This is post #10 of my penance after I have been blacklisted by Hivewatchers for plagiarizing.
No need to upvote this post, as the payout has been declined.
But comments are welcome. I will continue to upvote all meaningful comments.
LA FLEUR
There was, once, a child who no longer had either a father or mother. This child was called La Fleur. He was already strong, bold, and wise like no other.
Until the age of eighteen, La Fleur earned his living as best he could. Then, he joined the Golden Dragoons and went to war in a foreign country. Three years later, he returned as captain.
One day, La Fleur was in Bordeaux and was walking on the port, with two friends. At that moment, in her four-horse carriage, a young Princess was passing, as beautiful as the day.
“The beautiful Princess!” cried La Fleur. "If I were sitting next to her, I wouldn't be pitied."
The Princess stopped her carriage.
“Golden Dragoons, which one of you spoke?”
La Fleur did not dare respond. But his comrades spoke for him.
“Princess, it’s La Fleur."
"La Fleur, you don’t know where I’m being taken. You would gain nothing good from sitting near me."
"Princess, order, and I will sit down."
"No, La Fleur. Farewell. We'll see each other again."
The car took off faster than the wind. But La Fleur did not see the Princess again, and he became sad, very sad. One day he went to find his general.
“Hello, General. I have to go on a big trip.
"La Fleur, here is your leave."
"Thank you, General."
La Fleur saluted his general and left. An hour later, he left on horseback with his valet. For seven years they traveled the world, but no one could give them news of the Princess.
One evening, at sunset, La Fleur and her valet arrived in front of a large castle, in a parterre, full of beautiful trees and pretty flowers. The door was open, supper on the table, and two beds ready, with snow-white sheets. However, there was no one at the castle.
La Fleur sat down, dined with a good appetite, and went to bed. His valet did the same. At sunrise, both were standing and chatting under a laurel tree, in the large flowerbed full of beautiful trees and pretty flowers. Suddenly, La Fleur heard complaints coming from the ground.
“Ah! ah! ah!"
"Do you hear, valet?" said La Fleur.
"No, Captain. I do not hear anything."
"Ah! ah! ah!"
"What do you want from me?" replied the captain.
"La Fleur, I am your Princess. It's been seven years since a bad man buried me alive. To deliver me, you will suffer, for three nights, death and passion. Suffer and say nothing. If you utter one cry, I'm lost forever."
"Princess, you will be obeyed."
When evening came, La Fleur and her valet had an early supper and went to bed. At the stroke of ten o'clock, the captain heard a loud noise. The wicked man, who had buried the Princess alive under the laurel tree, arrived with his people.
“Come, my friends, take this guy. Until the first rooster crows, drags him, by his hair, up the castle stairs. We will see if he will suffer without saying anything, and without uttering a single cry."
From the first stroke of ten o'clock to the first crow of the cock, the bad man's people did as he had commanded. But La Fleur suffered without saying anything, and without uttering a single cry. At sunrise, his servant found him almost dead on the bed.
Source: La Fleur, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 1, published in 1886.
Previous Tale: The Sleeping Beauty
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.
The name of the hero of this new tale is "La Fleur", which means "The Flower".
A long time ago, I remember learning about a woman called "Marguerite La Fleur" and she wanted to have her name changed. Imagine being called "Daisy The Flower"; wouldn't you want to change your name?
The Dragoons were mounted infantry soldiers who were riding horses for mobility but were fighting on foot. Nowadays, as there are no longer horse-riding fighting soldiers, there are still regiments called Dragoons, but they are not riding horses, except maybe for parades.
I was unable to find anywhere who the "Golden Dragoons" (in French, "Les Dragons Dorés") were.
You may have noticed that in these tales, it is often the case that people are falling in love at first sight. Here, this happened to La Fleur. He was so much in love with the Princess that he looked for her everywhere for seven years.
This year, we are staying in Hungary later than usual, because we want to be at the celebration of Kati's mother's 90th birthday on November 13th. So, we are going to be here on October 31st for my 74th birthday.
Over the years, including this year, we have been invited many times to birthdays and name days of different members of Kati's family. And we always go to the same restaurant. So, I wanted to invite everybody to another restaurant.
As I am vegan, I looked for vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Pécs, and I found very few. The only one I like is called Mandala Étterem. Étterem, in Hungarian, means Restaurant. So, to check if we would like to go there for my birthday, Kati and I went for lunch yesterday, and we liked it.
This is a picture of the inside of the restaurant:
October 31st, this year, is a Tuesday. On Tuesday, Mandala Étterem is only open for lunch. So, instead of meeting for dinner at 6 p.m., we will meet for lunch at noon.
And everybody has the same dishes for lunch at this restaurant. On Tuesday it is broccoli soup and vegan spaghetti.
I hope that everybody will like this change of scenery and food.
-- Vincent Celier