LETTERS FROM MY WINDMILL BY ALPHONSE DAUDET Translated for Project Gutenberg by Mireille Harmelin & Keith Adams ©2009 CONTENTS 1. Foreword. 2. First Impressions. 3. The Coach from Beaucaire. 4. Master-Miller Cornille's Secret. 5. Monsieur Seguin's Last Kid Goat. 6. The Stars. 7. The Arlesienne. 8. The Pope's Mule. 9. The Lighthouse on the _Sanguinaires_. 10. The Wreck of the _Sémillante_ 11. The Customs' Men. 12. The Cucugnanian Priest. 13. The Old Folks. 14. Prose Ballads I--Death of the Dauphin. II--The Sub-Prefect Takes A Day Off. 15. Bixiou's Wallet. 16. The Man with the Golden Brain. 17. The Poet, Frédéric Mistral. 18. The Three Low Masses. 19. The Oranges. 20. The Two Inns. 21. At Milianah. 22. The Locusts. 23. Father Gaucher's Elixir. 24. In the Camargue. 25. Nostalgia for the Barracks and Paris. FOREWORD As witnessed by Master Honorat Grapazi, lawyer at the residence of Pampérigouste. "As summoned "Mr Gaspard Mitifio, husband of Vivette Cornille, tenant at the place called _Les Cigalières_ and resident there. "Who herewith has sold and transferred under guarantee by law and deed and free of all debts, privileges and mortgages, "To Mr Alphonse Daudet, poet, living in Paris, here present and accepting it. "A windmill and flourmill, located in the Rhône valley, in the heart of Provence, on a wooded hillside of pines and green oaks; being the said windmill, abandoned for over twenty years, and not viable for grinding, as it appears that wild vines, moss, rosemary, and other parasitic greenery are climbing up to the sails; "Notwithstanding the condition it is in and performs, with its grinding wheel broken, its platform brickwork grown through with grass, this affirms that the Mr Daudet finds the said windmill to his liking and able to serve as a workplace for his poetry, and accepts it whatever the risk and danger, and without any recourse to the vendor for any repairs needing to be made thereto. "This sale has taken place outright for the agreed price, that the Mr Daudet, poet, has put and deposed as a type of payment, which price has been redeemed and received by the Mr Mitifio, all the foregoing having been seen by the lawyers and the undersigned witnesses, whose bills are to be confirmed. "Deed made at Pampérigouste, in Honorat's office, in the presence of Francet Mamaï, fife player, and of Louiset, known as Quique, crucifix carrier for the white penitents; "Who have signed, together with the parties above and the lawyer after reading it." LETTERS FROM MY WINDMILL FIRST IMPRESSIONS