showing why the leagues are so much shorter in france than in germany.
a short time after the famous dispute, pantagruel heard two very startling bits of news. one was that his father gargantua had been transported to the country of the fairies by morgan, in the same way that she had already carried off ogier the dane and king arthur. the other was that, on hearing of this, and taking advantage of it, the dipsodes, or thirsty people, gargantua's neighbors, had swarmed from their fortresses and ravaged a large part of utopia, and were even then besieging the chief city of the amaurotes. when pantagruel heard this bad news he boiled with rage. he left paris without a word of good-by to anybody, for the affair called for speed. he was accompanied only by his special train, which included his master epistemon, panurge, eusthenes, and carpalim. from paris he went to rouen. while on the road, pantagruel noticed that the french leagues were very short when compared with those of other countries, which he had seen in his travels. he asked panurge how this could be. then panurge, who was never at fault, after turning up his long nose, told him this little story:—
engraving
pantagruel marches to rouen.
"in the old days, when that fine king pharamond reigned over france, there were no leagues, no metes, no furlongs, no recognized boundaries between different countries; nothing, in fact, to show where one country began and where another ended. that just old king resolved to make all this right. so he caused to be brought together in paris two hundred of the brightest and prettiest girls and boys to be found in all france, whom he feasted well for eight days. after it the king called the two hundred children before him, and gave them a sum of money large enough for their expenses during a long journey. he then commanded that they should not go out by the same gate, but start away on different roads, here and there, as their fancy took them out from the city. he further told them that, wherever they should stop to play and run about in the bright sunshine, and gather flowers, or chase the beautiful butterflies, they should leave a stone there to show that they had done so.
"that stone would mean, 'this is one league.'
"it was summer time in the pleasant, flowery, laughing month of june, when the skies seem more full of blue, the fields more full of green, and the roses more full of red, than they are at any other time, that the gentle king pharamond had gathered these innocent children together. the whole party, with bright cheeks and merry laughter, started from paris by one road and another. how could the children help feeling happy when the skies were so blue, the fields so green, and the roses so red, and when the butterflies would fly so near the ground, as if only too glad to be run after and caught! and then each boy and girl knew that their generous king had given them so much money that, to their simple fancies, it seemed as if they could never spend it all, try as hard as they might.
"in those bright june days, full of light, and green, and blue, they were always crying out: 'let us stop! oh, let us stop to play.'
"so they used, at first, to stop at every turn of the road to skip and gambol about in the fields, to gather the pretty flowers, to chase the brilliant butterflies, to sing back to the singing-birds in the trees, and to breathe in the sweet summer air, after which, with ringing laughter and the merriest shouts, they would leave a big stone to mark the spot where they had been so happy.
"this explains, my lord," said panurge, making a face, "why our leagues in france are so short."
"i see, i see," said the good pantagruel, who had fallen into deep thought.
"but the longest summer must come to an end," panurge went on to say. "and when children stop at every turn of the road to play in the sun, and to run in the fields, and to pluck the flowers, and chase the butterflies, and sing with the singing-birds, they are only robbing themselves of their own glad time. for autumn, with his clouds that hide the sun, and his ugly days, and his chilly nights, must be very patient if he does not soon begin to think it high time for him to come on the scene. so it got to be quite another thing for the poor children the farther they went from paris, because they soon found out that king pharamond's gift, large as it was, could not last forever. the more they travelled, the worse the weather, the nearer they came to the bottom of their purse, the heavier grew the road, and the more tired their little bodies became. at last, all that the weary children prayed for was that they might reach the end of their hard journey as fast as possible. but autumn himself was getting very old by that time, and fierce winter, with his chilling breath, and his hands of ice, and his mantle of snow, was beginning to wonder when brother autumn was going to give him a chance of dropping his shining mantle over field, lane, and road. there were no longer any blue sky; no longer any green fields; no longer any red roses for the children; and the bright butterflies were all dead now, and the singing-birds were all mute.
"all that the poor little children could now do, wringing their hands, was to cry: 'let us go on! oh, do let us go on!'
"so, too sad to think of play, but remembering always the command of their good king, they walked, or rather limped, along the highway, and would rest as little as they could until they had reached germany, and gone to the very end of that country, to make sure that they had done their duty."
after telling this legend of king pharamond and his two hundred little children, panurge remarked, with a very ugly grin:—
"and this, your highness, is why those cursed german leagues are so long."
