'Let us go and have a look/ he remarked craftily,
'and when we have looked long enough we might
eat them!'
So off they all went with never so much as a word to
Marie or Madame Roustan; le tout petit Loup step-
ping out like a man and not once complaining of a
pain in his stomach, while Jan and Christophe
skipped about like young goats or ran races in order
to feel the more hungry.
The vineyards were a sight to rejoice sore eyes —at
least this was true of Eusebe's vineyards, for his vines
were so heavily fructified that they bowed themselves
down to the earth with their burden. In and out of the
narrow green paths the four wandered, while Eusebe
told the story of Bacchus who had loved such clusters
of opulent fruit, and had taken them under his special
protection.
'There were ladies who brought him his wine/ said
Eusebe; 'they were not at all like the ladies we know—
although many of these are certainly pretty — but the
ladies who brought Bacchus his marvellous wine were
called nymphs because they were more than human;
and so beautiful they were that people went blind if
by accident they should happen to see them. Yes,
nymphs they were called, and they much liked sweet
things, so that those who were wise always left them
honey.5
'But where did they leave it?' demanded Loup,
who in spite of his weak digestion was greedy.
'Sometimes under the vines, sometimes under a
tree — or perhaps they would set it upon a flat rock
and then turn their backs quickly/ Eusebe told him.
Then he went on to say that a long time ago many
gods had been served in the land of Provence, and
that even yet one might find a few stones which had
once formed a part of some vast white temple; and
that in the town of his birth, which was Aries, there
96