THE GOOD LITTLE MOUSE.
Once upon a time there was a King and a Queen, who loved each other so much—so much that they made each other's sole happiness. Their hearts and their sentiments were always in unison. Each day they hunted the hare or the stag, or went fishing for soles and carp, or to the ball to dance the bourée or the pavan,[1] and to great banquets to eat roast meats and sugar-plums, to the play and to the opera. They laughed, they sang, they played a thousand tricks to amuse themselves—in short, it was the happiest of times. Their subjects followed the example of the King and Queen; they emulated each other in their pastimes. For all these reasons they called this kingdom the Land of Joy. It happened that a king who was the neighbour of King Joyeux lived very differently. He was a declared enemy to pleasure. He desired nothing but wounds and blows. He had a grim countenance, a large beard, hollow eyes; he was all skin and bones, always dressed in black, with hair which stood on end, very greasy and dirty. To please him, they knocked down and killed all travellers. He hung all criminals himself, and delighted in torturing them. When a mother was dotingly fond of her little girl or boy, he would send for her, and before her eyes would break the child's arms, or wring its neck. This kingdom was called the Land of Tears.
The wicked King heard of the happiness of King Joyeux; he was very envious of him, and resolved to raise a large
- ↑ The Bourée, or Borée, is the national dance of Auvergne. Madame de Sevigne, in her letters from Vichy, in 1676, repeatedly eulogises its grace and spirit; and Wraxall, in his "Tour in France," 1775, speaking of a fair countess, says, "When she danced the Bourée, a dance peculiar to Auvergne, I thought Hortensia Mancini was not comparable to Madame de L." The Pavan was a slow and stately dance, taking its name from the peacock, because it was danced by princes in their mantles, and ladles in gowns with long trains. Hawkins tells us the air was invented at Padua.
