in God,—perhaps their son is not dead; and he requests them to come to see him at the palace before leaving. They obey, trembling in expectation that he will impose on them some terrible penance. But, instead of fulfilling his own prediction, he reverses it by himself washing the feet of his father and mother, after which, with eyes filled with tears, he cries:—"Do you not know me? I am your son Christic, whom you condemned to death!"
The hero of the other Breton tale is the son of a king of France, born in answer to prayers.[1] His nurse forgets one day to make the sign of the cross over his cradle, and he is taken away by the devil, and a changeling left in his place. The babe is deposited in a magpie's nest at the top of an elm in a German archbishop's garden. He is found by the gardener, and taken to his master, who names him Innocent, from the expression made use of by the gardener in presenting the babe, and brings him up. Innocent learns his prayers without being taught, reproves the archbishop for his pride and vanity, and displays supernatural knowledge. At the age of twenty-one this enfant terrible goes to seek his father and mother. Arrived at Paris he makes at once for the palace, delivers his parents from the horrid changeling, and declares himself their true son. They receive him with joy; but after awhile he displeases them by always shunning gaiety, and by frequenting instead the society of a charcoal-burner. His father remonstrates, and forbids him to see his friend again, threatening him in case of disobedience to be torn to pieces by four horses. In return the hero poohpoohs his father's anger, and tells him that one day he will be happy to pour the water for his son to wash his hands, and his mother to present him with a napkin to dry them. The king, transported with rage, gives orders for the execution of his threat; but this does not please the queen, who goes to the charcoal-burner and promises him a large sum to pitch the prince into his furnace the next day when he comes as usual to visit him. The charcoal-burner reveals the plot, and Innocent quits the country. He sets out for Rome, to be present at the pope's election. On the road he encounters two Capuchin monks. In this story, contrary to the last, it is the elder
- ↑ Mélusine, vol. i. col. 374. Luzel, op. cit. vol. i. p. 282 (part iii. Story No. 11).
