Here is the story of Perronik the idiot. They thus left the plain, and found themselves in front of a grove composed of the most beautiful plants. There were roses of all colors, Spanish broom, red honeysuckle, and above all, rose a mysterious flower which laughed; but a lion with the mane of a viper ran around the grove, rolling its eyes and grinding its teeth like two newly transplanted millstones.
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TogglePerronik the idiot
Peronnik stopped and bowed again, for he knew that in front of the powerful a bonnet was less useful on the head than on the hand. He wished the lion and his family all the best, and asked him if he was on the road to Kerglas.
- And what are you going to do to Kerglas cried the ferocious animal with a terrible air.
"With all due respect," the idiot replied timidly, "I am in the service of a lady who is the friend of Lord Rogéar, and who sends him, as a present, enough to make a lark pie."
'Lark,' repeated the lion, running his tongue over his mustache, 'I haven't eaten them for a century. Do you bring a lot?
Anything that sack can hold, my lord, replied Peronnik, pointing to the canvas pocket he had filled with feathers and glue.
And, to make believe what he was saying, he began to counterfeit the twittering of the larks.
This song increased the lion's appetite.
“Let’s see,” he continued, approaching, “show me your birds; I want to know if they are big enough to be served to our master.
"I wouldn't ask for better," replied the idiot; but if I pull them out of the bag, I'm afraid they'll fly away.
"Open it only for me to look at," replied the ferocious beast.
This was just what Peronnik hoped for; he presented the canvas pocket to the lion, who stuck his head in it to seize the larks, and found himself caught in the feathers and in the glue. The idiot quickly tightened the drawstring of the bag around his neck, made the sign of the cross on the knot to make it indestructible; then, running to the laughing flower, he plucked it and set off again at the full speed of his foal.
But he was not long in meeting the lake of the dragons, which had to be crossed by swimming, and, as soon as he entered it, they came running from all sides to devour it.
This time, Peronnik did not amuse himself by pulling his cap on them; but he began to throw at them the beads of his rosary as one throws buckwheat to ducks, and with each grain swallowed, one of the dragons rolled over on its back and died, so that the idiot could win the other shore without any harm.
It remained to cross the valley guarded by the black man. Peronnik soon saw him at the entrance, chained to the rock by the foot, and holding in his hand an iron ball which, after hitting the goal, came back to him of its own accord. He had six eyes around his head, which usually watched one after the other; but at that moment he was holding all six of them open.
Peronnik knowing that, if he was seen, the iron ball would reach him before he could speak, decided to slip along the thicket. So he arrived, hiding behind the bushes, a few paces from the black man. He had just sat down, and two of his eyes had closed to rest. Peronnik, judging he was sleepy, began to sing the beginning of high mass in a low voice. The black man seemed at first surprised; he raised his head; then, as the song acted on him, he closed a third eye.
Peronnik then intoned the Kyrie eleison in the tone of the priests who are possessed by the dozing devil. The black man closed his fourth eye and half of the fifth. Peronnik began vespers; but, before he arrived at the Magnificat, the black man was asleep.
Then the young boy took the foal by the bridle to make him walk gently through the places covered with moss, and, passing near the keeper, he entered the valley of pleasures.
Here was the most difficult place, because it was no longer a question of avoiding danger, but of fleeing a temptation. Peronnik called all the saints of the Brittany to his aid.
The valley he crossed was like a garden filled with fruits, flowers and fountains but the fountains were of delicious wines and liquors, the flowers sang with voices as sweet as the cherubs in paradise, and the fruits came s 'offer of themselves. Then, at every turn of the aisle, Peronnik saw large tables served as for kings; he smelled the good odor of the pastries brought out of the oven, he saw servants who seemed to be waiting for him; while, further on, beautiful young girls, coming out of the bath and dancing on the grass, called her by name and invited her to lead the ball.
In vain did the idiot make the sign of the cross, he imperceptibly slackened the pace of the colt; he raised his nose to the wind the better to smell the smoke from the dishes and to see the bathers better; perhaps he was going to stop and it was all over with him, if the memory of the gold basin and the diamond spear had not suddenly crossed his mind; he immediately began to whistle in his elderberry whistle so as not to hear the sweet voices, to eat his bread rubbed with rancid bacon so as not to smell the food, and to look at his horse's ears so as not to see the dancers.
In this way, he arrived at the end of the garden, without misfortune, and he finally saw the castle of Kerglas.
But he was still separated from it by the river about which he had been told and which had only one ford. Fortunately the foal knew him and entered the water at the right place.
Peronnik then looked around if he would not see the lady he was to lead to the castle, and he saw her sitting on a rock; she was dressed in black satin and her face was yellow like that of a Moorish.
The idiot pulled out his cap again and asked her if she did not want to cross the river.
"I was expecting you for that," replied the lady; come closer so I can sit behind you.
Peronnik walked over, took her behind her, and began to cross the ford. He was about in the middle of the passage when the lady said to him:
- Do you know who I am, poor innocent?
"Excuse me," replied Peronnik; but, by your clothes, I can see that you are a noble and powerful person.
- For noble, I must be, continued the lady, because my origin dates from the first sin; and as mighty am I, for all nations yield before me.
- And what is your name, please, ma'am? asked Peronnik.
"They call me the Plague," replied the yellow woman.
The idiot jumped up on his horse and wanted to throw himself into the river, but the Plague said to him:
- Rest at rest, poor innocent, you have nothing to fear from me, and I can on the contrary serve you.
- Is it really possible that you have this kindness, Madam Plague? said Peronnik, this time pulling his cap so as not to put it back on; by the way, I remember now that it's up to you to teach me how I can get rid of the magician Rogear.
- The magician must die! said the yellow lady
“I couldn't ask for better,” Peronnik replied, “but he's immortal.
"Listen, and try to understand," said the Plague. The apple tree kept by the korigan tree is a cutting from the tree of good and evil, planted in the earthly paradise by God himself. Its fruit, like that which was eaten by Adam and Eve, makes immortals susceptible to death. So try that the magician tastes the apple, and then I will only have to touch him so that he ceases to live.
"I will try," said Peronnik; but if I succeed, how could I have the gold basin and the diamond spear, since they are hidden in a dark cave that no forged key can open?
The laughing flower opens all doors, replied the Plague, and it lights up every night.
As she finished these words they reached the other side and the idiot walked towards the castle.
There was in front of the entrance a large awning similar to the canopy under which the Bishop of Vannes walks in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament. The giant stood there in the shelter of the sun, his legs crossed one on top of the other, like an owner who has brought in his grains, and smoking a tobacco horn of virgin gold. Seeing the colt on which Peronnik was and the lady dressed in black satin, he raised his head and said, in a voice that sounded like thunder.
- By Beelzebub, our master! this idiot is riding my thirteen month old colt!
"Himself, O greatest of magicians," replied Peronnik.
- And how did you manage to get hold of it? replied Rogear.
"I repeated what your brother Bryak taught me," replied the idiot. Arriving on the edge of the forest, I said:
Foal free of feet, foal free of teeth,
Foal, I'm here, come quickly, I'm waiting for you
and the little horse came immediately.
- So you know my brother? resumed the giant.
"As you know your master," replied the boy.
- And why is he sending you here?
- To bring you as a present two rarities that he has just received from the land of the Moors: the apple of joy here, and the woman of submission that you see. If you eat first, your heart will always be as happy as a poor man who would find a purse of a hundred crowns in his hoof; and if you take the second to your service, you will have nothing more to desire in the world.
"Then give the apple and send the Moorish down," Rogéar replied.
The idiot obeys; but as soon as the giant bit into the fruit, the yellow lady touched him and he fell to the ground like an ox being slaughtered.
Peronnik immediately entered the palace, holding the Laughing Flower in his hand. He successively crossed more than fifty rooms and finally arrived in front of the underground passage with a silver door. This opened by itself in front of the flower which lit up the idiot and allowed him to reach the golden basin and the diamond spear.
But scarcely had he seized them when the earth trembled under his feet; a terrible burst was heard, the palace disappeared, and Peronnik found himself in the middle of the forest, provided with the two talismans, with which he walked towards the court of the king of Brittany. He only took care, while passing through Vannes, to buy the richest costume he could find and the most beautiful horse that was for sale in the bishopric of white wheat.
However, when he arrived in Nantes, this city was besieged by the French, who had ravaged the countryside all around so much that there were only trees left that a goat could graze. Moreover, the famine was in the city, and the soldiers who did not die of their wounds, died for lack of bread. Also, the very day that Peronnik arrived, a trumpet published there in all the crossroads that the king of Brittany promised to adopt for heir the one who could deliver the city and drive the French out of the country.
Hearing this promise, the idiot said to the trumpet:
- Do not cry any more, and lead me to the king, because I am able to do what he asks.
- You, said the trumpet (who saw him so young - and so small), go your way, beautiful goldfinch; the king does not have time to take little birds from the thatched roofs.
In answer, Peronnik brushed the soldier with his spear, and instantly fell dead, to the dismay of the crowd who watched and wanted to flee; but the idiot cried out:
- You have just seen what I can do against my enemies; now know what I can do for my friends.
And, having brought the magical basin to the lips of the dead man, he immediately came to life.
The king, being informed of this marvel, gave Peronnik the command of the soldiers who remained to him; and, as with his diamond spear the fool killed thousands of Frenchmen, while with the golden basin he resuscitated all the Bretons who had been slain he got rid of the enemy army in a few days and seized all that was in their camps.
He then proposed to conquer neighboring countries such as Anjou, Poitou and Normandy, which cost him little trouble; finally, when he had submitted everything to the king, he declared that he wanted to leave to deliver the Holy Land and he embarked in Nantes, on large ships, with the first nobility of the country.
Arrived in Palestine, he destroyed all the armies that were sent against him, forced the Emperor of the Saracens to be baptized, and married his daughter, by whom he had a hundred children, to each of whom he gave a kingdom. There are even some who say that he and his sons still live, thanks to the basin and that they reign in this country; but others assure that Rogéar's brother, the magician Bryak, has succeeded in taking back the two talismans, and that those who want them have only to look for them.