Curtillon Curtillet
Once upon a time, in a vast forest, there lived a poor woodcutter. In the summer, he helped the peasants from nearby villages cut wood, and he managed to get by. But in winter, things became tough for the woodcutter. All he could do was gather brushwood and sell it for a pittance in the neighboring villages.And often, far too often, it happened that the poor woodcutter couldn’t even get bread for himself and his family, which consisted of his wife, two boys aged twelve and thirteen, a girl named Marie, and a dog. The dog was named Courtequeue-Courtequille Suivon-Suivette—such a long name had been given to her by an old witch who lived nearby. And—what a wonder!—ever since the old woman had visited the woodcutter, the dog began to speak just like you and me, and often joined in conversations.
So, in winter, after the snow had been lying on the trees for about a month and a half, the woodcutter’s hut ran out of bread. He tried to ask for bread from the peasants, but nothing came of it, and he realized that he and his children were destined to die of hunger.
That evening, when the children had gone to sleep and Courtequeue-Courtequille Suivon-Suivette was dozing by the stove, the woodcutter said to his wife:
“My poor Catherine, we’ve been without bread since morning, and I probably won’t be able to get any. Our poor children will starve to death before our eyes, and I can’t bear to watch their suffering. I’ve been thinking about this all day, and here’s what I’ve come up with: tomorrow morning, we’ll take our sons and daughter into the forest, as if to gather brushwood, lead them far, far away, and leave them there. They will, of course, die, but at least we won’t have to watch them perish from hunger. Do you agree?”
“This is so hard for me, Pierre, but what else can we do? We have no other choice.”
“Then it’s decided. We’ll wait until morning, but now it’s time to sleep.”
Pierre and Catherine went to bed. But Courtequeue-Courtequille Suivon-Suivette didn’t miss a single word of their conversation.
As soon as the woodcutter and his wife fell asleep, she quietly approached the bed where the children were sleeping, woke them up, and told them everything she had heard. The poor children burst into tears.
“Calm down and don’t wake your parents, or all will be lost. Here’s what we’ll do.
There’s still a bit of peas left in the bottom of a sack in the cupboard. Let one of you quietly take them and tomorrow, drop the peas on the ground as we walk. We’ll use the peas to find our way back home.”
The children promised to do exactly as the clever dog had told them and went back to sleep. The next morning, the woodcutter woke them:
“Get up, children, there’s no brushwood left in the house. We need to go to the forest.”
The children got up and went with their parents into the forest, but from time to time, they dropped a few dried peas on the ground to mark the way back. By evening, Pierre and Catherine disappeared, leaving the two boys and the girl far from home. The children began to cry.
“Don’t cry,” said the dog. “We’ll only spend one night in the forest. Tomorrow morning, I’ll find your parents’ hut. Lie down on the moss, and I’ll keep watch over you.”
The children lay down on the moss, and Courtequeue-Courtequille Suivon-Suivette guarded them so well that neither wolves nor foxes dared to approach the sleeping children. When morning came, the children woke up and warmly thanked their faithful guardian.
“Now,” said Courtequeue-Courtequille, “follow me and don’t lose your way.”
And the dog easily found the way back to the woodcutter’s hut. They arrived at noon, just in time for lunch. A peasant who owed Pierre some money had repaid his debt, and Catherine had cooked a delicious soup.
“Our poor children!” she wept. “If only they were here, how happy they would be to have such a tasty soup!”
“Yes, our poor children! And poor Courtequeue-Courtequille Suivon-Suivette, who went with them. We did wrong to abandon them in the forest. The wolves must have eaten them by now.”
And the woodcutter also began to cry. “Knock, knock, knock!”
“Mom, Dad! We’ve come back from the forest. We’re so hungry.” It was the two boys, the girl, and Courtequeue-Courtequille.
How delighted Pierre and Catherine were!
Unfortunately, the money didn’t last long. The winter grew harsher, and Pierre decided to take the children into the forest again. But the clever dog once again learned of the plan and warned her little friends.
The next morning, the woodcutter, his wife, the children, and the dog set off into the forest to gather brushwood. The eldest boy secretly dropped crumbs of cheese on the ground, as there was nothing else at home.
By evening, Pierre and his wife disappeared, and the children lay down to sleep under the open sky, guarded by Courtequeue-Courtequille.
It rained all night, and the next day, Courtequeue-Courtequille couldn’t find the way back to the woodcutter’s hut because the rain had washed away all the cheese the children had scattered the day before.
“What shall we do, what shall we do?” the poor children cried.
“Let’s try to find our way out of the forest,” the dog replied.
And so they did. It always seemed to them that the forest was ending, but in reality, they were only going deeper into it. Evening came, and they were still wandering in the thicket.
“We can’t keep walking through the forest forever,” said the dog. “Jean, climb that tall spruce tree, go as high as you can, and see if you can spot any lights.” Jean climbed the tree but saw nothing.
“Now it’s your turn, Pierre,” said Courtequeue-Courtequille.
But Pierre also saw nothing.
“Now you look, Marie.”
The girl climbed to the very top of the spruce.
“What do you see?” the dog called to her.
“To the right, I see a large frozen swamp.”
“And to the left?”
“A frozen pond.”
“And straight ahead?”
“A huge castle with lights burning in all the windows.”
“Good. Now come down, Marie.”
The girl climbed down. Courtequeue-Courtequille ran ahead, and the children followed. An hour later, they reached the castle.
“Knock, knock, knock!”
“Who are you?” asked an old woman who opened the door.
“We are three little lost children, and we ask for shelter for the night.”
“Don’t you know that this is the devil’s castle and that the devil eats everyone who comes here?”
“It doesn’t matter! We’re cold and hungry.”
“Well, come in.”
The old woman didn’t want to let the dog in, but little Marie begged so much that she had to let Courtequeue-Courtequille in as well.
The children happily ate the delicious dinner served by the devil's wife. Then they lay down on the bed she had pointed out to them, but first, the old woman made them put on straw necklaces. Courte-Courtonette hid under the bed.
In the same room slept the devil's three daughters, but they were wearing beautiful golden necklaces.
Soon, the devil returned.
"It smells like raw meat here," he said to his wife.
"No, it's just the cat that has given birth."
"You're lying! It smells like a human spirit."
And the devil began to search the entire house. He found the children, who were pretending to sleep.
"Great! Now I'll stoke the fire and put the roast on the coals. By morning, I'll have an excellent breakfast."
The old woman went to sleep, and the devil stoked the fire.
Courte-Courtonette didn't waste any time.
She told the children to take off the straw necklaces and put them on the devil's daughters, and to take the golden ones for themselves. And so they did.
When the oven was hot, the devil returned to the room where the children were sleeping and approached their bed. He ran his hand over little Marie's neck and felt the golden necklace.
"I must be out of my mind!" he muttered. "I almost roasted my own daughters! I must have mistaken the bed."
And he went to the bed where his daughters were sleeping. Feeling the straw necklaces, he grabbed the girls under his arms and carried them to roast.
"But we're your little daughters!" they cried, bursting into tears.
"Quiet! Do you think I can't tell good from bad?"
He shoved them into the oven and went to sleep.
When Courte-Courtonette heard the devil snoring, she woke the children and told them to take all the gold they could find in the castle. The children didn't need to be told twice.
"Now listen. Climb onto my back, all three of you, and we'll get away from this nasty devil quickly. Just make sure you don't fall off."
The girl climbed onto the dog's back first, then both boys; Courte-Courtonette jumped out the window and raced across the fields.
She ran for a long time, and soon morning came.
The devil, waking up, wanted to kiss his daughters and only then realized what he had done.
He cursed like a churchwarden and swore to take revenge on the children. He harnessed a turtle, fast as the wind, and rode off in pursuit. After a while, he saw them in the distance.
"This time, I'll catch them! They'll dance for me!" growled the devil.
But Courte-Courtonette turned around and saw the devil. Without hesitation, she said:
"Let the children turn into washerwomen, and I into a great river."
Immediately, a wide river flowed across the field, and three washerwomen appeared on the shore. The devil rode up.
"Did Courte-Courtonette pass by here with three children on her back?"
"Get lost, nasty devil! We'll teach you a lesson for mocking us!"
The devil turned onto another road, and the dog with the children raced even faster.
The evil devil, not finding those he was looking for, finally realized they had turned into a river and washerwomen, and directed his turtle back that way.
But when he arrived, he saw only a large field of clover, a flock of sheep, a shepherd, and a dog.
"Shepherd, did Courte-Courtonette pass by here with three children?"
"Courte-Courtonette? Are you mocking me? Wait, you wretched devil, I'll teach you a lesson with my stick!"
"I'll go right. They must have run that way," decided the devil.
As soon as he was out of sight, the dog again told the children to climb onto her back and ran further. But it wasn't over yet.
"Here comes the devil again on his turtle. Now, let me become a meadow, Jean and Pierre cows, and little Marie a shepherdess."
Then the devil appeared, furious as ever.
"Hey, shepherdess, did Courte-Courtonette pass by here with a girl and two boys?"
"Oh, you nasty devil! Why do you want them?"
"I want to eat them. Have you seen them?"
"Of course, of course! They just swam across the river."
"Thank you, shepherdess."
The devil rode to the river, but the turtle refused to swim to the other side.
"Fine, I'll cross another way."
Seeing a large piece of cloth on the meadow, which the peasants had left to bleach, he threw it on the water and tried to walk across it like a bridge. But the cloth tore, and the devil drowned.
"Now let's return to your parents," said the clever dog.
And in an instant, she brought the children home. The woodcutter and his wife were starving. They also climbed onto Courte-Courtonette's back, went with the children to the devil's castle, and began to live there happily. The devil's wife vanished without a trace.
There was much talk of the happiness and wealth that had come to Pierre the woodcutter and his family!
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