No More Learning



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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
Happily he had reached a slight elevation, at the top of which
a few palm-trees shot upward, whose leafage, seen from a long
distance against the sky, had helped to sustain his hopes. His
fatigue was so great that he threw himself down on a block of
granite, cut by Nature into the shape of a camp-bed, and slept
heavily, without taking the least precaution to protect himself
while asleep. He accepted the loss of his life as inevitable, and
his last waking thought was one of regret for having left the
Maugrabins, whose nomad life began to charm him now that he
was far away from them and from every other hope of succor.
He was awakened by the sun, whose pitiless beams falling
vertically upon the granite rock produced an intolerable heat.
The Provençal had ignorantly flung himself down in a contrary
direction to the shadows thrown by the verdant and majestic
fronds of the palm-trees. He gazed at these solitary monarchs
and shuddered. They recalled to his mind the graceful shafts,
crowned with long weaving leaves, which distinguish the Sara-
cenic columns of the cathedral of Arles. The thought overcame
him, and when, after counting the trees, he threw his eyes upon
the scene around him, an agony of despair convulsed his soul.
He saw
a limitless ocean. The sombre sands of the desert
stretched out till lost to sight in all directions; they glittered
with dark lustre like a steel blade shining in the sun. He could
not tell if it were an ocean or a chain of lakes that lay mirrored
before him. A hot vapor swept in waves above the surface of
this heaving continent. The sky had the Oriental glow of trans-
lucent purity, which disappoints because it leaves nothing for
the imagination to desire. The heavens and the earth were both
on fire.
Silence added its awful and desolate majesty. Infini-
tude, immensity pressed down upon the soul on every side; not
a cloud in the sky, not a breath in the air, not a rift on the
breast of the sand, which was ruffled only with little ridges
scarcely rising above its surface. Far as the eye could reach the
horizon fell away into space, marked by a slender line, slim as
the edge of a sabre, - like as in summer seas a thread of light
parts this earth from the heaven it nieets.
The Provençal clasped the trunk of a palm-tree as if it were
the body of a friend. Sheltered from the sun by its straight
and slender shadow, he wept; and presently sitting down he
remained motionless, contemplating with awful dread the implac-
able Nature stretched out before him. He cried aloud, as if to


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1403
tempt the solitude to answer him. His voice, lost in the hollows
of the hillock, sounded afar with a thin resonance that returned
no echo; the echo came from the soldier's heart. He was twenty-
two years old, and he loaded his carbine.
« Time enough! ” he muttered, as he put the liberating weapon
on the sand beneath him.
Gazing by turns at the burnished blackness of the sand and
the blue expanse of the sky, the soldier dreamed of France.
He smelt in fancy the gutters of Paris; he remembered the towns
through which he had passed, the faces of his comrades, and the
most trifling incidents of his life. His southern imagination saw
the pebbles of his own Provence in the undulating play of the
heated air, as it seemed to roughen the far-reaching surface of
the desert. Dreading the dangers of this cruel mirage, he went
down the little hill on the side opposite to that by which he
had gone up the night before. His joy was great when he
discovered a natural grotto, formed by the immense blocks of
granite which made a foundation for the rising ground. The
remnants of a mat showed that the place had once been inhab-
ited, and close to the entrance were a few palm-trees loaded
with fruit. The instinct which binds men to life woke in his
heart. He now hoped to live until some Maugrabin should pass
that way; possibly he might even hear the roar of cannon, for
Bonaparte was at that time overrunning Egypt. Encouraged by
these thoughts, the Frenchman shook down a cluster of the ripe
fruit under the weight of which the palms were bending; and as
he tasted this unhoped for manna, he thanked the former inhab-
itant of the grotto for the cultivation of the trees, which the rich
and luscious flesh of the fruit amply attested. Like a true Pro-
vençal, he passed from the gloom of despair to a joy that was
half insane. He ran back to the top of the hill, and busied
himself for the rest of the day in cutting down one of the sterile
trees which had been his shelter the night before.
Some vague recollection made him think of the wild beasts
of the desert, and foreseeing that they would come to drink at a
spring which bubbled through the sand at the foot of the rock,
he resolved to protect his hermitage by felling a tree across the
entrance. Notwithstanding his eagerness, and the strength which
the fear of being attacked while asleep gave to his muscles, he
was unable to cut the palm-tree in pieces during the day; but
he succeeded in bringing it down. Towards evening the king


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1404
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
of the desert fell; and the noise of his fall, echoing far, was
like a moan from the breast of Solitude. The soldier shuddered,
as though he had heard a voice predicting evil. But, like an
heir who does not long mourn a parent, he stripped from the
beautiful tree the arching green fronds — its poetical adorn-
ment- and made a bed of them in his refuge. Then, tired
with his work and by the heat of the day, he fell asleep beneath
the red vault of the grotto.
In the middle of the night his sleep was broken by a strange
noise. He sat up; the deep silence that reigned everywhere
enabled him to hear the alternating rhythm of a respiration
whose savage vigor could not belong to a human being. A ter-
rible fear, increased by the darkness, by the silence, by the
rush of his waking fancies, numbed his heart. He felt the con-
traction of his hair, which rose on end as his eyes, dilating to
their full strength, beheld through the darkness two faint amber
lights. At first he thought them an optical delusion; but by
degrees the clearness of the night enabled him to distinguish
objects in the grotto, and he saw, within two feet of him, an
enormous animal lying at rest.
Was it a lion ? Was it a tiger? Was it a crocodile ? The
Provençal had not enough education to know in what sub-species
he ought to class the intruder; but his terror was all the greater
because his ignorance made it vague. He endured the cruel
trial of listening, of striving to catch the peculiarties of this
breathing without losing one of its inflections, and without daring
to make the slightest movement. A strong odor, like that
exhaled by foxes, only far more pungent and penetrating, filled
the grotto.
When the soldier had tasted it, so to speak, by the
nose, his fear became terror; he could no longer doubt the
nature of the terrible companion whose royal lair he had taken
for a bivouac. Before long, the reflection of the moon, as it
sank to the horizon, lighted up the den and gleamed upon the
shining, spotted skin of a panther.
The lion of Egypt lay asleep, curled up like a dog, the peace-
able possessor of a kennel at the gate of a mansion; its eyes,
which had opened for a moment, were now closed; its head was
turned towards the Frenchman. A hundred conflicting thoughts
rushed through the mind of the panther's prisoner. Should he
kill it with a shot from his musket ? But ere the thought was
formed, he saw there was
to take aim; the muzzle
no
room


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1405
would have gone beyond the animal. Suppose he were to wake
it? The fear kept him motionless. As he heard the beating of
his heart through the dead silence, he cursed the strong pulsa-
tions of his vigorous blood, lest they should disturb the sleep
which gave him time to think and plan for safety. Twice he
put his hand on his scimitar, with the idea of striking off the
head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting through the
close-haired skin made him renounce the bold attempt. Suppose
he missed his aim ? It would, he knew, be certain death. He
preferred the chances of a struggle, and resolved to await the
dawn. It was not long in coming. As daylight broke, the
Frenchman was able to examine the animal. Its muzzle was
stained with blood. "It has eaten a good meal,” thought he,
not caring whether the feast were human flesh or not; "it will
not be hungry when it wakes. ”
It was a female. The fur on the belly and on the thighs was
of sparkling whiteness. Several little spots like velvet made pretty
bracelets round her paws. The muscular tail was also white,
but it terminated with black rings. The fur of the back, yel-
low as dead gold and very soft and glossy, bore the characteristic
spots, shaded like a full-blown rose, which distinguish the pan-
ther from all other species of folis. This terrible hostess lay
tranquilly snoring, in an attitude as easy and graceful as that of
a cat on the cushions of an ottoman. Her bloody paws, sinewy
and well-armed, were stretched beyond her head, which lay
upon them; and from her muzzle projected a few straight hairs
called whiskers, which shimmered in the early light like silver
wires.
If he had seen her lying thus imprisoned in a cage, the Pro-
vençal would have admired the creature's grace, and the strong
contrasts of vivid color which gave to her robe an imperial splen-
dor; but as it was, his sight was jaundiced by sinister forebod-
ings. The presence of the panther, though she was still asleep,
had the same effect upon his mind as the magnetic eyes of a
snake produce, we are told, upon the nightingale. The soldier's
courage oozed away in presence of this silent peril, though he
was a man who gathered nerve before the mouths of cannon
belching grape-shot. And yet, ere long, a bold thought entered
his mind, and checked the cold sweat which was rolling from
his brow. Roused to action, as some men are when, driven face
to face with death, they defy it and offer themselves to their


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
soon
doom, he saw a tragedy before him, and he resolved to play his
part with honor to the last.
“Yesterday,” he said, “the Arabs might have killed me. ”
Regarding himself as dead, he waited bravely, but with
anxious curiosity, for the waking of his enemy. When the sun
rose, the panther suddenly opened her eyes; then she stretched
her paws violently, as if to unlimber them from the cramp of
their position. Presently she yawned and showed the frightful
armament of her teeth, and her cloven tongue, rough as a grater.
“She is like a dainty woman,” thought the Frenchman, watch-
ing her as she rolled and turned on her side with an easy and
coquettish movement. She licked the blood from her paws, and
rubbed her head with a reiterated movement full of grace.
« Well done! dress yourself prettily, my little woman,
the Frenchman, who recovered his gayety as as he had
recovered his courage. “We are going to bid each other good-
morning;” and he felt for the short poniard which he had taken
from the Maugrabins.
At this instant the panther turned her head towards the
Frenchman and looked at him fixedly, without moving. The
rigidity of her metallic eyes and their insupportable clearness
made the Provençal shudder. The beast moved towards him; he
looked at her caressingly, with a soothing glance by which he
hoped to magnetize her. He let her come quite close to him
before he stirred; then with a touch as gentle and loving as he
might have used to a pretty woman, he slid his hand along her
spine from the head to the flanks, scratching with his nails the
flexible vertebræ which divide the yellow back of a panther.
The creature drew up her tail voluptuously, her eyes softened,
and when for the third time the Frenchman bestowed this self-
interested caress, she gave vent to a purr like that with which a
cat expresses pleasure: but it issued from a throat so deep and
powerful that the sound echoed through the grotto like the last
chords of an organ rolling along the roof of a church. The Pro-
vençal, perceiving the value of his caresses, redoubled them
until they had completely soothed and lulled the imperious
courtesan.
When he felt that he had subdued the ferocity of his capri-
cious companion, whose hunger had so fortunately been appeased
the night before, he rose to leave the grotto. The panther let
him go; but as soon as he reached the top of the little hill she


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1407
bounded after him with the lightness of a bird hopping from
branch to branch, and rubbed against his legs, arching her back
with the gesture of a domestic cat. Then looking at her guest
with an eye that was growing less inflexible, she uttered the
savage cry which naturalists liken to the noise of a saw.
"My lady is exacting," cried the Frenchman, smiling.
began to play with her ears and stroke her belly, and at last he
scratched her head firmly with his nails. Encouraged by success,
he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger, looking for the
right spot where to stab her; but the hardness of the bone made
him pause, dreading failure.
The sultana of the desert acknowledged the talents of her
slave by lifting her head and swaying her neck to his caresses,
betraying satisfaction by the tranquillity of her relaxed attitude.
The Frenchman suddenly perceived that he could assassinate the
fierce princess at a blow, if he struck her in the throat; and he
had raised the weapon, when the panther, surfeited perhaps with
his caresses, threw gerself gracefully at his feet, glancing up at
him with a look in which, despite her natural ferocity, a flicker
of kindness could be seen. The poor Provençal, frustrated for
the moment, ate his dates as he leaned against a palm-tree, cast-
ing from time to time an interrogating eye across the desert in
the hope of discerning rescue from afar, and then lowering it
upon his terrible companion, to watch the chances of her uncer-
tain clemency. Each time that he threw away a date-stone the
panther eyed the spot where it fell with an expression of keen
distrust; and she examined the Frenchman with what might be
called commercial prudence. The examination, however, seemed
favorable, for when the man had finished his meagre meal she
licked his shoes and wiped off the dust, which was caked into
the folds of the leather, with her rough and powerful tongue.
How will it be when she is hungry? ” thought the Proven-
çal. In spite of the shudder which this reflection cost him, his
attention was attracted by the symmetrical proportions of the
animal, and he began to measure them with his eye.
three feet in height to the shoulder, and four feet long, not in-
cluding the tail. That powerful weapon, which was round as a
club, measured three feet. The head, as large as that of a lion-
ess, was remarkable for an expression of crafty intelligence; the
cold cruelty of a tiger was its ruling trait, and yet it bore a
vague resemblance to the face of an artful woman. As the
(
She was


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1408
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
H
1
1
.
soldier watched her, the countenance of this solitary queen shone
with savage gayety like that of Nero in his cups: she had slaked
her thirst for blood, and now wished for play. The Frenchman
tried to come and go, and accustomed her to his movements.
The panther left him free, as if contented to follow him with
her eyes, seeming, however, less like a faithful dog watching his
master's movements with affection, than a huge Angora cat un-
easy and suspicious of them. A few steps brought him to the
spring, where he saw the carcass of his horse, which the panther
had evidently carried there. Only two-thirds was eaten. The
sight reassured the Frenchman; for it explained the absence of
his terrible companion and the forbearance which she had shown
to him while asleep.
This first good luck encouraged the reckless soldier as he
thought of the future. The wild idea of making a home with
the panther until some chance of escape occurred entered his
mind, and he resolved to try every means of taming her and
of turning her good will to account. With these thoughts he
returned to her side, and noticed joyfully that she moved her tail
with an almost imperceptible motion. He sat down beside her
fearlessly, and they began to play with each other. He held
and her muzzle, twisted her ears, threw her over on
her back, and stroked her soft warm flanks. She allowed him
to do so; and when he began to smooth the fur of her paws,
she carefully drew in her murderous claws, which were sharp and
curved like a Damascus blade. The Frenchman kept one hand
on his dagger, again watching his opportunity to plunge it into
the belly of the too-confiding beast; but the fear that she might
strangle him in her last convulsions once more stayed his hand.
Moreover, he felt in his heart a foreboding of a remorse which
warned him not to destroy a hitherto inoffensive creature. He
even fancied that he had found a friend in the limitless desert.
His mind turned back, involuntarily, to his first mistress, whom
he had named in derision Mignonne,” because her jealousy was
so furious that throughout the whole period of their intercourse
he lived in dread of the knife with which she threatened him.
This recollection of his youth suggested the idea of teaching the
young panther, whose soft agility and grace he now admired
with less terror, to answer to the caressing name. Towards
evening he had grown so familiar with his perilous position that
he was half in love with its dangers, and his companion was so
1
her paws
1
1
1


## p. 1409 (#203) ###########################################

HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1409
“She
far tamed that she had caught the habit of turning to him when
he called, in falsetto tones, "Mignonne! ”
As the sun went down Mignonne uttered at intervals a pro-
longed, deep, melancholy cry.
«She is well brought up,” thought the gay soldier.
says her prayers. ” But the jest only came into his mind as he
watched the peaceful attitude of his comrade.
«Come, my pretty blonde, I will let you go to bed first,”
he said, relying on the activity of his legs to get away as soon
as she fell asleep, and trusting to find some other resting-place
for the night. He waited anxiously for the right moment, and
when it came he started vigorously in the direction of the Nile.
But he had scarcely marched for half an hour through the sand
before he heard the panther bounding after him, giving at inter-
vals the saw-like cry which was more terrible to hear than the
thud of her bounds.
«Well, well! ” he cried, “she must have fallen in love with
me! Perhaps she has never met any one else. It is flattering
to be her first love. "
So thinking, he fell into one of the treacherous quicksands
which deceive the inexperienced traveler in the desert, and from
which there is seldom any escape. He felt he was sinking, and
he uttered a cry of despair. The panther seized him by the
collar with her teeth, and sprang vigorously backward, drawing
him, like magic, from the sucking sand.
« Ah, Mignonne ! ” cried the soldier, kissing her with enthu-
siasm, we belong to each other now,- for life, for death! But
play me no tricks,” he added, as he turned back the way he
came.
From that moment the desert was, as it were, peopled for
him. It held a being to whom he could talk, and whose ferocity
was now lulled into gentleness, although he could scarcely ex-
plain to himself the reasons for this extraordinary friendship.
His anxiety to keep awake and on his guard succumbed to ex-
cessive weariness both of body and mind, and throwing himself
down on the floor of the grotto he slept soundly. At his
waking Mignonne was gone. He mounted the little hill to
scan the horizon, and perceived her in the far distance return-
ing with the long bounds peculiar to these animals, who are
prevented from running by the extreme flexibility of their spinal
column.
11–89


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
Mignonne came home with bloody jaws, and received the
tribute of caresses which her slave hastened to pay, all the while
manifesting her pleasure by reiterated purring.
Her eyes, now soft and gentle, rested kindly on the Proven-
çal, who spoke to her lovingly as he would to a domestic animal.
“Ah! Mademoiselle,- for you are an honest girl, are you not ?
You like to be petted, don't you? Are you not ashamed of
yourself? You have been eating a Maugrabin. Well, well! they
are animals like the rest of you. But you are not to craunch up
a Frenchman; remember that! If you do, I will not love you. "
She played like a young dog with her master, and let him
roll her over and pat and stroke her, and sometimes she would
coax him to play by laying a paw upon his knee with a pretty
soliciting gesture.
Several days passed rapidly. This strange companionship
revealed to the Provençal the sublime beauties of the desert.
The alternations of hope and fear, the sufficiency of food, the
presence of a creature who occupied his thoughts,- all this kept
his mind alert, yet free: it was a life full of strange contrasts.
Solitude revealed to him her secrets, and wrapped him with her
charm. In the rising and the setting of the sun he saw splendors
unknown to the world of men. He quivered as he listened to
the soft whirring of the wings of a bird, -rare visitant! -or
watched the blending of the fleeting clouds, - those changeful
and many-tinted voyagers. In the waking hours of the night
he studied the play of the moon upon the sandy ocean, where
the strong simoom had rippled the surface into waves and ever-
varying undulations. He lived in the Eastern day; he worshiped
its marvelous glory. He rejoiced in the grandeur of the storms
when they rolled across the vast plain, and tossed the sand
upward till it looked like a dry red fog or a solid death-dealing
vapor; and as the night came on he welcomed it with ecstasy,
grateful for the blessed coolness of the light of the stars. His
ears listened to the music of the skies. Solitude taught him the
treasures of meditation. He spent hours in recalling trifles, and
in comparing his past life with the weird present.
He grew fondly attached to his panther; for he was a man
who needed an affection. Whether it were that his own will,
magnetically strong, had modified the nature of his savage princess,
or that the wars then raging in the desert had provided her with
an ample supply of food, it is certain that she showed no sign of


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1411
attacking him, and became so tame that he soon felt no fear of
her. He spent much of his time in sleeping; though with his
mind awake, like a spider in its web, lest he should miss some
deliverance that might chance to cross the sandy sphere marked
out by the horizon. He had made his shirt into a banner and
tied it to the top of a palm-tree which he had stripped of its
leafage. Taking counsel of necessity, he kept the flag extended
by fastening the corners with twigs and wedges; for the fitful
wind might have failed to wave it at the moment when the
longed-for succor came in sight.
Nevertheless, there were long hours of gloom when hope for-
sook him; and then he played with his panther. He learned to
know the different inflections of her voice and the meanings of
her expressive glance; he studied the variegation of the spots
which shaded the dead gold of her robe. Mignonne no longer
growled when he caught the tuft of her dangerous tail and
counted the black and white rings which glittered in the sunlight
like a cluster of precious stones. He delighted in the soft lines
of her lithe body, the whiteness of her belly, the grace of her
charming head: but above all he loved to watch her as she
gamboled at play. The agility and youthfulness of her move-
ments were a constantly fresh surprise to him. He admired the
suppleness of the flexible body as she bounded, crept, and glided,
or clung to the trunk of palm-trees, or rolled over and over,
crouching sometimes to the ground, and gathering herself together
as she made ready for her vigorous spring.
Yet, however vig-
orous the bound, however slippery the granite block on which
she landed, she would stop short, motionless, at the one word
« Mignonne. ”
One day, under a dazzling sun, a large bird hovered in the
sky. The Provençal left his panther to watch the new guest.
After a moment's pause the neglected sultana uttered a low growl.
«The devil take me! I believe she is jealous! ” exclaimed the
soldier, observing the rigid look which once more appeared in her
metallic eyes.
“The soul of Sophronie has got into her body! »
The eagle disappeared in ether, and the Frenchman, recalled
by the panther's displeasure, admired afresh her rounded flanks
and the perfect grace of her attitude. She was as pretty as a
woman. The blonde brightness of her robe shaded, with delicate
gradations, to the dead-white tones of her furry thighs; the vivid
sunshine brought out the brilliancy of this living gold and its


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1412
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
variegated brown spots with indescribable lustre. The panther
and the Provençal gazed at each other with human comprehen-
sion. She trembled with delight — the coquettish creature! - as
she felt the nails of her friend scratching the strong bones of her
skull. Her eyes glittered like flashes of lightning, and then she
closed them tightly.
«She has a soul! ” cried the soldier, watching the tranquil repose
of this sovereign of the desert, golden as the sands, white as their
pulsing light, solitary and burning as they.
“WELL,” she said, “I have read your defense of the beasts. But
tell me what was the end of this friendship between two beings
so formed to understand each other? ”
“Ah, exactly," I replied. “It ended as all great passions end,
— by a misunderstanding. Both sides imagine treachery, pride
prevents an explanation, and the rupture comes about through
obstinacy. ”
“Yes,” she said, “and sometimes a word, a look, an exclama-
tion suffices. But tell me the end of the story. ”
« That is difficult," I answered. « But I will give it to you in
the words of the old veteran, as he finished the bottle of cham-
pagne and exclaimed:-
«I don't know how I could have hurt her, but she suddenly
turned upon me as if in fury, and seized my thigh with her
sharp teeth; and yet (as I afterwards remembered) not cruelly.
I thought she meant to devour me, and I plunged my dagger
into her throat. She rolled over with a cry that froze my soul;
she looked at me in her death struggle, but without anger.
I would have given all the world — my cross, which I had
not then gained, all, everything — to have brought her back
to life. It was as if I had murdered a friend, a human being.
When the soldiers who saw my flag came to my rescue they
found me weeping. Monsieur,' he resumed, after a moment's
silence, I went through the wars in Germany, Spain, Russia,
France; I have marched my carcass well-nigh over all the world;
but I have seen nothing comparable to the desert. Ah, it is
grand! glorious!
What were your feelings there? I asked.
They cannot be told, young man. Besides, I do not always
regret my panther and my palm-tree oasis: I must be very sad


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1413
for that. But I will tell you this: in the desert there is all —
and yet nothing. '
« (Stay! - explain that. '
« Well, then,' he said, with a gesture of impatience, God is
there, and man is not. ) »
FROM THE COUNTRY DOCTOR)
THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE
“L
ET us go to my barn,” said the doctor, taking Genestas by
the arm, after saying good-night to the curate and his
other guests.
And there, Captain Bluteau, you will hear
about Napoleon. We shall find a few old cronies who will set
Goguelat, the postman, to declaiming about the people's god.
Nicolle, my stable-man, was to put a ladder by which we can get
into the hay-loft through a window, and find a place where we
can see and hear all that goes on. A veillée is worth the trouble,
believe me. Come, it isn't the first time I've hidden in the hay
to hear the tale of a soldier or some peasant yarn.
But we must
hide; if these poor people see a stranger they are constrained at
once, and are no longer their natural selves. ”
"Eh! my dear host,” said Genestas, “haven't I often pre-
tended to sleep, that I might listen to my troopers round a biv-
ouac? I never laughed more heartily in the Paris theatres than
I did at an account of the retreat from Moscow, told in fun, by
an old sergeant to a lot of recruits who were afraid of war.
He
declared the French army slept in sheets, and drank its wine
well-iced; that the dead stood still in the roads; Russia was
white, they curried the horses with their teeth; those who liked
to skate had lots of fun, and those who fancied frozen puddings
ate their fill; the women were usually cold, and the only thing
that was really disagreeable was the want of hot water to shave
with: in short, he recounted such absurdities that an old quarter-
master, who had had his nose frozen off and was known by the
name Nez-restant, laughed himself. ”
“Hush,” said Benassis, “here we are: I'll go first; follow me. ”
The pair mounted the ladder and crouched in the hay,
without being seen or heard by the people below, and placed
themselves at ease, so that they could see and hear all that
went on. The women were sitting in groups round the three or


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1414
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
four candles that stood on the tables. Some were sewing, some
knitting; several sat idle, their necks stretched out and their
heads and eyes turned to an old peasant who was telling a story.
Most of the men were standing, or lying on bales of hay.
These groups, all perfectly silent, were scarcely visible in the
flickering glimmer of the tallow-candles encircled by glass bowls
full of water, which concentrated the light in rays upon the
women at work about the tables. The size of the barn, whose
roof was dark and sombre, still further obscured the rays of
light, which touched the heads with unequal color, and brought
out picturesque effects of light and shade. Here, the brown
forehead and the clear eyes of an eager little peasant-girl shone
forth; there, the rough brows of a few old men were sharply
defined by a luminous band, which made fantastic shapes of
their worn and discolored garments. These various listeners, so
diverse in their attitudes, all expressed on their motionless feat-
ures the absolute abandonment of their intelligence to the narra-
tor. It was a curious picture, illustrating the enormous influence
exercised over every class of mind by poetry. In exacting from
a story-teller the marvelous that must still be simple, or the
impossible that is almost believable, the peasant proves himself
to be a true lover of the purest poetry.
“Come, Monsieur Goguelat,” said the game-keeper, “tell us
about the Emperor. ”
«The evening is half over,” said the postman, and I don't
like to shorten the victories. ”
«Never mind; go on! You've told them so many times we
know them all by heart; but it is always a pleasure to hear
them again. ”
« Yes! tell us about the Emperor,” cried many voices together.
« Since you wish it,” replied Goguelat. “But you'll see it isn't
worth much when I have to tell it on the double-quick, charge!
I'd rather tell about a battle. Shall I tell about Champ-Aubert,
where we used up all the cartridges and spitted the enemy on
our bayonets ? »
“No! no! the Emperor! the Emperor! ”
The veteran rose from his bale of hay and cast upon the
assemblage that black look laden with miseries, emergencies, and
sufferings, which distinguishes the faces of old soldiers. He seized
his jacket by the two front flaps, raised them as if about to pack
the knapsack which formerly held his clothes, his shoes, and all
.


## p. 1415 (#209) ###########################################

HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1415
his fortune; then he threw the weight of his body on his left
leg, advanced the right, and yielded with a good grace to the
demands of the company. After pushing his gray hair to one
side to show his forehead, he raised his head towards heaven
that he might, as it were, put himself on the level of the gigantic
history he was about to relate.
“You see, my friends, Napoleon was born in Corsica, a French
island, warmed by the sun of Italy, where it is like a furnace,
and where the people kill each other, from father to son, all
about nothing: that's a way they have. To begin with the mar-
vel of the thing, — his mother, who was the handsomest woman
of her time, and a knowing one, bethought herself of dedicating
him to God, so that he might escape the dangers of his child-
hood and future life; for she had dreamed that the world was
set on fire the day he was born. And indeed it was a prophecy!
So she asked God to protect him, on condition that Napoleon
should restore His holy religion, which was then cast to the
ground.
Well, that was agreed upon, and we shall see what
came of it.
“Follow me closely, and tell me if what you hear is in the
nature of man.
« Sure and certain it is that none but a man who conceived
the idea of making a compact with God could have passed
unhurt through the enemy's lines, through cannon-balls, and dis-
charges of grape-shot that swept the rest of us off like flies, and
always respected his head. I had a proof of that I myself -
at Eylau. I see him now, as he rode up a height, took his
field glass, looked at the battle, and said, All goes well. ' One
of those plumed busy-bodies, who plagued him considerably and
followed him everywhere, even to his meals, so they said,
thought to play the wag, and took the Emperor's place as he
Ho! in a twinkling, head and plume were off! You
must understand that Napoleon had promised to keep the secret
of his compact all to himself. That's why all those who followed
him, even his nearest friends, fell like nuts, - Duroc, Bessières,
Lannes, -all strong as steel bars, though he could bend them as
he pleased. Besides, — to prove he was the child of God, and
made to be the father of soldiers, was he ever known to be
lieutenant or captain ? no, no; commander-in-chief from the
start. He didn't look to be more than twenty-four years of age
when he was an old general at the taking of Toulon, where he
rode away.


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1416
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
a
first began to show the others that they knew nothing about
manoeuvring cannon.
"After that, down came our slip of a general to command
the grand army of Italy, which hadn't bread nor munitions, nor
shoes, nor coats, -a poor army,
as naked as worm. My
friends,' said he, here we are together. Get it into your pates
that fifteen days from now you will be conquerors, new clothes,
good gaiters, famous shoes, and every man with a great-coat;
but, my children, to get these things you must march to Milan
where they are. ' And we marched. France, crushed as flat as
a bedbug, straightened up. We were thirty thousand barefeet
against eighty thousand Austrian bullies, all fine men, well set up.
I see 'em now! But Napoleon - he was then only Bonaparte -
he knew how to put the courage into us! We marched by night,
and we marched by day; we slapped their faces at Montenotte,
we thrashed 'em at Rivoli, Lodi, Arcole, Millesimo, and we
never let 'em up. A soldier gets the taste of conquest. So
Napoleon whirled round those Austrian generals, who didn't
know where to poke themselves to get out of his way, and he
pelted 'em well, -- nipped off ten thousand men at a blow some-
times, by getting round them with fifteen hundred Frenchmen,
and then he gleaned as he pleased. He took their cannon, their
supplies, their money, their munitions, in short, all they had
that was good to take. He fought them and beat them on the
mountains, he drove them into the rivers and seas, he bit 'em
in the air, he devoured 'em on the ground, and he lashed 'em
everywhere. Hey! , the grand army feathered itself well; for,
d'ye see, the Emperor, who was also a wit, called up the inhab-
itants and told them he was there to deliver them. So after
that the natives lodged and cherished us; the women too, and
very judicious they were. Now here's the end of it. In Ven-
tose, '96, — in those times that was the month of March of to-day,
- we lay cuddled in a corner of Savoy with the marmots; and
yet, before that campaign was over, we were masters of Italy,
just as Napoleon had predicted; and by the following March —
in a single year and two campaigns — he had brought us within
sight of Vienna.
'Twas a clean sweep.
We devoured their
armies, one after the other, and made an end of four Austrian
generals. One old fellow, with white hair, was roasted like a rat
in the straw at Mantua. Kings begged for mercy on their
knees! Peace was won.


## p. 1417 (#211) ###########################################

HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1417
« Could a man have done that ? No; God helped him, to a
certainty!
“He divided himself up like the loaves in the Gospel, com-
manded the battle by day, planned it by night; going and com-
ing, for the sentinels saw him, — never eating, never sleeping.
So, seeing these prodigies, the soldiers adopted him for their
father. Forward, march! Then those others, the rulers in Paris,
seeing this, said to themselves:– Here's a bold one that seems
to get his orders from the skies; he's likely to put his paw on
France. We must let him loose on Asia; we will send him to
America, perhaps that will satisfy him. ' But 'twas written
above for him, as it was for Jesus Christ. The command went
forth that he should go to Egypt. See again his resemblance
to the Son of God. But that's not all. He called together his
best veterans, his fire-eaters, the ones he had particularly put
the devil into, and he said to them like this:- My friends,
they have given us Egypt to chew up, just to keep us busy, but
we'll swallow it whole in a couple of campaigns, as we did Italy.
The common soldiers shall be princes and have the land for
their own. Forward, march! ' Forward, march! cried the
sergeants, and there we were at Toulon, road to Egypt. At
that time the English had all their ships in the sea; but when
we embarked Napoleon said, “They won't see us.
It is just as
well that you should know from this time forth that your gen-
eral has got his star in the sky, which guides and protects us. '
What was said was done. Passing over the sea, we took Malta
like an orange, just to quench his thirst for victory; for he was
a man who couldn't live and do nothing.
“So here we are in Egypt. Good. Once here, other orders.
The Egyptians, d'ye see, are men who, ever since the earth
was, have had giants for sovereigns, and armies as numerous
as ants; for, you must understand, that's the land of genii and
crocodiles, where they've built pyramids as big as our mountains,
and buried their kings under them to keep them fresh, - an idea
that pleased 'em mightily. So then, after we disembarked, the
Little Corporal said to us, My children, the country you are
going to conquer has a lot of gods that you must respect;
because Frenchmen ought to be friends with everybody, and
fight the nations without vexing the inhabitants. Get it into
your skulls that you are not to touch anything at first, for it is
all going to be yours soon.
Forward, march! So far, so good.


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
But all those people of Africa, to whom Napoleon was foretold
under the name of Kébir-Bonaberdis,- a word of their lingo
that means “the sultan fires,' – were afraid as the devil of him.
So the Grand Turk, and Asia, and Africa, had recourse to
magic. They sent us a demon, named the Mahdi, supposed to
have descended from heaven on a white horse, which, like its
master, was bullet-proof; and both of them lived on air, without
food to support them. There are some that say they saw them;
but I can't give you any reasons to make you certain about
that. The rulers of Arabia and the Mamelukes tried to make
their troopers believe that the Mahdi could keep them from
perishing in battle; and they pretended he was an angel sent
from heaven to fight Napoleon and get back Solomon's seal.
Solomon's seal was part of their paraphernalia which they vowed
our General had stolen. You must understand that we'd given
'em a good many wry faces, in spite of what he had said to us.
“Now, tell me how they knew that Napoleon had a pact with
God? Was that natural, d'ye think?
«They held to it in their minds that Napoleon commanded
the genii, and could pass hither and thither in the twinkling of
an eye, like a bird. The fact is, he was everywhere. At last, it
came to his carrying off a queen, beautiful as the dawn, for
whom he had offered all his treasure, and diamonds as big as
pigeons' eggs, -a bargain which the Mameluke to whom she par-
ticularly belonged positively refused, although he had several
others. Such matters, when they come to that pass, can't be
settled without a great many battles; and, indeed, there was no
scarcity of battles; there was fighting enough to please every-
body. We were in line at Alexandria, at Gizeh, and before the
Pyramids; we marched in the sun and through the sand, where
some, who had the dazzles, saw water that they couldn't drink,
and shade where their fesh was roasted. But we made short
work of the Mamelukes; and everybody else yielded at the voice
of Napoleon, who took possession of Upper and Lower Egypt,
Arabia, and even the capitals of kingdoms that were no more,
where there were thousand of statues and all the plagues of
Egypt, more particularly lizards, -a mammoth of a country
where everybody could take his acres of land for as little as he
pleased. Well, while Napoleon was busy with his affairs inland,
– where he had it in his head to do fine things, - the English
burned his fleet at Aboukir; for they were always looking about


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
1419
them to annoy us. But Napoleon, who had the respect of the
East and of the West, whom the Pope called his son, and the
cousin of Mohammed called “his dear father,' resolved to punish
England, and get hold of India in exchange for his fleet. He
was just about to take us across the Red Sea into Asia, a coun-
try where there are diamonds and gold to pay the soldiers and
palaces for bivouacs, when the Mahdi made a treaty with the
Plague, and sent it down to hinder our victories. Halt! The
army to a man defiled at that parade; and few there were who
came back on their feet. Dying soldiers couldn't take Saint-Jean
d'Acre, though they rushed at it three times with generous and
martial obstinacy. The Plague was the strongest. No saying to
that enemy, My good friend. ' Every soldier lay ill. Napoleon
alone was fresh as a rose, and the whole army saw him drinking
in pestilence without its doing him a bit of harm.
“Ha! my friends! will you tell me that that's in the nature
of a mere man ?
«The Mamelukes knowing we were all in the ambulances,
thought they could stop the way; but that sort of joke wouldn't
do with Napoleon. So he said to his demons, his veterans, those
that had the toughest hide, 'Go, clear me the way. Junot, a
sabre of the first cut, and his particular friend, took a thousand
men, no more, and ripped up the army of the pacha who had
had the presumption to put himself in the way. After that, we
came back to headquarters at Cairo. Now, here's another side
of the story.
Napoleon absent, France was letting herself be
ruined by the rulers in Paris, who kept back the pay of the
soldiers of the other armies, and their clothing, and their rations;
left them to die of hunger, and expected them to lay down the
law to the universe without taking any trouble to help them.
Idiots! who amused themselves by chattering, instead of putting
their own hands in the dough. Well, that's how it happened
that our armies were beaten, and the frontiers of France were
encroached upon: THE MAN was not there. Now observe, I say
man because that's what they called him; but 'twas nonsense,
for he had a star and all its belongings; it was we who were
only men. He taught history to France after his famous battle
of Aboukir, where, without losing more than three hundred men,
and with a single division, he vanquished the grand army of the
Turk, seventy-five thousand strong, and hustled more than half
of it into the sea, r-r-rah!


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HONORÉ DE BALZAC
were
“That was his last thunder-clap in Egypt. He said to him-
self, seeing the way things were going in Paris, I am the savior
of France. I know it, and I must go.