Translated from Le Correspondant.
A CELTIC LEGEND.--HERVÉ.
TO THE MEMORY OF M. AUGUSTIN THIERRY.
BY H. DE LA VILLEMARQUÉ.
I was one day walking in the country with a book in my hand. It was in a district of that land where La Fontaine has said, "fate sends men when it wishes to make them mad." Fate had not, however, sent me there in order to make me mad. I found, on the contrary, in the charming scenes which on all sides presented themselves to my view, and in the original population which surrounded me, a thousand reasons for not sharing the sentiment of the morose narrator of fables. A peasant accosted me in the familiar but at the same time respectful style habitual to those of that country, and, pointing to my book with his finger:
"Is it the Lives of the Saints," he said to me, "'that you are reading there?"
A little surprised at this address, which, however, by no means explained my reading, I remained silent, thinking of this opinion of the Breton peasants, according to whom the "Lives of the Saints" is the usual reading of all those who know how to read; and, as my interlocutor repeated his question,
"Well, yes," I replied, to humor his thought, "there is sometimes mention made of the saints in this book."
"And what one's life are you reading now?" he continued obstinately.
I mentioned at random the name of some saint, and thought I had quieted his curiosity, but I had not satisfied his faith.
"What was he good for?" he asked.
For an instant I stopped short; what reply to offer to a man who judged the saints by their practical utility? I turned upon him: "And your own patron," I replied, "what maladies does he care?"