PETITON
There was, once, a widow, who lived very comfortably with Petiton, her only son. Petiton was already over twenty years old. You could have often seen boys dumber than him. But he was so confident, so confident, that he had been fooled more than a hundred times, without his having corrected himself.
“My son,” his mother said to him one day, “today is the fair at Layrac. In an hour, you will leave to sell our finest pair of oxen. Beware of these scoundrel cattle dealers, and only release our animals for good money.
"Mother, you will be obeyed. And how much will I ask for our oxen?"
"My son, you will see what their price is at the fairground. Check out the course. Ask for the right thing, for reason."
"Yes, mother, the just, the reason. Count on me to do as you wish."
Petiton therefore breakfasted like a man who must go far, groomed his oxen, tied them to the yoke, dressed himself in new clothes, took his goad, and left. At exactly noon, he arrived at the Layrac fairgrounds.
Two scoundrel cattle dealers approached.
“Hello, Petiton. How much do you ask for your oxen?"
"My friends, I am asking for the right thing, the reason."
"Petiton, you are asking for a lot."
"My friends, I am asking for the right thing, the reason. You won't get them for two farthings less."
"Well, Petiton, the oxen are sold. Get over there and wait for us. Time to go look for the right one in town, the reason."
The two scoundrel cattle dealers left, and soon returned, each carrying a paper cone.
“Here, Petiton. Here is the right one. Be careful not to lose it."
"Here, Petiton. That's the reason. Be careful not to lose it."
"My friends, trust me. And now the oxen are yours. I hope you will resell them at a great profit."
The two scoundrel dealers left, with the oxen, and Petiton returned to his mother.
“Good evening, mother. The oxen are sold."
"How much, my friend?"
"Mother, I did as you ordered me. I sold them for the right one, the reason."
"Show me."
Petiton presented the two paper cones. One was full of fleas; the other was full of lice.
“The imbecile!” So you weren't suspicious of these scoundrel cattle dealers? However, I had recommended you to only release our animals in exchange for good coins."
"Mother, you told me to ask for the right thing, the reason. I thought I was bringing them back, in these two paper cones."
"Eat some soup, stupid, and go to bed. It is not you who will ever take the wolf by the tail."
Petiton obeys, without saying a word. But, in his bed, he began to think:
“I’m done being confident. Those who deceive me from now on will be able to boast of being wise. Ah! My mother told me: “You’re not the one who will ever take the wolf by the tail.” We will see."
With this thought, Petiton got up, dressed slowly, gently, in the darkness, took a good oak stick, a rope as thick as a finger, and left.
At midnight he was in a large wood, where there was no shortage of wolves. There, he arranged his rope in a noose, on the path beaten by the evil beasts, and hid himself, his good oak stick in his hand.
Petiton did not wait long. A quarter of an hour later, a large wolf came and got caught in the noose.
Immediately, the boy grabbed him by the tail, striking, with great force, with his good oak stick.
" Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The great wolf had found his master. Petiton took him as he wanted, with the rope around his neck. By sunrise, he was back home.
Source: Petiton, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 3, published in 1886
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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.
Petiton is too confident and is easily fooled by scoundrels.
But he has just decided that this has to stop. And to show to himself and the world that he is changing, he decided to capture a wolf.
And he succeeded.
Yesterday morning, we drove, Kati and me, to Harrison Hot Springs where I own a house. We stopped in Chilliwack for lunch and arrived at the house around 2 PM.
There are in fact two houses: the "small house" on the right, and the big house on the left.
The guy who bought the land did not have enough money to build a big house, so he built a small one and lived in it for several years.
Then, when he had the money he built the big house.
In this picture, you see the small house on the right and the entrance of the big house.
-- Vincent Celier