"Jadis, quand je vis les mantilles
De Suzette et de Zéila,
Mon âme à leurs plis se mêla.
Où vont les belles filles,
Lon la.
"Amour, quand, dans l'ombre où tu brilles,
Tu coiffes de roses Lola,
Je me damnerais pour cela.
Où vont les belles filles,
Lon la.
"Jeanne, à ton miroir tu t'habilles!
Mon cœur un beau jour s'envola;
Je crois que c'est Jeanne qui l'a.
Où vont les belles filles,
Lon la.
"Le soir, en sortant des quadrilles,
Je montre aux étoiles Stella,
Et je leur dis: 'Regardez-la.'
Où vont les belles filles,
Lon la."
Gavroche, while singing, was lavish of his pantomime, for gesture is
the mainstay of a chorus. His face, an inexhaustible repertory of
masks, made grimaces more convulsive and more fantastic than the mouths
of a torn sheet in a stiff breeze. Unluckily, as he was alone and in
the dark, this was neither seen nor visible. Much wealth is lost in
this way. Suddenly he stopped short.
"We must interrupt the romance," he said.
His catlike eye had just distinguished inside a gateway what is called
in painting an ensemble, that is to say, a being and a thing; the thing
was a handcart, the being an Auvergnat sleeping inside it. The shafts
of the cart were upon the pavement, and the Auvergnat's head leaned on
the backboard of the truck. His body lay along this inclined plane,
and his feet touched the ground. Gavroche, with his experience of the
things of this world, recognized a drunkard: it was some street-corner
porter who had drunk too much and was sleeping too much.
"Such is the use," Gavroche thought, "to which summer nights may be
turned. The Auvergnat sleeps in his truck. I take the truck for the
republic, and leave the Auvergnat for the monarchy."
His mind had just been illumined by this flash.
"That truck would be famous on our barricade!"
The Auvergnat was snoring. Gavroche gently pulled the truck behind and
the Auvergnat in front, that is to say, by the feet, and in a second
the porter was lying imperturbably flat on the pavement. The truck was
liberated. Gavroche, accustomed constantly to face unexpected events,
had always everything about him. He felt in one of his pockets and
pulled out a scrap of paper and a piece of red pencil stolen from some
carpenter. He wrote
_République Française_
Received this truck.
And he signed, GAVROCHE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account