Morning journal and courier., 1886-01-15
A Coraacnn T.auaud

from Europe. In the course of his wander ings he had visited Corsica; naturally we had long conversation on the subject. As I l asked him what impressed him the most dur | ing his travels through my native land he re- | piled: "Its forests of pine trees and the ex- | treme cleanliness of the farm houses" q
 caunot account for the pine trees," said I, l "but if you are willing to listen to hetero-
 dox story, will tell you why they are so l clean now"
 l "Ge on," answered he tfI am all ear."
 Long, long ago when Genoa (that the Ita1-
 ians call 'the Superb" probably because she
 is superbly dirty had her foot on the neck of
 Corsica, in the village of Orezza lived Paulo l Duranti, farmer, his wife Maria, and their | two children. At that time the Corsican farmers thought that the more filthy their
 villages were the better they looked, there fore the houses were never painted nor the
 streets never swept; heaps of manure were left standing before the principal entrances l of the houses. You may imagine what havoc l fevers of every description were making
 amongst the Corsican peasantry. When sick
 ness enters in house poverty follows it.; l sometimes sickness departs but poverty Te-
 mains. Then one day Paulo got the fever,
 Giuseppe, the boy, got the Smallpox, and l Julia, the little pet got the measles.
 Poor Maria had not a moment of rest; | night and day she was up nursing her hus-
 band and children. She cried; she prat ed; l; | she made dozen VOWS to the Santa Madon- | na Santo Rocco; but Heaven was too high
 and the Holy Virgin and St. Rock were deaf Everything in this world has an end, and
 there is not cloud, so black it might be 1 that is not lined with silver; so Paulo and ! the children became we'll again. In order to l furnish those whom she loved so dearly with the most necessary things she had sold ev- | erything in the house but table cloth and ! the furniture indispensable to family of ! four persons; so that nothing was left in the ] house but filth, and outside the heap of man.
 ure, which rolled itself an old mute, blind of eye, short-sighted of the other, ! and so thin that the street arabs of the viii ! lage often asked Maria if she fed the animal | on barrels, hoops were distinctly seen der the skin of the wretched hybrid. One evening poor Maria said to her hus- band: "Paulo, we are without money, and ! we possess nothing but the old mule; you l ought to sell it." Saying so, she burst into ! tears. After her husband and children,
 what sine loved the best was this same old
 mule. "Ah, Nerra, my dear Nerra, we | must part with you," and the good woman l filled the house with her sobs, re: echoed by ! the children. Finally, it was agreed that Paulo would take Nerra to the market the | next day. What night the family passed! Morning came, and with it more sorrows. ! and the mule. A kiss-a warm kiss, too, was given by the family to the animal that ! had been good, faithful and 1aborious ser want to them all, and the sad journey began.
 Paulo, dragging the mule behind him, had | marched about six miles on desolate road under scorching sun, when suddenly Nerra ' refused to walk any more, the rope that bound her to her master violently stretched by the back. 'sWhat is the matter Nerras' asked he, picking himself up. Then voice sounding like French hunting horn an- swered the query addressed to the mule. "Ah! An! Signor Paulo Duranti, great good for nothing, where are you going?' Pauio turned pale when he saw standing by the side of the road little man two feet high, with beard so long that it reached his feet; he had his arms crossed over his breast and was laughing; the Corsican re- cognized in him the King of the Goblins. Trembling leaf he replied: ''I am going to the market, as we are so poor that we have to sell the only friend we have in this world"
 ''Is that so?' sardonically inquired the King. '"Then, in this case, will buy your mule. How much do you ask for its"
 'fWhat it may please yur majesty to give me-"
 sFAll right. Piss me the mule and take the bottle. Now go home. After your arrival you.will remove the manure from your door,
 
 children will clean the windows and polish the spoons, forks and knives. Maria will patch your brooches and jacket, darn your stockings, scrub the floor, comb the chil- dren's hair, wash their faces and clothes and see that nothing dirty is left in the house; then she will spread the tablecloth the table; you, Paulo, you will place the bottle in the center and say: Bottle, do your duty Now, good-by. You are rich man, if you follow my instructions to the letter. I do this good turn for you because we are cousins. Do you know that you are of royal blood, Paulo Durants But, to be frank with you, you are certainly not credit to our family. Indeed, if somebody was listening to what am saying, would be ashamed to claim you as kindred, so disgusting you your toes passing through your shoes"
 Paulo took the bottle, gave gentle slap to Nerra as an adieu and turned his steps toward home.
 "Am net fine fel1ow?" thought he i "Why, this newly-found cousin of mine has l mocked me, sure. It is funny bargain that l l have made with him. What will I say to | Maria! To exchange old mule for an | empty bottle and carload of reoommenda- | tions. I ought to get licked"
 Thinking does not prevent one from walk l ing. Four hours after his departure Paulo | was sitting in his house telling his wife what l the King of the Goblins had said to him. To l his astonishment she did not scod him; on | the contrary, she was glad that her husband | had had the idea to accept what his majesty | had given him for his mule.
 ''Let us work quickly, "she said the clothes | King is Corsican goblin, and, therefore, | cannot cheat us. Oh! if he was from Genoa l it would be very different indeed"
 Then they began to work. Soon the house l painted, whitewashed, scrubbed, the | mended and washed. Then everything was | in good shape, the table cloth was spread K1a in &ho Then with a loud voice he cried, Bottle, do | your duty" Hardly had he uttered these | words when out from the bottle sprung two | little gnomes, carrying on their heads, one a | plate made of solid gold and the other one of | solid silver; both plates enlarged themselves ! out of proportion with their bearers and their | place of confinement. They were filled with | all kinds of exquisite food 1They were filled | with all kinds of exquisite food. The little | gnomes made nine trips to the bottle, but | they did not remove the plates, so that after | the meals were finished nine gold and nine silver plates were left on the table. .Paulo | gathered them and departed for Ajaccio, the | capital of Corsica. He sold them to a jew eler, who gave him large price for his wares.
 As the bottle was inexhaustible, Paulo | became so rich that he bought the whole viii lage of Orezza, and compelled his tenants to be as clean..as he was himself; through clean liness they grew healthy, and parting, wealthy. The surrounding villages, seeing the prosperity of Orezza, thought that by mending their clothes, keeping their houses clean and in good repair, cleaning their streets and draining their farms, they would be rewarded as their fellow-c citizen had been. That is the reason why ill few years the whole country was transformed from an abode of filth to an abode of cleanliness, and what was done in the hope of getting rich afterward was continued through mere strength of habit.
 'But what became of the bottlea' asked l the clergyman.
 I will tell you. When Paulo was rich enough, one day he took the bottle with him and departed in search of the King of the Goblins whom he found at the same place where he had previously met him.
 "What do you want now, Paulo Duranti, my cousin? Are you net happy now adaysa''
 t'No, your majesty, as need something else besides riches"