'"In the house where Yon stopped to eat his crust of dry bread he heard
it reported that the daughter of the King was very ill, and that the
wisest doctors in France had been sent for. Three days later, Yon Rustik
presented himself at the palace, and asked audience with the King, but
as he was so shabbily dressed the attendants did not wish to let him
enter. When he strongly insisted, they finally prevailed upon the King
to receive him; and then Yon told the King that he had come to cure the
princess. Thereupon the King caused Yon to be fittingly dressed and
presented before the sick-bed; and Yon drew forth his bottle of water,
and, at his request, the princess drank it to the last drop. Suddenly
she began to laugh with joy, and throwing her arms about the neck of the
beggar thanked him: she was radically cured. At once the King gave
orders that his golden coach of state be made ready; and placing the
princess and the beggar on one seat, made a tour throughout all the most
beautiful streets of Paris. Never before were such crowds seen in Paris,
for the proclamation had gone forth that the one who had made the
miraculous cure was a beggar.
'"Paol al Ludu, who was still in Paris, pressed forward to see the royal
coach pass, and when he saw who sat next to the princess he was beside
himself with rage. But before the day was over he discovered Yon in the
great hotel of the city, and asked him how it was that he had been able
to effect the cure; and Yon replied to his old rival that it was with
the water of a miraculous fountain, and relating everything which had
passed, explained to him in what place the hollow oak and the fountain
were to be found.
'"Paol did not wait even that night, but set off at once to find the
miraculous fountain. When he finally found it the hour was almost
midnight, and so he hid himself in the hollow of the oak, hoping to
overhear some mysterious revelation. Midnight had hardly come when a
frightful uproar commenced: this time the crippled _corrigan_ chief was
swearing like a demon, and he cried to the others, 'The daughter of the
King has been cured by a beggar! He must have overheard us by hiding in
the hollow of that d----d old oak. Quick! let fire be put in it, for it
has brought us misfortune.'
'"In less than a minute, the trunk of the oak was in flames; and there
were heard the cries of anguish of Paol al Ludu and the gnashing of his
teeth, as he fought against death. Thus the evil and dishonest man ended
his life, while Yon Rustik received a pension of twenty thousand
francs, and was able to live happy for many years, and to give alms to
the poor."'
Here M. Le Scour ends his narrative, leaving the reader to imagine the
enthusiastic applause and fond embraces bestowed upon Victor for this
most marvellous story, by the happy gathering of country-folk in that
cosy warm bakehouse in Lower Brittany, while without the cold east wind
of winter was whirling into every nook and corner the falling flakes of
snow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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