Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-04-29
THE BEST JEWEL.

Once upon time in the beautiful Au
tunois there was a peasant woman whit
wished to be richer than her neighbour
and to give the largest number of sous il
her district to the church on the Fete Dieu
She talked about her wish to her littl,
child, too young to contradict OF under
stand it, but when he drummed on til,
side of his bread and milk BASIN as a sign
that it was empty and that he wanted
more, she accepted it as a sign that hi
| agreed with her and would do ANYTHING IL
his baby power to help her get the extra
sous.
| His mother kissed him. "You shall ge
with me, mon petit" she cried. "Whe1
the serpent sees you, he will rub his eyes
and say; oh, there is a beautiful some
thing. Its hair is yellower than the gold ]
guard. Its skin is smoother than the pearls
| protect It's eyes are bluer than the sap
| phires l save. Its lips are redder than my
rubies.' Then will scramble UP all thai
can Of the precious gems, while he stares
SO hard at you, when, presto we shall BIZ
coming home, too rich to walk, and the ole
serpent beating himself with his own tail
because his treasure was stolen while hi
gaped at little child
On the day Of the great fete the mother
and child were ready for their visit to the
cave, starting just as the sweet bells rang
out their "Come to church. Come to
church for the service of the Fete Dieu. y
The baby laughed, and the mother whis
pered in response, for no one must know
her splendid secret. just wait, sweet
bells, we shall soon be there, to the service
Of Fete Dieu, with something white and
something blue, something red and yellow
too, for the service of Fete Dieu."
GOOD day, Marie" said an old man ia
her, leaning across his gate as she passed.
'sWhat has a cheek as round and red az
your boys and skin as shiny and
SMOOTH"
Marie was startled. She was thinking
only of the jewels in the cave.
IAN apple" He laughed and held out
one polished like wax to the baby.
Thanks, good Pierre, You are always the
one to jest kindly
And she dropped the apple into her
pocket and fastened on with the happy ba.
by. Quite breathless, she reached the hill
at length, to find the stone rolled back
from the opening Of the cave, showing in.
side the heap Of precious stones on which
the serpent lay coiled. Gold and gems lay
scattered on the floor, and plain wooden
table stood in the center. The serpent
raised it's coiled head and stared at the
child with it's emerald eyes as if fascinated
Tiptoeing in, the mother put the child on
the table, pressed Pierre's apple into its
tiny hand and began a scramble for as
many jewels as were within her reach.
The serpent showed no resistance. 1t still
gazed in rapture upon the little child, who
stretched out the apple as If inviting it to
come nearer.
Slowly uncoiling, the serpent crawled
toward the table, leaving unprotected its
bed of gold and gems. Marie, watching,
made three quick thrrsts of her hand into
the precious heap. A handful of diamonds
she thrust into her pocket, a handful Of
rubies into her dress, and the third Of
pearls she was about to hide in her apron
when she saw the stone rolling to close to
the mouth Of the cave and shut her in.
Forgetting everything but the dreadful
danger Of being buried alive in the cave,
she pushed past the stone and escaped just
as 1t bumped into place, for the Fete Dieu
service was over
Now only she remembered her dear lit.
tie child shut in the cave with the terrible
serpent Uttering sharp cry, she flung
the diamonds and rubies and pearls on the
grass like hailstones, and wringing her
hands ran down the hill to the village be.
low.
Pierre was still at the gate when she
went past. go tell the priest, Marie, !" he
said, as if he knew all about her trouble
That will, she said, rushing on, but
when the priest heard her story he shook
his head and looked very grave, as if moth
ing could be done.
The village people were all agog. A
thing so serious as this had never happen.
ed among them before, and it showed well
that one should be contented to let other
peoples caves and jewels alone.
Suddenly the priest made them sign
to stop their chattering. "Come with me,
he said. "We will go to the cave and pick
up every jewel that the child's mother has
scattered"
The villagers could not but approve this
plan. They followed him up the hillside to
the cave, looking under every grass blade
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