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The Heptameron - Story 67
The Captain Robertval aforesaid once made a voyage across the seas
to the island of Canadas, (1) himself being chief in command by the
appointment of the King, his master. And there, if the air of the
country were good, he had resolved to dwell and to build towns and
castles. With this work he made such a beginning as is known to all;
and to people the country with Christians he took with him all kinds of
artificers, among whom was a most wicked man, who betrayed his master
and put him in danger of being captured by the natives. But God willed
that his attempt should be discovered before any evil befell the
Captain, who, seizing the wicked traitor, was minded to punish him as
he deserved. And this he would have done but for the man's wife, who had
followed her husband through the perils of the deep and would not now
leave him to die, but with many tears so wrought upon the Captain and
all his company that, for pity of her and for the sake of the services
she had done them, her request was granted. In consequence, husband and
wife were left together on a small island in the sea, inhabited only
by wild beasts, and were suffered to take with them such things as were
needful.
The poor folk, finding themselves all alone and surrounded by wild and
cruel beasts, had no recourse but to God, who had ever been this poor
woman's steadfast hope; and, since she found all her consolation in Him,
she carried the New Testament with her for safeguard, nourishment and
consolation, and in it read unceasingly. Further, she laboured with her
husband to make them a little dwelling as best they might, and when the
lions (2) and other animals came near to devour them, the husband with
his arquebuss and she with stones made so stout a defence that not only
were the beasts afraid to approach, but often some were slain that were
very good for food. And on this flesh and the herbs of the land, they
lived for some time after their bread failed them.
At last, however, the husband could no longer endure this nutriment,
and by reason of the waters that they drank became so swollen that in
a short while he died, and this without any service or consolation save
from his wife, she being both his doctor and his confessor; and when
he had joyously passed out of the desert into the heavenly country, the
poor woman, left now in solitude, buried him in the earth as deeply as
she was able. Nevertheless the beasts quickly knew of it, and came to
eat the dead body; but the poor woman, firing with the arquebuss from
her cabin, saved her husband's flesh from finding such a grave.
Leading thus in regard to her body the life of a brute, and in regard
to her soul the life of an angel, she passed her time in reading,
meditations, prayers and orisons, having a glad and happy mind in a
wasted and half-dead body. But He who never forsakes His own, and who
manifests His power when others are in despair, did not suffer the
virtue that he had put into this woman to be unknown by men, but willed
that it should be made manifest to His own glory. He therefore brought
things so to pass, that after some time, when one of the ships of the
armament was passing by the island, those that were looking that way
perceived some smoke, which reminded them of the persons who had been
left there, and they resolved to go and see what God had done with them.
The poor woman, seeing the ship draw nigh, dragged herself to the shore,
and there they found her on their arrival. After giving praise to God,
she brought them to her poor cottage and showed them on what she had
lived during her abode in that place. This would have seemed to them
impossible of belief, but for their knowledge that God is as powerful to
feed His servants in a desert as at the greatest banquet in the world.
As the poor woman could not continue in such a spot, they took her with
them straight to La Rochelle, where, their voyage ended, they arrived.
And when they had made known to the inhabitants the faithfulness and
endurance of this woman, she was very honourably received by all the
ladies, who gladly sent their daughters to her to learn to read and
write. In this honest calling she maintained herself for the rest of
her life, having no other desire save to admonish every one to love and
trust Our Lord, and setting forth as an example the great compassion
that He had shown towards her.
"Now, ladies, you cannot say I do not praise the virtues which God
has given you, and which show the more when possessed by one of lowly
condition."
"Why, we are not sorry," said Oisille, "to hear you praise the mercies
of Our Lord, for in truth all virtue comes from Him; but we must confess
that man assists in the work of God as little as women. Neither can by
heart or will do more than plant. God alone giveth the increase."
"If you have studied Scripture," said Saffredent, "you know that St.
Paul says that Apollos planted and he himself watered; (3) but he does
not speak of women as having set hand to the work of God."
"You would follow," said Parlamente, "the opinion of those wicked men
who take a passage of Scripture that is in their favour and leave one
that is against them. If you had read St. Paul to the end, you would
have found that he commends himself to the ladies, who greatly laboured
with him in the work of the Gospel."
"However that may be," said Longarine, "the woman in the story is well
worthy of praise both for the love she bore her husband, on whose behalf
she risked her own life, and for the faith she had in God, who, as we
see, did not forsake her."
"I think," said Ennasuite, "as far as the first is concerned, that there
is no woman present but would do as much to save her husband's life."
"I think," said Parlamente, "that some husbands are such brutes that the
women who live with them should not find it strange to live among their
fellows."
Ennasuite, who took these words to herself, could not refrain from
saying—
"Provided the beasts did not bite me, their company would be more
pleasant to me than that of men, who are choleric and intolerable. But I
abide by what I have said, that, if my husband were in a like danger, I
should not leave him to die."
"Beware," said Nomerfide, "of loving too fondly, for excess of love will
deceive both him and you. There is a medium in all things, and through
lack of knowledge love often gives birth to hate."
"Methinks," said Simontault, "you have not carried your discourse so far
without having an instance to confirm it. If, then, you know such a one,
I give you my place that you may tell it to us."
"Well," said Nomerfide, "the tale shall, as is my wont, be a short and a
merry one."
Footnotes:
- Canada had been discovered by Cabot in 1497; and in 1535
James Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence and, taking
possession of the country in the name of Francis I., called
it La Nouvelle France. Seven years later a gentleman of
Picardy, named John Francis de La Roque, Lord of Robertval,
accompanying Cartier, established a colony on the Isle
Royale, and subsequently built the fort of Charlebourg. One
of his pilots, named Alphonse of Saintonge, meanwhile
reconnoitred the coasts both of Canada and Labrador. About
this time (1542) the incidents related in the above tale
must have occurred.—L.
- This mention of lions on a small desert island in the
Canadian seas would be rather perplexing did we not know how
great at that time was the general ignorance on most matters
connected with natural history. Possibly the allusion may be
to the lion marin, as the French call the leonine seal.
This, however, is anything but an aggressive animal.
Curiously enough, Florimond de Rémond, the sixteenth century
writer, speaks of a drawing of a "marine lion" given to him
"by that most illustrious lady Margaret Queen of Navarre, to
whom it had been presented by a Spanish gentleman, who was
taking a second copy of it to the Emperor Charles V., then
in Spain."—Ed.
- The text is just the contrary: "I have planted, Apollos
watered; but God gave the increase."—I Corinthians iii.
6.—Ed.
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