THE PRINCE OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN COWS
The Prince of the Seven Golden Cows left, insulted by his former friends. At the castle gate, the poor began to cry:
“Hello, Prince of the Flat-Purse. Your valets were refusing us a piece of bread. They were releasing the dogs on our legs. Now you're a beggar. You put yourself out there, fooling around with lazy people and greedy people. But there is a Good God in heaven. The Good Lord is just, and you will live from alms like us,"
All this didn't last long. The Black Valet arrived at full gallop on his horse, an oak bar in his hand, with a pack of dogs, as tall and strong as bulls.
“Bold, my dogs!” Css! css! Bite them! Here, drunk! Here, pig! Here, thief! Catch this, and put salt on it. Ah! you insult the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows. Bang! bang! »
And the Black Valet struck, with great force, on the nobles, on the bourgeois, and on the poor. When all these dirty people were far away, he got off his horse and pulled on his beret.
“Prince of the Seven Golden Cows, you are no longer at home here. Get on that horse. He will take you to the accommodation I have prepared for you."
"I'm not going to a man I've chased away like a thief."
"Prince of the Seven Golden Cows, I stole from you, it’s true. But it was to give you something to live on when you were broke."
So the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows mounted his horse. Three days later, he arrived at the castle. For seven years, the Black Valet served him as before, without wanting wages, and no longer stole a farthing from him.
One evening, after supper, the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows called the Black Valet into his room.
“Black Valet, I am happy with you. I'm going to tell you a big secret."
"Prince of the Seven Golden Cows, speak. I know how to listen, and I have never come across as talkative."
"Black Jack, if I had wanted, I would have become even richer than before a long time ago. But, except for me and you, the earth is only inhabited by the scoundrel. This is why I no longer look for friends, and why I no longer give alms. Black Valet, I'm old. In a year, I will be underground. Before leaving, I want to teach you how to play the flute and play the tune that brings the Seven Golden Cows out of the ground, on Midsummer night, from midnight until sunrise. Go and saddle two horses at the stable, take a hatchet, and come and call me when everything is ready."
The Black Valet went out and returned a quarter of an hour later.
“Prince of the Seven Golden Cows, everything is ready."
They set off at full gallop. It was a Friday evening, the last of the year. It was freezing hard, and the black sky was riddled with stars. At exactly midnight, the riders arrived at a crossroads, where there was a cemetery, on the edge of a pond full of tall reeds.
“Black Valet, if you want to live, listen carefully, and do everything I am going to command you from point to point. You are going to dismount, take your hatchet, and cut down the largest of these reeds close to the ground. The reed will defend itself as best it can. Three times, it will change form, and make you see things that are not. Don't worry about it, and do your job. Remember that you only have three blows to give. If, at the third, the reed is not down, the earth will swallow you alive."
"Prince of the Seven Golden Cows, you will be obeyed."
Source: Le Prince des Sept Vaches d'Or, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 2, published in 1886
Hello, my name is Vincent Celier.
I am writing translations of folk tales that I found in public domain French books, so that people who do not understand French may enjoy them too.
As I said yesterday, the Black Valet was the only friend of the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows. He took some gold and silver from the prince, but he did that with an honest goal.
Now the Prince of the Seven Golden Cows is going to reward the Black Valet.
Today, we are going to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Kati's mother.
Her three daughters will be there, as well as most of her seven grandchildren and her seven great-grandchildren.
Everybody will have dinner at a restaurant named Bagolyvár, which means "Castle of the Owl".
This is a nice restaurant.
Tomorrow I will tell about the celebration.
-- Vincent Celier