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Pol and Matheline, condemned to walk around the Basin of the Pagans until the end of time, one without arms, the other without a face, offer a severe lesson to those who are too proud of their broad shoulders and brute force, and gossiping flirts of girls with smiling faces and wicked hearts; the case of Sylvestre Ker teaches young men not to listen to the demon of money; the blow of Josserande's axe shows the miraculous power of faith.
So here is my penitent Josserande, who will rightfully judge the wolf and punish him; she is his mother." When Gildas the Wise ceased speaking, you could have heard a mouse run across the heath. Each one thought to himself: "So the wolf is really Sylvestre Ker." But not a word was uttered, and all looked at Dame Josserande's axe, which glistened in the moonlight.
It fell at Josserande's feet and licked her knees, uttering doleful moans. But the people, who had come thither for entertainment, were not well pleased with what had happened. There was now abundance of light, as men with torches had arrived from the abbey in search of Gildas the Wise, whose cell had been found empty at the hour of Compline.
But whence came those golden ringlets that mingled with Josserande's black hair, and which shone in the sunlight above his mother's snowy locks? And that laugh, oh! that silvery laugh of youth, which prevented Sylvestre Ker from hearing, in his pious recollections, the calm, grave voice of his mother. Whence did it come? Seven years! Pol had said.
Josserande's heart sank within her, and she murmured, "My beloved one, my beloved one, whom I have borne in my arms and nourished with my milk, ah! me, can the Lord God inflict this cruel martyrdom upon me?" No one replied, not even Gildas the Wise, who silently adjured the All-Powerful, and recalled to Him the sacrifice of Abraham.
When the head of the cavalcade approached the tower, the grand abbot cried out, "My armed guards, sound your horns to awaken Dame Josserande's son!" And instantly there was a blast from the horns, which rang out until Gildas the Wise exclaimed, "Be silent, for there is my tenant wide awake at his window." When all was still, the grand abbot raised his crozier and said,
"O Bretons! is there among you all not one kind soul to defend the widow's son in the hour when he bitterly expiates his sin?" "Let us alone, godmother," boldly replied Matheline. And from afar Pol Bihan added: "Don't listen to the old woman; go!" But another voice was heard in answer to Dame Josserande's appeal, and it said, "As last night, we are here!"
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