This is post #29 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.
THE BASTARD
Then the five men taught the Bastard the finer points of those who have the power to change themselves into all kinds of things, and wished him good night. This done, the Bastard slept until morning and set off again at sunrise. On the evening of the hundredth day, he joined, in a foreign country, the army of the King of France which was fighting the enemies.
The Bastard went to find his general.
“Good evening, general."
"Good evening, Bastard. You are a man of your word, and you do well to come back. Since you left, the enemies have taken into their service a man who has the power to change himself into all kinds of things seven times a night. By this means, he kills many soldiers of me. If this continues, my entire army will be decimated. Do you feel capable of ridding me of this worthless thing?"
"I will try, general."
The same evening, the Bastard took his old Maltese knight's sword and went off alone to stand sentry in a large wood. Until midnight he neither saw nor heard anything. When the last stroke of midnight struck, the Bastard saw the man coming to him who had the power to change himself into all kinds of things seven times a night. Immediately, the man changed into a dog.
But the Bastard was suspicious, and he waited without fear. Then the man changed into an owl.
But the Bastard was suspicious, and he waited without fear. Then the man changed into a glow worm.
But the Bastard was suspicious, and he waited without fear. Then the man turned into a dry leaf.
But the Bastard was suspicious, and he waited without fear. Then the man turned into mist.
But the Bastard was suspicious, and he waited without fear. Then the man changed into the sound of a bell that rings out agony.
But the Bastard was suspicious, and he waited without fear. Then the man thought that he only had to change shape once more that night, and he waited a long time before making up his mind. Finally, he changed into a wind and rushed at the sentinel.
But the Bastard was suspicious, and he waited without fear. With a single blow of his old Maltese knight's sword, he cut the wind in two, and the man fell to the ground in two pieces.
"Good!" thought the Bastard. "The great eagle had not lied to me. Now I can present myself before my father, the King of France."
So he went to find the general.
“Hello, general. I got rid of the taste of bread for the man who had the power to change himself into all kinds of things seven times a night."
"Thank you, Bastard. Now the war will soon be over, and we can all return home. Tell me, Bastard, how did the man change when you killed him?"
"General, he turned into a wind, and I sliced him in two."
"You cut the wind in two! Quick, show me your tongue."
"General, you will not see my tongue. For this, I do not owe you obedience in this matter."
"It's true. At least swear to me that you made your first communion and that your tongue was seen by the priest who gave you the consecrated host."
"General, I swear to you by my soul."
"It's good. Wait for me here, until I come back."
The general left, and returned a moment later.
Source: Le Bâtard, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 1, published in 1886
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4
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.
We have another example of repetition: seven times, the Bastard "was suspicious, and he waited without fear."
It seems that the Bastard has done what he needed to do before being recognized by the King of France. The great eagle told him to not show his tongue to anybody, except a dead priest for his first communion. He has done exactly that.
The Bastard has heard from a man who was beating a drum that he needed to cut the wind in two before being recognized by his father, the King of France. He just did that.
So, nothing seems to prevent him from seeing his father. The end of the tale is near.
Today, the temperature went as high as 27 degrees Celsius in Pécs. That is more than 10 degrees higher than the average high in October, which is 16.5 degrees Celsius.
In Hungarian cities, the streets are usually designated as "utca", sometimes "utcája". For example, in Pécs, one of the main streets is "József Attila utca", named after a famous Hungarian poet of the 20th century, who died young at the age of 32.
Roads are designated as "út". An example is "Pécsváradi út", which means "road of Pécsvárad". Pécsvárad is a town less than 15 km from Pécs.
In the country, you find also út, but more often you find roads or streets designated as "sor", "köz" or "dűlő". "sor" means row, "köz" means alley or lane, and "dűlő" means vineyard,
Examples of small road signs around here:
As we are on a hill, where there were many small vineyards, some of the names of the roads are related to winemaking.
A tőtike is a wooden funnel that was used in winemaking.
A gilice is a turtle dove.
And a bormérő is a wine measurer.
-- Vincent Celier