But it was, after all, the poor men and women who were to be most pitied during all this awful time. They were to be found everywhere, with their tongues hanging out like those of hares which have run before the hounds for hours. The hot glare of the sun, and the horrible thirst, turned these poor people half-crazy. Some would throw themselves into wells, hoping to find water in their dark depths.
THE DREADFUL DROUGHT.
Others would creep under the bellies of such cows as were still living, declaring, with a sickly smile, they were going there to get into the shade. Of course everybody flocked to the churches ; people always do in a time of great trouble. It was really pitiful to see the eager way the worshippers rushed to the font where the holy water was kept. But to think that in doing so they only wanted to dip their fingers reverently into the blessed water, and to cross themselves piously, would be far from the truth. What each worshipper went to the church for was only to see if he couldn't scoop all the holy water in the font into a pitcher he kept under his cloak, as a drink for himself and his family, who had squeezed in as near after him as they could. It was a fight every day between the priests and such selfish church-goers ; but the priests alwa} r s got the better in the fight, as was right, since the holy water was meant for the comfort of penitent sinners, who sought the Church for humble worship, not for the use of thirsty sinners, who only came there to quarrel and steal.
It was towards the close of this awful parching time, when the people were most thirsty, and the deepest wells were empty, and the brightest fountains had run dry, and all the birds of the air and all the forest beasts were dead, and there was a general cry everywhere of f We are dying of thirst! water! water!" that Gargantua's baby PANTAGRUEL was born.
This was a very good name, for it was given on account of this dry time. Gargantua had, while in Paris, studied only a little Greek, while he had studied much Latin, under Master Ponocrates. He chose, therefore, from the Greek language one-half of the name for his son, viz. : PANTA, which is the Greek for all, and the other half GRUEL, which is an Arabian word, meaning thirsty. Therefore, baby PANTAGRUEL was only another name for baby All-Thirsty; and he well deserved the name, since it was soon found that nobody could come near the young Prince without feeling thirsty.
It matters not how Pantagruel got his name. He was the same kind of baby that his father had been before him, and was pronounced by all to be a marvellous young Giant, indeed. The Wise Women took charge of him upon his birth, and after washing and dressing him, while gravely wagging their old gray heads, with their skinny fingers to their noses, muttered darkly, the one to the other: —
" Our young Prince is born all hairy like a bear ! He will do wonderful things, and, if he lives, he will surely reach old age ! "
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE STRANGE THINGS PANTAGRUEL DID AS A BABY.
GARGANTUA hardly knew whether he ought to cry because his beloved Queen Badebec was dead, or laugh because his son Pantagruel was alive.
" My good wife is dead, who was the most this and the most that, which ever was in the world," he would blubber at one time. " Ha ! Badebec, my wife, I shall never see thee again ! Thou hast left me, my pet, forever ! Ah ! my poor Pantagruel, thou hast lost thy good Mother, thy sweet nurse. Holos!"
The poor Giant burst into tears, which flowed down his cheeks as large as ostrich-eggs, and he cried like a cow. Then his humor would change, and he fell to laughing like a calf.
"Ho ! ho ! my little son, how pretty thou art, and how grateful I should be to God that he has given me such a son. Ho ! ho ! ho f how glad I am ! Let us drink ! Throw melancholy out of the window ; bring here the best wines; rinse the glasses; lay the cloth; drive away the dogs; blow up that fire ; light the candles ; shut the door; skim the soup; call in the beggars, and give them what they want! I ought to be happy, — I am happy. Ho ! ho ! ho ! "
Poor old Giant! He was very proud, but he was very wretched all the same.
It would be a wonderful thing to tell how quickly Pantagruel grew in body and in strength. All the old-world talk about " Hercules in his cradle killing the two serpents" was nothing to boast of, because his snakes happened to be both small and weak. But Pantagruel, in his cradle, did things much more astonishing. Just think of his needing, as a baby, at every meal, the milk of four thousand six hundred cows ! When it became necessary to order a kettle for him in which to boil his milk it took all the braziers of Saumure, in Anjou; of Villedieu, in Normandy; of Bramart, in Lorraine, to make it. They used to give him soup in a great ^ell, which was long to be seen at Bruges, in Berry, near the Palace, with a hole in it. How did that hole ever get there ?
THE FUNERAL OF QUEEN BADEBEC.
in the easiest way possible ! Baby Pautagruel's teeth were already so big, and sharp, and strong, that, in his eagerness to get at the broth, he made a quick snap at the metal and broke through it, as though it were as flimsy as an egg-shell.
Another morning, at daybreak, when one of the four thousand six hundred cows, which gave him his principal food, was brought in to give him his breakfast, Pantagruel burst the bands which bound his arms, and caught hold of that poor cow to eat her alive ; and he would have, without doubt, eaten her all up if she hadn't bellowed as loudly as though a pack of wolves were just at that moment striking their teeth in her legs. At the poor cow's cries, everybody ran up and released her from the Giant baby's awful teeth. Such an offence as trying to eat alive an innocent cow, which had done her best, among her four thousand five hundred and ninety-nine companions, to give him milk, could not pass unnoticed. Gargantua, although, away down in his own heart, he was proud of his little son's strength, grew verv much afraid that, in some of his antics, he might hurt himself. He at once ordered Pantagruel to be bound to the cradle with great cables, and directed that, on no account, he should be allowed to get free from them. Here, then, was our poor Pantagruel in a bad fix ! Baby as he was, he often felt very wretched; but never more wretched than when a great, shaggy bear, which was a special pet of his
PANTAGRUEL'S PORRINGER.
father, made it a point of politeness to drop in every day and, with his dirty tongue, to lick his face, which, on the other hand, the Wise Women made a point never to touch. That bear came once too often. Pantagruel, being in a bad humor one particular day, and feeling the rough, furred tongue licking all over and over his face, gave one tremendous jerk, and broke his chains as easily as Samson had broken those of the Philistines. Then he stretched out his hairy hands, and caught Master Bear, and tore him into pieces with as much ease as he might have done a chicken.
This new exploit made Gargantua still prouder of his son ; but it was high time that something should be done with him. So he ordered to be made four great iron chains to hold him fast. One day a feast was given by King Gargantua in honor of the princes and nobles of his Court. It is pretty clear that all the great people, not to speak of the servants, had their time so well taken with the feast, that nobody ever thought it his business to bother himself about the little Prince, away upstairs in the nursery. If Pantagruel hated any one thing above another, that one thing was to be left by himself. What made it all the worse this time was that there he was in his cradle, closely chained, and obliged to listen to the gay sounds that swelled up, every now and then, from the dining-room. The poor child felt lonely. He tried to burst the chains which bound his arms to his cradle; but that he couldn't do, because they had been forged too strong and stout by the Royal Blacksmith. Then he began such a'stamping with his feet that he broke the foot-board of his cradle, which was made of a great beam seven feet square. The moment he had succeeded in getting his feet quite out of the broken end, he slid forward as far as the chains would let him, until at last his feet touched the floor. Then, with a great wrench, he raised himself on his feet, bearing his cradle triumphantly on his back, which made him look for all the world like a turtle, with his shell, trying to climb a wall.
Such was the strange sight which, on presenting itself in the Ba
nqueting Hall, startled the gay company. Pantagruel walked straight to the table, where he at first thought he would need no assistance ; but he soon found himself obliged — not being, of course, able to use his hands — to lean forward, and lick up with his tongue any tidbit that he could find near the edge of the table. When his father saw how hungry he Avas, he knew well enough that his baby never would have broken through his cradle, and tramped down the stairs with it on his back, unless he had been left alone by his nurses. Turning to the princes and lords present, he asked them if it was not better that his boy should be freed from those heavy chains .
The guests, with one voice, declared that the chains were an insult to the young Prince ; and even the First Physician gave it as his opinion that, if Pantagruel were to be kept any longer fastened in such a way to his cradle, he would all his life be a cripple.
The moment he was unchained Pantagruel sat down at the table, and was made much of by every guest. Such a welcome soon made him feel quite at home, and he showed it by breaking, with one blow ot his fist,
that ugly cradle into more than five hundred thousand pieces, vowing to himself— he couldn't well say the words —that he would never be found in it again — never ! never ! never!
CHAPTER XXIV.
AFTER STUDYING AT SEVERAL UNIVERSITIES PANTAGRUEL GOES TO PARIS.
O Pantagruel grew, from day to day, in health, and stature, and strength, which, of course, gave great delight to his father. Gargantua ordered to be made for his son, while he was still small, a cross-bow, with which he could make himself merry in shooting at the little birds, and which is kept to this day, and is known as the great Cross-Bo w of Chantelle. It was not long after this that Pantagruel was sent off to school at Poitiers, under the charge of his tutor Epistemon, where he showed himself a diligent scholar.
Just before they left, while his son was getting into the saddle, good Father Gargantua had taken Epistemon on his arm for a few words of private talk. All he said, in a solemn whisper, was : " Teach
THE GREAT CROSS-BOW OF CHANTELLE.
my boy, first of all, Greek ; secondly, Latin. My father cared for nothing so much as Latin. If I knew Greek half so well as I know my Latin, I should be happy."
Having noticed that the students of Poitiers had often so much time on their hands that they did not know how to get rid of it, and being a good-hearted young Giant, Pantagruel thought he would take pity on them and devise some plan to help them. So, one fine day, he tore from a great ledge of rocks, which
THE GREAT RAISED STONE.
the people of the town called Passelourdin, a large stone, about twelve fathoms square, and carried it in his strong arms with the greatest ease to four pillars which then stood in the middle of a field, upon which, by sheer force, he placed the stone. None of the young students had the slightest idea why the Giant of whom they were so proud had robbed big Passelourdin, but it was not long before they began to do precisely what Pantagruel had thought they would do. Whenever they had nothing else to think about — which, by the way, happened the greater part of every day — they would fill up the time by climbing up to the stone, bearing with them flagons of wine and hams and pies, upon which they feasted with loud shouts of laughter, each one being sure to wind up his first day's fun by cutting his name deep into the surface of the stone. By and by, it began to be
PANTAGRUEL VISITS HIS ANCESTORS' TOMB.
talked about as the " Raised Stone." And, for a long time, no student was allowed to graduate at the University of Poitiers unless he had first solemnly sworn that he had drunk in the magical Fountain of Crou-stelles, had taken a walk to Passelourdin, and had from there climbed to the top of the " Raised Stone." While the students were making merry over their new game, Pantagruel was poring harder than ever over dusty old tomes in the Library of the University. One day, while he was reading the fine chronicles of his ancestors, he happened to turn over the page which told him of the famous Giant Jeffrey of Lusignan, nicknamed " Jeffrey of the Great Tooth," who was buried at Maillezais, near by. What should Pantagruel do but choose a play-day to pay his respects to the sepulchre of the old Giant! Taking some friends along with him he soon reached Maillezais. All the way to the tomb he had been thinking of nothing but how he would do it honor ; but, when he got there, his eyes
PANTAGRUEL SETTLES AT ORLEANS.
seemed glued to a picture of his big-toothed ancestor, which hanging on the wall. It wasn't a cheerful portrait, I must say, for it made old Jeffrey of the Great Tooth look like a man in an awful fury and with a horrible toothache, half-drawing his great malchus out of its scabbard. The moment Pantagruel saw this, he grew half afraid and half angry. Pointing sternly to the picture, he said: —
" He has not been painted in this way without cause. See how his eyes glare, and how his great tooth seems to come out in pain. Why should he draw his malchus? I suspect that, at his death, some wrong was done to him which he looks to his kindred to avenge. I shall look deeper into this matter, and do what I shall think to be right."
After having done a good turn for his fellow-students at Poitiers, Pantagruel resolved to visit the other Universities of France. He did not like Bordeaux very much, so he soon went to Toulouse. Here he learned to dance and to use the two-handed sword, — a special exercise with the students of that University. But he decided he wouldn't stay any longer at Toulouse after he had occasion to see how the students had sometimes a little trick of their own of roasting their regents alive, like so many red herrings. So he strode off to Mont-pelier, where he met pleasant company, and began to think, one day, that he ought to study Medicine, and the next, that the Law was, after all, the only thing for him ; but he soon grew tired of all this and, journeying from university to university, at last settled himself after a time at Orleans. Here he was made welcome with joyous shouts and much respect; and, as the students were none too fond of their books, Pantagruel took great pains to become a master at tennis, — the favorite game of the city. After several years passed at Orleans, he consulted with Epistemon about going to the great University of Paris. It was a glorious day for him — and I dare say the sober teacher himself, under all his wise look, was just as pleased as his pupil — when the journey was at last decided on. But, before leaving, the Giant was told that an enormous bell, belonging to the City of Orleans, had been lying under the ground at Saint Aignan for more than two hundred and fourteen years, as it was so big and heavy that no engine — much less, men — could be found strong enough to move it from its place. The fact is, the good people of Orleans, having heard that the Giant was thinking of leaving them for good, came before him, humbly praying him, before his departure, to bring that great bell to the tower which had been waiting ever so many years for it. Pantagruel, with his usual kindness, went to the spot where the bell was, and lifted it as easily as if it had been a hawk's bell. As he was quite sure of his own strength, Pantagruel thought that, before carrying the bell to the belfry, he would take a stroll about the city with it in his hands, making it ring in the streets and by-ways. Of course everybody in Orleans — man, woman, boy, girl; even the babies, who didn't know what they were smiling at, but showed their little white teeth and dimpling cheeks all the same — were all out, crowding the streets and jostling in the by-ways. But
PANTAGRUEL ENTERS PAKIS.
here, while our Pantagruel was amusing himself and while the ringing was sounding through the city, there came a terrible misfortune, of which nobody had the slightest idea at the time. It was only found out at night, when the simple people wanted to drink in honor of the great event, that all the good wine of Orleans had of a sudden curdled and turned sour. It was the awful strokes of that tremendous bell in Pantagruel's hand, as he tramped up and dow r n the streets, which had curdled the Orleans wine, and made the honest people who drank it spit as white as cotton, crying out: ' We have caught the Pantagruel, and our very throats are salted."
After this exploit Pautagruel, with Epistemon, and his valet Carpalim, was very g
lad to start for Paris. On entering that city, all the people stretched their heads out of the windows to see him pass; peering down at his feet as he tramped through the streets, and then, with their mouths wide open, craning their necks to see how high in the clouds his head might be. They were just a little afraid, in their curiosity, that their visitor might take up their King's Palace and stalk away with it, as his father Gargantua, whom every old w 7 oman had seen and of whom every child had heard, had carried away, years and years before, the Bells of Notre Dame to hang them around his Mare's neck.
PANTAGRUEL IN THE LIBRARY.
" Clear enough, this young Giant is the old Giant's son," the gossips whispered to each other.
While in Paris, Pantagruel — as was the fashion for young men to do — went one day to see the world-famous Victor Library. There he found books with high titles on the covers, and no sense between them. One look at the shelves of the Victor Library was enough for the Prince.
Three good giants Page 9
