The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-03-05
THE BEST JEWEL.

~.
Once upon Q time in the beautiful Au-
1 SisSsa y & l|sEgE j. SsS 81 l s!shsS 4
and to gIye ths lsrssst n.y. q s6us In
her district to the church 81 the Fete Dieu
She talked about her wish to her little
child, too young to contradict or under
stand it, but when he drummed on the
side of his bread and milk basin, as sign
that it was empty and that he wanted
moro she accepted 1t as a sign that he
agreed with her and would do anything in
his baby power to help her get the extra
sous.
His mother kissed him. "You shall go
with me, mon petit" she cried. "When
the serpent sees you, he will rub his eyes
and say: oh, there Is beautiful some.
thing. Its hair is yellower than the gold I
guard. Its skin Is smoother than the pearls
protect. Its eyes are bluer than the sap.
phires save Its lips are redder than my
rubies' Then / will scramble up all that
can Of the precious gems while he stares
! so hard at you, when, presto! we shall be
coming home, too rich to walk, and the old
. serpent beating himself with his own tail
because MS treasure WIS Sloieu NiliS io
CAPPED 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. "
The baby laughed, and the mother wills,
pered In response, for no one must know
her splendid secret. "Just wait, sweet
bells, We shall soon DO there, to the service
of Fete Dicu, with something white and
something blue, something rcd and yellow,
too, for the service of Fete Dieu."
"Good day, Marie" said an old man to
her leaning across his gate as she passed.
"What has a check as round and rcd as
your boys and u skin as shiny and
smooth?'
Marie was startled She was thinking
only of the Jewels in the cave.
San 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 b.
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 its coilcd head and stared at the
child with its emerald eyes as if fascinated.
Tiptocing in, the mother put the child on
the table, pressed Picrre's apple into it's
tiny hand ard began scramble for as
IL, In, hnr nah
The serpent showed no resistance 1t still
gazed in rapture upon the little child who
stretched cut the apple as If inviting 1t to
come nearer.
Slowly uncoiling, the serpent crawled
toward the table leaving unprotected It's
bed of gold and gems Marie, watching,
made three quick thrusts of her hand into
the precious heap. A handful Of diamonds
she thrust into her pocket, handful of
ruhies into her dress, and the third OF
pearls she was about to hide in her apron
when she raw 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 tho stone and escaped just
as it bumped into place, for the Fete Dicu
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 wrineing her
hands ran down the hill to the village be.
low.
Pierre was still at the gate when she
went past $50 tell the priest, Marie, " he
said, as if he knew all about her trouble,
"That l 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 il showed well
that one should be contcntcd to let other
peoples caves and jewels alone.
Suddenly the priest made them sign
to stop their chattering. Como with me- "
he said. "Wc will go TO the cave and pick
up every jewel that the Child's mother has
scattered"
Tho villagers could not but approve this
plan. They followed him up the hillside to
the cave, locking under every grass blade
and flower bed for the beautiful scattered
jewels, and soGn, because their eyes were
,'jolnT '' nrorI s,,o+ +orcd non, or1 hit If
l,, n az, H., t.a ,,riostrs bona
g. NIa,,io ,rod,,;nl, Lit+orlr trie6 IN
soouoh a1so h,'t 40 Looked tbronrh too
,,arr +cars tn cen nloarlv and brr bords
trc,ublGd 50 violently that had she found
diamond she could not have picked it up.
For year, till the next FCte Dicu, the
priest kept the treasure, Then he gave it
+o tho carC and rbcn thnetonc rollcd Iocl,
~ NV INV s'A'N " - 'i'N'''"