One day the great general, Napoleon Bonaparte, was in the camp reviewing his troops, when he saw a small boy who was less than twelve years of age.
“My boy, what are you doing here?” said Napoleon. “I belong to the army, Sire,” replied the boy. “What do you do in the army?” “I am a drummer, Sire.” “Bring your drum, then,” said the general. The boy went on the minute and brought the drum. “Now,” said the general, “sound the general.” This is the signal given in the army an hour before marching to strike tents, load wagons, and get everything ready. Immediately the boy sounded the general. Napoleon exclaimed, “Good; now beat the march.” That is the signal for infantry to take their place in the column. The boy beat the march promptly. “Now sound the advance,” said Bonaparte, and with sparkling eyes the little drummer sounded the advance, the signal for the cavalry to take its place in the column. “Good!” exclaimed the emperor again; “now for the charge!” And with eyes flashing fire the little soldier beat the charge till the very rafters of the house trembled with the vibrations of the wild, fierce notes. “Bravo!” cried Napoleon; “now beat the retreat.” Down went the sticks. The little fellow straightened up, and with manly pride said: “You must excuse me, Sire, I never learned that. Our regiment never retreated!”
“You are excused,” said the general laughing, and to the end of his life Napoleon Bonaparte spoke of the little drummer-boy who could not beat a retreat.
12. PICCIOLA
One spring day an Italian prisoner, shut up wrongfully by Napoleon in one of the dreadful dungeons of France, was permitted to walk in the prison-yard. Looking down he saw a little mound of earth between two of the stones in the pavement, and a tiny green leaf was pushing its way up out of the ground. He was just about to crush it with his foot when he noticed a soft coating over the leaf. “This coating is to keep it safe,” he said; “I must not hurt it!” So he went on with his walk. The next day he saw that instead of one little green leaf, there were two leaves, and the plant was stronger. Every morning after that he looked to see how the little plant had grown. He called it “Picciola,” which means “the little one”; and it grew larger and more beautiful. He made some ink from soot and water in order to write down the story of this little flower, which soon had thirty beautiful blossoms on its stem. But one morning he was in great grief, for he saw his flower beginning to droop. He gave it water, but the stones of the prison-yard prevented its growing. He begged the jailer to let him remove one of the stones to save the life of his little flower; but the prison rules were strict, and no stone could be removed. A new thought came to the prisoner. He would send his little story of the flower to Napoleon, the emperor, and ask him to save his plant. A little girl carried the message to him, and at last the good news came that the stones of the prison-yard could be removed so that Picciola might live. Hearing the story, Josephine, the kind-hearted wife of the emperor, said, “No good can come in keeping such a good man in prison.” So he was set free, but he never forgot that he owed his liberty not only to Josephine, but also to his little friend, Picciola.
13. THE EMPEROR AND THE BIRD’S NEST
“Look!” said a soldier; “look! a swallow has built her nest in the emperor’s tent.” The soldiers looked and saw a swallow’s nest built of clay and horse’s hair, and the swallow sitting on her eggs.
“Sure, the swallow thinks the emperor’s tent is a shed,” laughed the soldiers. The emperor, hearing his name spoken, came out from his tent. When he saw the nest, he said, “Let no hand molest the nest or hurt the bird.”
So the little swallow sat there quietly, amid all the noise of cannon, hatching out her little ones, until at last the great guns had made a breach through the walls and the army had poured in to take the city. Then when the terrible fighting was ended, the soldiers began taking down their tents to go away; but when they came to the emperor’s tent, he said, “No, no! do not take down my tent, leave it standing!”