Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 310: Louisiana- The Good Little Servant; The Basket of Flowers; John Greenpeas; The Poor Little Boy (Fortier)

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EP 310: Louisiana- The Good Little Servant; The Basket of Flowers; John Greenpeas; The Poor Little Boy (Fortier) · Sandman Stories Presents

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  Welcome back listeners to Sam Man's Stories presents folklore
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  podcast, Where we do to sleep or until the next story.
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  I'm your host, Dustin. Today we are back in the Book of
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  Louisiana Folklore, written down by LC Fortier.
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  We're actually finishing this book, so I'll have to prepare
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  another one soon. Comment below if you want to
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  suggest another culture to cover.
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  In the first story, we'll learn about what happens when the
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  master is out. In the second, we see that faith
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  pays off. In the third, we learn who is
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  smarter, the king or the peasant.
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  And in the final story, we hear about a little boy who has
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  magic. OK, let's begin.
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  The good little servant. Once there was a gentleman who
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  was very rich and very good. His wife always pretended to be
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  sick and needed all kinds of extraordinary remedies which her
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  husband had to go and get for her.
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  The woman did that to get her husband out of the way and so
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  she could squander his money. One day she said she must have
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  some sea water, or she would die.
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  The gentleman had a little servant named little Margot, who
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  always went with him on his journeys.
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  But when the gentleman went to go get the sea water, little
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  Margot was left behind, and saw what the mistress was doing with
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  her husband's money. She was preparing to have a
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  great boil and a great supper. Little Margot went to tell his
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  master what he had seen, and asked him to let him act.
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  They secretly came back to the house, and Little Margot told
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  all the servants to follow him and do whatever he would order
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  them. He put his master in a large
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  basket and hid it in the basket of a number of whips during the
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  ball. Little Margot came to the
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  dancing hall with two men carrying the basket and followed
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  by the other servants. The mistress and her guests
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  thought it was some fine present, and crowded around the
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  basket all at once. Little Margot said, Here is my
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  master, come back. And taking the whips from the
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  basket, he gave them to the servants and to his master, who
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  whipped the guests and the lady unmercifully.
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  The gentleman put his wife out of his house and said to her,
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  You do not need any seawater now to cure you.
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  The end. All right, and story #2 the
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  basket of flowers. There was once a little girl
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  named Marie. She had no parents, but lived
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  with her old grandfather. She went to work for some people
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  who were very wicked, and those people had a magpie.
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  One day the magpie stole a ring which was on the window sill.
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  And now when the ring was missing, Marie was accused of
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  theft and she was taken and sent to prison.
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  While she was in prison she was treated very badly, and they
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  beat her to make her say that she was the one who had stolen
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  the ring. Her poor grandfather used to cry
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  all day long, and he went to the prison to see her.
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  On the last day before she was to be tried.
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  They said she would be sent to a penitentiary.
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  She prayed so much to the Holy Virgin that on that very day,
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  when the judgement was passed upon her, they chopped down the
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  tree in the yard of the lady, and in the hollow of the tree
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  they found the ring. When the lady found the ring,
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  she went to the prison and said that she had found it.
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  I forgot to tell you that when Marie prayed so much the Holy
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  Virgin, she made a vow that if she would be freed, she would go
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  to the woods and get the most beautiful flowers she could
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  find. Now when the lady heard of
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  Marie's vow, she filled the basket with the finest flowers
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  she could find in her garden, and she gave her a little house
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  for herself and her grandfather. The and.
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  OK and story #3 John Greenpeace. Once an old brother called John
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  Greenpeace lived in a cabin by the King's palace as all of the
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  King's chickens were being stolen.
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  He wanted to save his geese, and he asked John to tell him where
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  to put them. John was delighted, and the
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  geese disappeared in the same way as the chickens.
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  Then the king asked John to tell him where to put his money, and
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  John told him to put his gold where he had put the geese.
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  The gold disappeared also. The neighbors then convinced the
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  king that John was the robber, and the king went with his
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  guards to arrest the old man. John knew what was going on, and
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  he placed a goose with a gold coin under its wing on the
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  table. When the king arrived, John
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  showed him the goose and told him that whenever he needed
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  money, the goose would give him some if he played on the fiddle.
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  The king bought the goose, but when he saw how John had
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  deceived him, he had him put into a bag and thrown into the
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  river. Well, the men who were carrying
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  the bag stopped at a local bar, got drunk and left John for some
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  time in the middle of the road. While he was sitting there, he
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  heard a shepherd coming along with his flock, and he began
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  crying that he did not want to marry the King's daughter.
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  No, no, no, I will not marry the Princess.
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  No, no, no, no, no. He put up enough of a fuss that
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  the shepherd decided that he wanted to marry the Princess.
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  The shepherd took John's place in the bag in order to marry the
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  King's daughter, and the old man went away with the sheep.
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  The king met John and the latter told him that he had found the
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  sheep and the gold at the bottom of the river.
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  The king threw himself into the river and was drowned.
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  Poor simple king to leave a palace to jump into the river.
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  The end. OK, and the final story.
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  A poor little boy There was once a woman who used to say that she
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  was poor and had nothing to eat. Every day her husband went to
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  work, and often on an empty stomach.
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  One day a little boy knocked at the woman's door and asked her
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  if he could come in to warm himself, and if she would give
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  him something to eat and a place to sleep, But the woman refused,
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  saying that she had no fire, nothing to eat, and no place for
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  him to sleep. The little boy was very sorry,
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  but he laid down on the ground in front of the cabin, and he
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  saw through a crevice in the door all that was being done in
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  the cabin. He saw the woman light a big
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  fire, make biscuits, cook a pig, and he saw a man who was hidden
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  in the room come out and warm himself by the fire.
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  Ah, ha, ha, said the little boy. That is why she did not let me
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  come in the house when her husband is not there.
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  She has a high time. She is letting me die of hunger
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  and cold outside, but she will pay for that.
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  A little while later, the woman heard someone walking and as she
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  thought it was her husband, she hid the pig in the cupboard, the
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  biscuits under the sieve and the man under the bed.
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  When the husband arrived, he saw the little boy laying on the
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  ground freezing and he said to him, what are you doing there?
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  Why aren't you at home? Did you not ask my wife to let
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  you come in? We are poor, but we always find
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  a little corner for you. I'm not at home because I have
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  no father and no home. I am not at your house because
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  your wife told me there was no room for me.
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  Come with me, my wife will change her mind.
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  He took the little boy and made him come in.
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  His wife was astonished to see her husband with the little boy,
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  and she was afraid that he had seen what had happened in the
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  house and had told her husband. But the husband appeared very
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  quiet, and he told her that he was glad to see that she had
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  found some pieces of wood to make a fire, because it was very
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  cold, and he asked her if she had any supper for him.
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  She said no. Then her husband drew out a loaf
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  of bread from his sack and said he had not had much work, and
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  that was all he was able to bring.
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  He divided the bread into 3 shares for him, his wife and the
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  little boy. Each one ate his bread, and when
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  they were through the husband said, Let us tell some tales to
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  pass the time before we go to bed.
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  All right, said the woman, because she knew that stories
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  made her husband go to sleep and she would be able to make the
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  man escape who was hidden under the bed.
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  Well, said the husband, Commence first, little boy, because you
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  are the youngest. I do not know any stories, said
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  the little boy. My father always told me to tell
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  the truth. I do not know any stories, but I
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  know some true things. Tell us true things then, said
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  the husband. Well, said the little boy, I
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  know there are biscuits under the sieve.
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  Pigs meet in the cupboard and a man under the bed.
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  That is not true, said the woman, who is trembling with
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  fright. There is nothing at all.
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  Let us look nevertheless, said the husband, and he found the
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  biscuits, the pig and the man. The husband was so angry to see
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  that his wife had deceived him that he put her out with the man
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  who did not want her, because if she deceived one man she might
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  deceive another. She died cold and alone in the
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  woods. The husband took in the little
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  boy to stay with him, and he thought he was a sorcerer
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  because the boy did not tell him how he had found out what he had
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  said. The END.
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  Well, I like the servant. In the first story I was a
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  little confused because the name is Margot, but it's a boy or
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  man. A little confusing for me.
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  I was Margot. Margot.
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  I don't know. The second story was a good
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  illustration of how powerful faith is in Louisiana.
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  The third story was a classic underdog outsmarting the mighty.
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  And the fourth one was kind of a sad one to end on.
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  It seemed like cheating and telling stories were the two
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  strong themes here. I did like the side dude not
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  wanting her because she tricked men as if he wasn't helping her
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  out with that. And with that the book comes to
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  a close. I hope you all give me a hand in
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  choosing another book. I have Arabian tales, Hungarian
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  tales, and tales from South America.
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  Drop online and let me know what you would like to hear.
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  The podcast shout out is to Working Class History.
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  If you care about other people and want more information on
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  fighting for the working class, go give them a listen.
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  And the listener shout out is to Saarland in Germany.
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  If I get a chance to visit there, I'd like to visit the
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  Saarland Museum. And to my listener in Saarland,
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  I say Dankushun Unguten Nacht. Thank you and good night.