{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_25409/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_25409","id":"gutenberg_25409","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25409","summary":null,"tags":["Category: French Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Fairy tales","French fiction -- Translations into English","Nobel Prizes in Literature"],"text":"Produced by David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE DUCHESS OF CICOGNE AND OF MONSIEUR DE BOULINGRIN\n\nFrom \u201cThe Seven Wives Of Bluebeard & Other Marvellous Tales\u201d\n\nBy Anatole France\n\nTranslated by D. B. Stewart\n\nEdited By James Lewis May And Bernard Miall\n\nJohn Lane Company MCMXX\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE story of the Sleeping Beauty is well known; we have excellent\naccounts of it, both in prose and in verse. I shall not undertake to\nrelate-it again; but, having become acquainted with several memoirs of\nthe time which have remained unpublished, I discovered some anecdotes\nrelating to King Cloche and Queen Satine, whose daughter it was that\nslept a hundred years, and also to several members of the Court who\nshared the Princess\u2019s sleep. I propose to communicate to the public such\nportions of these revelations as have seemed to me most interesting.\n\nAfter several years of marriage, Queen Satine gave the King, her\nhusband, a daughter who received the names of Paule-Marie-Aurore. The\nbaptismal festivities were planned by the Duc des Hoisons, grand master\nof the ceremonies, in accordance with a formulary dating from the\nEmperor Honorius, which was so mildewed and so nibbled by rats that it\nwas impossible to decipher any of it.\n\nThere were still fairies in those days, and those who had titles used\nto go to Court. Seven of them were invited to be god-mothers, Queen\nTitania, Queen Mab, the wise Vivien, trained by Merlin in the arts of\nenchantment, Melusina, whose history was written by Jean d\u2019Arras, and\nwho became a serpent every Saturday (but the baptism was on a Sunday),\nUrg\u00e8le, White Anna of Brittany, and Mourgue who led Ogier the Dane into\nthe country of Avalon.\n\nThey appeared at the castle in robes of the colour of time, of the sun,\nof the moon, and of the nymphs, all glittering with diamonds and pearls.\nAs all were taking their places at table an old fairy called Alcuine,\nwho had not been invited, was seen to enter.\n\n\u201cPray do not be annoyed, madame,\u201d said the King, \u201cthat you were not of\nthose invited to this festivity; it was believed that you were either\ndead or enchanted.\u201d\n\nSince the fairies grew old, there is no doubt that they used to die.\nThey all died in time, and everybody knows that Melusina became a\nkitchen wench in Hell. By means of enchantment they could be imprisoned\nin a magic circle, a tree, a bush, or a stone, or changed into a statue,\na hind, a dove, a footstool, a ring, or a slipper. But as a fact it was\nnot because they thought her dead or enchanted that they had not invited\nthe fairy Alcuine; it was because her presence at the banquet had been\nregarded as contrary to etiquette. Madame de Maintenon was able to state\nwithout the least exaggeration that \u201cthere are no austerities in the\nconvents like those to which Court etiquette subjects the great.\u201d In\naccordance with his sovereign\u2019s royal wish the Duc des Hoisons had not\ninvited the fairy Alcuine, because she had one quartering of nobility\ntoo few to be admitted to Court. When the Ministers of State represented\nthat it was of the utmost importance to humour this powerful and\nvindictive fairy, of whom they would make a dangerous enemy if they\nexcluded her from the festivities, the King replied in peremptory tones\nthat she could not be invited, as she was not qualified by birth.\n\nThis unhappy monarch, even more than his predecessors, was a slave to\netiquette. His obstinacy in subordinating the greatest interests and\nmost urgent duties to the smallest exigencies of an obsolete ceremonial,\nhad more than once caused serious loss to the monarchy, and had involved\nthe realm in formidable perils. Of all these perils and losses, those\nto which Cloche had exposed his house by refusing to stretch a point\nof etiquette in favour of a fairy, without birth, yet formidable and\nillustrious, were by no means the hardest to foresee, nor was it least\nurgent to avert them.\n\nThe aged Alcuine, enraged by the contempt to which she had been\nsubjected, bestowed upon the Princess Aurore a disastrous gift. At\nfifteen years of age, beautiful as the day, this royal child was to die\nof a fatal wound, caused by a spindle, an innocent weapon in the hands\nof mortal women, but a terrible one when the three spinstress Sisters\ntwist and coil thereon the thread of our destinies and the strings of\nour hearts.\n\nThe seven godmothers could modify, but could not annul Alcuine\u2019s decree,\nand thus the fate of the Princess was determined. \u201cAurore will prick her\nhand with a spindle; she will not die of it, but will fall into a sleep\nof a hundred years, from which the son of a king will come to arouse\nher.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nANXIOUSLY the King and Queen consulted, in respect of the decree\npronounced upon the Princess in her cradle, all persons of learning and\njudgment, notably Monsieur Gerberoy, perpetual secretary of the Academy\nof Sciences, and Dr. Gastinel, the Queen\u2019s accoucheur. \u201cMonsieur\nGerberoy,\u201d Satine inquired, \u201ccan one really sleep a hundred years?\u201d\n \u201cMadame,\u201d answered the Academician, \u201cwe have examples of sleep, more or\nless prolonged, some of which I can relate to Your Majesty. Epimenides\nof Cnossos was born of the loves of a mortal and a nymph. While yet a\nchild he was sent by Dosiades, his father, to watch the flocks in\nthe mountains. When the warmth of midday enveloped the earth, he laid\nhimself down in a cool, dark cave, and there he fell into a slumber\nwhich lasted for fifty-seven years. He studied the virtues of the\nplants, and died, according to some, at the age of a hundred and\nfifty-four years; according to others at the age of two hundred and\nninety-eight.\n\n\u201cThe story of the seven sleepers of Ephesus is related by Theodore\nand Rufinus, in a manuscript sealed with two silver seals. Briefly\nexpounded, these are the principal facts. In the year 25 of our Lord,\nseven of the officers of the Emperor Decius, who had embraced the\nChristian religion, distributed their goods to the poor, retired to\nMount Celion, and there all seven fell asleep in a cave. During the\nreign of Theodore the Bishop of Ephesus found them there, blooming like\nroses. They had slept for one hundred and forty-four years.\n\n\u201cFrederick Barbarossa is still asleep. In the crypt beneath a ruined\ncastle, in the midst of a dense forest, he is seated before a table\nround which his beard has twisted seven times. He will awake to drive\naway the crows which croak around the mountain.\n\n\u201cThese, madame, are the greatest sleepers of whom History has kept a\nrecord.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey are all exceptions,\u201d answered the Queen. \u201cYou, Monsieur Gastinel,\nwho practise medicine, have you ever seen people sleep a hundred years?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, madame,\u201d replied the accoucheur, \u201cI have not exactly seen any such,\nnor do I ever expect to do so; but I have seen some curious cases of\nlethargy, which, if you desire, I will bring to Your Majesty\u2019s notice.\n\n\u201cTen years ago a demoiselle Jeanne Caillou, being admitted to the\nH\u00f4tel-Dieu, there slept for six consecutive years. I myself observed the\ngirl L\u00e9onide Montauciel, who fell asleep on Easter Day in the year \u201861,\nand did not awake until Easter Day of the following year.\u201d\n\n\u201cMonsieur Gastinel,\u201d demanded the King, \u201ccan the point of a spindle\ncause a wound which will send one to sleep for a hundred years?\u201d\n\n\u201cSire, it is not probable,\u201d answered Monsieur Gastinel, \u201cbut in the\ndomain of pathology, we can never say with certainty, \u2018This will or will\nnot happen.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cOne might mention Brunhild,\u201d said Monsieur Gerberoy, \u201cwho was pricked\nby a thorn, fell asleep, and was awakened by Sigurd.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere was also Guenillon,\u201d said the Duchess of Cicogne, first\nlady-in-waiting to the Queen. And she hummed:\n\n     She was sent to the wood\n     To gather some nuts,\n     The bush was too high,\n     The maid was too small.\n\n     The bush was too high,\n     The maid was too small,\n     She pricked her poor hand\n     With a very sharp thorn.\n\n     She pricked her poor hand\n     With a very sharp thorn,\n     From the pain in her finger\n     The maid fell asleep.\n\n\u201cWhat are you thinking of, Cicogne?\u201d said the Queen. \u201cYou are singing.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour Majesty will forgive me,\u201d replied the Duchess. \u201cIt was to ward off\nthe bad luck.\u201d\n\nThe King issued an edict, whereby all persons were forbidden under\npain of death to spin with spindles, or even to have spindles in their\npossession. All obeyed. They still used to say in the country districts:\n\u201cThe spindles must follow the mattock,\u201d but it was only by force of\nhabit. The spindles had disappeared.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nMONSIEUR DE LA ROCHECOUP\u00c9E, the Prime Minister who, under the feeble\nKing Cloche, governed the kingdom, respected popular beliefs, as all\ngreat statesmen respect them. Caesar was Pontifex Maximus, and Napoleon\nhad himself crowned by the Pope. Monsieur de La Rochecoup\u00e9e admitted\nthe power of the fairies. He was by no means sceptical, by no means\nincredulous. He did not suggest that the prediction of the seven\ngodmothers was false. But, being helpless, he did not allow it to\ndisturb him. His temperament was such that he did not worry about evils\nwhich he was impotent to remedy. In any case, so far as could be judged,\nthe occurrence foretold was not imminent. Monsieur de La Rochecoup\u00e9e\nviewed events as a statesman, and statesmen never look beyond the\npresent moment. I am speaking of the shrewdest and most far-sighted.\nAfter all, supposing one day the King\u2019s daughter did fall asleep for a\nhundred years, it was, in his eyes, purely a family matter, seeing that\nwomen were excluded from the throne by the Salic Law.\n\nHe had, as he said, plenty of other fish to fry. Bankruptcy, hideous\nbankruptcy was ever present, threatening to consume the wealth and the\nhonour of the nation. Famine was raging in the kingdom, and millions of\nunfortunate wretches were eating plaster instead of bread. That year the\nopera ball was more brilliant and the masques finer than ever.\n\nThe peasantry, artisans, and shopkeepers, and the girls of the theatre,\nvied with one another in grieving over the fatal curse inflicted by\nAlcuine upon the innocent Princess. The lords of the Court, on the\ncontrary, and the princes of the blood royal, appeared very indifferent\nto it. And there were on all hands men of business and students of\nscience who did not believe in the award of the fairies, for the very\ngood reason that they did not believe in fairies.\n\nSuch a one was Monsieur Boulingrin, Secretary of State for the Treasury.\nThose who ask how it was possible that he should not believe in them\nsince he had seen them are unaware of the lengths to which scepticism\ncan go in an argumentative mind. Nourished on Lucretius, imbued with\nthe doctrines of Epicurus and Gassendi, he often provoked Monsieur de La\nRochecoup\u00e9e by the display of a cold disbelief in fairies.\n\nThe Prime Minister would say to him: \u201cIf not for your own sake, be a\nbeliever for that of the public. Seriously, my dear Boulingrin, that\nthere are moments when I wonder which of us two is the more credulous in\nrespect of fairies. I never think of them, and you are always talking of\nthem.\u201d\n\nMonsieur de Boulingrin dearly loved the Duchess of Cicogne, wife of the\nambassador to Vienna, first lady-in-waiting to the Queen, who belonged\nto the highest aristocracy of the realm; a witty woman, somewhat lean,\nand a trifle close, who was losing her income, her estates, and her very\nchemise at faro. She showed much kindness to Monsieur de Boulingrin,\nlending herself to an intercourse for which she had no temperamental\ninclination, but which she thought suitable to her rank, and useful to\nher interests. Their intrigue was conducted with an art which revealed\ntheir good taste, and the elegance of the prevailing morality;\nthe connection was openly avowed, and thereby stripped of all base\nhypocrisy; but it was at the same time so reserved in appearance that\neven the severest critics saw no cause for censure in it.\n\nDuring the time which the Duchess yearly spent on her estate, Monsieur\nde Boulingrin used to stay in an old pigeon-house, separated from his\nfriend\u2019s ch\u00e2teau by a sunken road, which skirted a marsh, where by night\nthe frogs among the reeds tuned their diligent voices.\n\nNow, one evening when the last rays of the setting sun were dying the\nstagnant water with the hue of blood, the Secretary of State for the\nTreasury saw at the cross-roads three young fairies who were dancing in\na circle and singing:\n\n     \u201cTrois filles dedans un pr\u00e9\n          Mon coeur vole\n          Mon coeur vole\n     Mon coeur vole \u00e0 votre gr\u00e9.\u201d\n\nThey enclosed him within their circle, and their light and airy forms\nsped swiftly about him. Their faces, in the twilight, were dim and\ntransparent; their tresses shone like the will-o\u2019-the-wisp. They\nrepeated:\n\n\u201cTrois filles dedans un pr\u00e9!\u201d until, dazed and ready to fall, he begged\nfor mercy.\n\nThen said the most beautiful, opening the circle:\n\n\u201cSisters, give leave to Monsieur de Boulingrin to pass, that he may go\nto the castle, and kiss his ladylove.\u201d\n\nHe went on without having recognized the fairies, the mistresses of\nmen\u2019s destinies, and a little farther on he met three old beggar women,\nwho were walking bowed low over their sticks; their faces were like\nthree apples roasted in the cinders. From their rags protruded bones\nwhich had more dirt than flesh upon them. Their naked feet ended in\nfleshless toes of immoderate length, like the bones of an ox-tail.\n\nAs soon as they saw him approaching they smiled upon him and threw him\nkisses; they stopped him on his way, calling him their darling, their\nlove, their pet, and covered him with caresses which he was powerless\nto evade, for the moment he made a movement to escape, they dug into his\nflesh the sharp claws at the tips of their fingers.\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t he handsome? Isn\u2019t he lovely?\u201d they sighed.\n\nFor some time they raved on, begging him to love them. Then, seeing they\ncould not rouse his senses, which were frozen with horror, they covered\nhim with abuse, hammered him with their staves, threw him on the ground\nand trod him underfoot. Then, when he was crushed, broken, aching, and\ncrippled in every limb, the youngest, who was at least eighty years\nof age, squatted upon him and treated him in a manner too infamous to\ndescribe. He was almost suffocated; immediately afterwards the other\ntwo, taking the place of the first, treated the unfortunate gentleman in\nthe same way.\n\nFinally all three made off, saluting him with: \u201cGood night, Endymion!\u201d\n \u201cTo our next meeting, Adonis!\u201d \u201cGood-bye, beautiful Narcissus!\u201d and left\nhim swooning.\n\nWhen he came back to his senses, a toad near him was whistling\ndeliciously like a flute, and a cloud of mosquitoes were dancing before\nthe moon. He rose with great difficulty and limpingly pursued his\njourney.\n\nOnce again Monsieur de Boulingrin had failed to recognize the fairies,\nmistresses of the destinies of men.\n\nThe Duchess of Cicogne awaited him impatiently.\n\n\u201cYou come very late, my friend,\u201d she said.\n\nHe answered, as he kissed her fingers, that it was very kind of her to\nreproach him. His excuse was that he had been somewhat unwell.\n\n\u201cBoulingrin,\u201d she said, \u201csit down there.\u201d\n\nAnd she confided to him that she would be very happy to accept from\nthe royal treasury a present of two thousand crowns, as a fitting\ncompensation for the unkindness of fate, faro having for the last six\nmonths been terribly against her.\n\nInformed that the matter was urgent, Boulingrin wrote immediately to\nMonsieur de La Rochecoup\u00e9e to ask for the necessary sum of money.\n\n\u201cLa Rochecoup\u00e9e will be delighted to obtain it for you,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\nis a helpful person and takes pleasure in serving his friends. I may add\nthat in him one perceives greater talents than are commonly seen in the\nfavourites of Princes. He has taste, and a head for business; but he\nis lacking in philosophy. He believes in fairies, relying on his\nsenses----\u201d\n\n\u201cBoulingrin,\u201d said the Duchess, \u201cyou stink like a tom-cat.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nSEVENTEEN years, day by day, had elapsed since the fairies\u2019 decree. The\nPrincess was as beautiful as a star. The King, Queen, and Court were\nin residence at the rural palace of Eaux-Perdues. Need I relate what\nhappened then? It is well known how the Princess Aurore, wandering one\nday through the castle, came to the top of a keep, where, in a garret,\nshe found a dear old woman, all alone, plying her distaff. She had never\nheard of the King\u2019s regulations, forbidding the use of spindles.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing, my good woman?\u201d asked the Princess.\n\n\u201cI am spinning, my dear child,\u201d replied the old woman, who did not\nrecognize her.\n\n\u201cAh, how pretty it looks,\u201d replied the Princess. \u201cHow do you do it? Give\nit to me, that I may see if I can do it as well.\u201d\n\nNo sooner had she picked up the spindle, than she pricked her hand with\nit, and fell swooning.{*} King Cloche, when he heard that the fairies\u2019\ndecree had been accomplished, ordered that the sleeping Princess should\nbe placed in the Blue Chamber, on a bed of azure embroidered with\nsilver. Shocked, and full of consternation, the courtiers made ready to\nweep, practised sighing, and assumed an expression of deep affliction.\nIntrigues were formed in every direction; it was reported that the King\nhad discharged his Ministers. The blackest calumnies were hatched. It\nwas said that the Duc de La Rochecoup\u00e9e had concocted a draught to\nsend the Princess to sleep, and that Monsieur de Boulingrin was his\naccomplice.\n\n     * Contes de Perrault, \u00e9dition Aadr\u00e9 Lefevre, p. 86-108\n\nThe Duchess of Cicogne climbed the secret staircase to the chambers of\nher old friend, whom she found in his night-cap, smiling, for he was\nreading _La Fianc\u00e9e du roi de Garbe_.\n\nCicogne told him the news, and how the Princess was lying on a blue bed\nin a state of lethargy.\n\nThe Secretary of State listened attentively.\n\n\u201cYou do not believe, I hope, my dear friend, that the fairies have\nanything to do with it?\u201d he said.\n\nFor he did not believe in fairies, although three of them, ancient and\nvenerable, had overpowered him with their love and their staves, and had\ndrenched him to the skin in a disgusting liquid, in order to prove their\nexistence to him. The defect of the experimental method pursued by\nthese ladies is that the experiment was addressed to the senses, whose\ntestimony one can always challenge.\n\n\u201cThe fairies have had everything to do with it!\u201d cried the Duchess. \u201cThe\nPrincess\u2019s accident may have the most unfortunate results for you and\nfor me. People will not fail to attribute it to the incapacity of the\nMinisters, and possibly to their malevolence. Can one tell how far\ncalumny may reach? You are already accused of niggardliness. According\nto what is being said, you refused, on my advice, to pay for warders for\nthe young and unfortunate Princess. Worse than that, there are rumours\nof black magic, of casting spells. The storm has got to be faced. Show\nyourself, or you are lost!\u201d\n\n\u201cCalumny,\u201d said Boulingrin, \u201cis the curse of this world. It has killed\nthe greatest of men. Whoever honestly serves his King must make up his\nmind to pay tribute to that crawling, flying horror.\u201d\n\n\u201cBoulingrin,\u201d said Cicogne, \u201cget dressed.\u201d And she snatched off his\nnight-cap, and threw it down by the bed-side.\n\nA few minutes later they were in the antechamber of the apartment in\nwhich Aurore was sleeping, and seating themselves on a bench they waited\nto be introduced.\n\nNow at the news that the decree of the Fates had been accomplished, the\nfairy Vivien, one of the Princess\u2019s godmothers, repaired in great haste\nto Eaux-Perdues, and in order that when she awoke her god-daughter\nshould have a Court she touched every one in the castle with her ring.\n\u201cGovernesses, maids of honour, women of the bedchamber, noblemen,\nofficers, grooms of the chamber, cooks, scullions, messengers, guards,\nbeadles, pages, and footmen; she also touched the horses in the stables,\nthe grooms, the great mastiffs in the yard, and little Pouffe, the\nPrincess\u2019s lap-dog, which lay near her upon her bed. The very spits\nin front of the fire, loaded with pheasants and partridges, went to\nsleep.\u201d {*}\n\n     * Contes de Perrault, \u00e9dition Aadr\u00e9 Lefevre, p. 87\n\nMeanwhile, Cicogne and Boulingrin waited side by side upon their bench.\n\n\u201cBoulingrin,\u201d whispered the Duchess in her old friend\u2019s ear, \u201cdoes it\nnot seem to you that there is something suspicious in this business?\nDon\u2019t you suspect an intrigue on the part of the King\u2019s brothers to get\nthe poor man to abdicate? He is well known as a good father. They may\nwell have wished to throw him into despair.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is possible,\u201d answered the Secretary of State. \u201cIn any case\nthe fairies have nothing whatever to do with the matter. Only old\ncountrywomen can still believe these cock-and-bull stories.\u201d\n\n\u201cBe quiet, Boulingrin,\u201d said the Duchess. \u201cThere is nothing so hateful\nas a sceptic. He is an impertinent person who laughs at our simplicity.\nI detest strong-minded people; I believe what I ought to believe; but in\nthis particular case, I suspect a dark intrigue.\u201d\n\nAt the moment when Cicogne spoke these words, the fairy Vivien touched\nthem both with her ring, and sent them to sleep like the rest.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nIN a quarter of an hour there grew all round about the park such an\nimmense quantity of trees, large and small, with thorns and briars\ninterlaced,-that neither man nor beast could pass; so that only the\ntops of the castle towers could be seen, and these only from a long\nway off.{*} Once, twice, thrice, fifty, sixty, eighty, ninety, and a\nhundred times did Urania close the circle of Time: the Sleeping Beauty\nand her Court, with Boulingrin beside the Duchess on the bench in the\nantechamber, still slept on.\n\n     * Contes de Perrault, pp. 87-88.\n\nWhether one regard Time as a mode of the unique substance, whether it be\ndefined as one of the forms of the conscious ego, or an abstract phase\nof the immediate externality, or whether one regard it purely as a law,\na relation resulting from the progression of Reality, we can affirm that\none hundred years is a certain space of time.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nEVERY one knows the end of the enchantment, and how, after a hundred\nterrestrial cycles, a prince favoured by the fairies penetrated the\nenchanted wood, and reached the bed where slept the Princess. He was a\nlittle German princeling, with a pretty moustache, and rounded hips. As\nsoon as she woke up, she fell, or rather rose so much in love, that she\nfollowed him to his little principality in such a hurry that she never\nsaid a word to the people of her household, who had slept with her for a\nhundred years.\n\nHer first lady-in-waiting was quite touched thereby, and exclaimed with\nadmiration: \u201cI recognize the blood of my kings.\u201d Boulingrin woke up\nbeside the Duchess de Cicogne at the same time as the Princess and all\nher household. As he rubbed his eyes, his mistress said: \u201cBoulingrin,\nyou have been asleep.\u201d \u201cNot at all, dear lady, not at all.\u201d He spoke in\ngood faith. Having slept without dreaming for a hundred years, he did\nnot know that he had been asleep.\n\n\u201cI have been so little asleep,\u201d he said, \u201cthat I can repeat what you\nsaid a minute ago.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, what did I say?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou said, \u2018I suspect a dark intrigue.\u2019\u201d\n\nAs soon as it awoke, the whole of the little Court was discharged; every\none had to fend for himself as best he could.\n\nBoulingrin and Cicogne hired from the castle steward an old\nseventeenth-century trap drawn by an animal which was already very aged\nbefore it went to sleep for a hundred years, and drove to the station of\nEaux-Perdues, where they caught a train which, in two hours, deposited\nthem in the capital of the country. Great was their surprise at all\nthat they saw and heard. But by the end of a quarter of an hour they had\nexhausted their astonishment, and nothing surprised them any more. As\nfor themselves, nobody took the slightest interest in them. Their story\nwas perfectly incomprehensible, and awakened no curiosity, for our minds\nare not interested in anything that is too obvious, or too difficult to\nfollow.\n\nAs one may well believe, Boulingrin had not the remotest idea what had\nhappened to him. But when the Duchess said that it was not natural, he\nanswered:\n\n\u201cDear lady, allow me to observe that you have been badly trained in\nphysics. Nothing exists which is not according to Nature.\u201d\n\nThere remained to them neither friends, relations, nor property. They\ncould not identify the position of their house. With the little money\nthey had they bought a guitar, and sang in the streets. By this means\nthey gained sufficient to support themselves. At night Cicogne staked\nat manille, in the inns, the coppers that had been thrown her during\nthe day, while Boulingrin, with a bowl of warm wine in front of him,\nexplained to the company that it was ridiculous to believe in fairies.","title":"The Story of the Duchess of Cicogne and of Monsieur de Boulingrin: 1920","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":4286}