It was not quite as bad as all that. But Napoleon liked to use big words and dramatic phrases. It had been, in fact, very much like this before Napoleon was born. He had heard all the stories of French tyranny and Corsican courage, and, like a true Corsican, was hot with wrath against the enslavers of his country, as he called the French. So he found an especial pleasure in bombarding all France with his toy gun from his grotto; and as he then felt very bitter indeed because of his treatment at home, you may be sure the French army was horribly butchered in the boy's make-believe battle before Napoleon's grotto. Then he went back for his bread and water. As he approached the house, he found that he was beginning to rebel at the bread and water diet. Bread and water alone, with just a little cheese, begin to grow monotonous to a healthy boy with a good appetite, after two or three days. Suddenly Napoleon had a brilliant idea. "The shepherd boys!" he exclaimed. He hurried to the house, took from Saveria the bread she had put aside for him, and was speedily out of the house again. This time he took his way to the grazing-lands, where, upon the slopes of the grand mountains that wall in the town of Ajaccio, the shepherd boys were tending their scattered herds. "Who will exchange chestnut bread for the best town bread in Ajaccio?" he demanded. "I will give piece for piece." Those shepherd boys led a lonely sort of life, and welcomed anything that was novel. Then, too, they were as tired of their bread, made from pounded chestnuts, as was Napoleon of Saveria's wheat bread. So Napoleon found a ready response to his offer. "Here! I'll do it!"--"and I"--"and I"--"and I"--came the answers, in such numbers that Napoleon saw that his little stock would soon be exhausted; and, indeed, he was not overfond of chestnut bread. So he improved on his idea. "Piece for piece, I will exchange, as I offered," he announced. "But there are too many of you. See! he who will give me the biggest slice of broccio shall have first choice for the bread, and the next biggest, the next." This put a different face on the transaction, but it added spice to the operation; and Napoleon actually succeeded in getting for his stale home bread, goodly sized pieces of fresh chestnut bread, and enough of the much-loved broccio, and bunches of luscious grapes, "to boot," to provide him with a generous meal. But the next day the shepherd boys rebelled; they told Napoleon that his bread was stale, and not good. They preferred their chestnut bread. "But if you will look after our sheep while we go into the town," said one of them, "we will give you some of our bread." [Illustration: _"He tossed his dry bread to the shepherd boys"_]