Charles Nodier

“ Brisquette asked him.
“The children,” said Brisquet, “the children! Oh mercy, have they gone out?”
“I sent them out as far as the mound and the pond to meet you, but you had taken another road.”
Brisquet gripped his good axe and set off running towards the mound.
“Won’t you take Bichonne with you?” his wife called after him.
[16]
But Bichonne was already far ahead—so far that Brisquet immediately lost sight of her. ”

“ Brisquet, who never shirked his work, and, thanks to his good axe, had no fear of wolves, said to his wife one morning: “Oh, do not let either Biscotin or Biscotine run about outside until the master of the wolf-hounds arrives. It will be dangerous if they do. There is room enough for them to play between the mound and the pond, now that I have put stakes along the water to prevent any [12] accident happening to them. And do not let Bichonne out either; she is always wanting to be on the run.” ”

“ You may remember the time when such numbers of wolves swarmed in [11] the Forest of Lions. It was the year of the Great Snow, when the poor folk found it so hard to keep alive. The misery in the country was dreadful. ”