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LABOULAYE S FAIRY BOOK
mended, three times it broke anew. ‘There was every reason
to believe that it was enchanted.
Every one had a word of advice to offer. This gave the
bailiff courage. He approached the baron and said, in a
low tone:
“My lord, in the house that you see shining yonder
among the trees there lives a woman who does things such
as nobody else can do. Only persuade her to lend you
her door for the bottom of the carriage, and, in my opinion,
it will hold till morning.”
The baron made a sign, and twenty peasants ran to the
cottage of Finette, who very obligingly lent them her gold
door. They put it in the bottom of the carriage, where it
fitted as if it had been made expressly for it. The party
took their seats in the carriage, the coachman cracked his
whip, the church was in sight, and all the troubles of the
journey seemed ended.
Not at all! Suddenly the horses stopped and refused to
draw. There were four of them. Six, eight, ten, twenty¬
four more were put to the carriage, but all in vain; it was
impossible to stir them. The more they were whipped the
deeper the wheels sunk into the ground, like the coulter of a
plow.
What were they todo? To go on foot would have been a
disgrace. To mount a horse and ride to the church like
simple peasants was not the custom of the Kervers. ‘They
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