For all that, Boudoux had almost superhuman strength. During a house-move he was worth his weight in gold: he would carry trunks, sideboards, bedsteads, tables, on his head, and, as his limping stride measured over a yard and a half at each step he took, he could move the entire furniture of one house to another in a trice.
Furthermore, Boudoux, who could have taken up a horse by its hind hoofs and torn off its shoes like Alcidamas; or, like Samson, have taken the gates of Gaza from their hinges and carried them on his back; or like Milo of Crotona, have gone round the circus with an ox on his shoulders, and then felled it and eaten it; Boudoux, I say, with the strength of an elephant, was as gentle as a lamb.
And now as to his character.
Although ugly, repulsive, hideous to look at, everybody liked Boudoux. He lodged with his aunt, Mademoiselle Chapuis, the postmistress, but he had his meals everywhere. Three times a day he went the round of the town and, like the begging Friars of the ancient monasteries, he collected enough to feed a convent; only, as he had no monks to feed, he ate the whole supply himself.
It was not enough to satisfy him, but it just kept him going.
Boudoux had a calling, or rather two callings, for he worked à la marette and à la pipée.
We must explain to Parisians; who will probably not know what are the two trades we have referred to under the names of marette and pipée. We will take marette first.
There are very few forests, woods, or covers that do not contain some pools of water, commonly called mares; for instance, the mare d'Auteuil, which has been noted as long as I can remember. At these pools in the woods, forests, and covers, birds are accustomed to drink at certain times of day. Here the bird-catcher drives small birch twigs coated with bird-lime into the soft, muddy soil along the edges of the pools, and when the birds come to drink they are caught on these limed twigs.
This is called snaring a mare, and in the clever setting of these traps consists the whole success and art of the hunter.
And as, to explain everything fully, there are more small mares than large ones, and as the smaller mares are better than the large, because they need less bird-lime, and consequently are less expensive, these small mares are called "marelles," and in the language of the snarers of small birds, the phrase to work à la marette indicates the nature of their calling.