CHAPTER I
Pagb 1. 1. Anstatt: For the supposed location of Anstatt in Rhenish Bavaria see page 16. — 2. Vosges allemandes : The Vosges Mountains are situated partly in North-eastern France, partly in South-western Germany ; hence the adjective. The German Vosges are hère synonymous with the Hardt Mountains. — 3. bonnet de ooton: A soft cap resembling a liberty-cap. The tip hung down between the shoulders.— -4. garnis au-dessus d'un flocon de laine: ornamented at the top with a tuft of wool. — 6. faisait : would make. The imperf ect hère, as of ten in this chapter, is to be translated by the auxiliary would. — 6. M. de Buffon : He published the first three volumes of his Natural History in 1749. Twelve more volumes appeared between 1749 and 1767. — 7. allée : a passage-way inside the house.
Page 2. 1. sentimental : sympathetic. — 2. Tout cela Je le vois : le repeats tout cela. — 3. casaquin : a loosely fitting sack. — 4. qui file: The relative pronoun with the présent or imperfect may frequently best be translated into English by the présent participle. — 5. le fourneau : Usually a furnace or cook-stove ; hère it is used for poêle, as often in Lorraine. — 6. à la pipée: by calling. One catches birds à la pipée by imitating the cry , say, of an owl to attract them to branches smeared with sticky bird-lime. The attracting call was originally made with a reed or pipe ; hence the French expression. — 7. trouble : unstillness, commotion, disturbance; not trouble, which is usually peine.
Page 3. 1. soupe à la farine : porridge. — 2. trébuchets, lacets:
À trêbuchet is a trap consisting of a cage, the top of which is made so as to tip down when a bird lights on it. A lacet is a noose or springe or snare. — 3. du lard aux choux : pork and cabbage. Lard usually means bacon. — 4. Noudels : German Nudel, a kind of macaroni, home-
made. — 5. knœpfels: German Knœpfel, dough-balls. — 6. pâturer: to tend the cows. — 7. coiffé de: wearing, having on. — 8. Mauser: German for mouse-hunter ; hère mole-catcher ; in French taupier. — 9. rentrant : retreating. — 10. quatre : Quatre is often used in French to dénote a small indeterminate number. — 11. souquenille : smockfrock. — 12. de gros clous qui lui Baient sur le devant, en forme de griffes, jusqu'au haut des épaisses semelles: large shining nails, set in the fore part of the thick soles and resembling claws. — 13. à reflets d'or : with golden tints.
Page 4. 1. attrapes: traps. — 2. dénicher: Literally, to take ont of a nest; hère simply to take out. — 3. à votre service: won't y ou hâve some? — 4. Héming: A town in Alsace. — 6. faisait de tout : didalittleof everything, was a Jack-at-all-trades. — 6. il rafistolait la vaisselle fêlée avec du fil de fer : he mended cracked dishes with wire.
Page. 5. 1. les jambes et les bras cassés : Note that cassés limita jambes as well as bras, but agrées only with bras. — 2. tiroir à rabots : cabbage-cutter. This consista of a box resembling a draw (tiroir) with trans verse knives like the chisel of a plane (rabot). — 3. hotte : pack- basket. — 4. Pas de choux: An elliptical expression for n'avezvous pas de choux. — 5. oignons: corns. — 6. Bon appétit: Words addressed to one who is about to eat or is eating. Some such expression as 1 vnsh you is understood. Compare bon jour, bon soir, bonne nuit. — 7. Si le cœur vous en dit : won't y on sit by and hâve some ?
Page 6. 1. elles formaient barbe: "Swarming may be looked for when the bées become crowded for room and hang in large numbers outside the hive." This hanging in large numbers outside the hive is referred to in formaient barbe, were forming beard. — 2. une pendule : Distinguish between une pendule, a clock, and un pendule, a pendulum.
Page 7. 1. commune : A territorial division in which the people hâve common interests regulated by a common government. The chief officiais are a mayor or burgomaster, and the members of the municipal council. Translate commune or town. — 2. de cuir bouilli : of waxed leather, waterproof. — 3. chasses à courre: hunts with horse and hounds. Courir, in the gênerai sensé of to n/n, has taken the place of courre. — 4. les Républicains : This refers to the French, who declared France a republic, Sept. 22, 1792. — 5. lePalatinat : the Lower Palatinate, which, at the time of this story, 1793, comprised a part of Rhenish Prussia, a part of Baden, and Rhenish Bavaria. Anstatt is situated in the last. — 6. les trois électeurs : The electors
were the princes who had the right of electing the emperor of Ger* many. Three of the electors — those probably meant hère — were the archbishops of Cologne, Mayence, and Trêves. — 7. le roi Wilhelm de Prusse : Frederick William II. was king of Prussia from 1786 to 1797. — 8. l'empereur Joseph : Joseph II. was emperor of Germany from 1765 to 1790. He was succeeded by his brother Leopold, who reigned two years. Francis II. was emperor of Germany from 1792 to 1806, when he renounced his title. After that he was emperor only of Austria and died in 1835. Hence in 1793, the time of the story, Francis was emperor, not Joseph.
Page 9. 1. la bourgeoisie: towns-people of the middle class.—
2. noblesse de robe, noblesse d'épée : The former expression refers to those who hâve become nobles by virtue of having held certain offices; hence magistrates, clergy. The latter expression refers to those whose noble rank had been originally acquired by service in war; hence nobility, nobles. — 3. On aura beau faire : do what you will. — 4. la guerre de Sept ans: The Seven Years' War was fought between Austria, Saxony, France, Sweden, Russia, and South Germany on one side, and on the other side Prussia and England. It began in 1756 and ended in 1763, when a treaty was made by which "ail should remain as it had been before the war." — 6. à plate couture: soundly. Literally, to a flot seam. — 6. religieux : Religieux are properly persons who hâve taken monastic vows. But only the "unsworn" priests and monks who refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new order of things in France were banished.
Page 10. 1. remplumer: Literally, to refeather; hère, to make good their losses. — 2. Sauf votre respect: begging your pardon. —
3. jacobin : The original Jacobins were monks of the order of Saint Dominic. They took their name from the church of Saint Jacques (Jacobus) in Paris, near which they built their convent. In the time of the French Révolution, a radical political club held its meetings in this convent, and therefore its members were called Jacobins. They aimed at a republic with freedom and equality for ail " citizens."
Page 11. 1. on verrait trop facilement que leurs pensées, leurs inventions et leurs désirs se rapportent à de pauvres génies:
Their poor abilities would be too conspicuous in their thoughts, their works, and their ambitions. — 2. les Impériaux: the Austrians.
Page 12. 1. Pareillement : the same to vou.
