The Castle of Kerglas

Peronnik was a poor simpleton who belonged to no one, and he would have starved to death if the villagers hadn't taken pity on him and given him food whenever he asked for it. As for a bed, when night came and he grew sleepy, he looked for a pile of straw, made a hole in it, and crept in like a lizard.

Simple as he was, he was never unhappy, but always thanked those who fed him, and sometimes he would stop and sing to them. He could imitate a lark so well that no one could tell which was Peronnik and which was the bird.

One day he had been wandering in a forest for several hours, and when evening came he suddenly felt very hungry. Luckily, the trees grew thinner just then, and he saw a small farmhouse a little way off. Peronnik went straight toward it and found the farmer's wife standing at the door, holding the large bowl from which her children had eaten their supper.

"I'm hungry. Will you give me something to eat?" asked the boy.

"If you can find anything here, you're welcome to it," she answered. And indeed there wasn't much left, as everyone's spoon had dipped in. But Peronnik ate what was there with a hearty appetite and thought he had never tasted better food.

"It's made of the finest flour and mixed with the richest milk and stirred by the best cook in all the countryside." Though he said it to himself, the woman heard him.

"Poor innocent," she murmured. "He doesn't know what he's saying. But I'll cut him a slice of that new wheat bread." And so she did, and Peronnik ate every crumb and declared that no one less than the bishop's baker could have baked it. This flattered the farmer's wife so much that she gave him some butter to spread on it. Peronnik was still eating it on the doorstep when an armored knight rode up.

"Can you tell me the way to the Castle of Kerglas?" he asked.

"To Kerglas? Are you really going to Kerglas?" cried the woman, turning pale.

"Yes. To get there I've come from a country so far away that it's taken me three months of hard riding to travel this far."

"And why do you want to go to Kerglas?" she asked.

"I'm seeking the golden bowl and the diamond lance that are in the castle," he answered. Then Peronnik looked up.

"The bowl and the lance are very costly things," he said suddenly.

"More costly and precious than all the crowns in the world," replied the stranger. "Not only will the bowl give you the best food you can dream of, but if you drink from it, it will cure you of any illness, however dangerous, and will even bring the dead back to life if it touches their mouths. As for the diamond lance, it can cut through any stone or metal."

"And to whom do these wonders belong?" asked Peronnik in amazement.

"To a magician named Rogear who lives in the castle," answered the woman. "Every day he rides past here on a black mare, with a thirteen-month-old colt trotting behind. But no one dares to attack him, because he always carries his lance."

"That's true," said the knight, "but there's a spell on him that forbids him from using it inside the castle of Kerglas. The moment he enters, the bowl and lance are put away in a dark cellar that no key but one can open. And that's where I wish to fight the magician."

"You'll never overcome him, Sir Knight," replied the woman, shaking her head. "More than a hundred gentlemen have ridden past this house on the same errand, and not one has ever come back."

"I know that, good woman," returned the knight, "but they didn't have, like me, instructions from the hermit of Blavet."

"And what did the hermit tell you?" asked Peronnik.

"He told me that I would have to pass through a wood full of all sorts of enchantments and voices that would try to frighten me and make me lose my way. Most of those who went before me wandered they know not where and died of cold, hunger, or exhaustion."

"Well, suppose you get through safely?" said the simpleton.

"If I do," continued the knight, "I'll then meet a sort of fairy armed with a needle of fire that burns to ashes everything it touches. This dwarf guards an apple tree from which I must pluck an apple."

"And next?" asked Peronnik.

"Next I'll find the flower that laughs, protected by a lion whose mane is made of vipers. I must pluck that flower and go on to the lake of the dragons and fight the black man who holds in his hand the iron ball that never misses its mark and returns of its own accord to its master.

After that, I enter the valley of pleasure, where some who conquered all the other obstacles have left their bones. If I can make it through, I'll reach a river with only one ford, where a lady in black will be seated.

She'll mount my horse behind me and tell me what to do next."