A Soul Seen as a White Mouse
By A. Le Braz
Though Ludo Garel was only a servant, he was not an ordinary person. He was constantly considering very many things that common people do not generally think about. His continual reflections had taught him much. He acknowledged that he had come to know nearly as much as a man might.
“At the same time,” he admitted, “there is a thing that puzzles me, and upon which I can see no light, and that is the separation of the soul from the body; when I am enlightened on that point I shall desire to know no more.
His master, one of the last scions of the noble house of Quinquiz, had great confidence in him, knowing him to be a reliable and a sensible man.
One day he sent for him to his study.
“My good Ludo,” he said to him, “I do not feel at all comfortable to-day. I believe I have in me the germs of an illness from which I shall not recover. If only my affairs were in order. That wretched law-suit at Rennes worries me much. It has dragged on these two years. If I could know that it had been decided in my favour before I died, I should depart with a less heavy heart. I know that you are a dependable fellow, Ludo Garel, indeed you have frequently shown yourself such. I think there is no service you would not readily render me, so I will ask one more of you, which will probably be the last. Tomorrow morning at dawn, I want you to start for Rennes, and to call upon the judges and ask them speedily to decide for or against me. You have a wise tongue in your head, and I expect you will be able to say something which may favourably influence them. As for me, I am going to my bed. God grant that I may remain in this world until you return.”
Ludo, before bidding his master farewell, did his best to raise his spirits.
“Think of nothing, M. le Comte, except of getting well. You are not yet ripe for death. Let me find you much better when I come back. I will see to everything else.”
He spent the afternoon in preparing for his journey, and in considering what to say to the judges.
He went to his bed at twilight, so as to be the earlier awake. He slept ill. Many ideas, and many ways of putting things, made havoc in his head.
Suddenly he heard the cock crow.
“Oh! ho!” be cried, “it is morning and time to be afoot.”
And Ludo Garel set out on his way.
It was in the depth of winter. He could hardly see his path. After an hour of walking, or more, he found himself beside a wall, which made a barrier in his way. He crept along its length and reached some stone stairs, which he ascended. The wall was the boundary of a churchyard.
“Hum!” thought Ludo, seeing himself surrounded with tombs and crosses, “happily the evil hour is long passed!”
He had not finished his sentence, when he saw a shadow rise as though from the ground, and come towards him by one of the side paths. When it was quite close to him, Ludo perceived that it had the form of a young man of interesting countenance, dressed in some soft, black material.
He said “Good morning” to the young man.
“Good morning,” he replied; “you have started early.”
“I do not know exactly what time it is, but I left home at cock-crow.”
“Yes, when the white cock crew!1 Where are you going?”
1 The white cock and the grey cock are said to be undiscerning birds, who crow at wrong hours. Therefore no dependence is to be placed upon their crowing.
“I am on my way to Rennes.”
“And so am I. We can, if you like, go part of the way together?”
“I shall be very pleased.”
The appearance of the young man and his way of speaking inspired confidence. Ludo Garel, though a little uneasy at first, was delighted to have him for a companion, especially as he felt as if the day would never break! They talked as they went along. Gradually, Ludo became communicative. He imparted to his unknown companion all his circumstances, the mysterious illness of his master, the sad forebodings he had expressed to him the evening before, and the reason why he had undertaken this journey.
The Unknown listened, but said hardly anything.
Just then, a cock crew loudly at a neighbouring farm.
“At anyrate, now,” exclaimed Ludo, “the day is about to break!”
“Not yet,” answered the young man; “the cock that crew is the grey cock!”
And, indeed, the minutes went on, and it continued quite dark.
The young men pursued their way, but Ludo, having disburdened himself of all that was on his mind, and the other young man not appearing disposed to do the same, their conversation languished and at length ceased.
In the daytime one gets weary when one has no one to speak to, and at night one gets frightened.2 Ludo Garel began to take stock of his companion from out the corner of his eye, and thought his manner singular. He longed with all his heart for light.
At length a third cock crew.
2 A woman is the narrator.
“Ah!” remarked Ludo, with a sigh of relief; “this time it’s the right one
“Yes,” answered the young man, “ this time it is the red cock. The dawn is now about to break; but, you see, you anticipated it somewhat. It was hardly midnight when you entered the churchyard where you found me.”
“It is possible,” murmured Ludo Garel, very humbly.
“That is not all I have to say to you. I want to tell you that it is useless for you to pursue your journey. Your master’s lawsuit was decided yesterday, and the judges pronounced in his favour. Return to him, therefore, to announce the good news.
“In the name of God and of our Lady, I am indeed glad! M. le Comte will get well immediately!”
“Not so; he will die. In this case, Ludo Garel, you will be permitted to see the separation of soul and body. I know that you have long desired to see it.”
“Did I say so?” exclaimed Ludo, who asked himself somewhat late, if he bad not talked too freely as they went along together.
“You did not tell me, but He Who sent me to your assistance knows you better than you know yourself!”
“And I shall be allowed to see the separation of the soul and the body?”
“You will see it. Your master will shortly die, about ten or half-past ten o’clock. As it will be thought that you have gone to Rennes and back, you will be urged to take some rest. But you must refuse to go to bed. Remain by the side of the Count, and do not remove your eyes from his face. When he dies, you will see his soul go forth from his lips under the form of a white mouse. This mouse will quickly disappear into a hole. Do not concern yourself on that account. But you must on no account allow anyone else to go and fetch the funeral cross from the village church. You, yourself, must go. Having reached the porch, you must wait till the mouse comes to you there. Do not enter the church before it enters. Be satisfied to follow it. This is essential. If you abide exactly by my directions, you will see to-night that which you desire so much to know. And now, Ludo Garel, I bid you farewell!”
Thereupon the mysterious personage vanished in a thin mist, indistinguishable from the vapours arising from the damp earth at sunrise.
Ludo Garel returned to Quinquiz.
“God be praised!” exclaimed the master, on seeing his servant enter; “You have done well to hasten, my faithful servant! I am as ill as I can be. If you had lingered one half hour you would have found only a corpse! How have things gone at Rennes?”
“You have gained your cause.”
“I am grateful to you, my friend, thanks to you, I can die in peace!”
Ludo Garel did not try now to cheer his master with hopeful words. He knew that his fate was fixed. He placed himself sorrowfully at the head of the bed, so as not to lose sight, however, of the Count’s face. The room was full of people, all in tears. The Countess touched Ludo’s arm and whispered to him: “You must be worn out with fatigue. There are plenty of people to watch my poor husband. Go, you, to rest.”
“My duty,” said the servant, “is to remain by my master’s bed till the last moment.” And he remained, spite of entreaties.
Ten o’clock struck. As the Unknown had predicted the Count began to die. An old woman said the Litany,—those present murmured the responses. Ludo Garel joined in with the others, but he could not follow the prayers. His thoughts were fixed upon that which was about to take place, the separation of the soul from the body.
The Count’s head began to move from right to left on the pillow. He seemed to feel that death was approaching but that he knew not from whence.
All at once he grew rigid. Death had touched him.
He drew a long breath, and Ludo beheld his soul go forth from his lips in the form of a white mouse.
The man in the churchyard had spoken truly. The mouse just appeared and then disappeared.
The old woman who had been reciting the Litany, began the “De Profundis.”
Ludo, in order to get away, pleaded fatigue and emotion, and hastened by a short cut to the village. He had reached the church porch before the order to fetch the funeral cross had been given at Quinquiz. The white mouse got there about the same time that he did. He allowed it to enter the nave before him. It crept quietly and rapidly round the church, he following it walking quickly. Three times he made the circuit of the church on its traces. When the third turn was finished, it went out again through the porch. Ludo rushed after it, holding pressed against his heart the funeral cross which he had seized as he was passing. The little bells on the funeral cross shook and tingled, and the mouse scampered along. It, and the cross, and Ludo who bore that same, at length reached the Quinquiz meadows. The little white thing sprang over each gate it came to, as the master used to do in his life-time, and then ran along the sides of the four moats. Having gone round the meadows, it pursued its way towards the Manor House. On arriving at its entrance it went first to a separate building where the labourers’ implements were kept. It touched each of these with its paws.3 To ploughs, mattocks, spades, etc., it seemed to be bidding adieu! Thence it ran to the house.
3 The lord of the Manor of Quinquiz was evidently one of those peasant-gentlemen (or gentlemen-peasants), of whom there were once many in Brittany, who went into the fields, their swords by their sides, hanging them on an oak tree, while they guided the plough. Some, such, did not disdain to contest the prize for ploughing with their labourers.
Ludo saw it climb up to the corpse, and allow itself to be laid with it in the coffin.
The clergy came to fetch the body. The funeral Mass was sung. The coffin was lowered into the grave. But when the officiating priest had sprinkled it with Holy Water, and the nearest relatives had thrown the first handfuls of earth, Ludo beheld the white mouse noiselessly come out from it.
The Unknown Personage had expressly bidden him follow it wherever it went, over bramble, bush, or swamp.
He was therefore constrained to abandon the funeral, and to pursue his pilgrimage on the track of the mouse.
They went through woods, made their way through bogs, passed through villages, till at last they came to a wide plain, where stood the decayed trunk of a tree. It was old and so nearly stripped of its bark that it would not have been easy to say if it was a beech or a chestnut. It was quite hollow. It seemed wonderful that it was still standing. The little bark that remained to it was split from top to bottom. The mouse crept into one of its crevices, and immediately Ludo saw the lord of the Manor of Quinquiz appear in the hollow of the tree.
“Oh! my poor master!” he cried, clasping his hands, “what are you doing here?”
“Every man, my dear Ludo, has to undergo his expiation in the place assigned to him by God.”
“Can I not do anything for you?”
“Yes, you can.
“In what way?”
‘‘By fasting for my intention a year and a day. If you can do this, I shall be delivered for ever, and your beatitude will speedily follow mine.”
“I will do it,” answered Ludo Garel. He kept his promise. And when his fast was finished, he died. (Related by Marie Louise Belier, Dressmaker, Port-Blanc.)
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