The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-11
THE TOAD'S JEWEL.
A Story That Bears Gut the Famous
Line OF Shakespeare

Nov, madame, what do you think of
that!" asked Mime. Valois, drawing
from a little mauve colored velvet case a
necklace OF curious beads, of a substance
resembling amber, but having IN the
heart of each a light like that Of the
finest opal, and being generally of the
color Of which we speak as crushed straw
berry.
"Nhat are those stones!"
81 think the necklace beautiful" 1 re-
piled. "But you must tell me what the
stones are. for l can not even guess; /
have never seen anything like them, nor
do they tally with any descriptions that
l remember"
Nine. Valois looked pleased.
"Ah, madame, l cannot tell you" she
said, spreading her hands abroad, ''nor
can any one, ! believe. They have been
examined by many people learned in
such things without having a name
given to them. They are pretty now, but
when the warmth Of the wearer's neck
acts upon them they glow like rubies.
The little clasp also becomes transparent,
and you see that a toad is carved upon it.
It has been in our family q century and
a half, and many celebrated jewelers. and
lapidaries have seen it. / never dreamed
that l should be the first to get a clew to
the mystery, but I think I have done SO.
1t was by reading your Shakespeare,
madame. You look astonished, but 1t is
true. | am much indebted to your
Shakespeare said Mime. Valois. What
a wonderful man he wasl It was
while reading his plays that | solved
a problem that has puzzled many gener-
ations Of our family. You remember
what he said:
"fLikea toad, ugly and venomous, still
hides a precious jewel in his head"
''My necklace, | am assured, is made
of those jewels that are mentioned by
your Shakespeare. / will tell you my
reasons for thinking SO:
tYou must know that / have in Avi-
gnon a very old yet still very pretty cha
teau which / now lease to an American.
"a hundred and fifty years ago our
family resided there, and one day a Va
lois brought home to the chateau a very
gay and pretty Partisan wife. Nine.
Valois, coming a young bride to her hus-
bands chateau i'll Avignon, thought it
gray and gloomy, and felt that, after
Paris, it was very stupid. To be sure.
there was a great garden, but it was SO
infested with toads that at first her walks
among the borders always ended in her
flying homeward in an agony of terror,
crying out that the little wretches were
too disgusting to endure.
Zone day, however, as she sat upon a
bench beside an old stone fountain she
heard close to her a little singing noise
and saw squatting close beside her on the
bench a little toad. 1t sat quite still and
made this little p~laintive musical sound
continually. Its eyes were fixed upon
her and she noticed that they were very
bright.
"'Poor little thing she said to herself.
Really, it looks hungry And, havinga
little cake in her pocket, she crumbled it
upon the bench.
THE toad looked at her as she did SO,
and when she said kindly:
"'There, Toady, is your breakfast it
hoped forward and eat every crumb.
Then it did a strange thing. 1t sat upon
it's launches and touched its fore feet to
its forehead as an Oriental does to make
IN obeisance. and hoped away.
s'The next day Mime. Valois awoke
thinking of the toad, and whenever she
eat anything she liked very much she
saved some bits, saying Toady would like
that, and at sunset she went to the foun-
tain, carrying a basket, and sat down
upon the old bench.
sNot five minutes had she been seated
there when she heard the soft, singing
sound, and there sprung to the bench be-
side her the toad she had fed the day be-
fore and four Of the most charming little
toads any one eyer saw, evidently Mime.
Toad's family.
"She sat in the middle with two on
each side of her, and they eat the crumbs
Nine. Valois gave them, and when all
were gone Nine. Toad made a saluta-
ton as on the first occasion, and hoped
away backward as people are expected
to retire from the royal presence, and
Nine. Valois went home and wrote in
her iournal-which is preserved to this
day-all the particulars / have recounted
to you.
''She was now quite in love with Nine.
Toad, and every day she went at the
same hour to feed the little creatures.
She was very young and very much
afraid of her husband, who was a very
grave, elderly man, and did not like
nonsense, SO she did not tell him any
thing about all this, but kept the secret
for her diary until winter came. Then
indeed she was obliged to confide the
matter TO her maid, for the dearth Of in
seets caused a famine among the toads,
or so she supposed, for when she went to
the fountain hundreds of them came and
squatted about her with pleading looks
in their little bottle shaped eyes, and all
their little hands clasped im~ploringly.
when she saw them thus assembled
for the first time, Mime. Valois made
them this speech:
"'My pretty little toads, / love you
all. You are my tenants-being born
upon my ground. / assure you you shall,
not starve. Every morning and every
evening you shall be fed
''After this the maid always carried a
basket of food to the bench and madame
distributed it. The army of toads swaI-
lowed the last crumb, Nine. Toad thank
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