Folk Tales from Gascony: The Man of All Colors, Part 1.

THE MAN OF ALL COLORS


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There was, once, an old woodcutter who was a widower, and who lived, with his seven sons, in a cabin in the middle of a large wood.

One day the old woodcutter called his seven sons and said to them:

“Boys, I have been sweating until now to earn you some bread. Now that you are grown up, go work for a living. I still have enough strength not to go to alms. When I can't take it anymore, I will take a bag, and I will go begging for my bread from door to door, as Our Lord Jesus Christ once did."

"Father, we are ready to leave. When we have money, we will bring it to you, and you will not go to alms."

"Go then, and may the Good Lord keep you. But first, I want to make a present to each of you."

Then the old woodcutter opened his chest, where there were a patched garment of all colors, and a purse containing six pistoles. He gave everyone a pistole, starting with the eldest son, so that there was nothing for the youngest.

Those who had each received their pistole saluted their father and left. Then the old woodcutter said to the young man who was waiting:

“Boy, take this patched garment, and do not be jealous of your brothers. You will be the Man of All Colors."

What was said was done. The Man of All Colors saluted his father and left.

At sunset, he arrived at the edge of a large forest and sat down at the foot of an oak tree to spend the night. The Man of All Colors was beginning to fall asleep when he heard screams and noise in the branches. It was a thrush that was distressed near its nest because a snake was coming up to eat its young. Immediately, the Man of All Colors took his staff and cut the snake in two.

This snake was of the kind that kept gold hidden underground. He had twelve double gold Louis in his stomach and as many quadruple Spanish pistoles.

"Good ! said the Man of All Colors, the double gold Louis will be for me, and the quadruple Spanish pistoles for my father."

He lay down again under the oak tree, slept all night, and left again at sunrise. After three hours of walking, he stopped at an inn built on the side of the road. When he had eaten the soup and drunk a bottle, he paid the bourgeois woman and asked her for directions.

“Man of All Colors, if you go straight ahead, in three days you will be in Paris. If you turn right, at exactly noon, you will enter the Land of Hunger and Thirst, and you will go I don't know where."

The Man of All Colors took a right. Just at noon, he arrived in the Land of Hunger and Thirst. There, there is no river, no stream, no well, no fountain. The earth there is dry like the bottom of an oven. Men, animals, large and small, herbs and trees, everything dies there, cooked and roasted by the sun.

For three days and three nights, the Man of All Colors walked, without eating or drinking. Then he found, lying on the ground, a dead man, who still held in his right hand a wrought iron bar, weighing nine quintals. The Man of All Colors buried the dead man, prayed to God for him, took the wrought iron bar weighing nine quintals, and set off again until the next morning.

By sunrise, he had left the Land of Hunger and Thirst. But he had before him a mountain as straight as a wall, which rose to more than a hundred fathoms. At the foot of this mountain, he saw a house, the doors and windows of which were all wide open. It was the house of the Soulless Body, which had gone out to make its rounds.


Source: L'Homme de Toutes Couleurs, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 2, published in 1886


Part 2

Previous Tale: The Son of the King of Spain


Hello, my name is Vincent Celier.

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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.

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This is the longer tale in the category "Fairies, Ogres, Dwarves". In fact, this is the only tale with a dwarf in it.

The younger son of the poor woodcutter seems to be unlucky getting only a garment instead of a valuable coin. But, in a very short time, he got more money than all of his six brothers together, when he killed the snake.

This is a picture of a quadruple Spanish pistole.


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This morning, Kati and her mother went to the cemetery near the vineyard house to visit the tomb of Kati's father. This is the one on the corner of the cemetery in this picture.

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I met Kati's father in 2010. Kati was there when he died and I was there for the funeral in this cemetery.


They bought some groceries before coming back to Kati's mother's house, including a box containing nine frozen vegetarian mini pizzas for me. So, for lunch, I ate these mini pizzas.

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I also ate a vegan yogurt.

Several vegan foods are very tasty, while some others are not. Among the tasty ones are yogurts, mayonnaise and some ice creams.

-- Vincent Celier

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