il faut, one must. See note on page 9, line
14. pauvres. “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, ‘Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”’ Luke vi, 20.
Page 16. — 26. le . . . château, the road to the castle. Le chemin de means ‘the road to’ or ‘the road from,’ according to the context.
NOTES 155
Page 16. — 1-2. montèrent, s’élevait. Why the difference in tense?
16-21. Vois . . . centre. Anatole France’s philosophy emphasizes frequently that every living being is at the center of the universe.
Page 17. — ■ 10. ce que. Distinguish carefully ce que, object or (as here) predicate, and ce qui, subject. The subject of peuvent être is pierres.
Page 18. — 8. défendre de. De is used after a word implying separation, real or figurative. It really then means ‘from.’ See note on page ii, lines 18-19.
24. découvrirai. The future tense is used because future time is implied, as shown by resterez, in the main clause.
25. qu’habitent les Ondines. The subject of a relative clause, unless it is very short (e.g., a personal pronoun) is more apt to follow its verb than to precede it. Since the form que or qu’ can never be the subject, when the clause begins with qué the noun after the verb must necessarily be the subject and que the object: which the Undines inhabit. Failure to observe this fact will make nonsense out of many a passage.
Page 19. — ig. y = à -|- a personal pronoun and has the various meanings of à: here, /row them.
20. Qu’elle reste ! The apparently independent subjunctive, usually introduced by que, always expresses a mild wish or an indirect command: Let her stay! Avoid the idea that que, which has no influence on the mood of the verb, ever “requires” the subjunctive. The subjunctive after que is required by some preceding verb such as je désire, either expressed or — as here — implied.
Page 20. — 4. manquerons d’. See note on page 18, line 8.
16. Elle ne savait que faire. In this common idiom (to be distinguished by the context from ne . . . que meaning ‘only’) ne is the complete negative and que is a pronoun: She did not know what to do.
NOTES
28. aura bus. The future anterior frequently expresses probability or logical inference about a past event; nmst have dried up.
Page 21. — 13. eût payé. See note on page 5, line 27.
17. davantage, used instead of plus when the second part of the comparison is merely implied, not expressed.
21. Ce fut fait. Ce, old usage for modem ce qui or cela, with verbs other than être. Notice how clearly the tense indicates here a single completed action, not a state.
22. bas de laine. French peasants are fond of hoarding gold in old stockings.
Page 22. — 6. retournerons. See note on page 18, line 24.
8-13. s’inclinait . . . chantaient. Note carefully in this paragraph — and everywhere — the difference in the force of the imperfect and the past definite.
16-17. ell’, p’tite, for elle, petite. Mute e is usually disregarded in popular verse.
20. s’arrête, s’écrie, the so-called “historical present,” used to picture past events vividly.
Page 23. — lo-ii. Abeille . . . coiffe, refers to the expression jeter son bonnet par dessus les moulins, ‘to lose all sense of modesty.’
18. menât. The subjunctive is required in a relative clause following a general negation, here ne . . . aucun.
Page 24. — 17. s’il en est ainsi, if this is the case. En here, as frequently, does not refer to a specific word but to the general situation and means regarding it.
30. Aussi, And so; the almost invariable meaning of aussi when it begins a clause. It is not ‘also’ in this position. Note the inversion of verb and pronoun-subject in this case.
Page 26. — 4-5. descendait . . . apparut. Why is it that the past definite, logical in apparut, would be absurd in descendait?
