The Pilot of Boulogne
Once upon a time in Boulogne, there lived an old retired pilot with his wife and young son. His pension was meager, so he bought a small boat and went fishing every day. He had a son, about seven or eight years old, who often begged his father to take him out to sea. But the old sailor, fearing for his only child, never agreed. The boy, however, burning with the desire to sail, once hid among the ropes and sails. When the boat set off, he jumped out and cheerfully shouted:"Here, father, I’ve come with you to fish!"
When the boat reached the fishing spot, the pilot noticed a ship flying a flag, signaling a request to be guided into the port. The boat headed toward the ship, and as it approached, the crew asked the fisherman if he was a pilot.
"I was a pilot once, and though I’m retired now, I can still guide you into the port."
They took him and his son aboard. The ship was from the kingdom of Natz and, by order of its king, was to bring back a French boy to be raised abroad and later married to the king’s daughter.
When the royal envoys saw the pilot’s son, they were so taken by the sturdy, healthy, and clever boy that they said:
"This is exactly the kind of boy we need. There’s no need to go any further."
After feeding and giving drink to the pilot, they told him he could return to his boat, as they no longer needed him.
The pilot got into his boat and called for his son, but they told him the boy would remain on the ship. The ship sailed away at full speed, leaving the father, who had lost his only son, in utter despair.
...The ship arrived in the capital of the kingdom of Natz. It saluted the city with twenty-one cannon shots, and the city responded in kind. The child was brought to the court, and the king was very pleased with the little French boy. He ordered that the fine boy be raised as if he were his own son. When the boy turned eighteen, the king married him to his daughter, who was the same age.
Living in comfort and wealth, the pilot’s son often thought of his parents:
"They were not rich when I left them. I wish I could see them and provide for them in their old age!"
He shared his wish with his wife, who found it quite natural and wanted to accompany him. In the kingdom of Natz, women and girls wear veils, and a husband is only allowed to see his wife’s face after she becomes a mother. When the princess’s husband asked his father-in-law for permission to travel to Boulogne, the king, before agreeing, made his son-in-law swear that he would not attempt to look at his wife’s face during the journey. If he discovered that his son-in-law had broken the oath, he would punish him severely.
The princess and her husband boarded a ship and soon arrived in Boulogne. The ship saluted the city with twenty-one cannon shots, and the customs officers, after boarding the ship, reported to the authorities that the prince and princess from Natz had come to France for leisure. The guests disembarked and boarded a silver boat, landing on the shore. There, they were met by the prefect, the mayor, and other officials, who offered them the finest accommodations in the city.
The princess’s husband, surrounded by a grand entourage, saw an old man in a patched sailor’s shirt by a crooked fence and recognized his father. Leaving his noble companions, he approached the old man and asked how he was doing. The pilot was very surprised that a gentleman dressed in silk and adorned with jewels would inquire about the health of a poor man like him.
"Don’t you recognize me?" asked the prince.
"No, sir," replied the old man.
"I am your son, who was taken away by a ship from the kingdom of Natz. I am married to the princess of that country. How is my mother?"
"She is at home, very old and very sorrowful."
"Take heart, my father, I have come to provide for you in your old age."
Returning to the officials, the princess’s husband told them he would stay with the old pilot and spent three weeks with his father.
One day, his mother said to him:
"My son, I must confess that one thing puzzles me greatly. No one has ever seen your wife’s face."
"That is the custom in that country: a husband only sees his wife’s face after she becomes a mother. Before we left, I swore to my father-in-law to respect this custom."
"If I were in your place," replied his mother, "I would still want to know who I had married—a beauty or a plain woman. If you handle it cleverly, your father-in-law will never know."
The pilot’s son told his wife what his mother had said.
"Very well," she said, "but I fear my father might find out. He is friends with all the sorcerers in our land. If he discovers this, he will strip you of your rank and punish you severely."
The princess removed her veil, but as her husband brought a lamp closer to see her face better, a spark fell and burned the young woman’s cheek.
"Ah!" cried the princess. "This is what I feared! We are doomed."
The ship left Boulogne and arrived in Natz. As soon as the prince stepped ashore, the king asked him:
"Did you break my command?"
"No."
"I will check, and woe to you if you have broken your oath."
He called his daughter and said to her:
"Did your husband uncover your face?"
"No, father."
"Do not lie. If you speak falsely, I will find out and punish you as well as him."
When she lifted her veil, the king at first noticed nothing. But upon closer inspection, he saw the burn and became furious:
"Wretched girl! Get out of my sight and never show yourself again."
He sent his servants to fetch the sorcerers, fairies, and wizards. When they arrived, he ordered them to transform his son-in-law into the ugliest creature the world had ever seen.
One of the wizards said:
"Let him be blind in one eye and cross-eyed in the other."
"Let his mouth stretch to his ears," commanded another.
"Let him grow a hump on his back and front."
"Let his nose become like no other in the world."
"I will turn his head backward."
"Let him become lame, with one foot turned outward and the other inward."
As the wizards chanted their spells, the transformation took place, and when they finished, the poor young man had turned into such a hideous creature as had never been seen before. The king's vengeance did not end there—he ordered his soldiers to drive his son-in-law out of the city like a common vagabond.
Now a cripple, the poor pilot's son moved with great difficulty.
He wandered for a long time; finally, he approached a small house and, seeing an old woman sitting by the doorstep, greeted her. It was an old fairy whom the king had forgotten to invite when he decided to punish his son-in-law.
"Are you not the king's son-in-law?"
"Alas, it is I."
"How splendidly they have adorned you! But fortunately, I still have the key to my storeroom."
She went there, brought back a wand, and said:
"I heard of your misfortunes from a neighbor who came to me this morning for a light, and I decided to at least soften your ugliness a little if I met you."
She touched him with her wand, and he regained sight in both eyes, his nose and mouth shrank by half, only one hump remained out of two, his head was no longer turned backward but only sideways, and he stopped limping.
The fairy sent a note through him to her neighbor, asking her to make the king's son-in-law even more handsome than he had been before. The pilot's son thanked the old fairy from the bottom of his heart and left her less sorrowful than he had arrived.
Entering the neighbor's house, he handed her the note and said:
"Good day, Madame Margot."
"Ah, you are the king's son-in-law! I will finish what my godmother began."
She took her wand and wished for the pilot's son to turn into a handsome, slender young man, and it happened immediately. Then she said to him:
"Do not lose heart. You surely wish to return home? Here is a ball of yarn; it will roll ahead of you and show you the path you must follow. I also give you two spears. With one, you will kill anyone who tries to capture you, and with the other, you will defend yourself against wild beasts."
The fairy gave him bread and meat and warned him of all the dangers he would face on his journey.
He thanked the fairy and, following the ball of yarn, came to a forest. He walked through the forest for about an hour when suddenly he saw a lion on the path. Nearby lay a bear, and behind it, a leopard. The ball rolled past the sleeping beasts, they woke up and roared. The pilot's son gave half of the bread to the lion, the other half to the bear, and threw the meat to the leopard, and the beasts let him pass.
The kind woman Margot told him that by evening he would see a brightly lit castle in the middle of the forest. The stove would be lit, the table set, but there would be no one around.
The ball rolled into the courtyard, jumped onto the porch, and the door opened by itself. The pilot's son followed the ball inside, warmed himself, and sat down at the table. An invisible hand placed food and drink before him. Then he lay down on a soft bed, and when he woke up in the morning, he saw breakfast prepared on the table. After eating, he prepared to leave when suddenly several maidens in white dresses appeared and blocked his way.
"Would you like to dance with me?" said the first.
"No," he replied firmly.
"Dance a little with me," asked the second.
"No."
"Would you like to dance?" asked the third.
"No," he answered quietly.
As she left, the third maiden dropped a glass slipper on the stairs. The pilot's son picked it up, and the maiden, turning back, said to him:
"When you need me, take this slipper and say, 'Appear to me, fair maiden,' and I will always serve you."
He set off again, following the ball, and suddenly saw three enormous phantoms on the road.
"Where are you going, you wretched earthworm, dust beneath my feet?" the largest of them roared in a terrifying voice.
The pilot's son took the slipper and said:
"Appear to me, fair maiden."
"What can I do for you?"
"Let these monsters crumble to dust, let the wind scatter them."
In an instant, his wish was fulfilled, and he continued on his way. He walked for a long time and finally arrived in Boulogne. He lived there with his parents and often reproached his mother for giving him bad advice that caused him so much grief.
Since he had left his parents a considerable sum of money on his first visit, he now bought himself a ship; then he summoned the fair maiden.
"Fair maiden," he said, "I wish to take revenge on my father-in-law, who treated me so cruelly. How can I do this?"
"Take twenty-nine sailors with you and set sail boldly. I will take care of the rest."
As the ship approached the capital of the Kingdom of Nad, it fired a salute of twenty-one cannon shots, and all the high-ranking officials of the port came to inquire what the ship desired.
"I desire to take the city," said the pilot's son. These words were relayed to the king, who laughed heartily and said to his officers:
"Ask him when he prefers to sink—today or tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow I will take my place," replied the pilot's son.
"Who are you, anyway?"
The king, greatly enraged, ordered the ship to be sunk and summoned many soldiers for the task. But every time the soldiers tried to fire, they began sneezing uncontrollably and could not aim. The pilot's son passed unharmed through the ranks of the army and, approaching the king, stabbed him with a spear.
Then he found his wife, and together they threw a feast for the whole world. Barrels of wine stood at every crossroads, roasted boars ran through the streets with pepper and salt in their ears, mustard under their tails, and forks stuck in their sides. Anyone could cut themselves a piece.
I was told to prepare the sauce, but in my foolishness, I tasted too much of it and was driven away. I went to Gué-dic, and here ends the tale.
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