Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-03-08
MiScGIIa any
From Once a Week.
THE LITTLE REDCAPS OF kerr
LEAU.
4 BRETON TALE.

In the corner Of the court yard of the cas-
tie Of Kerleau may be seen the crumblin
stone statue of a peasant, which has stoo
there for many ages.
In the days when good Christians reache
Heaven by faith aud good works, Satan wa
forced to exercise his wits to draw them int
snares he was, therefore, much more fre
Quently to be seen among men at that tim
than he IS now (lor in these days he has n,
need to come to US, as we of our own accorl
20 to him). But whatever forethought bt
might exercise, and whatever pains the ev
spirit might take, his most carefully prenar.
ed plots would sometimes fail. even when
brought TO bear upon the simple ones
There was, then, at that time, in the Com
mune OF Eleven, a poor peasant, named
Laurent; he was a widOwer, and had no
other possession in the world than a beauti-
fui daughter; the pearl of the country. who
went by the name of fair Jeanette; but
though the love OF money was then less pre-
yalent than 1t is now, no one envied the rood
mar hls treasure, and none of the lads of the
parish, though they were always delighted at
an opportunity OF dancing with Jeannette.
and paid her fine compliments, ever thought
ot marrying her.
"Ah. If l had but good farm said
poor Laurent to himself, - I'd make Jean
nc tie worth being looked after by the best
lads IN the commune but with the Door
wages of a day laborcr, how can ! put any
thing aside? 1t the Count of Llrgoet would
only give me some assistance, | would clear
some Of his land for him, and we should both
be gamers by the bargain"
Hunger, they say, brings the wolf out of
the forest and father Laurent. having laid
all the plans, paid visit to the castle of
Largoet, and proposed to the Count to take
part of his land and get it into order, if he
would make him good advance.
Very good, said the Count; d" will
give you a hundred crowns, a good herd of
cattle, and all the tools you want but by
this time three years you must have cleared
and planted and hedged all the land that is
allotted to you
Thoroughly delighted with his bargain,
Laurent confidently set to work. He built
cottage for himself and daughter, and stalls
tor the cattle, for IN those days, with hun
dred crowns, great many stones could be
put one upon another.
When once they were lodged, the good
man engaged labOrers who cut bitches,
plowed the land and sowed a great field,
a
borrowed, But at the expiration Of twelve
months, Laurent found himself far poorer
than at the beginning, for he was in debt,
and he had hardly any corn, as the harvest
had been bad, and his labOrers who had been
badly fed and not paid at all, had all left him.
One day, when the unfortunate Laurent
was digging a trench alone, and the sweat
was running in streams from his brow, and
1 }. ,l5 fo+f lo Ia
mented his hard lot, and clutching his hair,
cried out -
.. Yes, | would, I'd give myself to the devil
for mere nothing.
" Here [ am, at your service, said Satan,
who was immediately at hand.
" No, no, by 10 means, thank you, said
Laurent; | prefer working alone.
"Well, but I'll work loryou, and without
wages
"Oh, no you never give any thing for
ncthing," said the peasant.
Come, " said Satan, "don't 90 on argu-
ing, hut lets make bargain. pity you,
Ter IN a good hearted fellow, and I'll work
for you for a year and day for nothing, on
the condition that you'll always supply me
with work but the first time 1t fails, -
You'll carry me Of, - said the peasant.
well, then, l decline.
BY no means, you old idiot said Sa-
tan ''it isn't you Ia have, but your
daughter.
You'd have my daught9r - Go along
with you - said the exasperated Laurent.
well, but if you always remain poor,
you II have no means of getting your daugh-
Ter married.
.'Wel, then, let her be an old maid all
her life don't care.
"Yes, it 5 possible you don't care but
how about her -
Poor Laurent set himself to thiuk.-
There's great sight of work to be done
here, and | shall easily employ him for q
year and a day he'll be awfully cunning if
be contrives TO do all shall give him
Well he said, at length, "-'
"lou refuse ?' said Satan.
"No, on the contrary, ! accept
"Well, then, master, what shall | do p
Finish this ditch, while go and rest. -
As long as there were fields to be plowed
aud sown, grass to be cut corn to be threshcd,
and wagons to be built, all went on well, and
they were quite at their ease ; but alter
eight DAYS of hard labor; there was not
much left to be done, and the fear OF finding
nothing for his workman to do began to
torment the good man, who looked at his
daughter with fear and trembling. Day and
night he rackcd his brain to find some means
Of occupying the activity of Satan; he lost
his appetite, and he daily grew thinner and
sa1der.
But one morning when he got up, he had
quite lost his gloomy and morose manner,
and seemed almost beside himself with Joy /;
and when his workman came to ask for work,
Laurent, in a careless manner, took him by
the shoulder, and said; -
u am very well pleased with you, for you
work captally; but don't like you to be
always toiling 50 hard, so to-day, I'm going
to give you something to do that won't tire
you. Just 90 and fetch fork out of the
stable, and I'll meet you in the yard
So while he was gone to the stable to fetch
the fork, Laurent went up into the little
loft, and, and emptied down into the yard a
great sack Of wheat, and then coming to the
door when Satan returned, he said -
''Just throw me up this wheat with your
fork, and I'll measure it into your sack
So the devil set to work, plunging his fork
again and again into the heap Of wheat,
without picking up "a single grain.
''Contound it :" he cried out, with an
oath, what dog'o work have you gwen me
mere aud he leaned upon his fork in de-
SPAR.
We'll, my fine fellow" said Laurens, "if
you won't do ny work, you can 20 and get
some elsewhere, for I'm not going to feed
you for nothing Do you understand p
YES, yes, | understand" growled Satan,
furious at being thus outwitted. 81 will
leave you, but I'll have my revenge some
day" And he disappeared.
A short time after this, foreigner having
bought this land, which the devil had put