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A Simple Soul-Part4_Gustave Flaubert(1821-1880)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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was not of an expansive nature. Felicite was as grateful for it as if

it had been some favour, and thenceforth loved her with animal-like



devotion and a religious veneration.

Her kind-heartedness developed. When she heard the drums of a marching



regiment passing through the street, she would stand in the doorway

with a jug of cider and give the soldiers a drink. She nursed cholera



victims. She protected Polish refugees, and one of them even declared

that he wished to marry her. But they quarrelled, for one morning when



she returned from the Angelus she found him in the kitchen coolly

eating a dish which he had prepared for himself during her absence.



After the Polish refugees, came Colmiche, an old man who was credited

with having committed frightful misdeeds in '93. He lived near the



river in the ruins of a pig-sty. The urchins peeped at him through the

cracks in the walls and threw stones that fell on his miserable bed,



where he lay gasping with catarrh, with long hair, inflamed eyelids,

and a tumour as big as his head on one arm.



She got him some linen, tried to clean his hovel and dreamed of

installing him in the bake-house without his being in Madame's way.



When the cancer broke, she dressed it every day; sometimes she brought

him some cake and placed him in the sun on a bundle of hay; and the



poor old creature, trembling and drooling, would thank her in his

broken voice, and put out his hands whenever she left him. Finally he



died; and she had a mass said for the repose of his soul.

That day a great joy came to her: at dinner-time, Madame de



Larsonniere's servant called with the parrot, the cage, and the perch

and chain and lock. A note from the baroness told Madame Aubain that



as her husband had been promoted to a prefecture, they were leaving

that night, and she begged her to accept the bird as a remembrance and



a token of her esteem.

Since a long time the parrot had been on Felicite's mind, because he



came from America, which reminded her of Victor, and she had

approached the negro on the subject.



Once even, she had said:

"How glad Madame would be to have him!"



The man had repeated this remark to his mistress who, not being able

to keep the bird, took this means of getting rid of it.



CHAPTER IV

He was called Loulou. His body was green, his head blue, the tips of



his wings were pink and his breast was golden.

But he had the tiresome tricks of biting his perch, pulling his



feathers out, scattering refuse and spilling the water of his bath.

Madame Aubain grew tired of him and gave him to Felicite for good.



She undertook his education, and soon he was able to repeat: "Pretty

boy! Your servant, sir! I salute you, Marie!" His perch was placed



near the door and several persons were astonished that he did not

answer to the name of "Jacquot," for every parrot is called Jacquot.



They called him a goose and a log, and these taunts were like so many

dagger thrusts to Felicite. Strange stubbornness of the bird which



would not talk when people watched him!

Nevertheless, he sought society; for on Sunday, when the ladies



Rochefeuille, Monsieur de Houppeville and the new habitues, Onfroy,

the chemist, Monsieur Varin and Captain Mathieu, dropped in for their



game of cards, he struck the window-panes with his wings and made such

a racket that it was impossible to talk.



Bourais' face must have appeared very funny to Loulou. As soon as he

saw him he would begin to roar. His voice re-echoed in the yard, and



the neighbours would come to the windows and begin to laugh, too; and

in order that the parrot might not see him, Monsieur Bourais edged



along the wall, pushed his hat over his eyes to hide his profile, and

entered by the garden door, and the looks he gave the bird lacked



affection. Loulou, having thrust his head into the butcher-boy's

basket, received a slap, and from that time he always tried to nip his



enemy. Fabu threatened to ring his neck, although he was not cruelly

inclined, notwithstanding his big whiskers and tattooings. On the



contrary, he rather liked the bird, and, out of devilry, tried to

teach him oaths. Felicite, whom his manner alarmed, put Loulou in the



kitchen, took off his chain and let him walk all over the house.

When he went downstairs, he rested his beak on the steps, lifted his



right foot and then his left one; but his mistress feared that such

feats would give him vertigo. He became ill and was unable to eat.



There was a small growth under his tongue like those chickens are

sometimes afflicted with. Felicite pulled it off with her nails and



cured him. One day, Paul was imprudent enough to blow the smoke of his




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