406
Martinique
Sketches.
dishes with filth, awoke Y é and his family, and ordered them as usual :— —"Gobe-moin ça!" And they had to gobble it up,— every bit of it. #
The family nearly died of hunger and disgust. Twice more Yé climbed the Montagne Pelée ; twice more he climbed the Morne de la Croix ; twice more he disturbed the poor Bon-Diê, all for nothing !—since each time on his way down he would fill his paunch with all sorts of nasty sour things, so that he could not speak right. The Devil remained in the house night and day ;—the poor mother threw herself down on the ground, and pulled out her hair,—so unhappy she was ! But luckily for the poor woman, she had one child as cunning as a rat,—* a boy called Ti Fonte (little Impudent), who bore his name well. When he saw his mother crying so much, he said to her :— — " Mamma, send papa just once more to see the Good-God : I know something to do !" The mother knew how cunning her boy was : she felt sure he meant something by his words ;—she sent old Y é for the last time to see the Bon-Dié. Y é used always to wear one of those big long coats they call lavalasses ;—whether it was hot or cool, wet or dry, he never went out without it. There were two very big pockets in it—one on each side. When Ti Fonte saw his father getting ready to go, he jumped floup ! into one of the pockets and hid himself there. Yé climbed all the way to the top of the Morne de la Croix without suspecting anything. When he got there the little boy put one of his ears out of Yé's pocket,—so as to hear everything the Good-God would say. * T h e great field-rat of M a r t i n i q u e is, in M a r t i n i q u e f o l k - l o r e , the s y m b o l o f all c u n n i n g , a n d p r o b a b l y merits its reputation.