When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew (5 page)

Late in the afternoon he woke with a start. He saw that the water in the lake was just as it had been. He saw that no one had come to help him.

Desperately, he began to walk around the lake's shores. He even thought about throwing himself in so he would drown.

The princess was watching. She pitied him. She went to him again.

“How is it that you call for my help now, when in the night you would not even speak to me?” she asked.

“I could not help it. I was so tired. I did not hear you,” Ti-Jean explained.

“Very well,” said the princess. “Let us see what we can do.”

She took the old bucket and she held it.

“Bucket, empty the lake,” she said.

The bucket went to work at once. In minutes, there was not a drop of water to be seen.

“Ring, come here,” the princess called.

At once, the ring landed at Ti-Jean's feet.

“Now,” said the princess, “you must listen even more carefully. Tomorrow my father will give you one last task. If you succeed you will be free of him, but if you do not you will have to stay here as his prisoner and serve as his slave forever. Tonight when I knock at your door, be certain that you answer. Let me in so that I may tell you what you must do.”

Ti-Jean promised he would. He returned to Bonnet Rouge to give him the ring. Bonnet Rouge was so angry he started to shake.

“My daughter must have helped you,” he said.

“No,” said Ti-Jean. “The task was easy.”

“My daughter helped you but I will put a stop to that. Tomorrow I will see to it that she remains locked in her room.”

That night, Ti-Jean did not even lie down. He was so determined to stay awake.

At midnight, he heard the princess knocking and calling out to him. He answered her at once.

“Tomorrow,” she told him, “my father will ask you to build a barn and to thatch it with feathers. Here are my magic wand and my magic whistle. I will lend them to you. You only have to touch the hammer with the wand and it will do the work for you. The whistle will summon the birds. My father will give you a gun to kill them but you will not have to do this. Simply touch the gun with the wand and that will be enough. Remember, whatever my father offers you, choose that which is the oldest and dirtiest. Remember also that I cannot help you anymore.”

Ti-Jean thanked the princess. He thanked her very much.

In the morning, Bonnet Rouge came to him at the first light of day.

“You must build me a barn and thatch it with feathers and you must do it before the sun sets,” he said.

“That does not seem so very much,” Ti-Jean was careful to reply.

Bonnet Rouge laughed.

“But today you will work alone,” he roared.

He held out two hammers. Ti-Jean took the oldest and the dirtiest. Bonnet Rouge held out two guns.

“The old one will be the best for me,” Ti-Jean announced.

He went off whistling once again. Immediately, he set to work.

“Hammer, build the barn,” he ordered, touching it with the wand.

The barn was built in less than an hour.

Now for the roof, Ti-Jean thought, as he put the magic whistle to his lips.

With the first notes, a flock of birds came flying. There were so many of all shapes and sizes that they darkened the sky. As the flock passed over the barn, Ti-Jean touched the gun with the wand. From each of the birds fell seven feathers. The feathers were enough to thatch the roof and more besides.

When Bonnet Rouge heard that the barn had been built and thatched just as he had demanded, his anger was terrible. He went red all over. He shook with rage from head to foot. He tried to make Ti-Jean tell him who had helped him, but Ti-Jean was faithful. Over and over, he insisted that the tasks had not been hard.

“You have beaten me,” Bonnet Rouge said finally. “Tomorrow I will let you leave.”

Ti-Jean went to his room, but he lay wakeful. Just at midnight, he heard the princess's knock. He let her in and gave her back the magic wand and the magic whistle. He thanked her yet again.

“It is not time to thank me yet,” she told him. “Tomorrow my father will not set you free. He will kill you. If you wish to remain alive, you must leave at once.”

“How will I do that?” Ti-Jean asked.

“I will go to the barn and I will free the white mare. When she comes to your window, you must jump upon her back. Go in the direction of the rising sun. My father will never be able to catch you. The mare flies on the wings of the wind. She will carry you home, but remember, when you arrive, you must say to her, ‘Mare, go back to your mistress,' so she will return to me.”

“This I will do, I promise,” Ti-Jean said.

He went and waited by the window. Very soon the mare appeared. He saw her coat of shining whiteness and he leapt upon her back. He said goodbye to the princess.

“You have saved my life and I am more grateful to you than I can say,” he said.

“Perhaps I will see you again,” the princess answered.

“I hope so! Oh, I hope so,” Ti-Jean replied.

He flew then like the wind. He came to the home of his parents.

“Mare, go back to your mistress,” he commanded, and the mare sped off.

His parents were so happy to see him that they gave him a great welcome. They had a party and invited the neighbors to come. The cows and the horses were still there. They had grown and flourished. Their coats gleamed in the sun. Ti-Jean's father could not help himself. He was pleased with his son despite all the trouble he had brought.

As for Ti-Jean, he still played marbles. But he was more careful who he played with from then on.

Sac-à-tabac,
Sac-à-tabi.
The story's ended.
C'est fini.

How Ti-Jean Became a Fiddler

Ti-Jean up, Ti-Jean down,
Ti-Jean all around the town.
Sometimes wrong and sometimes right,
Ti-Jean, Ti-Jean, man of might
.

T WASN'T ONLY
farmers who came to the New World in those ships with great white sails. Rich people came as well. They were called
les seigneurs
— the lords — and they set themselves up to live in style. The king of France, who was also their king, gave them land to rule over. Each piece of land was called
une seigneurie
. It was divided up and rented out to people who were not so well off. In a way, each seigneurie was like a kingdom unto itself.

That's where this story begins. It begins on one of those seigneuries.

Now it happened that this seigneur had a daughter, and that daughter was very clever. Life was not then as it is now, of course. In those days, when it came time for a girl to marry, her father chose her husband. That's just how it was.

The seigneur believed that if his daughter was clever, she would need to marry a clever man. He sent his servants near and far to post messages saying that anyone who could talk to her in such a way that she could find no answer would be the chosen one. Anyone who failed would be thrown into prison and would have to stay there for a year and a day. That's because the seigneur did not want his daughter's time wasted with men who had no chance.

Where was Ti-Jean in all of this? He was living three days' journey off with his mother and his two older brothers. His father was a voyageur. That meant he spent most of his time working in the fur trade in the lands to the west. He left in the spring as soon as the ice on the rivers melted. He did not come back again until late in the fall.

Because their father was not home, Ti-Jean's brothers took it upon themselves to give the orders. Not to Ti-Jean's mother. She was not the kind of person to be ordered about by her own sons. They ordered Ti-Jean around, though. They treated him like a servant. They made him fetch and carry and do more than his share of the work.

They never took him with them when they went anywhere. Mostly he did not mind because he liked being home. He helped his mother in the kitchen. He worked with her in the garden. He looked after the chickens. He fed the pigs and milked the cows.

By going places, his brothers heard the news. One day they heard about the seigneur and his daughter. They came back from the market talking of nothing else.

They decided that this was their opportunity to improve themselves.

“You're more likely to be thrown into prison,” their mother told them, but they did not listen to her.

The very next morning, they dressed themselves in their best, mounted their horses and set out.

“Would you like to have gone with them this time?” Ti-Jean's mother asked.