Next evening, at the moment when Denis was accustomed to wait for her in
the shadow of the cowhouse, Tephany stuck the pin in her dress, and at
the very same instant Barbaik took up her sabots or wooden shoes and
went through the orchard and past to the fields, to the plot where the
cabbages grew. With a heart as light as her footsteps, the girl ran from
the house, and spent her evening happily with Denis. And so it was for
many days after that. Then, at last, Tephany began to notice something,
and the something made her very sad.
At first, Denis seemed to find the hours that they were together fly as
quickly as she did, but when he had taught her all the songs he knew,
and told her all the plans he had made for growing rich and a great
man, he had nothing more to say to her, for he, like a great many other
people, was fond of talking himself, but not of listening to any one
else. Sometimes, indeed, he never came at all, and the next evening
he would tell Tephany that he had been forced to go into the town on
business, but though she never reproached him she was not deceived and
saw plainly that he no longer cared for her as he used to do.
Day by day her heart grew heavier and her cheeks paler, and one evening,
when she had waited for him in vain, she put her water-pot on her
shoulder and went slowly down to the spring. On the path in front of her
stood the fairy who had given her the pin, and as she glanced at Tephany
she gave a little mischievous laugh and said:
‘Why, my pretty maiden hardly looks happier than she did before, in
spite of meeting her lover whenever she pleases.’
‘He has grown tired of me,’ answered Tephany in a trembling voice, ‘and
he makes excuses to stay away. Ah! granny dear, it is not enough to be
able to see him, I must be able to amuse him and to keep him with me. He
is so clever, you know. Help me to be clever too.’
‘Is that what you want?’ cried the old woman. ‘Well, take this feather
and stick it in your hair, and you will be as wise as Solomon himself.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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