The Good Little Mouse

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who loved each other so much, so much, that they made each other happy. Their hearts and their feelings were always found in intelligence; they were all going days hunting killing hares and deer; they were going fishing catch soles and carp; at the ball, dancing the soufflée and the pavane; at great feasts, eating roast and sugared almonds; to comedy and the opera. They laughed, they sang, they made a thousand coins for to have fun; finally he was the happiest ever.

Their subjects followed the example of the king and queen; they entertained each other as much as they wanted. For all these reasons, we called this kingdom the land of joy. It happened that a king next to the king Joyeux lived everything differently. He was a declared enemy of pleasures; he only asked for sores and bumps; he had a sullen expression, a big beard, hollow eyes; he was thin and dry, always dressed in black, spiky hair, greasy and filthy. To please him, he had to kill and knock out passers-by. He himself hung the criminals; he delighted in hurting them.

When a good mother loved her little girl or her little boy, he sent for her, and in front of her he broke her arms or he twisted his neck. This kingdom was called the land of tears. The evil king heard of the satisfaction of King Joyeux; he carried her big wanted, and resolved to make a big army, and to go and beat him all his drunk, until he was dead or very ill. He sent everyone sides to amass people and weapons; he had cannons made. Everyone was trembling. It was said: whoever the king throws himself on, he will not neighborhood point. When everything was ready, he advanced towards the land of King Merry. At this bad news he quickly put himself on the defensive; the queen was dying of fear, she said to him while crying:

“Sire, we must flee: let us try to have plenty of money, and we will let's go as long as the earth can carry us."

The king replied:

“Fi, madame, I have too much courage; it would be better to die than to be a coward.”

He gathered up all his men-at-arms, said a tender farewell to the queen, went up on a beautiful horse, and set off. When she lost sight of him, she began to cry painfully; and joining her hands, she said:

“Alas, I am fat; if the king is killed in war, I will be a widow and prisoner, the wicked king will do me ten thousand evils.”

This thought prevented him from eating and sleeping. He wrote to her all days; but one morning as she looked over the walls, she saw a courier coming who was running with all his strength, she called to him:

“Ho, mail, ho, what news?

--The king is dead, he cried, the battle is lost, the wicked king will arrive in a moment.”

The poor queen fell unconscious; she was carried to her bed, and all her ladies were around her, weeping, one for her father, the other for her son; they tore their hair out, it was the worst thing in the world pitiful. Suddenly we hear: “To murder, to thief!" It was the evil king who arrived with all his unfortunates topics; they killed for yes and no, those they encountered. He entered the king's house fully armed, and went up to the bedroom of the queen. When she saw him enter, she was so frightened that she sank into his bed, and put the blanket over his head. He called her two or three times, but she said nothing; he got angry, very angry, and said:

“I think you’re making fun of me; do you know that I can slit your throat time?"

He discovered her, tore off her cornets, her beautiful hair fell out on his shoulders; he made three turns of it in his hand, and loaded it on his back like a sack of wheat: he carried him thus, and mounted on his great horse which was all black. She begged him to have pity on her, he did mocked him, and said to him: “Cry out, complain, it makes me laugh and entertains.” He took him to his country, and swore all the way that he was resolved to hang her; but they told him it was a shame, and that she was fat.

When he saw this, it occurred to him that if she gave birth of a daughter, he would marry her to his son; and to know what was, he sent for a fairy, who lived near his kingdom. Having come, he entertained her better than he was accustomed to; then he led to a tower, at the top of which the poor queen had a very small and poorly furnished room. She was lying by earth, on a mattress that was not worth two cents, where she cried day after day and night. The fairy, seeing her, was moved; she curtseyed to him, and said to him in a low voice, kissing him:

“Take courage, madame, your misfortunes will end; I hope to contribute to that.”

The queen, a little consoled by these words, caressed her, and prayed to her to have pity on a poor princess who had enjoyed a great fortune, and who saw himself far removed from it. They were talking together, when the wicked king says:

“Come, no so many compliments; I brought you here to tell me whether this slave is pregnant with a boy or a girl.”

The fairy replied:

“She is pregnant with a girl, who will be the most beautiful princess and the best learned that anyone has ever seen.”

She then wished him infinite goods and honors.

“If she is not beautiful and well learned,” said the wicked king, “I will I will hang from his mother's neck, and his mother from a tree, without anything bothering me can prevent.”

After that he went out with the fairy, and did not look at the good queen, who cried bitterly; because she said to herself:

"Alas! what will I do? If I have a beautiful little girl, he will give her to his son's nest egg; and if she is ugly, he will hang us both. HAS what extremity am I reduced to? Will I not be able to hide it leaves, so that he never sees her?

The time that the little princess was to come into the world was approaching, and the queen's worries increased: she had no one with whom complain and console each other. The jailer who kept her did not give her only three peas cooked in water for the whole day, with a small piece of black bread.

She became thinner than a herring: she had nothing left but the skin and bones. One evening when she was spinning (because the wicked king who was very miserly, made her work day and night), she saw someone enter through a hole little mouse, who was very pretty. She tells him:

"Alas! my darling, what are you looking for here? I only have three peas for my whole day; If you don’t want to fast, go away.”

The little mouse ran this way, ran that way, danced, cavorted like a little monkey; and the queen took such great pleasure in looking at her, that she gave him the only pea that remained for his supper.

“Here, darling,” she said, “eat, I don’t have any more, and I’ll give it to you give willingly.”

As soon as she had done this, she saw on her table an excellent partridge, cooked wonderfully, and two pots of jam. “In truth,” she said, “a blessing is never lost.” She ate a little, but her appetite was passed by fasting.

She threw some candy to the mouse, who nibbled it again; and then she started jumping better than before supper. The next morning the jailer brought early the queen's three peas, which he had put in a big dish to make fun of her; the little mouse came gently, and ate all three, and the bread too. When the queen wanted to dine, she found nothing more; here she is very angry with the mouse.

"She's a nasty little creature," she said, "if she continues, I'll I'll die of hunger."

As she wanted to cover the large dish which was empty, she found inside all kinds of good things to eat: she was very happy, and ate; but as he ate, it occurred to him that the wicked king would perhaps have his child die in two or three days, and she left the table to cry; then she said, raising her eyes sky: “What! Is there not some way of saving ourselves?” Saying This, she saw the little mouse who was playing with long strands of straw; she took them, and began to work with them.

“If I have enough straw,” she said, “I will make a covered basket for put my little girl, and I will give her through the window to the first charitable person who wants to take care of it.”

So she set to work with good courage; he didn't lack straw point, the mouse was still dragging it through the room where it continued to jump; and at meal times, the queen gave him his three peas, and found in exchange a hundred kinds of stews. She was fine surprised; she constantly thought about who could send her such excellent things. The queen looked out of the window one day to see what length would she make this rope, of which she had to attach the basket to take it down. Downstairs she saw an old little girl good woman who was leaning on a stick, and who said to him:

“I know your pain, madame; if you want I will serve you.

--Alas my dear friend, said the queen to her, you will give me great pleasure come every evening to the bottom of the tower, I will take you down, my poor thing child; you will feed him, and I will try, if I am ever rich, to pay you well.

--I am not interested, replied the old woman, but I am fond of it; There's nothing I love more than a plump, plump mouse. If you find some in your garret, kill them and throw them to me; I won't be not ungrateful, your child will be well off for it.”

The queen, hearing him, began to cry without answering; and the old woman, after waiting a little, asked her why she was crying.

“It is,” she said, “that only one mouse comes into my room, who is so pretty, so pretty, that I cannot bring myself to kill her.

--What, said the old woman angrily, do you like a rascal better? little mouse, who gnaws everything, than the child you are going to have? Hey well, madame, you are not to be pitied, stay in such good company, I'll have plenty of mice without you, I don't care much about it."

She went away growling and muttering. Although the queen had a good meal, and the mouse came to dance in front of her, she never raised her hands eyes of earth, where she had attached them, and the tears flowed down along his cheeks. That same night she had a princess, who was a miracle of beauty; instead of screaming like the other children, she laughed to her good mother, and handed her her little handcuffs, as if she had was very reasonable. The queen caressed her and fucked her with all her heart, thinking sadly.

“Poor cutie! dear child! if you fall into the hands of the wicked king, this is done with your life.”

She locked him in the basket, with a note tied to his jersey, where it was written:

“This unfortunate little girl is named Joliette.”

And when she had left it for a moment without looking at it, she opened the basket again, and found it embellished; then she fucked her and cried harder, not knowing what to do. But here is the little mouse who comes, and who puts himself in the basket with Joliette.

“Ah! little creature, said the queen, how dear you cost me to save you the life! Maybe I will lose my dear Joliette! Someone other than me would have killed you, and given to the old lady; I could not consent to it.”

The mouse starts saying:

“Do not repent of it, madame, I am not so unworthy of your friendship as you believe.”

The queen was dying of fear of hearing the mouse speak; but his fear increased when she noticed that her little muzzle was taking on the face of a face, that its paws became hands and feet, and that it suddenly grows up. Finally, the queen almost not daring to look at her, recognized her as the fairy who had come to see her with the wicked king, and who had given him so many caresses.

She tells him:

“I wanted to test your heart; I recognized that he is good, and that you are capable of friendship. We fairies, who have treasures and immense riches, we seek for the sweetness of life only friendship, and we rarely find it.

--Is it possible, fair lady, said the queen, kissing her, that you have difficulty finding friends, being so rich and so powerful?

--Yes, she replied; because we are only loved out of interest, and that does not hardly affects us; but when you loved me as a little mouse, this was not a reason for interest. I wanted to test you more strongly; I took on the face of an old woman; it was me who spoke to you at the bottom of the tower, and you have always been faithful to me.”

At these words she kissed the queen; then she kissed three times ruddy face of the little princess, and she said to her:

“I endow you, my daughter, to be the consolation of your mother, and richer than your father; to live a hundred years always beautiful, without illness, without wrinkles and without old age.”

The queen, very delighted, thanked her, and begged her to take Joliette away, and to take care of it, adding that she gave it to him to be his daughter. The fairy accepted it, and thanked her; she put the little one in the basket, that she went downstairs; but having stopped a little to resume her shape of a little mouse, when it came down after her by the cord, she no longer found the child; and coming back up very frightened:

“All is lost,” she said to the queen, “my enemy Cancaline is coming to kidnap the princess! You need to know that it's a cruel fairy who hates me; and unfortunately, being my elder, she has more than power than me. I don't know how to remove Joliette from her ugly claws.”

When the queen heard such sad news, she thought she would die of pain; she cried very much, and begged her good friend to try to to get the little one back, whatever the cost. However the jailer came in the queen's bedroom; he saw that she was no longer fat; he was tell it to the king, who runs to ask her for her child but she says that a fairy, whose name she did not know, had come to take her by strength. There is the wicked king who stamped his feet and gnawed his nails to the last piece:

“I promised you,” he said, “to hang you; I will keep my word time."

At the same time he drags the poor queen into a wood, climbs on a tree, and was going to hang it, when the fairy made herself invisible, and the pushing roughly, she made him fall from the top of the tree; he broke four teeth. While we were trying to mend them, the fairy removed the queen in her flying chariot, and she took him to a beautiful castle. She took great care of it and if she had had Princess Joliette, she would have been happy but we could not find out where Cancaline had put it on, although the little mouse did everything possible. Finally time passed, and the queen's great affliction diminished. There's was already fifteen years old when people heard that the son of the evil king was going to marry his turkey farm, and that little creature wouldn't mind wanted point.

It was very surprising that a turkey-wife refused to be queen; but yet the wedding clothes were made, and it was such a beautiful wedding, that people went there from a hundred leagues around. The little mouse is there transported; she wanted to see the turkey coop at her ease. She entered in the henhouse, and found her dressed in a large canvas, barefoot, with a greasy cloth on his head. There were clothes of gold there and silver, diamonds, pearls, ribbons, lace which were lying on the ground; the turkeys nodded at them, pooped them and spoiled them. The turkey cow was sitting on a large stone; the son of the wicked king, who was crooked, one-eyed and lame, said to him roughly:

“If you deny me your heart, I will kill you.”

She replied proudly:

“I will not marry you, you are too ugly, you look like your cruel father. Leave me alone with my little turkeys; I them loves better than all your bravery.”

The little mouse looked at her with admiration; because she was also beautiful as the sun. As soon as the evil king's son came out, the fairy took the face of an old shepherdess, and said to her:

“Hello, my dear, here are your turkeys in good condition.”

The young turkey lady looked at this old woman with eyes full of gentleness, and said to him:

“They want me to leave them for a bad crown; what do I care do you advise?

--My little girl, said the fairy, a crown is very beautiful; you don't don't know the price or weight.

--But yes, I know it, replied the turkey wife promptly, since I refuse to submit to it; yet I do not know who I am, nor where is my father, nor where is my mother; I find myself without parents and without friends.

--You have beauty and virtue, my child, said the wise fairy, which are worth more than ten kingdoms. Tell me, please, who put you here, since you have neither father, nor mother, nor relatives, nor friends?

--A fairy, called Cancaline, is the cause of my coming there; she tells me beat; she knocked me down without reason and for no reason. I run away day, and not knowing where to go, I stopped in a wood. The son of evil king came to walk there; he asked me if I wanted to serve him farmyard. I wanted it; I took care of the turkeys; he came to everything moment to see them, and he saw me too. Alas! without me having any want, he began to love me so much that he bothered me a lot.”

The fairy, hearing this story, began to believe that the turkey coop was the Princess Joliette. She tells him:

“My daughter, tell me your name?

--My name is Joliette, to be of service to you,” she said.

At this word the fairy no longer doubted the truth; and throwing his arms neck, she thought of devouring it with caresses; then she said to him:

“Joliette, I have known you for a long time, I am very happy that you be so wise and so well learned; but I wish you were more clean, because you look like a little slut; take the beautiful ones Here are your clothes, and you can accommodate them.”

Joliette, who was very obedient, immediately left the greasy cloth that she had on her head, and shaking it a little, she found herself completely covered with her hair, which was blond as a pond, and loosened like threads of gold. They fell in loops to the ground. Then taking in her delicate hands water from a flowing fountain near the henhouse, she washed her face, which also became clear as an oriental pearl. It seemed as if roses had blooming on his cheeks and on his mouth; her sweet breath smelled of thyme and wild thyme; her body was straighter than a reed; in time in winter, one would have taken his skin for snow; in summer time, it was lilies. When she was adorned with diamonds and beautiful dresses, the fairy considered it a marvel; she tells him:

“Who do you think you are, my dear Joliette, because you are very brave?”

She replied:

“Truly, it seems to me that I am the daughter of some great king.

--Would you be very happy about it? said the fairy.

“Yes, my good mother,” replied Joliette, curtsying; I have would be very happy.

“Well,” said the fairy, “be happy; I will tell you more tomorrow."

She went by diligence to her beautiful castle, where the queen was busy spinning silk. The little mouse shouted to him:

“Will you pledge, Madam Queen, your distaff and your spindle, that I bring you the best news you can ever hear?

--Alas! replied the queen, since the death of King Joyeux and the loss of my Joliette, I would give all the news of this world for a pin.

--There, there, don't be upset, said the fairy, the princess goes to wonder; I've just seen her; she is so beautiful, so beautiful, that he It’s up to her to be queen.”

She told him the whole story from start to finish, and the queen cried of joy at knowing her daughter was so beautiful, and of sadness that she was turkey coop.

“When we were great kings in our kingdom,” she said, “and that we were doing so much feasting, the poor deceased and I, we wouldn't have thought we'd see our child in the turkey coop.

--It's the cruel Cancaline, added the fairy, who knowing as I do loves, to spite me, put her in this state; but she will come out of it, or I will burn my books there.

“I do not want,” said the queen, “that she should marry the son of the wicked king; Let’s go get her tomorrow and bring her here.”

Now it happened that the son of the wicked king was very angry with Joliette, went to sit under a tree, where he cried so hard, so hard, as he screamed. His father heard him; he went to the window and shouted to him:

“What are you crying about? How stupid you are!”

He answered:

“It’s because our turkey farm doesn’t want to love me.

--How! she doesn't want to love you, said the wicked king. I want her love you or she dies.”

He called his men-at-arms, and said to them:

“Go and get her; because I will do her so much harm that she will repent to be stubborn.”

They went to the henhouse, and found Joliette who had a beautiful white satin dress, all in gold embroidery, with red diamonds, and more than a thousand yards of ribbons everywhere. Never, ever, will he saw such a beautiful girl; they did not dare speak to her, taking her for a princess.

She said to them very civilly:

“Pray tell me who are you looking for here?

--Madame, they said, we are looking for a little unfortunate girl, who we call Joliette.

--Alas! it's me, she said; What do you want from me?”

They took her quickly, and bound her feet and hands with thick ropes, lest she escape. They led her from this way to the wicked king, who was with his son. When he saw her so beautiful, he couldn't help but be a little moved; no doubt she would have pitiful, if he had not been the most wicked and cruel of the world. He tells him:

"Ha, ha little rascal, little toad, so you don't want to love my son? He is a hundred times more beautiful than you; just one of his looks is better than your whole person. Come on, love it later, or I’m going to skin you.”

The princess, trembling like a little pigeon, knelt before him, and said to him:

“Sire, please do not skin me, it hurts too much; give me a day or two to think about what I should do, and then you will be the master.”

Her son, desperate, wanted her skinned. They concluded together to lock her in a tower where she would not only see the sun. Thereupon, the good fairy arrived in the flying chariot, with the queen; they learned all this news; immediately the queen began to cry bitterly saying that she was still unhappy, and that she would rather her daughter be dead than marry the son of the wicked king. The fairy said to him:

“Take courage; I will tire them out so much that you will be happy and avenged.”

As the evil king was going to bed, the fairy turned into a little mouse, and shoves himself under the head of the bed: as soon as he wanted to sleep, she bit the ear; here he is very angry; he turned to the other side, she bites his other ear; he screams murder, he calls for us to come; we come, we find his two bitten ears, which were bleeding so badly that the blood could not be stopped. While we searched everywhere for the mouse, she did the same to the son of the bad guy king: he summons his people, and shows them his ears which were all skinned; they put plasters on him. The small mouse returned to the bedroom of the wicked king, who was a little dozing; She bites its nose and tries to gnaw it; he puts his hands there, and she bites and scratches him. He screams:

“Mercy, I’m lost!”

She enters his mouth and nibbles his tongue, lips, play. We enter, we see him terrible, who could almost no longer to speak, his tongue hurt so much; he gestured that it was a mouse; we search in the pallet, in the bedside, in the small corners, she was already no longer there; she ran to make the son worse, and he ate his good eye (because he was already one-eyed). He got up like a furious, sword in hand; he was blind, he ran into the room of his father, who for his part had taken his sword, storming and swearing that he was going to kill everyone if they didn't catch the mouse.

When he saw his son so desperate, he scolded him, and he who had his ears heated, did not recognize his father's voice, he threw himself on him. The wicked king, in anger, gave him a great blow with his sword, he received another; They both fell to the ground, bleeding like blood. oxen. All their subjects who hated them mortally, and who did not served that out of fear, no longer fearing them, attached to them ropes on their feet, and dragged them into the river, saying that they were happy to be free of it. There is the evil king all dead and his son too. The good fairy who knew this, went to fetch the queen, they went to the black tower, where Joliette was locked under more than forty keys.

The fairy knocked three times with a small sewing stick on the big one door which opened, and the others likewise; they found the poor girl very sad princess, who didn't say a word. The queen threw herself on his neck:

“My dear darling,” she said to him, “I am your mother, Queen Joyeuse.”

She told him the story of her life. Oh good God! when Joliette heard such beautiful news, she almost died of pleasure; she thrown at the queen's feet, she kissed her knees, she wet her hands with her tears, and kissed them a thousand times; She tenderly caressed the fairy who had brought him full baskets of priceless jewels, gold and diamonds; bracelets, beads, and the portrait of King Joyeux surrounded by precious stones, which she placed in front She.

The fairy says:

"Let's not amuse ourselves, we must make a coup d'état: let's go to the great hall of the castle, harangue the people.”

She walked first, with a grave and serious face, having a dress which trailed by more than ten yards; and the queen another of velvet blue, all embroidered with gold, which hung around much longer. They had brought their beautiful clothes with them; then they had crowns on the head, which shone like suns; Princess Joliette followed with her beauty and her modesty, which had nothing but wonderful. They curtseyed to everyone they met along the way, both young and old.

We followed them, very eager to know who these beautiful ladies were. When the room was full, the good fairy said to the subjects of the evil king, whom she wanted to give them as queen, the king's daughter Joyful that they saw, that they would live contentedly under his empire; that they accepted her, that she would look for such a perfect husband that she, who would always laugh, and who would chase away the melancholy of all hearts. At these words everyone shouted:

“Yes, yes, we want it; it's been too long since we sad and miserable.”

At the same time a hundred kinds of instruments played on all sides; each joined hands and danced in a round dance, singing around the queen, of his daughter and the good fairy:

“Yes, yes, we do.”

This is how they were received. Joy has never been equal. We put the tables, we ate, we drank, and then we went to bed to sleep well. At awakening of the young princess, the fairy presented her with the most beautiful prince which would still have seen the light of day. She went to get him in the flying tank till the end of the world; he was just as amiable as Joliette. Of the When she saw him, she loved him. For his part, he was charmed, and for queen, she was transported with joy. We prepared an admirable meal and wonderful clothes. The wedding took place with rejoicings infinite.