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98 She gave birth—some say on 13 December, some on 14 December—still singing, to a boy. Henry II took it from her, gave her the casket, saying, "This is for you," and as to the boy, "this is for me." Then he rubbed the child's lips with garlic, and poured into its mouth some drops of Jurançon wine, and said: "Va, tu serras un vrai Béarnais." When Marguerite had given birth to Jeanne the Spaniards had remarked, "The cow has littered a lamb!" in reference to the cow in the Béarnais arms. Now Henry d'Albret, taking the child in his arms, showed it to his nobles and exclaimed: "See, the lamb has littered a lion!" In the castle is shown the cradle in which the future king of France, Henri Quatre, was rocked. It is a large tortoise-shell, inverted, and suspended by silken cords. When the Sansculottes burst into and sacked the château in 1793, they purposed to destroy this relic of royalty. But the commandant of the castle had foreseen this, and had substituted for the original another tortoise-shell, obtained from the cabinet of a naturalist in the town. This latter was destroyed, but the original was preserved in the attics of the castle.

At Bilhère, a little way out of Pau, on the road to Orthez, is the cottage in which Henry was nursed by a peasantess. That cottage remains much in the same condition as it was then, and is pointed out to visitors with pride. When only five years old his mother took him to Paris to present him to Henry II, King of France. The King took the little prince in his arms and asked him, "Veux-tu être mon fils?" The child, unable to speak other than Béarnais patois, pointed to his father and answered, "Aquet es lou seignou pay" (This is monsieur, my father). "You are right," said the King, "but as you will not be my son, wilt you be my son-in-law?" To which the boy promptly