THE GIANT GOULAFFRE
The castle of Goulaffre.
"Stand against the door", said Fistilou to Allanic, "I will climb on your shoulders and in this way, I will reach the hammer."
They did so. The door opened immediately and they entered a garden where they saw two beautiful young ladies walking. They were the daughters of the giant Goulaffre, who lived in this castle. Allanic began to play his straw torch; Fistilou dancing and frolicking, and the two young ladies came running to watch them. They never left their garden, so they had never seen anything like it, and they were very amused by the music of one and the frolics and cries of the other. Their mother, a giantess ten feet tall, also arrived, and they urged her to keep these two men in the castle, to amuse them, since they never went out.
"But your father, my children, you don’t think about it?"
"They are so amusing and so nice that our father will be amused by them as we are, and will let them live."
"I'm not really sure; but let them stay, all the same, since they amuse you."
And here are the two young giantesses very happy. When supper time came, a bell rang, and the giant arrived. They had hidden our two friends in a large chest; but the giant, upon entering the dining room, immediately exclaimed:
"I smell Christian, and I want to eat them!"
“I would like to see that, for example,” replied his wife, "Eat my two nephews who came to see me, two boys who are so charming and amuse our daughters so much, with their talents, and will amuse you yourself!"
"Bring your nephews so that I can see them, my wife."
Our two companions were taken out of the chest, trembling and dying of fright.
"They are very small, your nephews, my wife! And what do they know to do?
"Dancing and making wonderful music."
"It's good; let's have supper first because I'm starving, then we'll see."
And they sat down at the table. A soup was first served in a broken barrel. Then a roasted Christian was brought on a plate.
The giant Goulaffre cut it up and kept most of it for himself, and then the giantess shared what remained between herself and her two daughters. She also gave a foot to each of the two strangers.
Source: Le Géant Goulaffre from the French book Contes et légendes de Basse-Bretagne published in 1891.
Hello, my name is Vincent Celier.
I am writing translations of folk tales that I found in public domain French books, so that people who do not understand French may enjoy them too.
So, the Giant Goulaffre is not a kind giant like the Giant Hok-Bras. He is an ogre.
How are our two boys, Allanic and Fistilou, getting alive from the castle of Goulaffre?
When we were going to my house in Harrison Hot Springs last week, we stopped to get supplies in a small grocery store in Agassiz.
There, we bought some dark chocolate that contains no milk and is then vegan.
From what you can read, the cocoa beans were grown in Ghana in West Africa, moved to New Zealand on the opposite side of the earth, then the chocolate was sent to Canada across the Pacific Ocean. This is a very long travel.
And the chocolate is good but very hard. I don't think we will buy it again.
-- Vincent Celier