JEAN DE CALAIS
Source
“Hello, King of France. Hello, Father. Here, this is my younger sister. We are both happy, very happy to see you again."
"Let us embrace each other, my daughters, and thank the King of France. Without him, I would still be looking for you. And now prepare to follow me. In three days, we will be in Bordeaux. In four, we will be embarked for Lisbon, Portugal."
Then the steward spoke.
“King of Lisbon in Portugal, listen. It’s been three years, to the day, since your eldest daughter promised me marriage. I hear she keeps her promise."
"My daughter, answer. Is this man telling the truth?"
"Father, this man speaks the truth. But I promised him marriage, because he scared me, and because he swore to me by his soul that my husband, Jean de Calais, had died drowned in the great sea."
"Madam, I still swear it by my soul. Jean de Calais died drowned in the great sea. You promised me marriage. I hear you fulfill your promise. King of France, judge us."
Then, Jean de Calais appeared.
“King of France, judge us. This man lied like the dog he is. I am Jean de Calais. Be witnesses, mistresses, and servants of this castle."
"Yes, yes, this man is Jean de Calais."
"Thank you, good people. King of France, I take back my wife. But you are not done judging. King of France, I had made this man my great friend. By betrayal, he threw me into the great sea. But I didn't drown in it. A Great White Bird rescued me. On a beam, I floated for three days, without eating or drinking, without seeing anything but the sky and the water. Finally, I landed on a rock, on a rock without trees or greenery. There, for seven years, the Great White Bird fed me. Every week he brought me a loaf of bread and a jar of wine. This morning, at dawn, the Great White Bird said to me: “Jean de Calais, sad things are happening to you. This very day your wife will be forced to marry her steward, the traitor who threw you into the great sea. Jean de Calais, promise me half of what you like best, and you will be on the threshold of your castle in an hour." I promised, and the Great White Bird kept his word. King of France, judge us."
“King of France,” replied the intendant, “this man lied about it. I swear by my soul."
"I did not lie about it, traitor. There is a Good God in heaven. The Good Lord is just. Draw your sword, and let us fight."
At this moment, a Great White Bird came to perch on the highest tower of the castle.
From the top of the castle tower, the Great White Bird spoke.
“King of France, listen. I am a good witness. Those who are in paradise do not come back to lie. King of France, I am the soul of a poor dead man. Further than Marmande, my body lay on the banks of the Garonne, naked as a worm, and eaten away by dogs. This is the custom of this country when a man dies without paying his debts. Jean de Calais paid for me. He had me taken to the cemetery. He came, at midnight, to pray to God at my grave. This is how Jean de Calais served me. I haven't forgotten it. That is why I rescued him on the great sea, and nourished him for seven years on a rock, on a rock without trees or greenery. That’s why I brought him, in an hour, to the threshold of your castle. King of France, Jean de Calais has every right. I do not want him to fight against the traitor who threw him into the great sea."
The Great White Bird fell silent. Then, the king of France summoned the executioner and his servants.
“Executioner, here are a hundred pistoles. Take this worthless thing, and make him die quartered."
The executioner and his servants tied a horse to each arm and leg of the steward and fell on the four beasts with great lashes.
“Hue! boo! rosses! Boo! shackles! Hue, then."
This is how the steward died quartered.
Then, the Great White Bird spoke from the top of the tower.
“King of France, you have commanded according to justice. However, you are not done judging. Before you, Jean de Calais confessed that he had promised me half of what he likes best. I hear he keeps his promise. What he loves best is his child. I want him to cut him in two parts and give me one."
"Jean de Calais, said the King of France, you promised. You have to pay. Draw your sword, and make two portions of your child."
"King of France, I want to pay double. Here, Great White Bird, take my whole child."
"Jean de Calais, you promised me half. I only want half. Obey the king of France. Draw your sword, and make two portions of your child."
Jean de Calais drew his sword. He was as pale as death.
“Jean of Calais, stop,” cried the great White Bird. "What you promised me, I give you. Keep your child whole. Jean de Calais, you have done me a favor. I paid you. We are even. Farewell. I'm going back to paradise."
And the great White Bird flew away. We never ever saw him again.
The next day, Jean de Calais and all his people embarked for Bordeaux. A month later, they were in Lisbon, Portugal. Then the king said to his son-in-law:
“Jean of Calais, I am old. From now on, I want you to be in charge in my place."
What was said was done. John of Calais commanded according to law and justice and lived happily among his people for a long time.
Source: Jean de Calais, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 2, published in 1886
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6
Next Tale: The Prince of the Seven Golden Cows
Hello, my name is Vincent Celier.
I am writing translations of folk tales that I found in public domain French books, so that people who do not understand French may enjoy them too.
With the help of two kings and the Great White Bird, Jean de Caais is now avenged. The traitor is punished and Jean de Calais is reunited with his wife.
They moved to Lisbon and Jean de Calais is reigning over Portugal.
But the story did not say what happened to the younger daughter of the Portuguese king.
Random pictures that I took recently:
This is a sign from the old electric utility in the south of Hungary: Dél-dunántúli Áramszolgáltató (DÉDÁSZ) (Southern Transdanubian Electricity Provider).
It indicated that there is an underground electric cable and that "It is forbidden to work with a digging machine in the path of the cable."
Most houses in the world have a roof with a slant of 30 or 45 degrees. Around here, I have seen several houses like this one below where the roof has a slant of 60 degrees. Kati told me that it is called an "alpine roof". I believe that the goal is to prevent snow from staying on the roof.
Yesterday morning at 6 AM, I took this picture of the planet Venus not far from the moon.
-- Vincent Celier
At Last justice prevails and Jean de Calais is avenged, reclaims his family and the traitor who caused Jean de Calais so much sorrow and pain is rightly punished. The great White Bird helped Jean de Calais even to the end and then demanded he fulfil his promise. And the promise was not as easy one but Jean de Calais was a man of honor, determined to keep his word. It was, as it appeared, but a test from the Great White Bird to know how Jean would react in that situation. Jean de Calais stayed true to his ideals as expected. At the end, as his father had wanted of him when he was alive, Jean de Calais had made his fortune and become responsible, and what's more he sat as King over the Portuguese kingdom. Jean de Calais owns much of these to the soul of the poor dead man whose corpse he stood up for. Our good deeds always comes back to us one way or another.
Thanks for sharing.
What wonderful shots you took today. I am particularly taken with that of the planet venus beside the moon. Maybe the planet can be seen with the naked eye in some places and not in others. The roof of the house looks too slanted and I can't help wonder how the occupants leave and enter it, I mean the location of the door.
Thanks @vcelier, my kind regards to you and your family.
A phrase that I liked is
He who is in paradise never lies.
But we can be on earth and not lie,
I think the man got what he deserved, I think that this type of person deserves this type of punishment, I don't know, maybe I'm retrograde.
Anyway, Jean de Calais, in spite of his beginnings in history, managed to change his way of being, and of course he suffered, but he was rewarded.
Yes I was reading and that tilt is to keep the snow from accumulating on the roof.
I thought it was Jupiter, but after reading your description I knew it was venus, great shot.
Oh, that bright start is planet Venus? I wasn't aware of it at all, thanks for increasing my knowledge. now I will tell the kids of my family, do you want to see Venus, and i will show them this start nearing the moon at night or day. It's in the evening in your photo, right?
jean-de-Calais finally took his revenge and he the person who was an imposter got the punishment he deserved and now jean-de-Calais finally can live a happy life.
jean-de-Calais also fully filled all the test from white bird, which is a sign that he is a true and honest man, he can't use anyone for his personal benefits. he is a man of his words and rightly so he showed this thing from his action and his character.
his good deeds are the reason he find good things in the end. Never ever seen a house with the 60 degree tilt, but for sure is for reason to make sure snow doesn't stop on the roof. Not a bad idea though.
No, 6 AM is in the morning.
Venus is not often near the moon. I was just lucky to be outside when it was.
Planet venus? I didn't ever notice about it. I also sometimes saw a bright star near the moon.
About house, Your wife was saying right. Many houses in countries where there is snowing every year, they make roofs with slant so snow can't stay over the roof.
In my country our roofs are plane and not slanted because we don't have to face so much snow but in areas where snow falls, You can see slant roof.
If we talk about the story, Jean was very happy to meet with his wife and its all happens due to bird who he was helped once.
Steward was punished as he deserved. I am very happy about his punishment.
If such a rules were implemented at that time too, world would be like heaven.
Today bad and rich peoples let them free and poor was punished just.
Happy ending. That's great.
This story was very interesting and actually ended well. The traitor is a very wicked man, he wanted to take over Jean de Calais's household and even when he saw that Jean de Calais survived drowning into the water he pushed him into, he still stood right in the presence of the king of France and said that Jean de Calais was lying.
Well, all thanks to the White bird that came to Jean de Calais's aid and told the king of France everything that happened, to prove that Jean de Calais was saying the truth.
So in essence this story is actually teaching us to be nice to people and always be mindful of the people we tell our secrets to because not everyone is happy about your success.
I really like the fact that they actually put up a sign board that indicates that there is an underground electric cable, to caution anyone working within that area to be careful.
Your pictures are always so clear Sir.
The biggest secret in today's story has been revealed that he is her husband, Aaj is also alive, and the way his friend was doing, after his daughter, all these issues that were the king's. went to him and told him that they are not allowing our marriage, so his wife said, whose husband had died for a year, all the people were saying the same, so she was saying that my noise has died.
And how can I marry her then suddenly her husband comes over there and all the people are very worried because for the last one year his noise was guarding this island so see this thing. friend who was doing the wrong thing gets very upset and after that we see that the story has become much more interesting and again I would like to talk about that when the credibility. If it is broken, then nothing is understood by man.
The man who happens to be very particular to the house and after that we see that his wife and children have faced many problems and is now setting all the things so the story goes. The end is going to be a lot more awesome.
When the moon is on the first date, it looks much finer and more beautiful. Your camera output is also much better.
Beautiful Moon . Just lovely
Story comes to and end it's nice ending finally jean live happily with his family and become the great man in the reward of good deeds he done to birds. With the help of that bird he found his happiness. I read somewhere in the book that if someone said that your good deeds reflect back to you in anyway and if you done bad to others or do something wrong believe that your good one's or bad one's both reflect back to you no matters on which stage of your life. And Jean do good to others and his goodness gave him his everything.
Enjoy your day . It's great evening
This is awesome. I'm glad that Jean De Calais came at the right time. Firstly, I was thinking that he will juat barge into the house to fight with the betrayer but he didn't do that. If I were the one, I would have done that but I'm very happy that he was smart enough to take proper actions.
Also, I'm very happy that the King of France made the right judgment by ordering some guards to kill the steward since what he deserved was death and he was served right. Also, I was scared when the white bird asked for what he wanted in return. I was about calling the white bird a wicked man because how will you want half of someone's child just because you helped him?
I'm glad he didn't take it since he chnage his mind and I learnt something about Jean De Calais which means that he always keep to his promises. I'm happy that he lived a wonderful life again.
Nice story!
That steward of a Man is a complete devil, not worthy to be called a friend. Could you imagine, he wasn't even shocked to see that Jean de Calai was still alive. He was still trying to lie and defend his selfish self. Thank God for the great White Bird who came as witness, the way he died was so painful but he brought it upon himself. I have learnt something from here, it is not good to be envious of somebody else.
Oh! My God! My heart skipped for a minute when the great White Bird reminded Jean de Calai of his promise. And the bird seems as if he was serious with it, though Jean de Calai was ready to fulfill his promise but thank goodness the bird later asked him to stop. I guess he was only testing Jean to see if he could keep his words. This reminded me of the story of Abraham and God in the bible. I really love how the story ended, at a point I felt it was a movie because it was too interesting. Thank you VCelier for translating this french tales for people like us, I am earnestly enjoying every tale you are dropping here.
Wow! A House with a 30 or 45 degrees roof! That's interesting and the logic behind it isn't bad. The last photo looks very beautiful, I love the way you captured it with the moon up there.
The truth is out and justice served. The traitor got what he deserved, a quartered death, Jean De Calais got his family back and also a position as the future King of Lisbon. This one is huge because at last his father can smile in his grave because his son had turned out well after all.
I must salute the Great white bird who rescued Jean De Calais, fed him for seven years and then brought him back to the Castle. He paid back in full when he spared the life of Jean De Calais' son. Everyone is happy, what a happy ending.
Well done @vcelier for these entertaining stories, it keeps me coming back for more.
Wow! I'm so happy that Jean De Calais got justice at last and the traitor was adequately punished for his betrayal.
I must salute the great white bird for his wisdom in handling the promise made by Jean De Calais to give him half of what he likes best, I had this feeling that he had a reason for asking that, not to destroy Jean's son but to get even with him by returning favours done him. I really liked that part.
Everything went well for Jean De Calais at last, his father's longtime wish has been fulfilled.
At last everything ended well. Jean de Calais is indeed a man of fortune.
The steward who is the traitor deserved the whole punishment and even more. He even lied to Jean de Calais’ face.
I do not blame the princess because she wasn’t sure of Jean De Calais was actually dead.
Thanks to the great white bird for being a witness
I’m glad jean de Calais fulfilled his promise to the great white bird.
I knew the king of France will end up giving his throne to Jean de Calais because he was getting old.
I’m glad everything ended well
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Unfortunately, history does not mention what happened to the youngest daughter of the Portuguese king.
However, we can hope that she had a prosperous and happy future under the reign of Jean de Calais in Portugal.
Although there is no specific information about her fate, we can imagine that she also found happiness and stability in this new chapter of her life.
Thank you for the translation.
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They meeting the king of France must have really been a great honour for the king I am so sure of it. Even after 3 years, the son still remembers the promised made about marriage concerning the eldest daughter. That's to show the love that is still strong even within.
I think the fault should come from the daughter. She didn't actually promise the man marriage from her heart but due to she was scared. That should not have been done at the first place if I should reason it from what I actually believe in