THE THREE BROTHERS

OR

The Cat, The Cock, And The Ladder

A BRETON STORY

ONCE upon a time there were three brothers: the oldest was named Yvon; the second Goulven; and the youngest, Guyon. Their mother was dead, and they asked their father to give each of them the portion that would fall to him, so that they might go out into the world to seek their fortunes.

“I am very willing,” said the old man, “but you know that we are not rich; a cat, a cock, and a ladder—these are all I have to give you.”

“Very well; let us draw straws,” replied the three brothers, “and see what will fall to the lot of each of us.”

They drew straws, and the cat fell to Yvon, the cock to Goulven, and the ladder to Guyon. Each took his property and began to get ready to set out. Their father accompanied them to a place near by, where four roads crossed and led in different directions, and then they bade farewell to each other, and took each a different road, after having appointed a meeting at the same place at the end of a year and a day. The old man returned alone to his house, by the fourth road.

Yvon, to whom the cat had fallen, was led by his road to the seashore. He followed the beach for a long time without coming to any dwelling. He and his companion were obliged to live for several days on shell-fish, and principally on mussels and lumpets, which cats love above all things. They came at last to a mill, not far from which rose the walls and towers of a castle high upon the cliff. Yvon entered the mill, carrying the cat on his left arm. He saw there four men, in their shirt-sleeves, armed with sticks and earnestly engaged in chasing the mice which ran about in every direction, so as to hinder them from cutting holes in the sacks and eating the flour.

“How much trouble you take for a small matter!” said he to them.

“How is it a small matter? Do you not see that if we should let them, these vile beasts would eat both the wheat and the flour and would reduce us to die of hunger?”

“Ah, well! here is a little animal” (and he showed them his cat) “that, all by himself, in less than an hour, will do more work than you four in a whole year; he will very soon get rid of all your mice.”

“This little animal? You are joking, doubtless; he does not seem at all dangerous. What do you call him?” (In that country they had never seen a cat.)

“He is called Mr. Cat. Do you wish to see him work?”

“Yes; let us see something of what he can do.”

Yvon let go his cat, which was very hungry. The mice, which were not afraid of it, never having seen a cat, made no haste to run into their holes, and it made a frightful slaughter of them. The four men watched it work, in great astonishment, and in less than an hour the whole threshing-floor of the mill was strewn with dead mice. There were heaps of them in every direction. The men with the sticks and the miller could not recover from their astonishment. One of them ran to the castle, and said to the lord,—

“Make haste, my lord, and come to the mill; you will see there what you have never seen before in your life.”

“What is it?” asked the lord.

“A man has arrived from some country, we know not where, bringing with him a little animal that appears to be very mild and gentle, yet which in the wink of an eye has killed all the mice against which we have had so much trouble to defend your wheat and your flour.”

“I trust this may be true!” cried the lord.

He hastened to the mill, and seeing the great work of the cat, he stood still, filled with admiration, his eyes and his mouth wide open. Then, seeing on Yvon’s arm the author of all this carnage, which, well fed and happy, and its eyes half closed, was making a continuous sound like that of a wheel turned by the hand of a spinner, he asked,—

“And is it this animal, that looks so gentle and sweet, which has worked so bravely?”

“Yes, my lord, it is indeed,” replied the four men armed with sticks.

“What a treasure such an animal must be! Ah! if I could only have it! Will you sell it to me?” asked he of Yvon.

“Willingly,” replied Yvon, passing his hand down the back of his cat.

“How much will you take for it?”

“Six hundred crowns, with lodging for myself and good board in your castle; for my friend, the cat, will not work well if I do not stay with him.”

“Agreed! shake hands.”

And they shook hands.

Yvon was accordingly installed in the castle, having nothing to do every day but eat, drink, go walking, and from time to time to make a visit to his friend, the cat, at the mill. He had become the friend of the lord, and also of his daughter; for he was a very handsome young man. His acquaintance with the young girl became very intimate; and he got from her all the gold and diamonds that he wanted. But the time came when he thought it was most prudent for him to go away; so he disappeared one night without saying anything, taking with him the best horse in the castle stable to carry him, and all that he took away from the old lord.

Now we will follow him no farther, since his fortune is made, but see what has become of Goulven and his cock.

After having walked a long time, and getting farther and farther from home, Goulven at last reached a country where there were no cocks. One evening, about sunset, overcome with fatigue, he came to a beautiful castle, and knocked at the door.

“What do you want?” asked the porter.

“Lodging for the night, if you please, for my little comrade and myself.”

“Come in,” said the porter to him; “you may lodge here, for my master is charitable.”

He ate in the kitchen with the servants, then went to sleep in the stable with the stable-boys and wagoners, taking his cock with him.

In that country they were obliged to go each morning to look for the day. So in the barn where he was with his cock, Goulven heard the conversation of the stable-boys and wagoners. They were saying to each other,—

“To-morrow morning we shall have trouble again when we go to look for the day. Let us grease the axle-tree well, so that the wagon will run more easily, and not break down, as it did the other day; for see how many wagons are already broken, and many horses worked to death, and the master is displeased, and says that we shall ruin him.”

“Yes, grease the axle-tree well before we go to bed.”

Goulven listened, astonished at what he heard; and, as the lord and the servants had told him that they had never seen a bird like his cock, the idea struck him that he might make something out of it; so that he cried to the stable-boys and the wagoners,—

“Do not be so troubled and anxious, my friends. I will undertake your task.”

“You will undertake to go yourself, all alone, to look for the day to-morrow morning?”

“Yes; I and my companion.”

“But, unhappy man, if you do not bring it, or if you are late returning, the master will have you hanged on the spot.”

“Let us alone, I tell you, and go to sleep quietly.”

Accordingly, the stable-boys and wagoners went to sleep without greasing the wagon or making any of the usual preparations.

The cock crowed out from the loft about three o’clock in the morning.

“What is that?” cried the wagoners and stable-boys, awakened by this song that they had never heard before.

“It is nothing,” replied Goulven; “do not disturb yourselves. My comrade only announces that he is about to go in search of the day.” So they went to sleep again.

About four o’clock the cock crowed again, and they woke up as before, and cried,—

“What is it? what is it?”

“It is my comrade, telling you that he is coming with the day,” replied Goulven; “get up and see.”

So they got up, and saw with astonishment that, sure enough, the day had come without their having been to look for it with so much trouble. They hastened to go and tell their master.

“Master, if you only knew—”

“What is it? What has happened that you should come to wake me so early?”

“You know the stranger whom you lodged last night, with his little animal that he called a cock?”

“Well, what has he done?”

“What has he done? Why, this little animal, that does not look as if he were anything in particular, is stronger than all your horses together, and will be able to spare you much expense, and us much trouble. Would you believe it? he has brought us the day this morning all by himself, without horses or wagons, while we slept quietly.

“It is impossible; you are mocking me!”

“Nothing is truer, however; and you have only to assure yourself of it by keeping the man and his little animal at the castle and watching with us to-night.”

“Very well; tell him to remain, so that I can see this thing.”

So they told the man with the cock to remain with his animal.

When evening came, after supper, the servants, the stable-boys, and the wagoners went to sleep as usual, and Goulven climbed again to the loft, with his cock, after having told them that they need not disturb themselves at all, and that he would undertake to bring the day back again at the appointed hour.

About three o’clock in the morning the lord, who had not gone to bed, came also to the stable to see and hear for himself what took place. The cock crowed the first time on the cock-loft.

“What is that?” asked the lord.

“It is my comrade, just setting out to look for the day,” replied Goulven; “do not be disturbed. Wait quietly; he will not be slow in returning.”

At four o’clock the cock crowed again.

“Why has the cock crowed?” asked the lord.

“Because he has just arrived, bringing the day back to us,” replied Goulven. “Open the door, and go out, and you will see.”

The lord went out of the stable, and saw that day had really dawned, all rosy and bright (it was the month of May), without his horses and his iron-bound wagons having gone to look for it. He was filled with amazement, and could not understand it. He called Goulven, and said to him,—

“The wagons that they break for me, the horses they cripple for me, going every morning to look for the dawn, are ruinous to me; if you will sell me your little animal, you will do me a great service; how much do you ask for it?”

“A thousand crowns,” replied Goulven, “and to remain with it at the castle, well fed, well clothed, and having nothing to do but to go walking for my pleasure where I will.”

“Agreed,” said the lord.

So Goulven lived at the castle, the happiest of men, having nothing to do every day but eat, drink, sleep, and go out walking. The cock, for his part, never failed to bring the day back at the proper hour, and all were very well satisfied with their services. Goulven also made love to the lord’s daughter, who had noticed him because he was a handsome fellow, and having behaved just as Yvon had done under the same circumstances, he ran away also, when he thought the moment had come, taking with him not only the thousand crowns that he had gotten for the cock, but handsome presents which he had received from the young lady, and which he bore off on the best horse in the lord’s stable.

Of the three brothers, we have already seen two entirely successful; one with his cat, the other with his cock. Now let us see what became of the third, Guyon, the man with the ladder.

After having walked a long time, going always straight before him, and carrying his ladder on his shoulder, and having gone a great distance from his own country, he found himself one day in front of a grand castle, surrounded on all sides by high walls, and brambles and thorns. At the window of one of the towers he saw a young lady of remarkable beauty. He stopped to look at her; she smiled, and they soon began to talk together. The lady told him that her husband, the lord of the castle, was absent. He was a jealous wretch, who kept her a captive in this tower with only a servant for company, and allowed her to receive no one else. She had grown very weary of her tower and wished very much to go out of it; but her lord had taken away the keys, and until his return she was obliged to stay locked up. He was expected to return the next day.

“I can come to you without a key, if you will permit it,” said Guyon.

“How can you, unless you change yourself to a bird? Into this castle, no man but my husband ever enters, and if any other should succeed in getting in, he would never go out alive.”

“We will see about that,” said Guyon.

Then he leaned his ladder against the wall. Alas! it was too short. But the lady and her servant held the curtains out to him, and at last he reached them, to their great joy. The next morning, early, he departed by the same way by which he had come. As he had greatly amused the young lady and her servant, to whom such good fortune had never happened, they filled his pockets before he left with gold, jewels, and diamonds.

As Guyon was going quietly along, carrying his ladder on his shoulder, he met the lord returning, who said to him as he passed,—

“You appear much burdened and very much fatigued, my good man.”

“A little,” replied he; and each went on his way.

As soon as the lord had entered his castle, his wife, who knew nothing, and who had never seen any other man but her husband near enough to speak, made haste to tell him everything. To her great astonishment, her lord was furious.

“How could he get into the tower?”

“With an instrument that he called a ladder. And he amused us very much; and before he left, to reward him, we filled his pockets with gold, jewels, and diamonds.”

“Ah! miserable woman, what do you say? You have given my gold and my jewels and diamonds to this creature?”

And he was furious, and stamped his feet and pulled out his hair.

“I shall run after him, and if I catch him!—”

“Do him no harm, I beg you,” said the wife, who could not understand her husband’s anger.

The latter took the best horse from his stable and was soon off at great speed in pursuit of Guyon. But Guyon, who thought he would be followed, looked behind him, from time to time; and as he saw him just as he came near a house covered with slate which was by the roadside, he placed his ladder against the wall, mounted to the roof, and began to throw down the slate tiles, as a tiler does when repairing an old roof. When the lord arrived in front of the house, he stopped his horse, and addressing Guyon, said,—

“How now, tiler, have you seen a man go by who carried a ladder on his shoulder?”

“Yes, indeed! my lord; he passed by only a moment ago.”

“Which way did he go?”

“He kept on straight along there; hold on, you can see him still from here. Come up, and you will see him.”

Then Guyon descended, and the lord, leaving his horse, climbed upon the roof. But as soon as he had done so, Guyon took away the ladder, mounted the horse, taking his ladder with him, and set off at a full gallop, leaving the lord swearing and storming on the roof.

At the end of a year and a day, exactly, the three brothers, mounted on fine horses and dressed like lords, met at the cross-roads where they had parted, and found their father waiting for them.

They had all three made their fortunes with the cat, the cock, and the ladder; and they married rich women, and built three fine castles, one for each, and a fourth, finer than the others, for their old father.

Told by Marguerite Philippe, September, 1873.

F. M. Luzel.