THE GIANT GOULAFFRE
On the town's square.
Towards the evening, they arrived in a town whose name I did not remember. They soon found themselves in a square, surrounded by houses on all sides, and where there were many walkers. Allanic began to play his straw torch, Fistilou, to dance, to frolic, and to throw his hat in the air, shouting: Yeh! yow! hoo! hoo! And people were running from all sides, they were crushing each other, and they were rushing to see them. The inhabitants of this city had never heard such music, nor seen such dance. Coins of two sols and even two reales rained down around them, and they made a magnificent profit, five or six crowns at least. The next day, they started again, and the profit was again excellent. They could not be happier.
But Fistilou then had an unfortunate idea. He thought that since he made so much money with a simple straw torch, if they had a violin they would make ten times as much. So they bought a violin, and Allanic began to scrape it in such a way as to scratch the least delicate ears. Nevermind! They found it charming and were sure it would be wonderful. They then went to another city to experiment with their new method. As soon as they arrived, they began to play and dance in a public square. But they were astonished to see that the inhabitants of this city, far from running towards them, were running away and covering their ears; and instead of coins of two sols and two reales, this time they only received insults and stones; so much so that they had to leave the city as quickly as possible.
"These people definitely don’t like beautiful music!" they said to themselves when they were sheltered from the stones. "We will have to return to straw reed."
Allanic cut a reed in the first field of rye they encountered, and they continued on their way, but less joyful than the day before, because already they no longer had a penny.
They soon found themselves in front of a castle surrounded by high walls.
"We must try again here the effect of our music and our dance", they said to themselves.
But they were at a loss to know how to get in. They could clearly see a door with a hammer, but the hammer was so high up that they could not reach it.
Source: Le Géant Goulaffre from the French book Contes et légendes de Basse-Bretagne published in 1891.
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.
Allanic and Fistilou showed their crafts, music and dance, in one town and they were very successful.
Then, they tried to improve it, for no real reason, and they no longer had any success.
They did not follow the proverb: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Note that we still have not seen the Giant Goulaffre. Is he in this castle?
Today, we left Harrison Hot Springs and went back home to Coquitlam.
Three kilometers from my house in Harrison Hot Springs, we saw this iced cliff near the road.
My car is on the left in the picture.
Water is always coming from the mountain on this small cliff. As it has been freezing for several days now, the water has become ice.
This is nice to see when it is frozen.
The problem is that, when the temperature goes up, some chunks of ice will fall on the side of the road and even go into the middle of the road. Car drivers will then need to be very careful.
-- Vincent Celier
What an interesting story of Allanic and Fistilou in Lower Brittany!
It seems that at first they were very successful in showing their art and talent to the people. However, by trying to improve it for no apparent reason, they lost their success. It is true that sometimes it is better not to change something that already works well, as the proverb says "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
They learned a valuable lesson.
Impressive photo, it really must be very dangerous to drive on the road when that ice starts to melt.
!BEER
After reading today's story I would like to say that as we have seen this mother and son were very poor but their son has a lot of talent and he has done such a great feat to all the people there. He has shown that people are very happy and now he is trying to buy all the things in this field and show people more and more things and he can make good money from it and which Both mother and son were living in poverty, now he can earn money from here and live a prosperous life. Earning money is a good thing, when a person does all these things, it is happiness for his parents.
Such a season is both fun and a little stressful, especially when one goes on a journey.
Wow, I love the way the water has frozen on the mountains, I imagine the view when the water keeps coming from the mountains, is it hard to drive when the water splits in the roads or not? Road become slippery or not?
Art and talent doesn't need expensive instruments, i liked the way he was making good music with the torch. he shouldn't not have bought the violin, which costed him a lot of money. art seekers can see his art/talent with out the violin as well.
Allanic had such a great talent that he could make good music with just a reed torch and I think that is where the real money would be, in his real talent.
So buying a violin was such a bad idea or maybe not...... The giant Goulaffre might like that kind of musical instrument because I am sure he would live inside that castle surrounded by high walls, and that's why the hammer is way up too high for them.
The mountain is so beautiful draped in ice but could be a danger to drivers. Apart from drivers being careful, I think some safety measures should be put in place too.
Sometimes it is the little things that unexpectedly brings joy or fortune and yes Allanic and Fistilou made much money playing very simple instruments and thought they could upgrade and make much more money if they bought a violin, well I don't think the idea is bad in itself but I was wondering if they both had the skills to play this instrument very well. That could be a reason why they were stoned, awful music.
That Mountain covered in snow is a sure beauty to behold but drivers should be very careful and on the lookout for when temperatures go up.
This weather is very dangerous for drivers especially as they have to be very careful on roads and these icy cliffs are very dangerous and as You mentioned that ice chunks falls on the ground, they blocked the road for drivers and many road accidents take place here in my country too just because of foggy weather.
Still at that time, at 11.20 O clock, due to fog, we can't see nearby areas.
According to story, I also think same that may be giant Goulaffre will be in castle.
They tried their luck in one town and now they have tried in other but they can't doing same. Anyhow, what will be the next episode. Waiting.
Sometimes we start our work with little steps and got fame in very less time and become good in that. Than as like you describe in tale the point come when we decided to change our moves and add new but we fail because it can't match to listeners taste. On the 1st step may be it's not much great but they like that way. So I learned that no matter what it is just be happy with what you have and work on it slowly slowly leads the new way.
The weather is again foggy over here and driving is not easy as looking the weather in your click. Hope you have a good health
A beautiful day in a town were Allanic music and Fistilou dance was appreciate, i believe i would have made the same decision as Fistilou, just imagine the gain from playing a simple straw torch, violin produces better melodies and amazing sounds which I believe it would have brought them more gain, rather the reverse was the case. It saddens my heart that they ended up in a town where music and dance was not appreciated.
I am anticipating 🤔 about the giant and his part in the story. The description of the castle seems like a place a giant lives, let me not conclude i might be wrong, so I am waiting.
Please do drive carefully, since ice chunks falls across the road when the temperature is up,
Allanic and Fistilou were indeed so lucky that they had a talent which actually helped them when they got into the city and they were able to make at least some money.
I wouldn't say that Fistilou's idea was not good. He was trying to find a way they could make more money, but it didn't work out well. I just hope they will be able to come up with another nice idea in the next story.
Driving in an ice area, where there is ice on the floor can be risky. So you have to drive with care
I’m glad that they were able to make good friends and they are both focusing on their goals which is mainly to make money from music. I love the fact that once Allanic plays his instrument, Fistilou also dances along and that’s how they were able to make so much money.
Well, I would not say that the idea brought up by Fistilou was bad because he felt the villagers were going to like the sound of a violin but unfortunately, they did not and they threw them stones instead of giving them coins.
That hurts but let’s see what will happen again when they go back to their straw instrument. Looks like that works better for them…
I do agree with the term, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". With music, better instruments tend to give better sound as well. I think the problem was that their upgraded music might be too sophisticated to regular people or peasants. The same way that not all will appreciate opera singing, compared to songs that they can sing along to. It will be interesting to see how they are received in this new location. Could the Giant be living in it?
Allanic and Fistilou showed their crafts, music and dance, in one town and they were very successful.
Perfectly true. They really amazed me though that they can actually dance because it was not looking at it at first when they got to the town. I think that their craft and then been good in music and dance create this perception in people's heart for them to be loved thereby helping them also to be successful in that town even though all reasons was pointing against it
The journey of Allanic and Fistilou, street artists whose music and dance captivated a town, generating enthusiasm and profits. However, the illusion faded when they decided to change the straw torch for a violin, discovering that their new proposal was not well received in another city. The return to the straw reed symbolizes the return to what is known and successful. The story evokes the irony of how something that seemed so promising falls apart when faced with new expectations, leaving the protagonists without resources and facing a new challenge: entering an inaccessible castle.
Wise proverb, "if it ain't broke don't fix it", over there I have heard another variation "effective formula don't change it" and this has nothing to do with settling for something because as human beings we are always looking for improvement, but if something is working properly let's avoid the risk of messing it up look what happened to Allanic and Fistilouy, I prefer to put energy in improving what is not working, how I see things.
In their pursuit of profit through music, Allanic and Fistilou's joy turned to disappointment as their transition from a straw torch to a violin proved disastrous. This resulted in teaching them a valuable lesson that sometimes simplicity is more appreciated than perceived sophistication, leading them to return to their humble roots of straw reed music. As anything in life, simplicity is preferred.
~~~ embed:1746810637584355402?t=YcFCnFyyMhig0KFMX6LVfQ&s=19 twitter metadata:YWRlbmlqaWFkZXNoaW43fHxodHRwczovL3R3aXR0ZXIuY29tL2FkZW5pamlhZGVzaGluNy9zdGF0dXMvMTc0NjgxMDYzNzU4NDM1NTQwMnw= ~~~
#hive #posh
Beautiful photo of an ice cliff. Winter has stopped the normal course of things.
Congratulations @vcelier! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
View or trade
BEER.Hey @vcelier, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @edgerik for you. Enjoy it!Did you know that <a href='https://dcity.io/cityyou can use BEER at dCity game to buy cards to rule the world.
Congratulations @vcelier! You received a personal badge!
Thank you for participating in the Leo challenge.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
~~~ embed:1747374533344927779?t=8mTbDK9YdNJ3Z-GXrXBCBw&s=19 twitter metadata:V2F5U2hvbGE4NDE1Nnx8aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9XYXlTaG9sYTg0MTU2L3N0YXR1cy8xNzQ3Mzc0NTMzMzQ0OTI3Nzc5fA== ~~~
Allanic and Fistilou have finally found a way to make some real money with their talents. But after they made some money they took a bad decision that almost ruined everything. Like you said, they ignored the proverb 'if it ain't broken don't fix it'. I hope they have learnt a lesson from the unfortunate event. Let's hope something good will come to them from the castle they discovered.
Thanks for sharing.
It's good you made the said journey in peace with your family. I hope you are able to cope with the distressing weather in your area. Wishing you the best, @vcelier.