THE GIANT GOULAFFRE

_{The Giant Goulaffre.}

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Alas! The golden cage fell on Goulaffre's face and woke him up. He grabbed Allanic by the middle of his body, he recognized him and cried:

"Ah! So it’s you, little monster! This time you will not escape me. I will eat you for my breakfast this very morning."

"Alas! I can clearly see that I no longer have any hope and that it is over for me. I recognize, moreover, that I deserved my fate for all the harm I did to you. But what sauce do you intend to eat me with, please?

"On the spit; and I will put you alive in the fire!"

"I see clearly that you know nothing about good cooking; do as I tell you, and you will have the most delicious dish you have ever eaten."

"Let's see, speak."

"Put me in a bag, then go to the woods, uproot a medium-sized tree, and come and beat me with the trunk of this tree until I am reduced to mush in my bag. Then you will put everything, with a little butter, salt, and pepper, in your large pot, and then you will make a good fire underneath. I tell you again, you will have finger-licking food for twenty-four hours."

"You are, I believe, right. It must be very good, and I am determined to do as you say."

The giant therefore put Allanic in a sack, then he went to the woods to uproot a beech tree, to beat him.

As soon as he was out, Allanic began to shout with all his might, to call for help. The giant's wife came running.

"Who is here? who screams like that?", she asked.

"Alas! My good lady, a poor man who has never hurt anyone."

"Who put you in this bag?"

"Your husband."

"And why?"

"For a few unfortunate pieces of dry wood taken from the forest."

"Why steal wood from us too?"

"To cook potatoes for dinner for my wife and children. I am so poor! and I have six children and nothing but my work and the charity of good souls for all resources. Have pity on me and on my poor wife and my poor children who are starving at home! Help me get out of here; your husband will think I escaped on my own."

The giant's wife let herself be touched, and she untied the bag's strings. Allanic jumped out, then locked her in his place. Then he ran to the giant's bedroom, took off the golden cage, and left.

Shortly after, Goulaffre arrived with an uprooted tree, and he began to beat the sack.

"Stop, I am your wife!", shouted the giantess in the bag.

But Goulaffre did not listen to her and he knocked like a deaf man. After half an hour, when he no longer heard screaming, he opened the bag.

"My wife!", he cried, recognizing her clothes.

And here he is, tearing his hair out and howling like a wild animal.

However, Allanic had arrived in Paris, with the golden cage. The old king, who was all sad and gloomy before, became cheerful and joyful again when he saw his cage again, and he spent whole days contemplating this marvel.

But, after a few months, his cheerfulness faded again, little by little.

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Source: Le Géant Goulaffre from the French book Contes et légendes de Basse-Bretagne published in 1891.

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Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

Part 9

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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.

 
As expected, Allanic was able to outsmart the Giant Goulaffre, who really seems dumb.

Allanic managed to have the giant's wife killed by her husband. So Goulaffre killed his whole family.

The king was glad to get his golden cage back, but now he is sad and gloomy again. Will he ever be happy?

 
Today, I went to a local restaurant with my eldest daughter Roseline, to celebrate her official birthday, which was January 5^th. (Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures)

I say "official birthday" because it is not her real birthday. She is adopted from Haiti. To make sure that she would be adopted, the people in Haiti gave her a fake last name and a fake birth date, making her three years and a half younger.

When she arrived in France in 1987, she was officially nine and a half years old. In reality, she was already thirteen years old.

She learned that because she went back to Haiti many years ago and she met her biological parents, who have both died since. She has two sisters still in Haiti, and one of them sent her a copy of her original Haitian birth certificate,

So, during our lunch together, she told me that some of her friends are going to organize a party next July, for her effective fiftieth birthday. As I will be in Europe then, I'll make sure to call her then.

-- Vincent Celier