Home Categories Novel Corner Demon Swamp

Chapter 10 10 braving the cold

Demon Swamp 喬治.桑 3737Words 2023-02-05
Little Mary didn't seem to care much about the child's strange words, and took them only as well-meaning words; she covered him carefully and stoked the fire.The thick fog that hung over the nearby marshes seemed to have parted too early, so she advised Germain to pack up by the fire and take a nap. I see you are drowsy, she said to him, because you are silent and staring at the coals, just like your little one was just now.Come on, sleep for a while, I will watch over the child and you. You should be the one to sleep, replied the farmer, and I will watch over you both, for I have no sign of sleep; fifty thoughts are wandering about in my head.

Fifty, that's a lot, the girl said jokingly, how many people are happy just to have a thought! Well, if I don't have fifty, I have at least one, which has been haunting me for an hour. I'll tell you right away, including your previous thoughts. Well, if you can guess it, tell me, Mary, I'll be glad if you tell me. An hour ago, she said, you want to eat and now you want to sleep. Mary, I'm only a cowherd, and you take me for a cow.You're a naughty girl, and I see you don't want to talk to me at all.Go to sleep, that's better than scolding a sullen person.

If you want to talk, let's talk,' said the girl, half lying down beside the child, with her head leaning on the saddle, you are looking for trouble, Germain, and you have not shown much manly courage in this.If I had not tried so hard to restrain my sorrow, what would I have to say? Of course, it is your distress that worries me, my poor child!You'll live far from your kindred, in a ghostly place of moors and swamps, and you'll catch autumn fevers, where sheep won't do you any good, and a shepherdess who wants to keep them will always worry; besides , you're going to be around strangers, they may not treat you well, don't understand what's good about you.See, this makes me so sad that I can't tell you what to do, and I should like to take you back to your house instead of Fourches.

You have said all this with a good heart, but without reason, my poor Germain; you should not speak ill of your friends, you should not show me the bad side of my fate, but the good one. side, as you did when we ate at that hotel in Lebec. what else can we do!I saw it that way then, and I see it differently now.You'd better find a husband. That's impossible, Germain, I've told you; and just because it's impossible, I don't think about it. But what if you can find it?Maybe if you'll tell me what kind of man you want, I'll be able to think of one. Figured out is not the same as found.I, since it is vain to think about it, I don't think about it.

Don't you want to find someone from a wealthy family? No, I dare not think that way, because I am as poor as Job【Note】. 【Note】Job is the poorest person in the Old Testament. If his family is well off, you can live well, eat well, dress well, and the whole family is a decent family, so you can help your mother, so what? oh!How dare you!It is my whole wish to help my mother. If there is such an opportunity, even if the man is not too young, you won't be too picky, right? ah!Forgive me, Germain, but that's what I value.I don't like older ones! Of course not old; but what about my age?

Your age is too great for me, Germain; I like Bastian's age, though Bastian is not as handsome as you. Do you prefer Bastian the Pig?Germain asked dissatisfied, do you like this young man with eyes like the animals he drives? I don't care about his eyes just because he is eighteen. Germain felt terribly jealous.He said: Come, I see that you are in love with Bastian, which is at least a whim! Yes, that might be a whim, answered little Mary, laughing aloud, and he would be a whimsical husband.He will believe whatever you want him to believe.For example, that day, I picked up a tomato in the curate’s vegetable garden, and I told him that it was a beautiful red apple, and he took a bite like a glutton.If only you had seen his ugliness!My God, how ugly he is!

Since you laugh at him, you don't love him? This cannot be considered a reason.But I don't like him: he's cruel to his little sister, and he's a mess. So, don't you think it's interesting to other people? What has this to do with you, Germain? Nothing to do, just talk.Girl, I see you already have a lover in your heart. No, Germain, you are mistaken, I don't have a lover yet, I may have one later: since I intend to save a little money before I marry, I am doomed to marry later, to an older man. So, marry an older one right away. No!When I'm no longer young, then I don't care; now it's another matter.

Mary, I see that I don't please you: it's obvious.Germain said angrily, without considering his words. Little Mary made no reply.Germain bent over her: she was asleep; as if attacked and conquered by drowsiness, as children are, they are still chattering, but have fallen asleep. Germain was glad she hadn't noticed his last words; he admitted they had been utterly unwise.He turned his back, trying to change his mind and take a break. But it was in vain, he couldn't sleep, he couldn't think of anything else but what he had just said.He circled the fire, walked away, came back again; at last, as excited as if he had swallowed cannon powder, he leaned on the trunk of the tree that shaded the two children and watched them sleep.

He thought to himself: I can't explain how I never noticed that this little Mary was the prettiest girl around!Although she doesn't look good, her little face is as delicate as a rose among thorns!What a lovely mouth, what a tiny nose!Considering her age, she is not tall, she is as tall as a small quail, and her body is as light as a chaffinch!I don't understand why people here admire tall, fat, red-faced women so much. My woman is thinner and paler, but she pleases me better than anyone else. This one is also very delicate, but she is not worse. She looks like Like a white lamb!Besides, how gentle and faithful she was!You can see her kind heart in her eyes, even when you sleep and close your eyes!As for cleverness, it must be admitted that she surpasses my dear Catherine, and that she is not to be tired of in company with her joviality, intelligence, industriousness, affection, and wit.I can't see how I can hope for a better woman

Germain tried to think about it from another angle, and continued to think: Why do I keep thinking about this?My father-in-law doesn't like to hear these words, and the whole family will say that I am crazy!Besides, she doesn't want me herself, poor child!She thinks I'm too old, she just said that to me like she doesn't care, she doesn't care about enduring poverty and suffering, wearing poor clothes, starving for two or three months a year, as long as there is One day being able to marry a husband she likes will satisfy her, she is right!In her position, I will do the same. From now on, if I can do things according to my own wishes, and if I don't proceed with the marriage that I am not satisfied with, then I will choose a girl that I like.

The more Germain tried to analyze and calm himself down, the more he couldn't do it.He walked off twenty paces and disappeared into the mist; suddenly he came back and knelt beside the two sleeping children.He wanted to kiss little Pierre again, and he put his arm around Marie's neck; he kissed the wrong place, and Marie felt a heat like fire sweep over her lips, and she woke up with a startled panic. She looked at him uneasily, not knowing what he wanted to do at all. I can't see you, my poor children!said Germain, draw back quickly, I almost pressed on you, and it hurt you. Little Mary believed it innocently, and fell asleep again.Germain went to the other side of the fire and swore to God he wouldn't move until she woke up.He kept his word, but he was so uncomfortable that he believed he was going crazy. Near midnight, the fog finally cleared, and Germain could see the stars twinkling through the branches.The moon, too, broke free from the mist that covered it, and began to sprinkle diamonds on the wet moss.The trunks of the oaks were still in solemn darkness, and a little farther off the white trunks of the birches looked like a row of shrouded ghosts.The light of the fire was reflected in the pond; the frog got used to the light of the fire and tried to make a few weak and timid calls.The gnarled branches of the old tree, covered with white lichen, stretched out and crossed our travellers' heads like great thin arms; it was a wonderful place, but Germain could not bear the desolation, and sang Sing, throw stones into the water, and relieve this dreadful loneliness.He wanted to wake little Mary; when he saw her rise to see what time it was, he proposed to her to start again. In two hours more, he said to her, it was going to be daylight, and it was going to be very cold, and we couldn't bear it, despite the fire, and now we could see as we went, and we'd find a house to receive us, at least a barn , we can spend the night under the roof. Marie had no other ideas, and although she still wanted to sleep, she was going to follow Germain on the road. Germain picked up his son without waking him, and asked Marie to lie next to him and hide in his cloak, for she would not draw up the cloak that wrapped herself around little Pierre. When he felt the girl so close to him, Germain, who had been relieved and happy, began to lose his mind again.Two or three times he broke away abruptly, leaving her alone.Then seeing that she couldn't keep up, he waited for her again, and pulled her suddenly to him, and hugged her so tightly that she was surprised and even a little annoyed, but dared not speak out. They didn't know which way to go, they didn't know where to go; they turned around in the woods again, came back to the open wilderness, and went back the same way, and walked around. For a long time, I saw the light through the branches. alright!There was a house there, said Germain, and everyone was up because the fire was burning.Is it getting late? But this is not a house: it is the bonfire they smothered as they set off, and the breeze blows it back again They walked for two hours and returned to where they started.
Press "Left Key ←" to return to the previous chapter; Press "Right Key →" to enter the next chapter; Press "Space Bar" to scroll down.
Chapters
Chapters
Setting
Setting
Add
Return
Book