Oldal 64 [64]
LABOULAYE S FAIRY BOOK
and cutting across the meadows. The carriage flew as if
it had wings; a pigeon could not have followed it.
On reaching the door of the church, the party, a little dis¬
turbed by this rapid journey, would not have been sorry to
alight. Everything was ready for the ceremony and the
bridal pair had long been expected; but, instead of stopping,
the cow redoubled her speed. Thirteen times she ran round
the church like lightning, then suddenly made her way in a
straight line across the fields to the castle, with such force
that the whole party were almost shaken to pieces before
their arrival.
VII
No more marriage was to be thought of for that day;
but the tables were set and the dinner served, and the Baron
Kerver was too noble a knight to take leave of his brave
Bretons until they had eaten and drunk according to custom
—that is, from sunset till sunrise, and even a little later.
Orders were given for the guests to take their seats.
Ninety-six tables were ranged in eight rows. In front of
them, on a large platform covered with velvet, with a
canopy in the middle, was a table larger than the rest,
and loaded with fruit and flowers, to say nothing of the roast
hares, and the peacocks smoking beneath their plumage.
At this table the bridal pair were to have been seated in
full sight, in order that nothing might be lacking to the
40