'The Shepherds and vine-watchers of that old Giant Grand-gousier, may it please Your Majesty,' answered the Bunmakers.
' Oh ! oh ! oh ! ' roared Picrochole furiously.
Without asking for further information or a single proof, Picrochole ordered the drum to be beat around his city, commanding everybody, under pain of the halter, to appear at broad noon in the great square. Then he went to dinner. While he was dining, he gave out his commissions to his officers in the army, which, when gathered together, was found to consist of sixteen thousand and fourteen bowmen, and thirty thousand and eleven infantry. To the great Equerry Toque-dillon was given the command of the artillery, which, when mustered, numbered nine hundred and fourteen great brass cannon, culverins, catapults, and other pieces of artillery.
When the army was all got together, a troop of Light Cavahy, three hundred strong, under Captain Swillwind, was sent forward to scour the country of the enemy, and find out what ambuscades had been laid; but they could find none. Grandgousier's Shepherds were still peacefully watching their grape-vines, and looking out only for the bad starlings. When the report was made that the land was clear, Picrochole, all of a sudden bold, ordered a quick advance, each company marching under its own captain. Without any order or discipline, the army swept over King Grandgousier's fields, meeting no opposition; laying them waste ; sparing neither rich nor poor ; respecting no holy place ; carrying _jg^ away the bellowing oxen, mooing cows, roaring bulls, crying calves, bleating lambs, ewes, rams
CAPTAIN SWILL WIND'S CAVALRY.
crowing goats, cackling hens, cocks, piping chicks, goslings, ganders, geese, grunting swine, and suckling pigs; beating down the ripe walnuts ; tearing up the vines, and pulling all the fruit from the trees. Now and then, a frightened Shepherd would crawl from his hiding-place and beg for mercy, on the ground that he and the Bunmakers had always been the best neighbors together, and that it would be a shame to treat him like a foe. All the Bunmakers did was to laugh at so mean-spirited a fellow, while shouting that they were bound to teach him how to eat their buns. So, like a great wave of blood, they rolled on till they reached Seuilly.
Then the mighty army, after sacking the town, rushed, shouting like madmen, to the very walls of the great and venerable Abbey of Seuilly, which they found very thick, and strengthened by a huge gate made fast against them. The main body marched away towards the Ford of Vede, leaving seven bodies of infantry with their standards, and two hundred lancers, to break down the wall, which they did very soon, with fierce cries of 'Let us spoil the monks !'
SPOILING THE MONKS.
Of course, the poor monks were not fighting men. And when they found their convent walls broken through and their fields at the mercy of the Bunmakers, all they could think of doing was to go to their Chapel, from which they intended to come forth in a solemn procession to entreat the wicked men to leave them alone. While the monks, headed by their Prior
FBIAR JOHN ATTACKS THE BUNMAKERS.
himself, were singing psalms and getting ready to leave the Chapel, in rushed a young monk, with flaming eyes, who had seen what was going on in the vineyard.
' That's very well sung, brethren ! ' he shouted ; ' very well sung, indeed ! But why don't you sing, f Good-by, basket, the vintage is over ' ? Don't you know that those fellows are breaking down our vines, and that we shall have no good wine this year?'
Now this young monk, who was called Friar John, was, I am afraid, looked upon by his pious brethren as rather a black sheep. He was tall, straight as an arrow, strong as a bull, a little quick of speech, skilful in all games, and as brave as a lion. So, when he looked in upon the singing monks, and found them ready to give up everything, off came his frock, and catching up a great staff near by, which was as long as a lance and as big around as the fist, he rushed out and fell upon the enemy, who were thinking of everything save the praying monks in the Abbey. The flag-bearers had piled their flags all along the walls to work the better, the drummers had opened one end of their drums and stuffed them with grapes, and the very trumpets were running over with juice.
Then it was that Friar John - - holding his staff high in the air — swept down upon the scattered Bunmakers like a hurricane ! It was 'first come, first served' with Friar John. The first thwack crashed through the crown of a big-headed bun-man, and brought him down. Then the staff, with just a little blood on it now, went spinning around to the right and left — up and down, first on one, then another — in fact, everywhere. It broke the legs of this one, the arms of that one, and the neck of still another. It gouged the eyes, drove teeth down throats, smashed in ribs, and made jaws crack. If any one wanted to hide between the thick vines, Friar John was sure to spy him out and bring him to the ground with a broken back. If any one wanted to run away, the terrible staff would reach him, and he would fall, shout-ino-: ' I surrender ! ' When the slaughter had gone on for some time, Friar John stopped, and for good reason; for, looking around him, he could no longer see a single Bunmaker standing on his feet, and he was onlv giving wild blows in the air. Then he rested, and it was found that he had, with his single arm, killed the whole army which had remained behind in the vineyards of the convent, numbering thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-two men. But Friar John had struck down some other things besides the army, and these were the purple vines loaded with the rich and juicy grapes, which made the delicious convent wine famous throughout all the laud.
After all, the rascal Bunmakers had spoiled the vintage !
FRIAK JOHN TO THE RESCUE.
CHAPTER XV.
HOW OLD KING GRANDGOUSIER RECEIVED THE NEWS.
WHILE Friar John was cracking skulls, and breaking limbs, and flattening noses, and ramming teeth clown throats, Picrochole, King of Lerne, had, with his Bunmak-ers and in the greatest haste, crossed the Ford of Vede and ordered the town of Roche-Clermaud to surrender, which did not make him wait long before opening its gates to him. We shall leave him there while we see how King Grand-gousier had received the news of this sudden war.
One rainy evening, the fine old gentleman happened to be in a very good humor. He was, as usual after supper, seated warming his knees, which were somewhat rheumatic, before a blazing fire ; and, while waiting for the chestnuts to be roasted to a turn, was passing the time by writing on the red hearth with a burnt stick and making Queen Gargamelle laugh by telling his funny stories of old times. While he was in the very midst of one of these funny old stories, and the chestnuts were smelling as if they wanted to be eaten, here comes a servant to tell King Grandgousier that one of his Shepherds was down in the court-yard begging to see him.
T What does the varlet want ? ' asked the old King. He didn't mean to be angry, but his surprise made his big voice sound very loud and very gruff.
'To see Your Majesty.'
' And what does he want to see My Majesty for ? But bring him up. I shan't know any sooner by waiting for thee to tell me.'
Who should it be but one of the very Shepherds, who had been
PICROCHOLE'S ARMY.
watching the vines and the rich purple grapes when the trouble began ? He was full of it, — so brimming full that he could hardly speak for his eagerness to tell all he knew. At last, he managed to let the King know what the
