- AllVj^U-lX^ V* J UUj *- L ^J *%*** *******.$ fT U*sUU*?JL 
 
 far from the city which my mother has sent me t< 
 "You are in it already," cried the doe, ph 
 
 "may I inquire of you, my neighbour, whether I am still 
 
 to? r 
 
 lunging in 
 among the brambles. 
 
 Then Bean Flower Avent on his way once more, relieved 
 of two of his measures, and looking about for the walls of 
 the town, when he perceived, by a slight noise which 
 came from the skirts of the wood, that he was closely 
 pursued. He advanced quickly to the spot with his hoe 
 in his hand, and it was well he did so, for the party who 
 
 
 ; - 
 
 followed him so slily and stealthily, was neither more nor 
 less than an old wolf, whose countenance was not very 
 prepossessing, I assure you. 
 
 " So it was you, malignant beast," said Bean Flower,
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 23 
 
 ' who destined me the honour of figuring at your supper 
 table ! Luckily my weapon has two prongs as sharp as 
 all your teeth put together, without 
 prejudice to them ; and take my word 
 J >\\ for it, good fellow, you shall sup to- 
 A\ night without me ; and do n't be too 
 < ' sure that I shall not revenge upon your 
 ugly person the killing of the doe's hus- 
 band, who was the father of the kid, 
 and whose family your cruelty has re- 
 duced to the lowest brink of wretched- 
 ness. I ought perhaps to do so, and it would only be an 
 act of justice, had I not been brought up to shudder at 
 the sight of blood, so as even to spare a treacherous 
 wolf. 
 
 The wolf, who so far had listened very humbly, sud- 
 denly heaved a long and plaintive cry, and raised his eyes 
 as if to call heaven to witness. 
 
 \ 
 
 " Oh, divine powers ! who gave me the form and 
 honours of the wolf," said he, with many sobs, "you 
 know my heart never admitted evil thoughts. You are 
 still at liberty, my lord," he continued, inclining his head 
 respectfully towards Bean Flower, " to take my wretchec
 
 24 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 life, which I deliver to your clemency without either fear 
 
 or remorse. I shall die without repining at your sentence, 
 
 if you think fit to sacrifice me, by 
 
 way of expiation, to the manifest 
 
 crimes of my brethren of the 
 
 wolfish tribe; for I have ever 
 
 most tenderly loved you, and 
 
 greatly honoured you, since the 
 
 day when I used to hang over 
 
 your cradle with true delight, and 
 
 fondle you, whilst your respected mother was away. You 
 
 were even then so comely and so stately, that it was easy 
 
 to tell, by your very looks, that you were fated to become 
 
 the noble and powerful prince that you are. All I ask of 
 
 you, before you pass sentence upon me, is to believe that I 
 
 am guiltless of steeping my paws in the blood of the un- 
 
 fortunate husband of the doe. Brought up and educated 
 according to the strictest principles of temperance and
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 25 
 
 self-denial, from which I have never swerved throughout 
 my whole career as a wolf, I was absent at that time, dif- 
 fusing the sound doctrines of morality among the lupine 
 tribes, which belong to my community ; hoping to bring 
 them gradually, by precept and example, to the practice 
 of frugality, which is the grand object of wolfish perfec- 
 tion. That is not all, my lord: the husband of the doe 
 was my friend; he was endeared to me by many good 
 qualities and kindly feelings, and we often travelled to- 
 gether and conversed, on account of his native wit and 
 good taste. A melancholy contest for precedence (you 
 know how punctilious the bucks have ever been on this 
 
 point) was the occa- 
 sion of his death 
 whilst I was abroad ; 
 and I shall never 
 cease to bewail his 
 loss." And there- 
 upon the wolf began 
 to weep, and the 
 tears seemed to issue 
 from his very heart, 
 as if the doe herself 
 had shed them. 
 "For all that you were, following me," said Bean 
 Flower, still keeping his two-pronged weapon wide open. 
 
 " Twice, my lord," answered the wolf, with a soothing 
 voice, " I did follow you, because I hoped to engage your 
 interest in my benevolent and charitable purposes, but in 
 some place better suited to conversation than this is. 
 Alas ! said I to myself, if my Lord Bean Flower, whose 
 reputation is so high and so widely spread, would only 
 contribute his share to my plan of reform, he would have 
 a fine opportunity to-day ; I will answer for it that the 
 expense shall not exceed one of those nice measures^ of 
 beans which he carries on the top of his stick, to provide
 
 26 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 with dainties a whole ordinary of wolves, she-wolves, and 
 their cubs, used to a vegetable diet, and to preserve a 
 countless generation of bucks, does, and kids." 
 
 "It is the last of my own measures," thought Bean 
 Flower; "but what need have I of watches, cups and balls, 
 and tops ? and what comparison is there between a childish 
 amusement and a good action ? There is your measure of 
 
 beans," said he, taking off his stick the last of the measures 
 which his mother had given him for his pocket money. 
 " It is the last of my fortune," he added ; " but I do not 
 regret it, and I shall be grateful, friend wolf, if you make 
 so good a use of it as you promised." 
 
 The wolf stuck his teeth into it, and carried it off like 
 a shot to his den. 
 
 " Oh ! how you hurry away," exclaimed Bean Flower ; 
 " may I inquire of you, Mr. Wolf, if I am still far from 
 the world my mother has sent me to?" 
 
 " You have been in it some time," replied the wolf, 
 laughing aside ; " and if you stop in it for a thousand years,
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 you will see nothing else in it but what you have seen 
 already." Bean Flower went on his vay again, relieved of 
 his three measures, and looking -about for the walls of the 
 town, which never appeared. 
 He began to feel tired and 
 weary, when his attention was 
 roused by cries of distress pro- 
 ceeding from a small by-path. 
 He ran towards the spot. 
 "What's the matter?" said he, 
 raising his weapon; "who calls 
 for help? Speak, for I see 
 nothing." 
 
 " It is I, good Bean Flower; 
 I, PEA BLOSSOM," answered a 
 low, soft voice, " who beg you H 
 to deliver me from my present embarrassment ; if you only 
 have the will, it will not give you much trouble." 
 
 " Let me assure you, madam, I am not accustomed to 
 mind what it costs me to oblige a person. You may dis? 
 pose of all my fortune and patrimony," continued he, 
 8
 
 28 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 "save and except the three measures of beans which I 
 carry on the top of my stick ; because they do not belong 
 to me, but to my father and mother, and because I have 
 just now given those which were mine to a venerable owl, 
 a very godly wolf, who preaches like a hermit, and to the 
 most interesting of mountain does. I have not got a 
 single bean left to offer you." 
 
 " You are jesting," replied Pea Blossom, somewhat 
 piqued. " Who talks of beans, my lord ? I do n't want 
 your beans, forsooth ; and in my buttery we do n't know 
 such a thing. The service I ask of you, is to put your 
 finger on the handle of my carriage, and throw back the 
 top, beneath which I am almost smothered." 
 
 " I should be happy to oblige you, madam," cried Bean 
 
 Flower, "if I could 
 see your carriage ; 
 but there is no 
 sign of any car- 
 riage in this path, 
 which does not 
 look like a place 
 fit for carriages to 
 drive in. How- 
 ever, I shall not be 
 long before I find 
 it, for I can hear that you are very close to me." 
 
 " What ! " said she, laughing aloud, " can't you see my 
 carriage ; you well nigh crushed it, like a careless fellow ! 
 There it is, right before you, kind Mr. Bean Flower ; and 
 it is easy to distinguish it by its elegant appearance, which 
 slightly resembles a small pea." 
 
 "It resembles a small pea so closely," thought Bean 
 Flower, stooping, " that I would have laid my life it was 
 nothing else but a small pea." 
 
 A single glance was enough to show Bean Flower that 
 it was a very large pea, as round as an orange, and as
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 29 
 
 yellow as a lemon, supported by four golden wheels, 
 and furnished with a small portmanteau made of a small 
 
 peas-cod, as green and 
 
 ^Sxti'mttswraw^ |f SeZS^dt 
 
 -^^F " IW3SSK&' lliU H!W touch the handle, and 
 C\\m.' /HE Lm the door flew open. 
 
 Pea Blossom emerged, 
 and alighted gaily on 
 her feet. Bean Flower 
 arose in astonishment, 
 for he had never conceived any thing so lovely as Pea 
 Blossom; she had, indeed, the most perfect face that a 
 painter could invent : her eyes as long and oval as almonds, 
 as blue as violets, as piercing as daggers ; and a fine laugh- 
 ing mouth, which, when it half opened, allowed you to see 
 
 a set of teeth as white as alabaster, and of the brightest 
 enamel. Her short robe, which was slightly puffed out,
 
 30 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 t 
 
 and streaked with rosy flakes, like the blossom on the sweet 
 peas, hardly reached lower than her knees. Her legs were 
 formed in perfection, and encased in smart silk stockings 
 as tightly drawn as if a capstan had been used, and below 
 which Avere two small feet, so delicately shaped that any 
 one might Avish to be the maker of her shoes, only to have 
 the privilege of trying them on. 
 
 "What are you staring at?" said Pea Blossom, an 
 evident proof that Bean FloAver did not look very sprightly 
 at that moment. Bean Flower blushed, but soon recovered 
 himself. 
 
 "I was wondering hoAV it could be," he replied, mo- 
 destly, " that a princess so beautiful, Avho is about my own 
 size, could be shut up in that pea." 
 
 "You underrate my carriage out of reason, Bean 
 Flo Aver," returned Pea Blossom; "it is very comfortable 
 to travel in Avhen open; and it is only by chance that I 
 
 have not got with me my chiet equerry, my almoner, my 
 steward, my secretary, and two or three of my ladies in 
 waiting. I am fond of driving out alone ; and this whim 
 was the cause of the accident which happened to me. I
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 81 
 
 do n't know whether you have ever been in company with 
 the King of the Crickets, whom you may easily know by 
 his shining black mask, like Harlequin's, with stiff straight 
 horns, and by his harsh-toned voice. The King of the 
 Crickets did me the honour to love me ; he knew that my 
 minority would terminate this day, and that it is the 
 custom for the princesses of our house to choose a husband 
 when they are ten years old. So he threw himself in my 
 way, according to etiquette, to pester me with the horrid 
 din of his jangling declarations ; and I answered him, as I 
 always do, by stopping my ears.*' 
 
 "O joyful news!" said Bean Flower, delighted, "you 
 will not marry the King of the Crickets ?" 
 
 " I will not marry him," answered Pea Blossom, with 
 dignity. " My choice was already made. But I had no 
 sooner signified to him my refusal, than the odious 
 Cricket sprang upon my carriage, as if he would swallow it, 
 and threw down the top. * Now go and get married,' said 
 he to me, * you conceited little minx ! get married if you 
 can, and see whether any husband will come to you in 
 this state ! As for me, I care no more for you and your 
 kingdom than I do for a pea !' ' 
 
 " Do but tell me in what hole the King of the Crickets 
 has hid himself!" exclaimed Bean Flower, in a rage. ".I 
 will soon dig him up with my weeding-fork, and will 
 bring him to you, princess, bound hands and feet, to await 
 your decree. I can feel, however, for his despair," added 
 he, dropping his head sorrowfully. " But do n't you think 
 I ought to accompany you to your capital to protect you 
 from his pursuit." 
 
 "That would indeed be necessary," generous Bean 
 Flower, "were I far from the frontier of my kingdom. 
 But, lo, there is a field of sweet peas, all of them faithful 
 subjects to me, and which no enemy dare approach." So 
 speaking, she struck the earth with her foot, and hung 
 suspended by her two arms to two bending stalks which
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 "bowed beneath her, and then rose up, sprinkling their 
 sweet leaves over her hair. Whilst Bean Flower stood 
 looking at her with pleasure, as I should have done had I 
 been in his place, she transfixed him with piercing glances 
 from her eyes, and spell bound him with her smile, to 
 such a degree, that he could have died from the joy of be- 
 holding her, and would have perhaps stood there till now 
 if she had let him. 
 
 " I have detained you too long," said she to him, ** for 
 I know that the bean-trade is very busy in these times ; 
 but my carriage, or rather your own, will soon enable you 
 to recover your lost time. Do not offend me, I entreat 
 you, by refusing so trifling a present. I have millions of 
 Buch carriages in the granaries of my palace ; and when I 
 wish for a new one, I pick it from out a handful, and 
 fling the rest to the mice." 
 
 "The smallest favour from your highness would be 
 the pride and glory of my life," replied Bean Flower; 
 * but you do not perceive I am yet laden with these beans.
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 83 
 
 Now I can readily conceive however full my measures 
 may be, that there would still be plenty of room in any 
 one of them for your carriage ; but to put my measures 
 into your carriage, that would be impossible." 
 
 '' Try it," said Pea Blossom, laughing, and joyfully 
 swinging to and fro upon the cluster of sweet peas ; " try 
 it, and do not wonder at every thing like a child who 
 has seen nothing at all." In truth, Bean Flower had no 
 difficulty in stowing his three measures in the boot of the 
 carriage, which might have held thirty of them, and 
 upwards. At this he was rather mortified. 
 
 " I am ready to go, madam," rejoined he, seating him- 
 self upon a well-stuffed cushion, the fulness of which 
 allowed him to place himself at his ease, in any posture, 
 even to stretch himself out at full length upon it, if he 
 liked. "It is my duty to my kind parents not to leave 
 them in suspense the first time I am absent from them; 
 and I now only wait for your coachman, who, I suppose, 
 fled in terror at the gross insult of the King of the Crickets, 
 carrying off the horses and the shafts along with him. I 
 shall then leave this happy spot, with the everlasting regret 
 of having seen you once without hoping to see you again." 
 
 "Good 1 ." replied Pea Blossom, without noticing the 
 latter part of Bean Flower's speech, which was so very 
 pointed; "good! my carriage has neither coachman, nor 
 shafts, nor horses: it is propelled by steam, and it goes 
 fifty thousand leagues an hour. Now, let me ask you 
 whether you still fear getting back in your oAvn good 
 time. You have nothing to do but to remember the word 
 and action I shall use to set it a-going. In the portmanteau 
 you will find various articles which may be useful on your 
 journey ; and they are all yours, without reserve. If you 
 open it as you would a shell of green peas, you will find it 
 contains three jewel boxes, of the same shape and size as a 
 pea, each suspended to a fine thread, which sustains them 
 in their case like three peas in a pod, so that they are in
 
 84 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM 
 
 no danger of knocking against each other and being 
 damaged during a journey. It is a fine piece of work- 
 manship: they will yield to the pressure of your finger, 
 like the spring of my carriage, and you will only have to 
 sow the contents in a hole in the ground, made with the 
 point of your weeding hook, and immediately whatever you 
 wish to have shall shoot up, sprout, and come forth. la 
 not that a miracle, eh? Only remember, that when the 
 third shall be used, I have nothing left to offer you ; for I 
 have only three green peas, as you had but three measures 
 of beans ; and the best girl in 
 the world can only bestow what 
 belongs to her. Are you ready 
 to begin your journey ?" 
 Bean Flower having made a sign 
 of assent, for he had lost all 
 power of speech, Pea Blossom 
 clapped her right hand thumb 
 against her middle finger, crying 
 out at the same time, " Go then, 
 little pea!" And the little pea 
 was upwards of fifteen hundred yards from the scented 
 field of Pea Blossom before Bean Flower thought he had 
 left her, and he looked for her in vain. " Alas !" cried he. 
 Indeed it would be no praise to the rapid progress of 
 the little pea, to say it advanced with the speed of a musket 
 ball. Woods, towns, hills, and seas, vanished far more 
 rapidly on its course, than the Chinese shadows of Se- 
 raphim before the wand of the famous magician Sotomago. 
 The most remote horizon had hardly become visible 
 before it sprang to meet the little pea, and was in a 
 moment after out of sight behind Bean Flower. When 
 he turned his head, it was gone. Finally, he had several 
 times outstripped the sun ; several times come back to it, 
 and passed it again, with constant changes of night and 
 day, when Master Bean Flower began to suspect that he
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 85 
 
 had left behind him the town he was going to, and the 
 market to which he was carrying his beans. 
 
 "The springs of this carriage are rather brisk," he 
 suddenly thought within himself; for my little readers 
 have not forgotten that he was endowed with a very keen 
 understanding. " It started off at random, before Miss 
 Pea Blossom had done telling me where I was to go ; and 
 I see no reason for it stopping throughout the course of 
 
 Zs upon ages ; for that lovely princess, who is as giddy as 
 is young, told me indeed how to set the vehicle in 
 motion, but not how to stop it." And Bean Flower had 
 tried to no purpose every epithet he had ever heard 
 uttered by the carriers and mule drivers. The plague of 
 a carriage went on faster and faster ; and while he raked 
 up his memory to change and diversify his exclamations, 
 the carriage sped through every latitude, and in little time 
 rode over ten kingdoms. 
 
 " Plague take thee, thou vixen of a carriage !" exclaimed 
 Bean Flower, and the carriage rattled onwards from the 
 tropics to the poles, from the poles to the tropics, and 
 through every circle in the sphere, without any regard to 
 the noxious changes of temperature. It was enough to 
 roast him or to freeze him had it lasted; but Bean Flower, 
 as we have often repeated, was blessed with an admirable 
 intelligence. " Nay," said he to himself, " since Pea 
 Blossom has hurled her carriage through the world by 
 merely saying, { Go then, little pea ! ' perhaps one may 
 stop it by saying the contrary." This reasoning was very 
 logical. 
 
 "Stop then, little pea!" cried Bean Flower, clapping 
 his right hand thumb against his middle finger, as he had 
 observed Pea Blossom to do. 
 
 I doubt whether a learned academy would have argued 
 more cleverly. The little pea stopped so suddenly that 
 you could not have stopped it better if you had nailed it 
 to the ground. It did not stir. Bean Flower alighted from
 
 36 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 his carriage, picked it up carefully, and let it slip into a 
 leathern pouch, which he carried in his belt to put in the 
 samples of his beans. But first he took off the port- 
 manteau. The spot at which Bean Flower's carriage had 
 thus fixed itself at his command, has not been described by- 
 travellers. Bruce marks it at the sources of the Nile, 
 Monsieur Douville at Congou, and Monsieur Caille at 
 Timbuctoo. It was an interminable plain, so dry, so 
 rocky, and so wild, that there was not a single bush to lie 
 under, no moss of the desert to lay one's head upon, not a 
 berry to satisfy hunger, or a drop of water to slake one's 
 thirst ; still Bean Flower was not alarmed. He ripped up 
 his portmanteau very neatly with his nail, and took out 
 one of the three small jewel boxes which Pea Blossom had 
 described to him. Then he opened it as he had opened 
 
 
 the carriage, and sowed its contents in the ground with 
 the point of his Aveeding-hook. " Let what will happen of 
 this," said he, " I sadly want a tent to cover me to-night,
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM 37 
 
 were it only made of a pea plant in blossom; a slight 
 repast to nourish me, were it only a pea soup ; and a bed 
 to lie upon, were it only the feathers of a humming bird : 
 for I cannot return to my parents to-day, I am too much 
 pressed by hunger, and overcome with weariness." 
 
 The words had scarcely passed through his lips, before 
 he saw arise out of the sands a superb tent or pavilion, 
 having the shape of the pea plant, which arose, and grew 
 up, and expanded around, and leaned here and there on 
 ten golden props, scattering about in all directions a 
 graceful tapestry of foliage, enameled with pea blossoms, 
 and rounded into numerous arcades, from each of which 
 hung suspended from the centre of the arch, a rich crystal 
 lustre filled with scented wax lights. The back of every 
 arcade was adorned with a Venetian mirror of enormous 
 size, which reflected such a stream of light as would have 
 dazzled the eye of an eagle accustomed even to the noon- 
 day sun. 
 
 Beneath the feet of Bean Flower, a pea leaf had fallen 
 accidentally from the roof; it extended into a magni- 
 ficent carpet, decorated with all the colours of the rain- 
 bow. Moreover, this carpet was covered with tables 
 of ebony and sandal wood, which groaned beneath the 
 weight of pastry and confectionery; or that of iced 
 fruits flavoured with choice cordials ; whilst in a large 
 gilt china cup was the very pea soup Bean Flower had 
 wished for. 
 
 Amidst this display, he could also distinguish his bed, 
 that is to say, the humming bird's feather which he had so 
 much desired, and which was twinkling in a corner, like 
 a carbuncle fallen from the crown of the Great Mogul; 
 and yet it was so tiny a little bed, you might have hid it 
 beneath a grain of corn. Bean Flower thought at first 
 that this couch did not match very well with the other 
 conveniences in the tent; but, as he continued to look at 
 the humming bird's feather, it began to increase in size so
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 39 
 
 fast, that it soon became many humming birds' feathers one 
 hand in depth; it seemed to be a couch of sparkling gems, 
 which would have bent under the pressure of a butterfly 
 had it alighted upon them. 
 
 "Enough, enough," said Bean Flower, "enough of 
 your humming birds' feathers ; I shall sleep too well as 
 it is." 
 
 That our young traveller did honour to his banquet, 
 and that he lost no time in seeking repose, my young 
 
 readers will not require me to tell them. Love did run 
 a little in his head: but at twelve years old love 
 seldom prevents sleep, and Pea Blossom, whom he had 
 scarcely seen, had only left in his mind the image of a 
 delightful vision, which nought but sleep could restore 
 to his fancy. That was another reason why he should 
 sleep. Be that as it may, Bean Flower was too pru- 
 dent to give way to this vain and idle joy before he had 
 examined the outside of his pavilion, the pomp and magni- 
 ficence of which was more than enough to draw to it all
 
 40 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 the thieves round about ; and such people abound in every 
 country under the sun. So he went out of the magic 
 circle with his weeding hook in his hand, and marched 
 round his tent, to make sure of the good state of his 
 encampment. 
 
 As eoon as he had reached the furthest frontier (this 
 was a small ravine formed by the running waters, and 
 --vv^-^stssffi^saffsysssbss^ over which a kid might have 
 skipped), Bean Flower stood still, 
 chilled with that shudder which 
 is peculiar to men of spirit ; for 
 even the truest courage has its 
 share in that terror which is com- 
 mon to our frail humanity, and 
 only summons its strength after 
 reflection. And, upon my word, 
 there was a sight for any man 
 to reflect upon. 
 
 It was a line of battle, in which 
 amid the darkness of a starlight 
 night, there was glistening at him two hundred fixed and 
 flaming eyes, whilst in their front were perpetually running 
 from right to left, and then from left to right, two eyes so 
 sharp and oblique, that they showed by their expression' 
 they belonged to a very active general. 
 
 Bean Flower knew nothing of Lavater, Gall, or 
 Spurzheim ; he did not belong to the Phrenological 
 Society; but he had the plain natural instinct which 
 teaches all created beings to distinguish the countenance 
 of an enemy ; and almost at the first glance he bestowed 
 upon the commander-in-chief of that hungry herd of 
 wolves, he recognized in him the cowardly coaxing wolf 
 who had so craftily swindled him, by pretending to be 
 a philosopher and moralist, out of his last measure of 
 beans. 
 
 "Mr. Wolf" said Bean Flower, "has lost no time in
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 41 
 
 Collecting his troop, and pursuing me with it ; but by what 
 contrivance have they been able to overtake me, so many 
 too as they are, unless the good-for-nothing Avolves have 
 likewise travelled in a pea? It is very probable," he 
 continued with a sigh, "that the mysteries of science are 
 not unknown to the wicked ; and now I think of it, I 
 would not swear but they have invented these mysteries 
 in order to initiate the good people in their own detestable 
 schemes and designs." 
 
 Bean Flower was slow and steady in his enterprizes, 
 but prompt and sudden in his resolves. He therefore 
 snatched the portmanteau out of his pouch, took out the 
 second pea, opened it as he had opened the first pea, and 
 sowed its contents in the earth with the point of his 
 weeding fork. " Come what come may" said he, "but I 
 sadly want this night a good strong wall, even were it no 
 thicker than that of our cottage at home; and a very 
 close rail, were it no stronger than that of my fences, to 
 protect me against the wolves." 
 
 Then sure enough walls began to rise up : not cottage 
 walls, but palace walls : and rails sprang up before every 
 portico; not rails in the shape of fences, but high and 
 lordly rails of blue steel, with gilt shafts and points, 
 through which neither wolf, badger, nor fox, could 
 have poked his fine pointed snout without hurting or 
 wounding it. 
 
 After this check, the strategy of the wolves was so 
 hardly put to it, that the lupine army could do nothing at 
 all. "So after a few feints it retired in disorder.
 
 42 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 anxiety as to this 
 event being thus re- 
 lieved, Bean Flower re- 
 turned to his sumptuous 
 I 1 ! 11 ! pavilion; but now he had 
 i to pass over a marble court, 
 ~- through peristyles lighted up 
 as for a wedding, staircases which 
 seemed to ascend for ever, and 
 galleries which had no end to them. 
 Pie was overjoyed when he reached 
 this pavilion of pea blossoms in the 
 centre of a large garden so blooming 
 and verdant,
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 43 
 
 that he hardly knew it again, and his bed of humming 
 birds' feathers, on which, in presuming he slept as happy as 
 a king, let nobody say that I exceed the truth. 
 
 The first thing he aid the next day, was to explore the 
 magnificent abode that he had found in a little pea, in 
 which every object, however trifling, was so beautiful 
 
 as perfectly to amaze him, for the furniture was quite 
 equal to the external appearance of the pavilion. He in-
 
 44 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM 
 
 epected his picture gallery, his cabinet of antiquities, his 
 
 collection of medals, his insects, his shells, and his library, 
 
 all of which were still to him wonders both new and 
 charming. His books especially delighted him on account
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 45 
 
 of the delicate taste which had governed their choice. 
 The finest works in literature, the most useful in science, 
 were collected in that library for the entertainment 
 and instruction of a long life, as the adventures of the 
 ingenious Don Quixote de la Mancha, and Fairy Tales 
 of every description, filled with beautiful engravings ; a 
 
 collection of curious and amusing Voyages and Travels, the 
 most authentic of which are those of Gulliver and Robinson 
 Crusoe ; some excellent Almanacks ; full of amusing anec- 
 dotes and faultless information, as to the moon, tides, and 
 the best seasons for planting and sowing; innumerable 
 treatises, written in the clearest and most simple style, on 
 Agriculture, Horticulture, Fishing, both with the rod and 
 the net, and the art of taming nightingales; in a word, 
 whatever can be desired when a man has learned the value 
 of books and the spirit of their authors. There were no 
 learned writers but these, no other philosophers, no other 
 poets ; for this incontrovertible reason, that all learning, all 
 philosophy, all poetry, are locked up in them and nowhere 
 else : I give you my word for it. 
 
 Whilst he thus proceeded to take the inventory of his 
 wealth, Bean Flower was struck by the reflection of his 
 image in one of the looking-glasses with which every 
 saloon was adorned. Unless the looking-glass was a story- 
 teller, he must have jrrown, oh, wonder ! upwards of three
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 inches since the day before; and the dark mustachoes 
 which shaded his upper lip clearly manifested that he 
 was beginning to pass from robust boyhood to manly 
 
 youth. He was a good deal mystified by this pheno- 
 menon, and was still wondering at it, when a rich clock, 
 fixed between two pier-glasses, cleared up his doubt to his 
 great grief; for by one of the needles 
 which marked the date of the years, 
 Bean Flower too truly saw that he 
 had really become six years older 
 than he was. " Six years ! " he ex- 
 claimed; "wretch that I am, my 
 poor parents must have died of old 
 age, or perhaps of want by this 
 time ! Alas ! perhaps, they died of 
 grief at losing me, and what must 
 they have thought, in their last mo- 
 ments, of my cruel desertion, or my pitiable distress? I now 
 understand, wicked carriage, how you go so far and so fast, 
 for your minutes devour and consume many days at once I 
 Go then, go then, little pea !" he added, drawing the little
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 47 
 
 pea from his pouch, and darting it through the window. 
 "Go then, detestable little pea, so far that one may never 
 see you again!" And truly I believe no other little pea 
 has since been seen shaped like a post-chaise, and going at 
 the rate of fifty thousand leagues an hour. 
 
 Bean Flower came down the marble steps much sadder 
 than he had ever felt when coming down the ladder from 
 his bean-loft. He left the palace without once looking at 
 it; and walked on through those wild and desert plains, 
 without minding whether the wolves had not pitched their 
 tents there to threaten him with a blockade. He mused 
 as he went along, beat his forehead from time to time with 
 his hand, and sometimes even wept with grief. 
 
 " What can I hope for any more, now that both my 
 parents are dead?" said he, turning his portmanteau list- 
 lessly between his fingers, " now that Pea Blossom has 
 been married six years? for the day I saw her she had 
 completed her tenth year ; and that is the age at which the 
 princesses of her house are married ! Besides her choice 
 was made. AY hat is all the world to me? my world 
 being limited to a cottage and a bean-field, which you will 
 never restore to me, little green pea," he added, taking it
 
 48 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 from the pod, " for the happy, happy hours of childhood 
 never return. Go then, little green pea, go where God 
 will carry you, and do what you are to do to the glory of 
 your mistress, since I have lost my aged parents, my cot- 
 tage, my bean-field,and the lovely Pea Blossom ! Go, little 
 green pea, go whither you please." So saying, he threw it 
 with so much strength, that the little green pea might easily 
 have overtaken the flying carriage pea, had that been its 
 
 wish. And then 
 Bean Flower fell 
 on the ground 
 with grief and op- 
 pression. When 
 he rose again the 
 face of the whole 
 plain had altoge- 
 ther changed. It 
 had become, as 
 far as the eye 
 could see, a vast 
 sea of brown and smiling verdure, over which rolled, like 
 weaving billows when kissed by the breeze, the most lovely 
 white Sowers, a boat-like shape, with butterfly's wings, 
 tinted with violet like the bean flower, or with rose like 
 the pea blossom ; and when all their undulating brows bent 
 together to the wind, all these tints were commingled into 
 a new and unknown colour, a thousand times more beautiful 
 than that of the loveliest flower garden. Bean Flower 
 sprang forward, for he had seen every thing again ; his field 
 which was enlarged, his cottage which was improved, his 
 father and his mother who were still living, and who were 
 hastening to meet him, with all the speed of their old limbs, 
 to inform him, that since the day of his departure they had 
 received tidings of him every night, besides many kind pre- 
 sents, which soothed their existence, and good hopes of his 
 return, which had prevented them from dying of grief. 
 Bean Flower, after having tenderly embraced them, took
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 49 
 
 them both under his arms, 
 
 and led the way to his palace. 
 
 As fast as they drew near 
 to it, the old man and his wife 
 were more and more wonder-struck, 
 and Bean Flower was afraid of dis- * 
 turbing their joy. He could not, how- 
 ever, help sighing, as he exclaimed, " Oh ! 
 had you but seen Pea Blossom ; but it is 
 now six years since she was married." 
 
 '*' Since I was married to thee," 
 said Pea Blossom, opening both portals, 
 " my choice was made at that time. 
 Do you not remember it ? Come in 
 here," continued she, kissing the old man 
 and his wife, who were lost in admira- 
 tion at her, for she too had grown in six 
 years, and so the story points out that she 
 was now sixteen " Come 
 
 in to your son's 
 
 dwellinj 
 
 is a region 
 
 this 
 soul and 
 
 of 
 

 
 50 
 
 BEAN FLOWER AND PEA BLOSSOM. 
 
 fancy in which nobody dies, and none grow older." No 
 better news could have been told to those poor people. 
 
 The nuptial festivities were duly celebrated with all 
 the splendour befitting such exalted personages, and their 
 abode never ceased to be a perfect example of love, con- 
 stancy, and happiness. And thus finishes a fairy tale.
 
 THE IMT AHB HUS BE IBS. 
 
 " I CERTAINLY shall not leave these mountains," said I to 
 the landlady, when we had reached the threshold of the 
 inn-door ; " I shall not leave these mountains," I repeated, 
 " until I have seen that worthy Mr. Dubourg you speak 
 of. He was one of my father's most cherished friends. It 
 is now only seven o'clock, and nine miles in such fine 
 weather as we have this morning are soon walked. I can 
 very well, too, spare one day from my business. He would 
 be hurt if I did not take dinner with him on my way. Do n't 
 you think he would?" 
 
 " To be sure he would," answered the dame, " he would 
 never forgive you for it, since he sends here every week to 
 know when you are coming." 
 
 " Nor should I forgive myself, if I were to let slip an 
 opportunity of testing whether my former prophecies were 
 good for any thing. I foretold five years ago that his 
 daughter Rosalie, who was then twelve, would become one 
 of the finest girls in the country ; and fain would I now see 
 if the dark blue-eyed lass has made me out a false prophet." 
 
 " Take my word for it she has not," cried Dame Gaulther. 
 " You might go as far as Besangon, nay even to Strasburg
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 (this was the good daine's antipodes), and not meet such 
 another ; and then, so well bred too, and as good as a saint; 
 but take care of yourself, and don't return here in despair, 
 as you used to do erewhile. Handsome as you are, you 
 might for once lose your time and sigh to no purpose, for 
 there has been a rumour, these two months, that she is 
 going to be married." 
 
 " Lor, now ! Mrs. Gaulther, do you still take me for a 
 fond youth ? I, who am turned twenty four, and have both 
 a settled fortune and a solid establishment ? Do you think 
 that a lawyer in good practice is as soft hearted as a hungry 
 barrister without a brief to occupy him, or an attorney's 
 clerk ? Cheer up, worthy dame, and just show me the way 
 to Mr. Dubourg's seat, for I did not know before that his 
 country house was so near." 
 
 " You will find your way easily enough for the first half 
 of the road," returned she. " You must keep the narrow 
 path that runs through the meadows, by yonder streamlet 
 bordered with willows ; but as soon as you get to the hillock 
 at the end of the vale, you must turn aside ; you will then 
 see a wood before you, which, when you have crossed, you 
 will catch the first view of the castle. Now as this wood 

 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 53 
 
 is only frequented by the woodmen, who, in their journeys 
 to and fro, have formed several cross-ways, I have been told 
 that the country people hereabouts sometimes go astray in 
 it ; but there are plenty of cottages and huts on the slorts 
 of the wood, and you will easily obtain a guide." 
 
 Much edified by these useful instructions, I waved my 
 hand to the landlady, and set out ; and went along musing 
 and spouting fine passages for the first act of a new tragedy, 
 with that delightful absence of mind which none but 
 poets can appreciate. Thus, after one hour's walk I had 
 strayed far enough from the little path that ran through 
 the meadow, and was very glad to find that the hillock 
 at the end of the vale had not wandered like me from its 
 place. 
 
 After rambling some time by the outskirts of the wood, 
 and wending my way through so thick a tuft that I cou'd 
 not conceive how any thing larger than a hare, followed by 
 the hounds, could have opened a passage through it, I was 
 struck by the sight of a small white cottage, newly plas- 
 tered, which stood close against the wood, and around 
 which was a square palisade, with vine-leaves and 
 streaming garlands of convolvulus and honeysuckle, while 
 branches of sweet-briar, laden with blossoms, were peep- 
 ing through the closely-crossed palings. I advanced a 
 few steps, and came to the entrance of this pretty little 
 dwelling, which seemed just large enough for two or 
 three, or four inmates, and not more. On a bench, close 
 by the door, slightly raised above a small patch of kitchen- 
 garden, sat a young man. I took time to consider him, 
 because he was not looking at me. He was, probably, 
 too much occupied even to notice my presence. 
 
 This young man was as handsome as one of those 
 angels we dream about when we have done a good deed. 
 He appeared 'delicate and weak, and yet his mild, pale face, 
 with its cluster of flaxen curls, was capable of a manly 
 expression, and in it one could still trace a habit of reflec-
 
 54 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 tion and a resolute spirit. This look set me musing as tfc j 
 its cause. 
 
 At length he raised his eyes and looked steadfastly upo 1 
 me. He moved, as if to rise ; but I hastened to prevei 1 
 him, because I thought he looked ill. 
 
 "Excuse me, young friend," said I to him, "but ca . 
 you explain to me, without rising, the way to Mr.l 
 JDubourg's. The house cannot be far off." 
 
 "Mr. Dubourg's house?" replied he, at length, as ill 
 collecting a few scattered ideas. "Dubourg? the houstS 
 of Mr. Dubourg? Ah! ah!" he continued, laughing, 
 " there was once a beautiful house of that name, which I 
 
 used to live in, when a little boy. There, too, it was 1 
 first saw angels in the shape of women, flowers of every 
 season, and the merry warbling birds. But that was 
 another world to this."
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 55 
 
 He stopped, and letting fall his head in his open hands, 
 j irgot that I stood beside him. 
 
 j I then felt conscious that he was an idiot, or an inno- 
 
 , ;nt, as they say in different parts. What a strange world 
 
 ours, to repulse those harmless beings who do no one harm! 
 
 At the same moment the door was opened by a woman 
 
 bout fifty years of age, better clad than the common sort 
 
 vf country women. 
 
 " What ! Baptist," said she, " do you greet a traveller 
 without offering him milk and fruit, and requesting him to 
 honour our poor roof with his company, whilst he takes a 
 moment's shelter and rest?"
 
 56 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 "Oh! madam!" cried I, "do not upbraid him, I beg 
 you. I have not been here two seconds, and yet his recep- 
 tion has touched me so deeply that I can never forget it." 
 
 Baptist had not heard even his mother: he had re- 
 lapsed into his thoughts ; his arms were folded, his head 
 hung upon his breast, and he was muttering some indistinct 
 words that I could not unravel. 
 
 I followed the good woman into a pretty large room, 
 extremely neat, which must have been the best apartment 
 in the house. She made me sit down on a kind of chair of 
 state, the seat of which was prettily interwoven with yellow 
 and blue straw, whilst she dismissed to an adjacent room a 
 whole flight of small birds from the fields and hills, that 
 my approach had hardly disturbed, and which obeyed her 
 with an eagerness charming to behold, so perfectly tame 
 had they become. 
 
 She then repeated her invitation to take refreshments, 
 and on my second refusal she wished to know in what 
 respect she could serve me. 
 
 " I was telling your son when you came out," replied I, 
 " but he quite forgot me. Poor child ! he seems to be very 
 badly afflicted. Has he been long in the same state ?" 
 
 " No, sir," answered she, wiping away a big tear, " nor 
 is he so at all times. He is always sad, as sad as he is 
 good, my poor Baptist : yet there is no want of connexion 
 between his thoughts and actions, unless certain words that 
 I am careful not to utter before him, restore him to his 
 fits. How it is these words disturb him, I cannot tell. I 
 avoid them and know no more. He was born so happily 
 gifted, as to bless us all, and promise honour to our old 
 age, but the Lord has thought fit to revoke all those fair 
 promises." 
 
 Fast flowed the worthy matron's tears, as she uttered 
 these last words. I took her hand, and begged her to 
 forgive me for having recalled so much bitter grief. 
 
 " I must tell vou, sir, since you are so kind as to take
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 67 
 
 an interest in my poor Baptist," she replied in a calmer 
 tone, " that my husband, Joseph Montaubon, was the best 
 workman in these parts as a builder. Still, for all that, we 
 were very poor, because the times were very hard, and 
 work was scarce, and my family, which was of a better 
 class than Joseph's, had suffered still more severely through 
 the troubles of the times. We hardly knew what to trust 
 to, when by chance a rich country gentleman employed 
 my husband to build a splendid house, that you may see in 
 the wood. When the house was built to the roof, my 
 unhappy Joseph got up himself to the top, as head work- 
 man, to set up, as the custom is, the bouquet and flags of 
 honour. He had just reached the pinnacle, when a piece 
 of roofing, which, to our great misfortune, had been left in 
 a loose state, slid and gave way beneath him. He fell 
 and died ! Mr. Dubourg, who was then, and still is, the 
 owner of the building, was sorely grieved at our cruel 
 bereavement. He ordered the workmen to build for my 
 son and me this little dwelling, which, with the fertile piece 
 of ground it stands upon, he made over to us, besides 
 granting us a pension to raise us above want. That was 
 not all. He determined to take charge of Baptiste, who 
 was then only five or six years old, and who already 
 charmed and delighted every body, thanks to his lively 
 humour and pretty face. So Baptist was brought up 
 and educated with the same care, and under the same 
 teachers, as Rosalie, the lovely daughter of his benefactor, 
 three years younger than he. Thus things went on for 
 ten years, and Baptist had turned his time to so much 
 account, that the best judges acknowledged he had acquired 
 many advantages to make his way in the world. 
 
 " One day Mr. Dubourg came here, and said to me, in 
 a mild, but serious voice : * Dame Montaubon, you are a 
 sensible woman, and will feel that it is time now to sepa- 
 rate your Baptist from my Rosalie. He is sixteen, she is 
 thirteen and more. These two children are very near the
 
 58 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 age wnen love begins to be felt; although brought up 
 together like sister and brother, they well know they are 
 not, and I have, perhaps, been tardy, as it is, in separating 
 them. You must, therefore, take your son home again, 
 my good woman, until I have got him the respectable 
 situation he has learned and merited to fill by his attention 
 to his studies. Believe me, we must even proceed further 
 still in our cautions, our children must learn to live apart, 
 that by and by they may be able to bear a total separation. 
 Tell Baptist I shall always esteem him to the last, and let him 
 understand, as none but a mother's heart and mind can do, 
 that I have private motives for keeping him away from me. 
 Lastly, as the sight of my house would only shock his feel- 
 ings, bid him not approach nearer to it than the spot we 
 call the Bee, where the house is still hidden by the trees. 
 As for his obedience, you may trust to it, for he would die 
 rather than break his word.' 
 
 " ' I know,' continued he, rising to depart, ' that your 
 expenses will increase by this change, but that will not 
 continue, as Baptist is favourably known to my friends, 
 and cannot remain many months without employment. 
 Meanwhile, take these hundred crowns, that he may not 
 be too suddenly deprived, in your little retreat, of those 
 comforts to which he has been accustomed for so many 
 years ; and at all times rely upon my friendship.' 
 
 " Having said this, he left the purse and went away, 
 without heeding my entreaties to take it back 
 
 " This was at the very period when my poor boy used 
 to come home once every year to spend a few weeks with me; 
 he always brought with him his books and instruments. I 
 was very happy ! So he did not feel surprised at his customary 
 removal. Never had he looked so handsome, so full of 
 spirits, or so satisfied with every body and every thing, 
 though he had always been of a shy and serious temper 
 from his childhood ; and for several days he continued so. 
 One thing only made me uneasy, he studied too much, and
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 59 
 
 1 was afraid his health might give way to such incessant 
 toil. * You have time enough,' said I to him one evening, 
 ' to turn over and rummage your books ! You shall not 
 leave me again until you get some employment.' And 
 now, having broken the ice, I repeated what Mr. Dubourg 
 had said to me 
 
 " When I had done, Baptist smiled, but did not answer ; 
 he then said his prayers, kissed me, and went quietly to bed. 
 
 " The next day, and on the folloAving days, he appeared 
 dejected, and did not speak. This behaviour did not 
 surprise me, for I had often seen him so. 
 
 "About a week after, however (it is now four years since 
 then), I thought I observed that his mind was affected. 
 Unhappy mother ! it was what I dreaded and foresaw 
 when, in spite of my complaints, he persisted in his studies. 
 From this time he gave up his books ; but it was too late. 
 He would utter speeches that had no meaning, or which 
 signified things that I could not understand. He would 
 laugh or weep without reason ; he was never happy but by 
 himself; he would speak to the trees, to the birds, as if 
 they minded him and understood him, and what I would 
 not dare to say to you had you not witnessed it, the birds 
 seemed to know his meaning, to judge by the ease with 
 which they suffered themselves to be caught. May it not 
 be, sir, that Providence, who makes these little creatures 
 avoid their enemies by one instinct, has given them another 
 to distinguish the innocent who would not do them an 
 injury, and who loves them only for the sake of loving 
 them?" 
 
 This story had touched me to the heart, as it would 
 still touch others, had I the power to repeat it, as I heard 
 it, in its simple and moving eloquence. 
 
 " I have too long trifled with your patience," continued 
 the mother ; " let us return, I entreat you, to the subject of 
 your inquiry. Every thing here is at your disposal." 
 
 "I want nothing, nothing at all," returned I, with
 
 60 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 sorrow. "All I wanted to ask for, was my way to Mr 
 Dubourg's, and my road back, for I must absolutely return 
 this very night." 
 
 " You could not have applied to any one who was better 
 able to point it out, sir ; you are close to the place you 
 seek, but the path is not easy to find. Baptist shall be your 
 guide. Not a day goes by but he visits the Bee, up to a 
 spot which I have enjoined him never to pass beyond, and 
 this is the very hour he sallies forth. All I beg of you is 
 not to mention Mr. Dubourg's name, because it seems to 
 me that the recollection of his benefactor is hurtful to my 
 poor boy's reason." 
 
 I promised I would not, and she immediately struck 
 her hands twice,' when all the little birds I had seen shortly 
 before, flew to the door, singing as they came forwards. 
 
 " It is not you I want yet," exclaimed she, " impatient 
 little ones ! your seeds are not yet picked." 
 
 Then she struck her hands a third time. 
 
 At this latter signal, Baptist came in, bowed to me, 
 went up to his mother, sat down upon her lap, and threw 
 one of his arms round her neck 
 
 " So there you are my good handsome boy," said his 
 mother, kissing his forehead. " Look, sir, is he not a nice 
 dear child ! a good and gentle child ! as he will be as long 
 as he lives, just as he used to be in his cradle ! Now, sir, do 
 you think I have any reason to complain?" 
 
 She wept for all she said. 
 
 " But no matter, Baptist ; you must take some exercise, 
 for you took none yesterday, though the air was so warm 
 and the sun so bright and cheerful ! I never saw so many 
 butterflies about. And, besides, you know we have two 
 green canary birds, newly hatched, without mates, and 
 you have long wished to replace your poor goldfinch, who 
 died of old age !" 
 
 The youth then testified by his gestures and shouts of 
 joy that his mother only anticipated his wishes.
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 61 
 
 " Then go now and put on your red gaiters and your 
 Polish cap with its pretty gold tassel, to do honour to 
 this gentleman, and show him the way to the Bee, and 
 there you must stay for him till he returns. I need not 
 tell you it would grieve me very much, if you went any 
 further." 
 
 I looked at Baptist with a curious wish to know what 
 effect this forbidding would produce on him ; for I thought 
 I had detected his secret in his mother's narrative. But I 
 could not perceive that the name of the Bee called up any 
 thing to his mind. He went and put on his Polish cap 
 and his red woollen gaiters, then came in again, embraced 
 his good mother, and ran on before me whistling as he went; 
 and on hearing his youthful voice, all the choristers of the 
 wood began to sing and nutter around him. I readily 
 conceived that they would have lighted on his cap 
 and shoulders, had I not been there to disturb their 
 confidence. 
 
 After half an hour's walk, we crossed through the 
 
 woodmen's cottages ; and the children flocked about us on 
 our passage. 
 
 " Oh ! there he goes," cried they, " the silly boy with 
 his red gaiters, Dame Montaubon's son, who hunts without
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 nets. Good luck to your sport, brave Baptist ! bring us 
 home some pretty bird, either a large grey owl, or a 
 
 ring-dove or a jay, or else one of those naughty wood-peckers 
 that bore holes in our trees; nay, were it but a jack-daw." 
 "No, no," replied Baptist, "you 
 shall have no more of my birds 
 as you used, and I am very 
 sorry I ever gave you any. You 
 .^ shut them up in cages, instead 
 !i ^. of keeping them by kindness. 
 You cut ff ^fr wings and put 
 them in pain! You shall have 
 no more birds of mine. How good and gentle is the little 
 bird that flies! How cruel and wicked is the boy who 
 cages it, clips its wings, kills it, and eats it." 
 
 Then Baptist went forward once more amidst the loud 
 laughter of those wretched children, who wondered no 
 doubt to see him every day grow more stupid and silly. 
 When we had reached the Bee, the youth stopped short
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 63 
 
 as if a bar of iron had stood before him ; he even fell back 
 a few paces, and turned his face to the forest calling out to 
 his birds. 
 
 "Oh! oh!" said he, "where are you then, my pretty 
 ones, my pets, my darlings 1 Where are you young thistle- 
 finches ? where are you Rosetta ? where are you Finetta ? 
 Must I believe you no longer love me, ungrateful birds, 
 or that the savage owl has eaten you up! Come to me 
 little birds, come, my pretty birds all ! I have two green 
 canary birds to mate with you ! Here," continued he, 
 throwing his cap upon the grass, and letting his long 
 fair locks flow over his shoulders ; " sleep here, my 
 children, without fearing either the fowler or the snake, 
 for I am to watch over you like a mother watches over 
 her children." 
 
 Whilst he was speaking, I had walked a little aside, 
 and was delightedly surveying the lovely waters of the 
 river Ain, when the innocent's address to his birds drew me 
 from my contemplation : I stole up silently with timid 
 and halting steps to his cap, inwardly smiling at my own 
 credulity. The little thistle-finches were there never- 
 theless. They nestled down pressing against each other, 
 read out their wings to shelter themselves as well as 
 y could, like a tortoise hiding itself within its shell, 
 and hardly allowed the glimmer of their timid eyes to 
 be seen. I therefore withdrew to relieve their anxiety and 
 alarm. 
 
 " Although you have had a lucky, and prosperous hunt," 
 eaid I to Baptist, "it is very likely you may not return 
 this morning to the White Cottage of the Wood. Your 
 mother advised you to take exercise, so I hope to find you 
 again on my return ; though, as I have sufficiently noticed 
 my way not to mistake it, I should be sorry to detain you 
 against your wish." 
 
 Baptist sat down by the side of his Polish cap, and 
 betook himself again to his thistle-finches.
 
 64 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIKDS. 
 
 I stood watching him for a moment, before resuming 
 my way, when I heard my name called out by a group of 
 horsemen who were riding along the road in the same 
 direction as I was bent upon. 
 
 "What, Maximilian here!" said they, "Maximilian on 
 the banks of the blue Ain ! But come along ! the friends of 
 Dubourg must not miss the marriage blessing of the beau- 
 tiful Rosalie, and it is past noon already." 
 
 I was too anxious about Baptist to reply directly. 
 Poor, unhappy boy ! thought I. And truly he had fixed 
 his eyes steadfastly upon them, but they contained no de- 
 finite expression. I waited; I thought I saw him smile, 
 and then rejoin his birds. I trusted he had either not 
 heard or not understood them and I followed my new
 
 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 companions and fellow-travellers, without losing sight of 
 him. He appeared quite calm and easy. 
 
 The wedding was very gay as a wedding should be. 
 Men never look so happy as on the day when they lay 
 down their liberty. Rosalie was a charming creature, still 
 more lovely than I had fancied her, but yet more serious 
 
 and thoughtful than most young girls appear on their 
 wedding-days. Her soul was probably revolving those 
 happy, happy days of childhood when she may have dreamt 
 of other loves and a different husband. 
 
 Concealing my escape amidst the hurry and confusion 
 of the feast, I set out on my return as early as I could, 
 for t was anxious to see poor Baptist again.
 
 66 THE IDIOT AND HIS BIRDS. 
 
 When I came to the corner of the wood, near the spot 
 where the Bee sinks deeply into the earth, I was surprised 
 to see upon the river several light swift boats, which I had 
 not remarked in the morning ; I presumed they belonged 
 to some country people who were exerting themselves to 
 supply Mr. Dubourg's house with fish during the nuptial 
 festivities. Suddenly the boats drew together, the country 
 people came out upon the bank, and a tolerably large throng 
 collected round something there. I am not naturally in- 
 quisitive ; and yet I ran up to them. 
 
 " It is really he," muttered an old fisherman, the poor 
 idiot with his red gaiters, the son of Dame Montaubon, who 
 must have drowned himself whilst running after some 
 swallow on the wing, without thinking of the river before 
 him. Baptist, the good, the virtuous Baptist I see what he 
 is come to !" 
 
 " Stop ! stop !" said I, rousing myself to think and act, and 
 rushing towards the body, " Perhaps he is not dead yet !" 
 
 "How can that be, my good Sir?" replied a second 
 fisherman, " since one of our children it was who stood where 
 we are and saw somebody at a distance chasing a bird and 
 run after it into the river, at the moment when the proces- 
 sion of Mr. Dubourg's friends began to enter the wood this 
 morning. On hearing the little fellow's cries we ran up, 
 and have spent seven hours in looking for the body, and 
 have only just found it. He is dead, indeed, and all hope 
 is over !" 
 
 '* How glad I am !" cried a little thoughtless urchin, some 
 eight years old, running toward the wood. " I know where 
 he has left his Polish cap, which is brimful like a nest of 
 little green canary birds." 
 
 When next I passed through the country, the White 
 Cottage of the Wood was shut up and deserted, the little 
 birds no longer fluttered about it, Baptist's mother was gone, 
 and none could tell what had become of her.
 
 1 'A "f^ ^7 ^ lj J ^~l ^ ^ "' ^ C' 
 ILsirAi./ U Ii5iiri U tPJir^ Q) 
 
 H03THY BROTH. 
 
 WHO AND WHAT THE GOOD LADY 
 BERTHA WAS. 
 
 THERE was once upon a time a 
 valiant knight, called Osmond of 
 Koeeniberg, who chose for his wife
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS HONEY BROTH. 
 
 I know that Bertha could never have been compared with 
 the high-born ladies of our time, though she was surely as 
 noble as the noblest of them all ; but she could only speak 
 in good old German, she could not sing Italian songs, nor 
 could she read French novels, nor dance the gallopade, 
 nor waltz, nor do the polka ; but, instead of these, she was 
 good, gentle, full of tender pity, and careful that not 
 even a breath should tarnish the bright mirror of her fame. 
 Ard when she passed through a village, not in a fine open 
 carriage, with a lapdog on the front seat, but on foot, with 
 
 a bag containing alms-money, "a God reward you" from 
 the old man, the widow, or the orphan, 
 sounded more sweetly to her ear than 
 the most melodious ballad of the most 
 celebrated minstrel; for which bal- 
 lad, however, a piece of gold has been 
 paid by the same people who have 
 refused a small copper coin to the 
 beggar that stood by, half naked and 
 shivering, with his tattered cap in hia 
 hand.
 
 THE COBOLDS. 
 
 ND thus it was that the blessings of 
 the whole country round about, fell 
 like a gentle dew of happiness upon 
 Bertha and her spouse. Golden har- 
 vests studded their fields, their vine 
 trees bent under the burden of 
 enormous bunches of grapes, and 
 when perchance some dark cloud, 
 laden with hail or lightning, came 
 towards their castle, an invisible 
 ~-^-^ breeze blew it off im- 
 
 mediately towards the dwelling of some wicked noble, 
 above which it would burst, and lay waste the land. 
 
 Now who was it blew the dark cloud away, and who 
 protected from lightning and hail the domains of Count 
 Osmond and Good Lady Bertha ? I will tell you. 
 
 It was the dwarfs of the castle. 
 
 You must know, my good boys aiid girls, that, a long 
 while ago, there was in Germany a race of good little 
 genii, who unfortunately have since disappeared; the tallest 
 of whom scarcely measured six inches, and who were 
 called Cobolds. These good little genii, who were as old 
 as the world, loved to frequent those castles above all, 
 whose lords and masters were, after God's own heart, good
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 and kind themselves. They hated those who were naughty 
 and wicked, and punished them in a proportionate degree ; 
 whilst, on the other hand, they protected with all their 
 
 might, and this 
 extended over the 
 elements, one and 
 all, those whose 
 good nature re- 
 sembled their 
 own. This is why 
 these little dwarfs 
 who, time out of 
 mind, had dwelt 
 in the castle of 
 Wistgaw, and 
 who, therefore, 
 had known their 
 fathers, grandfa- 
 thers, and all their ancestry, were so very fond of Count 
 Osmond and his Good Lady Bertha, and why they used 
 to blow far away from their happy domains the black 
 cloud of hail and thunder 
 
 
 THE OLD CASTLE. 
 
 One day Lady Bertha went to her husband, and said to 
 him : " My dear lord, our castle 
 is growing old, and threatens to 
 fall to pieces ; we cannot safely 
 stay any longer in this tottering 
 mansion, and I think if your wis- 
 dom approves of it, that we ought 
 to build us another dwelling." 
 
 " I am of your opinion," 
 answered the Knight; "but 
 one thing makes me uneasy." 
 
 " What is that ?"asked Bertha.
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 " Although you have never set eyes on them, you must 
 surely have heard tell of those good Cobolds Avho dwell in 
 the vaults of our castle. My father heard his grandfather, 
 who had it from one of his ancestors, say, that these little 
 genii were the blessing of our house ; now it may be that 
 they have grown used to this old pile ; and if \v( were to 
 anger them by the disturbance, who knows but they might 
 leave us, and then, perhaps, our happiness might go along 
 with them." 
 
 Bertha thought these observations were very prudent, 
 so she and her husband determined to inhabit the castle 
 as it was, rather than to disoblige in any way the good 
 little genii. 
 
 THE EMBASSY. 
 
 The following night, the Good Lady Bertha and Count 
 Osmond were fast asleep in their large canopy-bed, with 
 its four twisted posts, when they heard a noise as if a 
 multitude of tiny steps were coming forwards from the 
 drawing-room. At the same time the bed-room door was 
 opened, and they beheld advancing an embassy of the little 
 dwarfs we have been speaking of. The ambassador, who
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 came first, was richly clad according to the fashion of the 
 day, and wore a mantle of fur, a velvet doublet, panta- 
 loons, and small shoes 
 with very long points. 
 At his side hung a sword 
 of the finest steel, the hilt 
 of which consisted of a 
 single diamond. He 
 courteously carried in 
 his hand his small fea- 
 - - ~ ~ thered cap, and drawing 
 near the bed on which 
 lay the two spouses, who looked upon him and his com- 
 panions with astonishment, he spoke to them in these 
 terms :
 
 HONEY BEOTH. 
 
 T length we ve heard that, whilst bright hopes inspire 
 The prosperous deeds which now your fortunes gild, 
 ( You have to-night conceived a great desire 
 The mansion of your fathers to rebiuld. 
 
 The task 's a good one ; for the walls are old, 
 The huge stone pile is crumbling from decay, 
 
 And in wet weather the rain-water cold 
 Through the old ivy mantle finds its way. 
 
 Make haste, then, and destroy this old domain; 
 
 Let a fair mansion rise up in its place ; 
 But in the new one let there ever reign, 
 
 The spotless virtue of thy ancient race ! 
 
 Count Osmond was too much amazed at what he wit- 
 nessed to make any other answer beyond waving his 
 
 hand ; but this courtesy was all 
 
 the ambassador required, and, 
 
 after making a formal bow to 
 
 the Count 
 
 and Lady 
 
 Bertha, he 
 
 withdrew. 
 
 The next 
 
 morning the count and his lady awoke 
 very much relieved; the great difficulty was removed: 
 and, encouraged by the assent of his good little friends, 
 Osmond sent for a skilful architect, who, the same day,
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 having resolved to demolish the old castle, set a parcel of 
 
 Ills men to work, whilst others brought fresh stones from 
 
 the quarry, hewed down tho large oaks to make beams,
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 11 
 
 and the fir trees to make rafters. In less than a month 
 the old mansion was levelled to the ground, 
 and as the new castle could 
 not be built, as the archi- 
 tect asserted, in less 
 than three years, the 
 , K count and his lady 
 retired in the mean- 
 time to a small farm 
 which stood near to 
 the old castle. 
 
 THE HONEY BROTH. 
 
 Meanwhile the new castle rose rapidly up, for the 
 
 bricklayers worked at it by day, and the little dwarfs 
 
 worked at it by night. At first the men were very 
 much alarmed when they saw 
 every morning, on return- 
 ing to their labour, that the 
 castle had increased by several 
 layers of stones. They told the 
 architect of it, who spoke to 
 the count; and the latter con-, 
 fessed that, without being quite 
 sure, he was inclined to believe 
 it was his little friends the 
 dwarfs, who, knowing how 
 anxious 
 he was 
 to go to 
 his new 
 
 manor, had betaken themselves ^ 
 
 to this nightly toil. Now, 
 
 one day, they found on the ^=sg! 
 
 scaffolding a small wheelbarrow, 
 
 no bigger than your hand, but so beautifully wrought in
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 ebony and bound with silver, that it looked like a pretty 
 plaything intended for a little prince. The mason who 
 found the wheelbarrow showed it to his fellow workmen, 
 and, at night, took it home for his little boy to play 
 with; but the moment the lad offered to touch it, the 
 wheelbarrow rolled off by itself, and ran away so fast, 
 that, although the poor mason ran after it as fast as his 
 
 legs would carry him, it disappeared in a trice. At the 
 same instant he could hear short, sharp, strident, and 
 lengthened peals of laughter ; but this was only the 
 Cobolds making game of him. 
 
 However, it was very lucky that the little dwarfs had 
 undertaken the work ; for if they had not done a good part 
 of it, the castle would not have been completed in six 
 years. It is true, that was precisely what the architect had 
 
 reckoned ; for these 
 honourable jobbers in 
 bricks and mortar are 
 accustomed (and I 
 trust my little readers 
 will never learn it at 
 their expense) to leave 
 out one half of the 
 truth in their calcu- 
 lations. So then, to- 
 wards the close of the third year, just when the swallow, 
 after taking leave of us, was departing for another clime at
 
 HONEY BROTH. 13 
 
 that season when the birds who are forced to remain in our 
 chilly country were becoming dull and scarce the new 
 castle began to assume a certain shape, but was still very 
 far from being completed. Which the Good Lady Bertha 
 perceiving, one day that she was overlooking the work- 
 men she said to them in her sweet voice: 
 
 "Well, my worthy men, does the work proceed as 
 fast as you can make it? Here is winter knocking at our 
 doors, and the count and I are so badly off in the little 
 farm, that we long to leave it for the fine castle you are 
 building for us. Come, my good men, will you make 
 haste, and try to let us move into it within a month, and I 
 promise you, that on the day you shall have laid the last 
 stone on the topmost turret, to treat you all to a HONEY 
 BROTH, better than any thing you have ever tasted vet ; 
 
 and, more than that, I pledge my word that on the same 
 day in every year, you, your children, and your grand- 
 children, shall continue ever after to receive the same 
 favour from me, from my children, and my grandchildren." 
 Now you must know, that in old times an invitation to 
 eat a "Honey Broth 1 " was not a thing to be despised; for
 
 u 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 it was the same as inviting you to a very nice dinner. At 
 that period people used to say, Come to-morrow and take 
 your honey broth with me, as people now say, Come to- 
 morrow, and take potluck with us; in both cases ft good 
 dinner being understood. 
 
 Therefore, on hearing this promise, the mouths of the 
 workmen began to water ; they wrought with double 
 
 energy, and got on so 
 speedily, that on the 
 1st of October the 
 Castle of Wistgaw was 
 completed. 
 
 The Good Lady Bertha, 
 faithful to her promise, 
 ordered her servants to 
 prepare, for every man 
 who had set his hand 
 to the work, a sumptuous repast; which, owing to the 
 number of the guests, was served up in the open air.
 
 HONEY BROTH. 15 
 
 At the beginning, when the soup was served, the 
 weather was perfectly fine, and not one had bethought him 
 of the inconvenience of dining without shelter ; but after- 
 wards, when, in fifty enormous tureens, the smoking Honey 
 Broth was brought to table, flakes of snow fell down thick 
 and frosty into every dish. 
 
 This accident, which disturbed the dinner at its close, 
 so greatly annoyed the Good Lady Bertha, that she re- 
 solved for the future to celebrate this festival in the 
 month when the roses bloom; and the anniversary of 
 this famous Honey Broth was henceforward fixed for the 
 1st of June. 
 
 Moreover Bertha confirmed the establishment of this 
 pious solemnity by a deed, in which she bound herself, her 
 descendants, and successors, by whatever title the castle 
 might revert to them, to give, on every 1st of June, 
 a Honey Broth to her vassals, declaring that she should not 
 rest peaceably in her grave 
 unless this observance were 
 strictly adhered to. 
 
 This deed, engrossed 
 by a notary on parchment, 
 was signed by Bertha, 
 sealed with the count's ^_ 
 coat of arms, and deposited 
 among the records of the 
 family. 
 
 THE APPARITION. 
 
 For the next twenty years Lady Bertha presided with 
 the same goodness and magnificence at the festival which 
 she had founded; but at length, in the course of the 
 twenty-first year, she died in holiness and purity, and was 
 buried in the vault of her ancestors to the grief of her 
 husband and the regret of the whole country. Two years
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 later, Count Osmond, after faithfully observing the custom 
 which his wife had established, died in his turn, leaving 
 behind him but one successor, his son, Count Ulrick de 
 Rosemberg, who, inheriting 
 both the courage of Osmond 
 and the virtues of Bertha, 
 made no change in the happy 
 condition of his peasantry, or 
 rather did his best to im- 
 
 Sove it. 
 nt all of a sudden a great 
 war was declared, and nume- 
 rous bands of the enemy sailed 
 up the Rhine, and took pos- 
 'session of the different castles 
 which stood on its banks. 
 These soldiers came from the 
 further end of Germany, for it was their Emperor who 
 was then at war with the Burgraves. 
 
 Ulrick was not strong enough to resist the enemy; 
 still, as he was a bold and brave knight, he would have
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 17 
 
 buried himself beneath the ruins of his 
 castle, had he not reflected on the cruel 
 misfortunes which a resistance so des- 
 perate would bring upon the country. 
 For the sake of his vassals he retired 
 into Alsatia, leaving old Fritz, his 
 steward, to watch over the estates and 
 
 domains which were about to pass over into the hands 
 
 of the enemy. 
 
 The general who conducted the troops marching 
 
 upon this point was called Dominick. He took up his 
 
 abode in the castle, which he thought very comfortable, 
 
 and quartered his soldiers about the neighbourhood. 
 
 This general was a man 
 
 of low origin, who had 
 
 started as a private soldier, 
 
 and who, rather by the 
 
 favour of his prince than 
 
 by his own bravery and 
 
 good qualities, had risen 
 
 to be a commander. 
 
 I tell you this, my 
 
 good boys and girls, for 
 
 fear you should suppose 1 
 
 am condemning those who 
 
 from low beginnings con- ^ 
 
 trive to make their way 
 
 upwards: now I myself 
 
 very much esteem such 
 
 men, when they have de- 
 served the change in their 
 
 fortunes. But there are 
 
 two sorts of soldiers of for- 
 tune; those who attain rank by their bravery, and those 
 
 who are preferred to it through favour. 
 
 Now, this General Domiuick was no better than a
 
 18 GOOD IADY BERTHA'S 
 
 brutal and ignorant favourite, brought up to eat the 
 barrack bread and drink plain water ; but he now feasted 
 abundantly ou the most delicate viands, and drank the 
 
 most costly wines, feeding his dogs on the remnants from 
 his table, instead of giving them to the poor and hungry. 
 
 Well, the very first day 
 of his arrival at the castle, 
 he sent for old Fritz, and 
 handed to him a list of the 
 exactions he purposed to 
 charge the country with 
 a list so very exorbitant, 
 that the steward fell on -fes 
 his knees, and implored 
 him not to lean in so heavy a manner upon the poor 
 country people. But the general only replied, that as 
 nothing was so vexatious to him as to hear people murmur, 
 that he would double his demands on hearing the first 
 complaint. Now the general was the strongest party, he 
 had the conqueror's right, and as there was no help for it, 
 the people were forced to obey. 
 
 It will be easy to guess, from the character of Domi-
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 19 
 
 nick, what sort of reception lie gave to Fritz when he 
 came to speak of the festival established by the Good Lady 
 
 Bertha. The general burst into a contemptuous fit of 
 laughter, and answered, that it was the duty of the vassals
 
 20 GOOD LADY BERTHA*S 
 
 to feed their lords, and not the duty of the lords to feed 
 their vassals; that therefore he requested the customary 
 guests of Lady Bertha to go and dine on the 1st of June 
 wherever they thought proper, telling them for certain it 
 should not be with him. 
 
 This solemn day consequently passed off for the first 
 time since twenty-five years, without beholding round the 
 hospitable board the jovial vassals of the house of Rosem- 
 berg ; but so great was the terror in which Dominick was 
 held, that nobody dared complain. Besides, Fritz had obeyed 
 his instructions, and so the peasants already knew that 
 their cruel master did not intend to abide by the old 
 custom. 
 
 As for Dominick, he supped and got drunk as usual, 
 and then retiring to his bed-room, after having posted his 
 sentinels in the passages and at the 
 gates of the castle, he went to bed 
 and fell asleep. 
 
 Contrary to custom, the general 
 awoke in the dead of the night; 
 and as it was his practice to make 
 but one slumber till morning, he at 
 5rst believed the next day had 
 arrived, but he was mistaken, it 
 was not yet light, and through a 
 shmk in the shutter, lo, the stars 
 were seen shining in the sky ! 
 
 Moreover, something unusual 
 was passing in his mind; an in- 
 distinct kind of fear, a presentiment 
 of something strange which was 
 about to happen. He thought the air floated around him 
 as if beaten by the wings of the spirits of night; his 
 favourite dog, which was tied up in the yard beneath 
 his windows, yelled piteously; and when he heard that
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 21 
 
 mournful cry, the new lord of the castle felt a cold sweat 
 trickle from his forehead in huge bead drops. 
 
 The clock began to strike twelve slowly and heavily, 
 and at every stroke the terror of this man, who was 
 
 however reputed brave, in- 
 creased to such a degree, 
 that at the tenth stroke 
 he could rest no longer; 
 he sat up on his elbow, 
 and prepared to open his 
 door and call the sentinel. 
 But at the last stroke, and 
 just as his feet reached the 
 floor, he heard the door, 
 which he remembered to 
 have fastened, open of it- 
 self, and turn upon its 
 hinges as if it had neither 
 lock nor bolt. Then a 
 pale light gleamed over the chamber, whilst a soft step, 
 which made his very blood run cold, appeared to draw
 
 22 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA^S 
 
 towards him. Finally, 
 at the foot of his bed 
 there stood a lady all in 
 white, holding in one 
 hand a brass lamp, and 
 in the other a roll of 
 parchment, inscribed, 
 signed, and sealed. She 
 came slowly on, with 
 fixed eyes and immov- 
 able features, her hair 
 hanging down over her 
 back; and when she had 
 come close np to the 
 bedside of the general, 
 turning the lamp to the 
 parchment, so that the 
 light fell full npon it, 
 she said, "Do what is 
 here inscribed!" 
 
 And thereupon she 
 held the lamp over the 
 
 deed, near enough for Domi- 
 nick, with his haggard 
 eyes, to read the bond, 
 which so strongly esta- 
 blished the custom he had 
 refused to submit to. 
 
 Then, when this 
 frightful reading was 
 over, the phantom, so 
 gloomy, so silent, and so 
 cold, retired as it had 
 come ; the door shut be- 
 hind it, the light vanish- 
 ed, and the rebellious 
 successor of Count Os- 
 mond fell back upon the
 
 HONEY BROTH. 23 
 
 bed ; where he lay till the next morning in an agony of 
 terror which, although he was ashamed of, he vainly strove 
 to overcome. 
 
 THE BARRACK BREAD AND WATER. 
 But at the first dawn of day the charm was broken. 
 
 Dominick leapt out of bed, the more enraged that he could 
 not inwardly deny the alarm 
 he had felt ; he ordered the 
 sentinels to be summoned, who 
 at midnight had to mount 
 guard in the passages and at 
 the gates. The poor fellowa 
 shook and trembled as they 
 drew near him, for just as the 
 clock was striking twelve, a 
 sleep they could not shake off 
 had stolen over them, and 
 they had awoke some time 
 after without being able to 
 tell how long they had slept, 
 But luckily they met at the 
 door, and agreed to say they 
 
 had kept a good watch; and as 
 
 they were fully awake when they 
 
 were relieved, they hoped no one 
 
 had detected their breach of dis- 
 cipline. In short, to every ques- 
 tion their general put to them, 
 
 they replied they (fid not know 
 
 what woman he meant, and that 
 
 they had not seen any thing at all ; 
 
 but then the steward, who was 
 
 present, declared to Dominick 
 
 that it was not a woman but a 
 
 epirit that had visited him, and -^-
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 that this spirit was that of the Good Lady Bertha. Dominick 
 knit his brows ; but struck, however, with what Fritz told 
 him, he spoke with him apart, and having learned from 
 him that this festival ~fc^fly>f|&ffflf>- had become an obli- 
 gation on the part of vJnlllHP Lady Bertha, upon 
 her successors and ^S^^^^R, future lords of the 
 castle, whoever they ^a^jPI ?5 might be, by means 
 of a deed attested ^"J|g|Mi|^u^ by a notary, and 
 that this deed was pip|iii||P' among the records, 
 he ordered Fritz to V> n^ bring it to him, and 
 
 the moment he cast his eyes upon it, he recognised the 
 parchment which the spirit had held before him. Until 
 then, Dominick had never heard 
 of the bond; for although he 
 was very exact in looking after 
 the deeds which bound other 
 people to him, he was not quite 
 so strict as to those deeds which 
 bound him to other people. 
 Nevertheless, in spite of the 
 deed so perfect and precise, 
 though he had read it atten- 
 tively, and in spite of old Fritz's entreaties and cautions 
 not to disregard the 
 warning he had received, 
 Dominick took no heed 
 of what had occurred, 
 and that same day in- 
 vited his whole staff to 
 a grand dinner. This en- 
 tertainment was to have 
 been one of the most 
 splendid he had ever 
 given. 
 
 Indeed, the terror of Dominick's name was so great, 
 that at the appointed hour, though his instructions had
 
 HONEY BROTH. 25 
 
 been given only since the morning, the board was crowded 
 
 with a bountiful repast. The most delicate dishes, the 
 
 finest and most expensive wines Rhenish, French and 
 Hungarian had been col- 
 lected for the company, who 
 sat down to table loudly prais- 
 ing the magnificent bounty of 
 their general. But on taking 
 his seat, the latter grew sud- 
 denly pale with wrath, and 
 f roared out with a dreadful 
 
 oath: "What ass is it has laid before me this barrack 
 
 bread?" 
 
 And, truly, there beside the general lay a loaf of bread 
 
 like those which are given out to soldiers, and such as 
 
 often and often this very man had been used to eat in his 
 
 youth. 
 
 The company stared at each other in amazement, un- 
 willing to believe that there could be any body alive who 
 
 would dare to put such a joke upon 
 
 a man so haughty, passionate, and 
 
 revengeful as their commander. 
 
 "Rascal, come hither," said the 
 
 general to the servant who stood behind 
 
 him, " and remove this loaf." 
 
 The valet obeyed with the alacrity 
 
 that fear always inspires; but it was 
 
 in vain that he attempted to remove 
 
 the loaf. 
 
 " My lord," said he, after several repeated but useless 
 
 exertions, " this loaf must be fastened to the table, for I 
 
 cannot lift it." 
 
 Then the general, whose bodily strength was known to 
 
 be equal to that of four common men, set both his hands 
 
 to the loaf and tried himself to remove it; but in vain, 
 
 he only lifted up the table with the loaf, and, after u
 
 20 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 struggle of five minutes' continuance, he fell back in hia 
 chair, exhausted with fatigue and covered with perspiration. 
 
 "Wine, rascal! wine, and the very best! Mind,'* said 
 he, in a gruff voice, holding out his glass, " I shall find out, 
 
 depend upon it, who 1ms played me this strange trick ; and 
 rely upon me he shall be rewarded as he deserves. So
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 eat, gentlemen; eat, I say. I drink health and good appetite 
 to all." He then raised his glass to his mouth, but the next 
 moment he spit out what he had taken, exclaiming: 
 " What villain poured me out this wretched beverage ?" 
 " It was I, sir," said one of the servants trembling, and 
 who held a bottle in his hand. 
 
 "And what does that bottle contain, you vile fellow?" 
 "Tokay, sir." 
 
 "You speak falsely, you rascal; 
 it was water you gave me." 
 
 "The wine must have turned 
 into water as it passed into your 
 lordship's glass," said the valet : " for 
 I poured out two glasses from the 
 same bottle to the gentlemen on 
 your right and left, and those gentle- 
 men can bear me out that it was 
 real Tokay." 
 
 The general turned to the two officers, who confirmed 
 what the servant had protested. 
 
 Then Dominick knit his brow, for he began to under- 
 stand that the joke was possibly more serious than it had 
 at first appeared; for he thought that the jest had come 
 from the living, whereas, in all likelihood, it really came 
 from the dead. Then, resolving to arrive at the truth by 
 his own observation, he took 
 the bottle out of the. servant's 
 hand, and poured out some 
 of the Tokay wine to his 
 p| neighbour. The wine showed 
 its usual colour, appearing 
 like liquid topaz; imme- 
 diately he poured from the 
 same bottle into his own glass ; but, as fast as it fell into 
 his glass, the wine assumed the clear transparent colour 
 and the taste of water.
 
 28 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S HONEY BROTH. 
 
 Dominick smiled most bitterly at this tacit allusion to 
 the lowness of his origin, and unwilling to sit near that 
 black loaf, which seemed to be riveted there to humble 
 him, he signed to his aide-de-camp, a young man belonging 
 
 LO one of the noblest families in Germany, to change 
 places with him. The young officer obeyed, and the 
 general then took his seat on the opposite side of the 
 board. 
 
 But he was not a whit more fortunate in his new 
 post; for, whilst the aide-de-camp easily loosened the 
 black bread from the table and it became white and 
 delicate, every morsel of bread that Dominick lifted 
 to his mouth was instantly converted into barrack bread, 
 and all the wine he poured out kept changing into 
 water.
 
 X^b 
 
 At length Dominick grew so im- 
 patient, that he stretched his hand 
 towards a dish of roasted larks, but 
 as soon as he touched the dish, the 
 larks opened their wings, and away 
 they all fleAV, until they began to drop 
 again into the large open mouths of 
 the peasants, who had been watching 
 this sumptuous repast at a distance. 
 
 You may guess how astonished they 
 were when they saw their good luck. 
 Such a miracle was a rare event ; and 
 therefore it made so great a noise in 
 the world, that people still say, when 
 speaking of a man whose expectations 
 are too big "He expects the larks to 
 fall into his mouth ready cooked"
 
 80 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 As for Dominick, who had the honour to give rise to 
 this proverb, he was raging mad ; but as he felt it would 
 be vain for him to attempt to resist a supernatural power, 
 he declared he was neither hungry nor thirsty, and would 
 do the honours of the feast, which, in spite of its splen- 
 dour, had become wry dull and irksome, for the guests 
 were quite at a loss what faces to put on. 
 
 The same evening, Dominick gave out that he had 
 just received a letter from the Emperor, ordering him to 
 remove his head quarters to some other place. Now, aa 
 the letter, according to his statement was very urgent, ho 
 started off directly.
 
 HONEY feROTH. "81 
 
 I heed hardly tell you, my dear children, that the 
 Emperor's letter Avas a pretext; and if this illustrious 
 champion was so eager to set out, it was not from respect 
 to his majesty's commands, but through fear, not only to 
 receive the following night a second visit from Lady Bertha,* 
 but lest all the time he should remain in this haunted 
 castle, he might be reduced to spring water and barrack 
 bread. 
 
 Scarcely was he gone, when the steward found in one 
 of the cupboards, which the previous day had been quite 
 
 empty, a heavy bag of money on which was pasted a label 
 with these words written upon it 
 
 " 8T0 pag for 
 
 Old Fritz was very much frightened, and stared at the 
 bag with all his eyes ; but as he remembered the writing 
 of the Good Lady Bertha, he lost no time in laying out the 
 money for the annual dinner, which, though it had been 
 delayed this year for a day or two, was more sumptuous 
 than ever. 
 
 The same thing was repeated every 1st of June; the 
 money was constantly provided by Lady Bertha, until the 
 imperial soldiers having left the country, Waldemar de 
 Rosemberg, the son of Ulric, returned to occupy the castle 
 of his forefathers, twenty-five years after the time his father 
 had left it.
 
 32 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 TPALDEMAR DE ROSEMBERO. 
 
 Count Waldemar had not in- 
 herited the benevolent disposi- 
 tion of his ancestors; possibly 
 his long exile from his native 
 home had soured his character: 
 but fortunately he had a wife 
 whose gentleness and goodness 
 atoned for the bitter and morbid 
 spirit of her husband; so that, 
 all things considered, the poor 
 country people, wasted and wea- 
 ried by twenty years' war, re- 
 joiced at the return of Count 
 ^ Osmond's grand-son. 
 
 That was not all: as, in spite of the exile, the pledge 
 of Good Lady Bertha had been kept alive by tradition 
 
 from heir to heir, when the first of June had arrived that 
 day which the vassals, at every new change, awaited impa-
 
 HONEY BROTH. S3 
 
 tiently to judge their new lords and masters the Lady 
 Wilhelmina obtained her husband's leave to superintend 
 the festival; and as she was a charming creature all 
 passed off very well, and the peasantry thought the golden 
 
 age of Count Osmond 
 and Lady Bertha, so 
 often quoted by their 
 fathers, had returned 
 again. 
 
 The following year 
 the feast was cele- 
 brated as usual; but 
 this time Count Wai- 
 demar was not pre- 
 sent, as he considered 
 it was not proper for 
 a nobleman to sit at 
 the same table with 
 his vassals. Conse- 
 quently, Wilhelmina 
 alone had to do the 
 honours of the Honey 
 Broth ; and we are 
 bound to admit that, 
 although deprived of 
 
 the presence of the lordly owner of the castle, the enter- 
 tainment was as lively as ever. The peasants had already 
 noted that the pleasure they enjoyed was due to the lady's 
 own kind heart, as well as to the influence she possessed 
 over her husband. 
 
 Two or three years elapsed, during which the vassals 
 became more and more sensible that the pious goodness of 
 Lady Wilhelmina was absolutely needed to a'tone to them 
 for her husband's fits of passion. Her fervent goodness and 
 gentleness were for ever extended, like shields, between 
 his vassals and himself; but, unhappily for them, heaven
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 soon deprived them of their 
 protectress, who died in giving 
 birth to a lovely little boy, 
 named Hermann. 
 
 It would have required a 
 heart of stone not to regret 
 that angel of paradise, whom 
 the people of this world had christened Wilhelmina ; and 
 therefore Count Waldemar 
 really wept for several days, 
 and mourned the loss of his 
 excellent mate. But his heart 
 was not accustomed to such 
 tender sentiments, and when, 
 by chance, he did experience 
 them, he could not retain 
 them long. Oblivion grows 
 over the grave faster than the grass does ; and six months 
 after Count Waldemar 
 had forgotten Wilhel- 
 mina, .and taken a second 
 wife. 
 
 Now, who was the suf- 
 ferer by this second mar- 
 riage ? Alas ! who should 
 it be but poor little Her- 
 mann: he had made his 
 entrance into life through 
 mourning ; and before 
 he knew what it was to 
 
 have a mother, he felt what it was to be an orphan. 
 His step-mother, shrinking from the cares which were 
 to be lavished on a strange child, who, as the first-born, 
 would inherit the family estates, committed him to a 
 careless nurse, who would leave little Hermann by 
 himself for hours and hours to cry in his cradle, whilst
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 she went gadding about to fairs, and card parties, and 
 village dances. 
 
 THE CRADLE ROCKER. 
 
 One evening, thinking 
 perhaps it was not really 
 so late, the nurse had con- 
 tinuedinthe garden, lean- 
 ing on the gardener's arm, 
 when she suddenly heard 
 the clock strike twelve; 
 and recollecting that ever 
 since seven o'clock she 
 had left little Hermann 
 by himself, she hurried 
 home, and stealing along 
 in the dark, she crossed the yard unnoticed, went up stairs, 
 looking around her with uneasi- 
 ness, stepping onwards without 
 making the least noise, and hold- 
 ing in her breath ; for although 
 the count's indifference and his 
 lady's hatred saved her fro^u 
 reproach, her very conscience 
 upbraided her with her cruel 
 neglect. However, she grew 
 more composed, when, on reach- 
 ing his chamber door, she could 
 hear no cries ; doubtless, by dint 
 of crying, the poor child had gone to sleep ; so she felt 
 relieved as she took the key out of her pocket, inserted it 
 
 11
 
 86 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 softly in the lock, and after turning it very gently, she 
 pushed the door gradually open. 
 
 But as fast as she opened the door and looked into the 
 room, the wicked nurse turned paler and paler, and her 
 body shook, for she saw there a something she could not 
 comprehend. Although, as we have explained, she had her 
 key in her pocket, and was quite positive there was no 
 other key, a woman had entered her room during her ab- 
 sence ; and that woman, who was ghastly pale and sullen, 
 was standing by the cradle of little Hermann, softly and 
 slowly rocking it, whilst her white marble lips were re- 
 peating a song which seemed not to be human speech. 
 
 Nevertheless, in spite of the alarm she felt, believing 
 she had to do with a creature belonging like herself to 
 the living, the nurse stept forward a little towards the 
 strange rocker, who seemed not to perceive her, and who, 
 without moving, continued her monotonous and awful tune. 
 
 "Who are you?" inquired the nurse; "whence did 
 you come? and how did you manage to make your way 
 into this chamber, the key of which was in my pocket?" ' 
 
 Thereupon the stranger extended her arm with a grave 
 and solemn look, and answered :
 
 HONEY BROTH 
 
 I 'm of those, whose free passage no door can oppose 
 From fifty years sleep in my coffin I rose, 
 I heard this poor babe make its pitiful moan, 
 As in darkness I lay, on my pillow of stone, 
 And I felt, in my body, long crumbling and cold, 
 My heart once more quiver, and beat, as of old. 
 
 Poor infant ! thy lot in this world I deplore, 
 Thy father accurst, and thy mother no more ; 
 Consign 'd to rude hands, whose touch makes thee smart 
 Thou canst not oppose them, so feeble thou art ! 
 Thou sleepest to-night in the grief of thy wrong, 
 By thy son-owing lull'd as a bird in its song. 
 
 This night, riere below, sleep shall still close thy eyes j 
 ut when with to-morrow the sun shall 
 
 Called down by my voice from the heavenly sphere. ( 
 
 To bear thee for ever from fate so severe, 
 An angel of goodness, all radiant and bright, 
 Shall cany thee to me on pinions of light. 

 
 38 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 j And thus having sung, the grandmother's shade, for it 
 was Good Lady Bertha, stooped over the cradle and kissed 
 her grandson with an angel's tenderness. The child had 
 fallen asleep with a smile on his rosy lips and cheeks, but 
 the earliest peep of day as it pierced through the windows, 
 beheld him as pale and cold as a corpse. 
 
 The next day he was let down into the family vault, 
 and buried near his grandmother. 
 
 Be not alarmed, my dear children, poor little Hermann 
 was not dead. 
 The ^ follow- 
 ing night the 
 grand-mother 
 arose again, 
 and taking 
 him in her 
 arms, she car- .r^eS 
 ried him to 
 the King of 
 
 the Cobolds, who was a little geni full of courage and learn- 
 ing, and lived in a large cavern beneath the waters of 
 the Rhine, and who, at the request of Good Lady Bertha, 
 undertook to educate her little grandson. 
 
 WTLBOLD OF EISKNFELX). 
 
 
 Great, indeed, was the step- 
 mother's joy, when she saw 
 the sole heir to the house of 
 Rosemberg removed by death ; 
 but God soon frustrated her 
 hopes, she had neither son 
 nor daughter, and she herself 
 died three years afterwards. 
 Waldemar survived her for 
 two or three years more, and 
 was then killed while hunting; 
 some said it was by a wild 
 boar that he had wounded,
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 39 
 
 others said it was by a peasant whom he had cruelly 
 flogged. 
 
 The castle of Wistgaw, and the adjacent lands, then 
 fell to the possession of a distant relation, named Wilbold, 
 of Eisenfeld. He was not a bad 
 man, but he was something much 
 worse ; he was one of those men 
 careless of their destiny, who are 
 neither good nor bad, who do 
 both good and evil without any 
 motive of love or hatred, merely 
 listening to what is told them, and 
 who always give credit to the last 
 speaker. For the rest, he was brave, 
 and esteemed bravery in others; but 
 he was easily duped by pretenders 
 to courage, as he was by pretenders 
 to wit and virtue. 
 
 So Baron Wilbold came and fixed his abode in the 
 castle of Count Osmond and Lady Bertha, bringing with 
 him a lovely little ^fcifastte. "*' an ^ n ^ ant as 
 
 yet, named Hilda, [^H^lfo e ** rst care ^ 
 the steward was to '* B explain to his new 
 
 lord the state of in- llBOJHK* come an< ^ Out l a 7 
 connected with the X? property; and among
 
 40 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 the expenses, the Honey Broth was put down, the custom 
 of giving which had endured, for better or worse, until 
 that time. 
 
 Now, as the steward told the baron that his pre- 
 decessors had laid 
 great stress on this 
 custom, and that 
 for his own part, 
 he firmly believed 
 the blessing of 
 God went with it, 
 "Wilbold not only 
 abstained from 
 finding fault with it, but even gave orders that, on every 
 1st of June, the ceremony should be observed with all its 
 ancient pomp. 
 
 Several years passed away, and the baron every year 
 continued to give a Honey Broth, so good and abundant 
 that the peasantry, grateful for this compliance with 
 Lady Bertha's commands, forgave him all his other 
 faults, and his other faults were many in number. Nor 
 is that all; some other nobles, either through good- 
 nature or policy, adopted the custom of the castle of 
 "Wistgaw, and likewise established, on their saint days 
 or birthdays, Honey Broths, more or less flavoured. But 
 among these nobles, there was one, who not only dis- 
 dained this example, but likewise strove to prevent other 
 lords from following it. This man, who was one of the 
 most intimate friends of the baron, one of his most assi- 
 duous guests, and one of his most influential advisers, was 
 called the Chevalier Hana of Warburg.
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 41 
 
 THE CHEVALIER 
 HANS OF WARBURG. 
 
 The Chevalier Hans 
 of Warburg, was per- 
 sonally a sort of giant, 
 six feet three inches 
 in height, prodigiously 
 strong, always armed on 
 one side with a long 
 sword, which, at each 
 word of defiance that he 
 used, he kept beating 
 against his leg, and with 
 a dagger, which he would 
 continually draw to give 
 effect to his words whilst 
 speaking. 
 
 Morally, he was the 
 greatest coward in the 
 world; and when the 
 geese on his own lands 
 ran cackling behind him, 
 he would run away as if a lion was at his heels.
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA*S 
 
 Now, we have already said, that this Chevalier Hans 
 not only refused to adopt the custom of the Honey Broth, 
 but that he had used his influence to prevent several of his 
 neighbours from doing so ; and, delighted with his former 
 successes of this kind, he even undertook to induce Wil- 
 bold to abjure this time-honoured custom. 
 
 "Zounds!" said he, "my dear Wilbold, it must 
 be confessed, you are very good-natured to spend your 
 money in feasting a number of idlers, who laugh at 
 you as soon as they have eaten and digested your 
 feast." 
 
 " My dear Hans," returned Wilbold, " believe me, I 
 have more than once ruminated on this matter; for, al- 
 though this dinner is 
 given but once a-year, 
 it costs, for all that, 
 as much as fifty ordi- 
 nary meals. But what 
 can I do? It is a 
 confirmed custom, on 
 
 which they say the 
 prosperity of the house 
 depends." 
 
 " And pray, who is it 
 deludes you with these 
 foolish stories ? Your 
 old steward, I suppose? 
 I know what that 
 means; as he contrives to scrape ten gold crowns out of 
 the treat, it is a point of interest with him to keep it up 
 for ever." 
 
 " Besides," observed the baron, " there is another 
 reason." 
 
 "What reason?" 
 
 "Why, the threats of the Lady Bertha." 
 
 " Can you put any faith in such nursery tales, eh?"
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 "Indeed, they are genuine; and among the records, 
 there are certain documents." 
 
 " So you are afraid of an old woman?" 
 " My dear chevalier," said the baron, " I am not afraid 
 of any living creature neither you nor any one else but 
 still, I confess I am very 
 fearful of these creatures, 
 who have neither flesh nor 
 blood, and who take the 
 trouble of coming from the 
 world below expressly to 
 visit us." 
 
 Hans burst into a laugh. 
 "If you were me, then," 
 said the baron, "you would 
 not be afraid?" 
 "I fear neither good nor 
 bad spirits ! " replied Hans, raising him- 
 self up to his utmost height. 
 
 "Well, be it so," said the baron. 
 "The next anniversary is not far off, 
 for it only wants a fortnight to the 
 1st of June ; I will put it to the test." 
 But as between that day and the 
 1st of June the baron saw his steward 
 again, he broke his first resolution, 
 which was to give no Honey Broth; 
 and gave orders that a very sorry 
 repast should be prepared, instead of 
 the customary feast. 
 
 The tenantry, when they witnessed 
 this unusual parsimony, were sur- 
 prised, but they did not grumble ; /or 
 they supposed, that their lord, in ge- 
 neral so liberal on these occasions, must have some reason 
 for this economy.
 
 44 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 But it was otherwise with those who knew all, and 
 who, we are bound to believe, presided over the destiny of 
 each owner of the castle of Wistgaw ; during the night 
 which succeeded this frugal feast they made such a clatter 
 that nobody could sleep in the castle, and every one kept 
 opening the doors and windows to see who it was that was 
 
 m 
 
 knocking at them; but nobody could see any thing, not 
 even the baron. It is, however, true that the baron pulled 
 the sheet up over his head, as perhaps you do when you
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 45 
 
 are frightened, my dear children, and lay still, and cuddled 
 up in bed. 
 
 \ \ V V \\Vtf.i \\ 
 
 HILDA. 
 
 Wilbold, like all weak-minded people, was naturally 
 obstinate on certain points; besides, it must be admitted, 
 he had been encouraged by his easy escape; for the 
 punishment of losing one night's rest was not a great one. 
 And if he had saved thereby a matter of a thousand 
 crowns, he had also made a good bargain. 
 
 Thus, then, it happened that, encouraged by the repre- 
 sentations of Han* and unwilling to appear to swerve too 
 suddenly from a cus- 
 tom so honoured, on 
 the next 1st of June 
 he invited his tenants 
 as usual; but this 
 time, abiding by the 
 very letter of the 
 bond which ordained 
 a Honey Broth, but < 
 did not mention the 
 preliminary dinner, { 
 he laid before them a 
 Honey Broth, alone, 
 without any other dish, and without even wine ; moreover,
 
 46 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA*S 
 
 those who had a practised palate fancied they could taste that 
 it was not so nicely flavoured as the preceding year. So, on 
 this occasion, Baron Wilbold had not only withdrawn all the 
 appendages to the feast, but had stingily doled out the honey. 
 Consequently this time the spirits of the night were 
 angry in good earnest ; there was a- dreadful tumult 
 heard during the night all through the house, and the 
 , next morning they 
 
 found the windowa 
 
 broken, and likewise 
 the lustres and china. 
 The steward drew 
 up an account of 
 the damage, which 
 was found to amount 
 precisely to the sum 
 which the lord of the 
 manor usually ex- 
 pended at the fes- 
 tival. 
 
 The steward guessed the meaning of this influence, and 
 did not fail to set before 
 the baron's eyes a cor- 
 rectly balanced account. 
 Now this time Wil- 
 bold was really and 
 truly angry. Besides, 
 although he had heard 
 the dreadful caterwaul- 
 ing, which had turned 
 the whole castle topsy- 
 turvy all night long, he 
 had as yet seen nothing. 
 He therefore hoped that 
 the lady, who had never again appeared since the night 
 fihe came to rock little Hermann's cradle, had now been
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 47 
 
 too long in her grave to leave it; and since, after all, ho 
 must expend a certain sum every year, he had just as soon 
 lay it out in refitting his house as in feasting his vassals. 
 So next year he determined to give no treat at all, not 
 even the Honey Broth ; and, as he foresaw that so absolute 
 a breach of the old custom would excite the anger of Good 
 Lady Bertha, he resolved fo quit the castle on the 28th of 
 May, and not to return to it until the 5th of June. 
 
 But he met with a slight resistance to this fatal reso- 
 lution. Fifteen years had elapsed since Baron Wilbold, of 
 Eisenfeld, had taken up his abode in the castle, during 
 which fifteen years the pretty little child, we then saw in 
 the cradle, had grown up, and was now a charming girl ; 
 gentle, pious, and benevolent, to whom the continual 
 
 seclusion of her chamber 
 had imparted a soft ha- 
 bitual melancholy, which 
 wonderfully became her 
 countenance, as it like- 
 wise suited her sweet 
 name, Hilda. So that 
 merely to see her by day 
 walking in the garden, 
 as she seemed listening to 
 the songs of the birds as 
 if she understood them, 
 or at night seated at 
 the casement, looking 
 through the fleeting 
 clouds, which sometimes 
 shaded it, at the moon 
 which she appeared to commune with, the most flinty 
 hearts felt that they could one day love her, whilst hearts 
 which were sensitive felt they loved her already. 
 
 Now, when Hilda learned that her father had deter- 
 mined this time to omit giving the Honev Broth, she urged
 
 48 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 upon him every injunction she could think of, strictly 
 
 keeping, however, within the bounds of filial respect. But 
 
 neither her sweet voice, 
 
 nor her gentle looks, 
 
 could reach the heart of 
 
 the baron, hardened as 
 
 it had become through 
 
 the bad counsels of his 
 
 friend Hans. 
 
 On the appointed 
 
 day, therefore, he left 
 
 the castle, telling the 
 
 steward that this silly 
 
 custom of the Honey 
 
 Broth had lasted long enough, and that from and after the 
 
 next 1st of June he was determined to abolish the feast, 
 
 which was not only a heavy expense to him, but a bad 
 
 example to others. 
 
 Then Hilda, having found that she could not influence 
 
 her father's better 
 'feelings, collected 
 together all her 
 own little savings, 
 which amounted 
 to the very sum 
 the baron was to 
 have disbursed ; 
 - and she wended 
 her way among 
 the tenantry of 
 the barony, and 
 gave it out, that 
 herfather,obliged 
 
 to absent himself, had been unable this year to bestow the 
 
 Honey Broth, but had sent her to distribute the money 
 
 which the festival would cost among the sick and the aged*. 
 The tenantry all believed, or pretended to believe ner ;
 
 HONEY BROTH. 49 
 
 and as on the last occasion the entertainment had not left 
 behind it any pleasant recollections, they were delighted 
 to exchange a poor dinner for a large gift of money, and 
 blessed the hand through which Baron Wilbold was pleased 
 to deliver his bounty. 
 
 There remained none to deceive but the spirits of the 
 castle, who, however, were by no means the dupes of the 
 lovely Hilda's pious artifice 
 
 THE HAND OF FIRE. 
 
 On the 4th of June, Wilbold returned to the castle. 
 His first anxiety was to know if any thing had happened 
 during his absence; but on being informed that all had 
 been quiet and peaceable, that his tenants had not 
 grumbled, that the Cobolds had made no clatter, he be- 
 came convinced that his obstinacy had wearied them out, 
 and that he was now rid of them for ever. Consequently, 
 after tenderly embracing his daughter, and having given 
 his orders for the morrow, he went quietly to bed. 
 
 But he was hardly 
 got to bed before there 
 was heard, both in the 
 castle and all about it, 
 a loud din and so awful 
 an uproar, that human 
 ears had never heard the 
 like before. Outside the 
 castle, the dogs were 
 howling, the rooks cawing, and the owls hooting ; the cats 
 mewed, the thunder groaned ; inside the castle, chains were 
 rattled and dragged along, furniture was falling down, 
 stones were rolled about : it was a noise, a tumult, a general 
 upset, to make one believe that all the witches in the 
 country, summoned by the great evil spirit, had changed 
 their usual place of meeting, and instead of assembling 
 at the Brocken as formerly, had now congregated at the 
 Castle of Wistgaw.
 
 GOOD LADY BEfiTHA's 
 
 At midnight all was hushed, and 
 the deepest silence prevailed, so that 
 every body could hear the twelve strokes 
 of the clock as they sounded in turn. 
 At the last stroke Wilbold, partly en- 
 couraged, put his head up out of the 
 bed clothes, and boldly looked about 
 him. Instantly his hair stood an end, 
 a cold perspiration streamed down his 
 face, 'a hand of fire' issued from the 
 wall, and with the point of its finger, 
 as if it had been a pen, wrote the fol- 
 lowing words on the dark wainscot : 
 
 " To obey the good Lady Bertha's vow, 
 
 Seven days are allotted thee, Baron Wilbold; 
 
 Be warn'd, then, in time, for should'st thou fail now, 
 The castle of Wistgaw will slip from thy hold."
 
 HONEY BROTH. 51 
 
 Then 'the hand of fire' vanished, and one by one, as 
 they had been drawn, every letter disappeared; and, 
 finally, the chamber, which for a moment was lighted up 
 by this verse of flame, sunk into utter darkness. 
 
 The following day, all the baron's servants, from the 
 highest down to the lowest, gave him warning, declaring 
 they would stay no longer in the castle. 
 
 The baron, who in his heart desired as eagerly to leave 
 the castle as they did, assured them, that, unwilling to 
 lose such good servants, he was determined to dwell in 
 another mansion, and to abandon Wistgaw to the spirits, 
 who seemed bent upon claiming the possession of it. 
 
 On the same day, in spite of Hilda's tears, they for- 
 sook the old towers to go and live at the Castle of Eisen- 
 feld, which the baron had inherited from his father, and 
 which stood at half a day's journey from Wistgaw. 
 
 THE CHEVALIER TORALD. 
 
 At this time there were two things which caused a 
 great noise in the domain of Rosemberg : one was the 
 departure of Baron Wilbold, of Eisenfeld; the other was 
 the arrival of the Chevalier Torald. 
 
 The Chevalier Torald was a fine young man, between 
 twenty-one and twenty-two years of age, who had already 
 despite his youth visited the principal courts in Europe ; in
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 all of which he had gained a great reputation for his valour 
 
 and courtly breed- 
 a most accomplished 
 derful stories were 
 tion; it was said 
 infant, he had been 
 of the Dwarfs, who 
 prince very learned 
 sworn to make him 
 bleman. Thushehad 
 
 ing. In truth he was 
 knight, and won- 
 told of his educa- 
 that, when quite an 
 carried to the King 
 himself, being a 
 in all subjects, had 
 an accomplished no- 
 taught him to read 
 
 the oldest manuscripts, to speak all the living languages, 
 nay, even the dead ones, to paint also, to play upon the 
 lute, to sing, to ride on horseback, to tilt and fence ; after 
 which, when he had reached the age of eighteen, and when 
 his royal tutor saw he had attained that perfection in every 
 point which he had desired to bring him to, he had given 
 him the famous horse Bucephalus, which never was tired, 
 the famous spear of Astolphus, which threw out of the 
 saddle every knight who was touched with its diamond 
 point, and, finally, the renowned sword of Durandal, 
 
 which smashed like glass the strongest steel armour. 
 Besides all these precious gifts he had bestowed one which 
 was yet more valuable, this was a purse, wherein there 
 was at all times twenty-five pieces of gold. 
 
 It is easy to imagine the impression which the arrival 
 of so good and brave a knight would make in the country ; 
 but almost immediately after he had ridden through the 
 village of Rosemberg mounted on his good steed, armed 
 with his good lance, and girt with his trusty sword, he had 
 disappeared again, and none knew what had become of him.
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 53 
 
 Of course this mystery had only served to increase the 
 curiosity awakened by the knight in the neighbourhood. 
 
 It was asserted by some that he had been seen one 
 night before the Castle of Wistgaw in a boat, which, in 
 spite of the quick current of the Rhine, stood still as if at 
 anchor. Others said, he was observed with a lute in his 
 
 hand on the summit of 
 a rock, which rose oppo- 
 site to Hilda's casement ; 
 on which rock hitherto 
 none had been seen to 
 stand save the falcon, 
 the hawk, and the eagle. 
 But all these stories 
 were but vague reports, 
 and nobody "could say 
 for certain that he had 
 met the Chevalier To- 
 rald since the day when, 
 completely armed and mounted on his steed, he had passed 
 through the village of Rosemberg.
 
 54 GOOD LADY BKBTHA S 
 
 THE SPIRIT CONJURERS. 
 
 ' The hand of fire,' as you have seen, my dear friends, 
 had allowed Baron Wilbold seven days for repentance; 
 but he, still guided by the 
 bad counsels of Chevalier 
 Hans, of Warburg, was 
 perfectly resolved not to 
 retrace his steps ; and, the 
 better to keep his resolu- 
 tion, he had determined 
 to spend the three last 
 days in riot and feasting. 
 What afforded him an excuse was the celebration of his 
 daughter's birth- day, which occurred precisely on the 8th 
 of June ; Hilda having been born in the month of roses. 
 
 On the other hand, the Chevalier Hans had a motive 
 in visiting his friend Baron Wilbold more frequently 
 than he used to do; for he had fallen in love with the 
 beautiful Hilda, and, although he was at least forty-five 
 years old, that is to say, three times the age of the young 
 lady, he did not scruple to open his mind to his friend on 
 this projected alliance.
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 55 
 
 The baron had never rightly understood those delicate 
 sentiments of the heart, on which young ladies for the 
 most part base their hopes and fears, their dreams of joy 
 
 or sorrow. He had 
 chosen a wife without 
 loving her, and yet 
 he had been for- 
 tunate, for his lady 
 was a holy woman. 
 So he did not think 
 that Hilda required 
 to love her husband 
 very much in order 
 to live happy with 
 him. To these re- 
 flections were joined 
 the admiration he felt 
 for the courage of 
 Hans, his perfect 
 knowledge of the extent of his fortune, which was at least 
 equal to ,the baron's, and, finally, the habit which had 
 grown upon him of having for a guest the merry talkative 
 knight, who greatly diverted him with his constant tales of 
 battle, tournaments, and duels, in which, of course, he had 
 always come off victorious. 
 
 So then he had neither accepted nor refused the knight's 
 offer; but still he had let him perceive that he would 
 gladly see him endeavouring to please Hilda, which would 
 probably be an easy matter to one so brave, gallant, and 
 entertaining as he was. 
 
 From that time forth the Chevalier Hans had multi- 
 plied his attentions towards the gracious lady of his affec- 
 tions, who had received all his proofs of regard with her 
 wonted reserve and modesty, as if she were quite at a loss 
 to divine through what motive Hans directed all these 
 compliments to her. 
 
 The fifth day after the apparition of * the hand of fire,'
 
 56 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 was Hilda's birthday; and, according to his project of 
 spending the three following days in festivity, Baron Wil- 
 bold had invited all his friends to a grand dinner; and, as 
 will be supposed, he had not left out his inseparable com- 
 panion, the Chevalier Hans, of Warburg. 
 
 The guests were all come, the company had all passed 
 into the dinmg-hall, and each was preparing to take hia
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 57 
 
 seat, when the blast of a horn wag heard, and the major- 
 domo announced, that a knight had just presented himself at 
 the castle gate, demanding hospitality. 
 
 " By Saint Hildebrand ! " said the baron, " the gallant 
 must have a good nose ; tell him he is 
 welcome, and that we bide his coming 
 to sit down to our repast." 
 Five minutes later, in came the knight. 
 He was a fine young man, with dark 
 hair and blue eyes, and his easy man- 
 ners evidently proved that in the 
 course of his travels he had been 
 used to receive the hospitality of the 
 greatest princes. His noble bearing 
 instantly struck the whole company, 
 and Baron Wilbold, discerning his 
 merit, offered as his host to give up his own place to him. 
 But the stranger declined the honour, and, after replying 
 
 to the baron's invitation with a most courteous compli- 
 ment, he took one of the lower seats at the table. 
 
 Nobody knew this knight, and every one looked at him 
 with curiosity. Hilda alone cast her eyes down, and had 
 any person looked at her when the knight appeared at the 
 door, he might have observed that she blushed.
 
 58 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 The dinner was magnificent and uproarious ; the wine 
 flowed without limit ; Baron Wilbold and Hans were re- 
 marked for the cordiality with 
 which they drank each other's 
 healths. The 
 dinner could 
 hardly begin 
 and end with- 
 out some re- 
 ference being 
 made to the ap- 
 paritions at the 
 Castle of Wistgaw. The Chevalier Hans began to rally 
 the baron on the alarm he had felt at these visitations, an 
 alarm which he avowed with all the openness of a man of 
 genuine spirit. 
 
 " Zounds ! my dear chevalier," said he, " I should like 
 to have seen you in my place, when that terrible * hand of 
 fire' drew upon the wall that famous verse, of which I have 
 not forgotten a single syllable." 
 
 " Mere fancies," replied Hans ; " the dreams of a disor- 
 dered mind ; for my part I do not believe in phantoms." 
 
 " You do not believe in them because you have never 
 yet seen any ; but if you were to 
 see one what would you say?" 
 "I would conjure it," said 
 Hans, striking his huge sword, 
 and making it ring on the floor, 
 " so as to prevent its ever again ap- 
 pearing before me, I promise you." 
 " Well," said the baron, "here, 
 Hans, I make you an offer." 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " Conjure the spirit of Lady 
 Bertha, so as to prevent its ap- 
 
 pearing again at the castle, and ask what you 
 it shall be granted." 
 
 will of me
 
 HONEY BROTH. 59 
 
 Whatever I choose?" 
 
 ' Yes," returned the baron. 
 
 " Take care," said the chevalier, laughing. 
 
 " Conjure the spirit of Lady Bertha, and ask freely." 
 
 " And whatever I may ask for, you will grant me ?" 
 
 " On my knightly word, I will." 
 
 Even the hand of the lovely Hilda ?" 
 
 " Even my daughter's hand." 
 
 " Father !" cried the young lady, in a slightly reproving 
 tone. 
 
 " Upon my word, my dear Hilda," resumed the baron, 
 heated by sundry glasses of Tokay and Braunberger, "I 
 have said the word now. Chevalier Hans, my word is my 
 bond ; appease the spirit of Lady Bertha, and my daughter 
 is yours." 
 
 " And will you grant the like reward, Sir Baron," 
 inquired the young stranger, " to the man who shall accom- 
 plish the undertaking when Chevalier Hans shall have 
 failed ?" 
 
 "When I shall have failed!" cried Hans. "How 
 now ! suppose you then I shall fail?" 
 
 " I do not suppose it, chevalier," answered the stranger 
 in a tone of voice so perfectly gentle that the words 
 seemed to come from a woman's mouth. 
 
 " You mean to say you are sure of it. Zounds! sir 
 stranger," said the chevalier, raising his voice, "do you 
 know that what you say is very impertinent?" 
 
 " At all events the question I have put to Baron 
 Wilbold of Eisenfeld can in no way interfere with your 
 projects of marriage, sir knight, since it is only to be after 
 your failure that a new candidate is to offer himself." 
 
 " And who is he will venture to attempt an enterprise 
 in which Chevalier Hans shall have failed?" 
 
 " I am he !" said the stranger. 
 
 " But sir," said the baron, " before I can accept your 
 offer, gracious as it is, I must first know* my dear guest, 
 who you are." 
 
 12
 
 60 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 PAULANT 
 
 " I am the Chevalier Torald," said the young man. 
 This name had spread so favourably through 3 the coun- 
 try, that on hearing it 
 pronounced, the com- 
 pany rose up at once 
 to greet the knight 
 who had just made 
 himself known to 
 them; Baron Wilbold 
 felt it his duty to 
 pay a handsome com- 
 pliment to the young 
 chevalier. 
 
 " Chevalier," said he, 
 " in spite of your youth, your name is already so favour- 
 ably spoken of, that an alliance with you would do honour 
 to the very noblest of houses : but I have known the 
 Chevalier Hans these twenty years, whilst I now see 
 you for the first time ; I can therefore only so far accept 
 your offer as to submit it to my daughter's approbation." 
 Hilda was suifused with blushes. 
 
 " I have always resolved in my own mind," said 
 Torald, " never to take to wife any woman without being 
 assured of her love." 
 
 Since the young knight had mentioned his name, Hans 
 had preserved the strictest silence. 
 
 " Well, sir knight," said the baron, " since you submit 
 the matter to my daughter, and since you leave the first 
 trial to my friend Hans, I see no reason why, saving a 
 more deliberate inquiry as to your family, I should not 
 give you the same pledge as to him." 
 
 " My family vies with the first houses in Germany, 
 Baron Wilbold ; more than that," added Chevalier Torald, 
 smiling, "I am going to tell you a piece of news you do 
 not suspect, and that is, that we are in some degree 
 related." 
 
 " Helated I" crier' the baron, astonished.
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 fil 
 
 "Yes, sir," returned Torald; "and we will clear up 
 that mystery by and by. At present, there is only one 
 matter in hand, and that is, to appease the spirit of Lady 
 Bertha." 
 
 " Yes," resumed Wilbold, " I own it is the thing I 
 chiefly wish to have settled." 
 
 " Well," said Torald, " let Chevalier Hans try the 
 business to-night, and I will make my attempt to-morrow." 
 " Egad," said Wilbold, " that is what we may call 
 speaking to the point, 
 and I love to see busi- 
 ness done as promptly 
 as you set about it. Che- 
 valier Torald, you are 
 a brave young man; 
 here's my hand." So 
 saying, Wilbold gave 
 his hand to the knight, who bowed as he pressed it in 
 his own. 
 
 Hans preserved the most rigid silence. Wilbold turned 
 round to him, and was surprised to see that he looked 
 very pale. 
 
 " Well, comrade Hans," said he, " there is an offer cal- 
 culated to please e^^tiffi^ y ou; an( * smce 
 you just now felt ^SipS^ljg^ such a longing to 
 meet the spirits __^B^^B^ face to face, you 
 may thank Che- jB8ll^'j^W-l|f?- valier Torald, who 
 has given you an opportunity of see- 
 ing them this very "fjjSHlL* <|<! (rnHlmf night." 
 
 " Yes, certain- ^^X^^^^^^ ly> certainly," said 
 Hans ; " but it will be useless, 
 
 and my time will be lost ; your spirits will not come." 
 " You are mistaken, ChevaUer Plans," answered Torald, 
 in the tone of one who is convinced of what he says; 
 " they will come, depend upon it." 
 Hans became ghastly pale.
 
 62 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 "After all," said Torald, "if you will give up your turn 
 to me, Chevalier Hans, I will accept it with gratitude, and 
 will stand the first brunt of these phantoms; perhaps 
 they may be less terrible at the second trial than at 
 the first." 
 
 " Faith ! sir knight," said Hans, " to go first or second 
 is all one to me, and if you desire to go first " 
 
 "Not so; not so," said Wilbold; "I will keep the 
 terms as they were agreed upon. Keep your turns, gen- 
 tlemen; friend Hans to-night; the Chevalier Torald to- 
 morrow ; and, there- 
 fore," he filled his 
 glass, and held it up, 
 "To the health of 
 the spirit-conjurers!" 
 
 The whole company 
 folloAved the baron's 
 example; but the lat- 
 ter, to his great sur- 
 prise, perceived that 
 the hand of Chevalier 
 Hans shook as he 
 raised his glass to his 
 lip?. 
 
 " Very good," said Wilbold ; " after dinner we shall 
 set out for the Castle of Wistgaw." 
 
 Poor Chevalier Hans was caught like a mouse in 
 a trap. 
 
 At first, when he engaged to undertake the thing, he 
 had hoped to slip out by one of his customary tricks : he 
 meant to make believe that he had gone into the castle, 
 and to spend the night in the neighbourhood, and the next 
 day to relate at his ease the dreadful battle he had fought 
 with the spirits. But that was no longer possible; the 
 matter, thanks to Chevalier Torald's challenge, had now 
 assumed a serious aspect, which made him sensible, that,
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 63 
 
 either by his friend or his rival, he would be closely 
 watched. And indeed, after dinner, Baron Wilbold stood 
 up, declaring his intention to accompany Chevalier Hans in 
 
 person, and that, in order 
 to afford no room for any 
 complaint, either on his 
 own part, or on that of 
 Chevalier Torald, he would 
 lock him up in the bed- 
 room, and put his seal upon 
 the door. 
 
 There was no escaping ; 
 Hans only asked leave 
 to fetch his helmet and 
 cuirass, in order to be in a 
 fit state to resist the enemy, if he 
 should appear; and this request 
 was at once granted him. 
 
 So Hans went home, armed him 
 ., self cap-a-pie, and then 
 <^> x the party set out for .^3 
 the Castle of Wistgaw. - * 
 
 dv. <<Kffl.j ^ a 
 
 ii
 
 64 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 The cavalcade consisted of Baron Wilbold, of Eisen- 
 feld, the Chevalier Hans, the Chevalier Torald, and three 
 ' or four other guests, who took an interest in this event, 
 whatever might be the end of it, and who were to await 
 the result at a farm belonging to the baron, half a league 
 distant from the castle. 
 
 They reached Wistgaw about nine in the evening : it 
 was the most favourable time to undertake the business. 
 
 Hans was very --^^^ t , 
 
 uneasy within him- 
 self, but he assumed 
 a bold countenance, 
 and appeared tole- 
 rably firm. The 
 most profound dark- 
 ness prevailed all 
 round, and as the 
 silence was not broken by the least noise or sound, the castle 
 looked a very spectre itself. They entered the deserted hall, 
 
 they passed 
 through the 
 long saloons 
 hung with 
 dark tapestry, 
 and the never- 
 ending pas- 
 sages ; and, 
 finally, the 
 door of the 
 bed - chamber 
 was reached, 
 and opened. 
 This room was 
 cold and silent 
 like the rest 
 
 of the castle. 
 
 They lighted the lustre and candelabra, made a brisk fire
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 65 
 
 on the hearth, and then wished Chevalier Hans good night; 
 and the Baron, having locked the door, applied his seals to 
 a paper band at both ends. After which they all wished the 
 prisoner good night, and then retired to sleep at the farm. 
 
 When Hans found himself alone, 
 his first thought was, to get out by 
 the window; but that was impos- 
 sible, for the window looked over 
 a precipice, which seemed all the 
 steeper in the darkness of the night. 
 
 He tapped against the walls: 
 they returned a dull heavy sound, 
 proving that no secret passages lay 
 concealed within them. 
 
 Whether for good or ill, he found 
 he must stay. Chevalier Hans tried 
 all the points of liis armour to see 
 that they were perfectly fast; he 
 felt that his sword was at his side, that his poniard was in 
 its sheath, that the visor of his helmet was sufficiently 
 loose; after which, seeing all was in good order, he sat 
 down in the large elbow-chair opposite the fireplace. 
 
 Meanwhile the hours glided by without any thing 
 having appeared, and Hans began to recover his spirits; 
 besides, he had reflected that, since there was no private 
 door in the wall, and since the principal door was shut, the 
 ghosts Avould have as much trouble to get in as he found 
 to get out. It is true, he had heard that ghosts did not 
 care much about such hindrances, and were apt to make 
 their way in, without much trouble, through locks and 
 doors ; but still it was a sort of security to him. 
 
 We must even admit to the honour of Chevalier 
 Hans, that he was beginning to fall asleep, when he fancied 
 he heard a loud noise in the chimney ; he threw directly a 
 log of wood into the fire, which had begun to sink, hoping 
 to roast the legs of the spirits, if they meant to appear by
 
 66 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 that way. So the fire once more rose into a flame, and 
 
 climbed up against the back of the chimney, singing and 
 
 sparkling, when all at once 
 
 Chevalier Hans saw issue 
 
 from the chimney the end 
 
 of a board, about a foot 
 
 wide, which moved for- 
 
 ward and grew longer 
 
 every moment, without 
 
 any one being seen to 
 
 move it. The board de- 
 
 scended slowly in a sloping 
 
 position, and, on touching ___ _ 
 
 the floor, stood like a bridge above the flames, At the same 
 
 instant a host of tiny 
 dwarfs came sliding 
 down this bridge, led 
 by their king, who, 
 armed from head to 
 foot like Chevalier 
 Hans, appeared to be 
 guiding them to battle. 
 
 
 
 on Hans wheeled his chair backwards ; so that when the 
 king and his army were drawn up in battle array before
 
 HONEY BllOTH. 67 
 
 the hearth, Hans had withdrawn to the other side of the 
 apartment, prevented by the wall from going any further, 
 and leaving a wide space between him and the enemy. 
 
 Then the King of the Dwarfs, after 
 having conferred in a low voice with 
 his general officers, came forward by 
 himself. 
 
 " Chevalier Hans," said he, in a tone 
 of irony, " I have heard your courage 
 boasted of repeatedly. True, it was by 
 yourself; but as a true knight cannot -^gr 
 speak falsely I credit your assertions. - ~ " 
 Consequently, I have long had a mind to challenge you 
 to single combat, and having heard that you had bravely 
 offered Baron Wilbold to conjure the spirit who haunts 
 this castle, I have prevailed upon the spirit, who is my 
 intimate friend, to allow me to take its place to-night. 
 If you conquer me, the spirit, by my voice, engages to 
 forsake the castle and never to appear again ; if you are 
 conquered, you must confess your defeat candidly, and 
 give up your place to the Chevalier Torald, whom I shall 
 probably overcome without any trouble, for I never heard 
 him boast of having cut any body in two. Therefore; 
 and nothing doubting your will, accept this challenge 
 behold my glove!" 
 
 So saying the King of the Dwarfs threw his glove 
 proudly at the chevalier's feet. 
 
 Whilst the King of the Dwarfs was delivering his 
 speech, in a small, clear voice, Chevalier Plans had consi- 
 dered him attentively, and finding, indeed, that he was 
 scarcely more than six inches and a half high, his courage 
 began to return, for such an adversary did not appear to 
 him very formidable ; so he picked up the glove with a 
 certain degree of assurance, and set it on the tip of his 
 little finger to examine it. 
 
 It was a neat little glove, formed of rat skin, and
 
 68 
 
 GOOD LAD? BERTHA'S 
 
 scented with musk, upon 
 which had been sewn, very 
 skilfully, a number of small 
 steel scales. 
 
 The King of the Dwarfs 
 suffered Hans to examine 
 the glove at his leisure; 
 then, after a short silence, 
 " Well, chevalier," said he, 
 ~_ "I await your answer. Do 
 " you accept or refuse my 
 challenge?" 
 
 Chevalier Hans again 
 g cast his eyes on the cham- 
 pion who offered to oppose 
 him, and who did not reach 
 half way up the calf of his 
 leg. Encouraged by his 
 small dimensions, the chevalier said, "But what are we to 
 fight with, my little mannikin ? " 
 
 "We will both fight with our usual weapons, you with 
 your sword, and I with my Avhip." " 
 " How ! with your whip ?" 
 
 " Yes, it is my ordinary weapon ; for as I am a small 
 man I require a long reach." Hans burst out a laughing. 
 
 "And do you mean to fight 
 against me," said he, " with a 
 whip?" 
 
 " To be sure I do. Have I 
 
 not told you it is my weapon?" 
 
 " And you will take no other ?" 
 
 "No." . 5 
 
 " You promise me ? " 
 
 " On the word of a knight and king.' 
 
 "In that case," said Hans, I accept the combat." 
 
 Thereupon he threw down his glove also at the king's foot.
 
 HONEY BKOTH. 
 
 69 
 
 At the same time, twelve trumpeters, who were ele- 
 vated upon a small stool, sounded a warlike nourish ; and 
 
 then they brought the 
 King of the Dwarfs the 
 weapon he was to use in 
 the combat. It was a 
 small whip, the handle of 
 which was cut out of a 
 single emerald. To the 
 extremity of this handle were bound five chains of steel, 
 three feet long, at the ends of which glittered five diamonds 
 as large as peas. Chevalier Hans, on his part, confident 
 of his strength, drew his sword. 
 
 " Whenever you please," said the king to the chevalier. 
 " At your service, sire," said Hans. 
 Then the trumpet sounded a still more warlike flourish 
 than the first, and the combat began. 
 
 Now, at the first strokes he received, 
 the chevalier found he was wrong to de- 
 spise his adversary's weapon. Although 
 covered with armour, he felt the stripes |; 
 as if he had been naked; for wherever 
 the five diamonds struck him, they went 
 through the iron as if it had been soft 
 paste. Hans, far from standing on his 
 defence, began to cry and r 
 howl, and run about the 
 room, leaping on the bed 
 and movables, pursued on 
 every side by the whip of 
 the implacable King of the 
 Dwarfs, whilst the martial 
 air played by the trumpet- 
 ers, changing with the in- 
 cidents of the battle, rose up 
 toaloud and lively measure. 
 
 (YW
 
 70 
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA*!? 
 
 This was the very same gallopade, my dear little 
 children, which the great musician Aubert discovered and 
 employed in his opera of Gustavus. 
 
 When this exercise had lasted five minutes, Chevalier 
 Hans fell on his knees and supplicated for pardon. 
 
 Then the King of the Dwarfs delivered his whip to his 
 equerry, and, taking his sceptre into his hand, "Che-
 
 JTQNEY BROTH. 
 
 71 
 
 valier Hans," said he, "you 
 
 are no better than a woman; 
 
 a sword and a poniard do 
 
 not. suit you, it is a distaff 
 
 and spindle that you should 
 
 use." 
 
 Having spoken thus, he 
 
 touched him with his 
 sceptre. Hans felt that a 
 great change was coming 
 over him; the dwarfs burst 
 into a loud fit of laugh- 
 ter, and then the whole 
 vanished like a vision. 
 
 THE KNIGHT OF THE DISTAFF. 
 
 Hans began by looking 
 about him he found 
 himself alone. Then he 
 looked at his person, and 
 great was his astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 He was dressed like an 
 old woman: his armour 
 had become a striped pet- 
 ticoat; his helmet was 
 turned into a cap; his 
 sword was replaced by 
 a distaff; and his dagger 
 by a spindle. You may 
 judge, my dear readers, 
 whether or not Chevalier 
 Hans looked very odd 
 aad very ugly in this 
 new costume, especially 
 as he still retained bis
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 beard and mustaches, 
 accoutred, Che- 
 a face which ren- 
 more singular 
 he thought he 
 and go to bed, 
 would remain of 
 pened. So he 
 the elbow-chair, 
 ing to undo his 
 then the distaff 
 
 When he saw himself thus strangely 
 ^- ^ valier Han s made 
 
 dered him still 
 and ugly ; but 
 would undress 
 so that no trace 
 all that had hap- 
 put his distaff on 
 and was prepar- 
 cap ; but just 
 sprang from the 
 chair, and dealt him such heavy raps on his knuckles, as 
 forced him to turn round, and face his new enemy. 
 Hans first offered to resist ; but the distaff proved so 
 skilful a fencer, that he was 
 obliged, a moment after, to 
 stuff his hands into his pockets. 
 Then the distaff returned 
 quietly to its place by his side, 
 and gave the chevalier a mo- 
 ment's respite. He took ad- 
 vantage of this truce to exa- 
 mine his enemy. 
 The distaff was 
 a plain honest 
 distaff enough; 
 just like any 
 other, except 
 that, more ele- 
 gantly shaped 
 
 than common distaffs, it terminated at the 
 point with a small grinning head, which 
 appeared to be making game of the che- 
 valier. 
 
 Hans pretended to smile upon the dis- 
 taff and drew towards the hearth; then, choosing his
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 73 
 
 time, he seized the distaff by the middle and threw it 
 
 into the fire. But 
 
 f t^^J y *\ the distaff was no 
 
 sooner on the 
 hearth, than it 
 stood up erect all 
 on fire, and began 
 running after the 
 chevalier, who, this 
 time, was not only 
 beaten, but was 
 about to be burned 
 
 as well, when he loudly begged for pardon. Immediately 
 
 the flame went out, 
 
 and the distaff re- 
 sumed its place in 
 
 his girdle. 
 
 The matter now 
 
 grew serious, day 
 
 began to dawn, and 
 Baron Wilbold, the 
 Chevalier Torald, 
 and the rest, would 
 shortly appear. Hans 
 was reflecting in his 
 mind how to rid him- 
 self of this cursed 
 distaff, when he con- 
 ceived the idea of 
 throwing it out of the window. So he began to 
 hum a tune to lull the distaff's suspicions, stole up to 
 the casement, and having opened it to look at the land- 
 scape and breathe the fresh morning air, he suddenly 
 caught up his whimsical antagonist, flung him into the 
 moat, and shut the window again; but instantly ho 
 heard the smash of a pane of glass, and, turning towards
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHAS 
 
 the other casement, saw the distaff he hurled from one 
 window, had returned by the other. 
 
 But this time the 
 distaff, which had 
 been twice treache- 
 rously dealt with, 
 was perfectly en- 
 raged; it fell upon 
 Hans, and bruised 
 him all over. Hans 
 
 now howled in good i ^ a B ' ^\rev3tfRSH g^ 
 earnest. Finally, siSFS^N^DMaflW X 
 
 Hans having sunk 
 exhausted into the 
 elbow-chair, the dis- 
 taff took pity on him, 
 and once more re- 
 turned to his girdle. 
 
 Then Hans thought he might perhaps disarm the anger 
 of his foe by doing something for it, 
 so he began to spin. 
 Thereupon the distaff looked very 
 much pleased ; its little head bright- 
 ened up, it winked gaily at him, 
 and began to hum a little tune. 
 Just then Hans heard a noise in the 
 gallery, and wanted to leave off 
 spinning; but this did not suit the 
 distaff, who gave him such hard raps 
 on the knuckles, that he could not 
 help working on. 
 
 And now the steps drew nearer, 
 and ceased outside the door ; Hans 
 was vexed to be caught in such 
 a dress and such an employment, but he could not 
 avoid it.
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 In fact, the door was opened the next moment, and 
 Baron Wilbold, Chevalier Torald, and the other gentlemen 
 who were in their company, stood petrified with wonder at 
 the singular sight they beheld. Hans, whom they had left 
 
 invested in 
 knightly ar- 
 mour was now 
 dressed like 
 an old woman, 
 and held in 
 his hands a 
 distaff and 
 spindle. 
 The company 
 laughed out- 
 right. Hans 
 did not know 
 where to hide 
 
 himself. Egad ! " said Baron Wilbold, it seems that the 
 spirits who have haunted you are merrily inclined, friend 
 Hans, tell us then what has befallen you." 
 
 " This is the fact," answered Hans, hoping to get off by 
 means of a falsehood; "this is the fact, I have laid a 
 
 wager " 
 
 But here the distaff, who saw he was going to tell a 
 story, gave him so sharp a rap over his nails, that he 
 screamed out. " Cursed distaff!" he muttered to himself; 
 then he resumed : " It is a wager I have laid ; for I 
 thought as the ghost was a woman, a distaff and spindle 
 were the fittest weapons with which to meet her." 
 
 But just then, in spite of the imploring look which 
 Hans gave the distaff, it again rapped his nails so fiercely 
 that Wilbold said to him: 
 
 " Hold, comrade Hans, I see you deceive us, and that 
 is the reason the distaff keeps beating you. Tell us the 
 truth, and the distaff will let you alone."
 
 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 And, as if it had understood what the 
 baron had said, the distaff bowed to him, 
 and then nodded to signify that he spoke 
 the truth. So, after all, Hans was 
 obliged to relate all that had past. He 
 did, indeed, strive from time to time to 
 wander from the point, and introduce 
 some episode to prove his courage ; but 
 then the distaff, who kept quiet so long 
 as he desisted 
 from falsehood, 
 fell upon him. 
 
 so heartily, that he was instantly 
 driven back to the path of truth 
 from which he had just strayed. 
 
 The story having been re- 
 lated from end to end, the dis- 
 taff made an ironical saluta- 
 tion to Hans, and a very polite 
 obeisance to the rest of the com- 
 pany, and retired through the _ 
 doorway, skipping on its tail, and 
 carrying off the spindle, who followed as a child follows 
 
 its parent. As for Che- 
 valier Hans, as soon as he 
 was sure the distaff was 
 really gone, he fled by 
 the same door, 
 and went off, 
 amidst the shouts 
 and hisses of the 
 little boys, who 
 13i,. mistook him for 
 a madman, and 
 shut himself up 
 in his castle* 
 
 KS&j 
 
 i'-^^ - -
 
 HONEY BROTH. 
 
 THE TREASURE. 
 
 The following night, it was Chevalier Torald's turn to 
 watch; but he prepared himself for this nocturnal enter- 
 prise with as much humility and reflection, as Hans had 
 exhibited bombast and levity. 
 
 Like Chevalier Hans, he was conducted to the apart- 
 ment, locked in and sealed up; but had 
 declined taking any arms, observing, that 
 all resistance to spirits was vain, as spirits 
 came through God. Accordingly, when he 
 was left alone, he devoutly prayed, 
 and sat down in the elbow-chair, 
 and waited till the spirit would 
 deign to appear. He had been 
 waiting several hours with his eyes 
 riveted on the door, and without 
 seeing any thing unusual, when all at once he heard a soft 
 step, and felt, from behind, a light touch on his shoulder. 
 He turned round, and beheld the shade of Lady Bertha. 
 But the young man, far from betraying any fear, smiled 
 upon her as upon an old friend.
 
 78 GOOD LADY BERTHA'S 
 
 " Torald," said she to him, " you have fulfilled all my 
 hopes; a good, brave, and pious young man have you 
 proved to be ; and now take the reward due to your merit." 
 So saying, and signing to him to follow her, she moved 
 towards the wall, and having touched it with tier, finger, it 
 opened and discovered a large treasure, which Count 
 Osmond had formerly hidden there when he had been 
 compelled to leave his castle in time of the war. 
 
 " This treasure is yours, my son," said the countess ; 
 " and to prevent any other disputing your title to it, none 
 but you shall be able to open the wall; and the word 
 by which it shall open is the name of your beloved 
 'HILDA!'" 
 
 Then the wall closed again so tightly that no eye could 
 distinguish it. After which the shade, having smiled once 
 more upon the knight, and graciously bowed to him, 
 vanished like a thin mist. 
 
 The next day Wilbold and his companions entered the 
 
 chamber, and found Chevalier Torald sleeping peacefully 
 in the elbow-chair. 
 
 The baron awoke the young man, who smiled as he 
 opened his eyes. 
 
 "Friend Torald," eaid Wilbold, "I have had a dream 
 this night."
 
 HONEY BROTH. 79 
 
 " What dream?" inquired he. 
 
 " I dreamt that your name was not Torald, but Her- 
 mann; that you were grandson to Count Osmond; that 
 you had passed for dead, although li ving ; and that your 
 grandmother Bertha had appeared to you last night to dis- 
 close to you a treasure." 
 
 Torald felt that this dream had been imparted to the 
 Baron of Eisenfeld to remove every doubt from his 
 mind. So he stood up without replying, and makipg also 
 a sign to the baron to follow him, he stopped opposite 
 the wall. 
 
 " Your dream did not deceive you, Sir Wilbold, I am 
 truly that Hermann who was thought to be dead. My 
 grandmother Bertha has appeared to me this night, and 
 disclosed the treasure. Here is the proof." 
 
 So having said, Hermann for indeed it was the poor 
 child whom Lady Bertha had tafcen up out of his tomb, 
 and committed to the care of the King of the Cobolds 
 Hermann uttered the name of ' HILDA 1 ' and, as the 
 spirit had promised, the wall did open. 
 
 "Wilbold remained ^a^ = amazed and dazzled 
 at the sight of this xv ^ ^^A-ft^ treasure, which con- 
 sisted not only of c^^^^^M^^^ gold coin, but like- 
 wise of rubies, erne- ^^a8l>' raids, and diamonds. 
 
 " Come," said he, ^^^^^^jt^^^ " cousin Hermann, 
 I see you spoke the ^"' ^65? truth. The Castle of 
 Wistgaw and my daughter Hilda are 
 
 yours, but on one condition." 
 
 " Name it," said Hermann anxiously. 
 
 ** That on every 1st of June you will undertake to 
 give the tenantry of Rosemberg, and to all the country 
 people round the castle, THE HONEY BEOTH OF GOOD 
 LADY BERTHA!" 
 
 Hermann, as you will readily bcliyve, accepted this 
 condition.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 On that day week, Hermann de Rosem- 
 berg espoused Hilda de Eisenfeld ; and, 
 as long as the Castle of Wistgaw con- 
 tinued standing, his descendants gave 
 generously and without interrup- 
 tion, on the 1st of June in every 
 year, to the inhabitants of 
 Rosemberg and its vicinity, 
 The Honey Broth of 
 Good Lady 
 
 Bertha/ rt#* 
 
 ; , e _ ,,^^- A
 
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