Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/349

 Rh beaten, and turned out of doors. The will of Heaven as to the popedom is declared by a bell, which rings of itself when the chosen person passes under it. On becoming pope, the hero, as in the Italian tale already cited in a note, sends for his parents. They disregard his first letter, but, after a second, they hasten to Rome to beg his forgiveness, and remain with him happily to the end of their days.

Two other Breton stories, much longer and more remarkable, collected by Luzel in Lower Brittany, where the old Keltic speech is still preserved, approach somewhat nearer The Ravens type. In one of these, the story of Christic, a devout girl offends God by an impulse of pride, and is in consequence forsaken by her good angel, who, before finally leaving her, directs her to sit by the wayside and offer herself in marriage to the passers by. A drunkard weds her, and in due time she gives birth to a son. A mysterious old man becomes godfather, and enriches the parents. Doubtless we are to understand, as M. Luzel tells us in a note, that the benevolent stranger is no less a personage than the Deity himself, or rather, Jesus Christ, between whom and the Father it is rare that any distinction is made in Continental folk-tales. The hero's career would justify so great an interest in his baptism; and the name (Christic) chosen for him indicates the exalted patronage under which he is received into the Church. The humour of the situation is not lost upon the narrator, but we cannot pause over the details. The father is reformed, and the son grows "like a fern in the fields." He is caressed by all the women of the village (il était si gentil!), and often thus detained from school. Beaten once for this by his father he foretells that the day will come when his father will wash his feet, and his mother will hold the towel. Their love for him turns to hatred, and they give orders to a servant for his death. The servant, however, satisfies himself by hanging him feet upwards to a tree, and taking home a dog's heart in sign of obedience. The hero is released from his uncomfortable position by a party of nobles, one of whom he afterwards delivers from a devil, who has taken service with him for the purpose of