This is post #12 of my penance after I have been blacklisted by Hivewatchers for plagiarizing.
No need to upvote this post, as the payout has been declined.
But comments are welcome. I will continue to upvote all meaningful comments.
LA FLEUR
"Eagle, I command you to take these two men there immediately."
"Green Man, you will be obeyed. But I must not miss raw flesh along the way."
Then the Green Man bled a sheep and skinned it.
“Eagle, here’s some raw meat. Leave."
The eagle loaded the two men and the meat on its back and flew away. From hour to hour, he shouted deafeningly:
“Raw meat!” Raw meat!"
The sheep ends up going through it to the bones. Then, La Fleur and his valet saw the City of Seven Spires. But the eagle still cried out, deafeningly:
“Raw meat!” Raw meat!"
What did La Fleur do then? He drew his sword and cut off a piece of his thigh.
“Here, eagle. This is raw meat."
Five minutes later, the eagle placed them in front of the gate of the City of Seven Spires.
“My friends, I did as the Green Man ordered me. Farewell."
"Thank you, eagle."
The eagle left. On the main square of the City of Seven Spires, La Fleur and his valet found the Princess, with three saddled and bridled horses.
“Let us go, my friends. On the saddle!"
All three set off at full gallop. At sunset, they were in a meadow, under tall trees. There flowed a fountain of silver.
“Listen, La Fleur,” said the Princess. "I have no food to leave you. You still have two apples as red as poppies left. Eat them, if you want. But be careful not to drink from the fountain of silver. At exactly midnight I will return, and we will go and get married in my father's country.
"Princess, you will be obeyed."
The Princess left, and the master and servant fell asleep under the big trees. An hour later, the captain woke up with an empty stomach. So he ate the two apples red like poppies. Immediately, thirst seized him, so terrible, so terrible, that he drank from the fountain of silver. At the first drink, he fell asleep like a log.
Just at midnight, the Princess arrived. La Fleur was still sleeping.
“Valet,” she said, “your master has disobeyed me. But you did what you were ordered. As payment for your services, here is a mule loaded with gold. When your master wakes up, tell him that I give him until noon tomorrow to find myself in the land where the Wind of Autan will blow.
"Princess, you will be obeyed."
The Princess placed a golden ring on the finger of the sleeping La Fleur, covered his face with a red silk handkerchief and a white silk handkerchief, and left. At the rising sun, La Fleur woke up.
“Captain, at exactly midnight, the Princess came. You were sleeping, and she said: “Valet, your master has disobeyed me. But you did what you were ordered. As payment for your services, here is a mule loaded with gold. When your master wakes up, tell him that I give him until noon tomorrow to find myself in the land where the Wind of Autan will blow." So, the princess put this gold ring on your finger. She covered your face with this red silk handkerchief and this white silk handkerchief, and she left."
"Valet, my mistake will cost us dearly. Saddle and bridle our horses, and let's set off for the country where the Wind of Autan will blow tomorrow."
"Captain, our horses have escaped. We only have the mule loaded with gold."
They both set off on foot, chasing the mule laden with gold before them. Two hours before sunset, they arrived at the bottom of a mountain so steep, so high, that neither the two men nor their beast could climb it.
Source: La Fleur, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 1, published in 1886.
Hello, my name is Vincent Celier.
I am writing translations of folk tales that I found in public domain French books, so that people who do not understand French may enjoy them too.
Once again, La Fleur was thirsty and did not follow the instruction to not drink. It is not specified in the tale why he should not drink. I have no idea why.
We see another example of repetition when the valet repeats to La Fleur what has happened while he was sleeping.
The valet is a good guy: he could have left with the gold-loaded mule, but he stayed with La Fleur.
As I am leaving tomorrow morning, at 6 a.m., I have loaded my car with the 120 bottles of wine. Tomorrow night, I will stop at a hotel near Stuttgart in Germany.
120 bottles of 0.75 liter is 90 liters. This is exactly the maximum allowed to be transported in Europe without a permit.
As I will be using motorways in Hungary, today I went to buy a "vignette" that allows me to drive on motorways for 10 days. Of course, it will be used only tomorrow.
Today, we planted three of the four trees. I say "We planted", I should probably say that Kati did most of the work because I did not want to be tired again before my long drive to France.
In the morning she planted first the Indian banana tree.
Then, in the afternoon, the two pecan trees.
She will plant the cherry tree tomorrow.
-- Vincent Celier