When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew Read Online Free PDF

he still played marbles. But he was more careful who he played with from then on.
    Sac-à-tabac,
Sac-à-tabi.
The story’s ended.
C’est fini.

    How Ti-Jean Became a Fiddler
    Ti-Jean up, Ti-Jean down,
Ti-Jean all around the town.
Sometimes wrong and sometimes right,
Ti-Jean, Ti-Jean, man of might .
    T WASN’T ONLY farmers who came to the New World in those ships with great white sails. Rich people came as well. They were called les seigneurs — the lords — and they set themselves up to live in style. The king of France, who was also their king, gave them land to rule over. Each piece of land was called une seigneurie . It was divided up and rented out to people who were not so well off. In a way, each seigneurie was like a kingdom unto itself.
    That’s where this story begins. It begins on one of those seigneuries.
    Now it happened that this seigneur had a daughter, and that daughter was very clever. Life was not then as it is now, of course. In those days, when it came time for a girl to marry, her father chose her husband. That’s just how it was.
    The seigneur believed that if his daughter was clever, she would need to marry a clever man. He sent his servants near and far to post messages saying that anyone who could talk to her in such a way that she could find no answer would be the chosen one. Anyone who failed would be thrown into prison and would have to stay there for a year and a day. That’s because the seigneur did not want his daughter’s time wasted with men who had no chance.
    Where was Ti-Jean in all of this? He was living three days’ journey off with his mother and his two older brothers. His father was a voyageur. That meant he spent most of his time working in the fur trade in the lands to the west. He left in the spring as soon as the ice on the rivers melted. He did not come back again until late in the fall.
    Because their father was not home, Ti-Jean’s brothers took it upon themselves to give the orders. Not to Ti-Jean’s mother. She was not the kind of person to be ordered about by her own sons. They ordered Ti-Jean around, though. They treated him like a servant. They made him fetch and carry and do more than his share of the work.
    They never took him with them when they went anywhere. Mostly he did not mind because he liked being home. He helped his mother in the kitchen. He worked with her in the garden. He looked after the chickens. He fed the pigs and milked the cows.
    By going places, his brothers heard the news. One day they heard about the seigneur and his daughter. They came back from the market talking of nothing else.
    They decided that this was their opportunity to improve themselves.
    â€œYou’re more likely to be thrown into prison,” their mother told them, but they did not listen to her.
    The very next morning, they dressed themselves in their best, mounted their horses and set out.
    â€œWould you like to have gone with them this time?” Ti-Jean’s mother asked.

    â€œIt seems like an adventure,” Ti-Jean said.
    â€œI have this feeling your brothers are going to need you,” his mother told him.
    â€œIn that case, I’ll go for sure,” Ti-Jean replied.
    He took the not-so-good horse. It was all that was left, but he thought it was good enough for him. He traveled as quickly as he could until he could see his brothers in the distance. After that he hung back because he was sure they would try to chase him away.
    Late in the day, they came to a town. His brothers had money. They got themselves rooms at the inn. Ti-Jean was not quite certain how he would manage.
    Perhaps if I go to the kitchen, he thought, they’ll let me work for food and a place to sleep.
    The cook looked him up and she looked him down.
    â€œCan you carry water?” she asked.
    â€œI can,” said Ti-Jean.
    â€œCan you bring in the wood so I can keep my stove going?”
    â€œI can,” said Ti-Jean.