Sunday, November 11, 2007

Where has Le Petit Cheval disappeared to?



It seemed to Bel Canto that her brother, Le Petit Cheval, had been traveling for months. Bel waited for the mail to come each day. She kept hoping for pictures from her brother. One day the mail contained an envelope full of pictures for Bel. She pored over each one.

"Look!" she said to the Au Pair. "He's riding a scooter!"

"I see he is still in Paris," replied the Au Pair. "See, there is Notre Dame Cathedral again."

"But see here," said Bel. "Now he is in the countryside. Look at all those funny stones!"

"That is a famous place in Brittany," said the Au Pair. She had been reading up on France because Bel had been asking so many questions. She did not want to lose her job with the horse family, so she felt she needed to broaden her outlook, now that these little horses were broadening theirs.



"He writes that it is called Carnac," said Bel. "What a funny name for funny stones. Le Petit Cheval says that some people think the stones are Roman soldiers turned to stone by the sorcerers of Brittany. That doesn't make sense, does it? Le Petit Cheval says the stones were here long before the Roman Legions conquered Gaul. What’s Gaul?”
“Gallia est omnis divida in partes tres….All Gaul is divided into three parts….” quoted the au pair.

“Gaul is an ancient name for France,” said Bel’s father who was getting impatient with the pretensions of the au pair.