The tale of Nicolas page: 1 2 3 previous page [ you are here: home » ancestor » tale ]

When i was small, it's true, i made a lot of foolish mistakes ! And even long after the age of seven, the age of reason ! One day, i thought it would be very funny to pour a large quantity of salt into my father's soup; imagine ! That day, i learned all about the salt tax, but also the tallage, and all the other taxes with which our good king presses his people ! That was the first time i ever heard my father criticize the king. I was astonished ! Especially since i had overheard him talking to my uncle about buying back a royal charge as justice officer in Darcey !

Because of my foolishness, no doubt, but also, now that i think of it, for my edification, my father and uncle decided to send me and my cousin to the Godrans college in Dijon. It's a college run by the Jesuits who provide free education for children of poor circumstances, and they welcomed us, my cousin and i, after a small contribution, befitting our fortunes. I stayed five long years there ! How can i tell you about my feelings at that time ? I was like a bird in a cage, in cramped quarters in that city, locked up during the day in the college, and at night, in a minuscule room which i shared with a few co-disciples of modest means, like me, in the attic of the large house of the Bossuet family, neighbours of the college.

Still, at the same time, i grew to enjoy study : the Father who taught us Latin fascinated me, and when i devoured Ovid, Pliny or Cicero, i would travel to fascinating and strange shores. In the lecture hall of the library of the Jesuit Fathers, there was a magnificent and enormous planetary globe. One day, i asked permission to approach it. They granted my request without hesitation because, i think, i was deemed to be an excellent pupil : first in rhetoric, in Greek and in Latin ! I whiled away many enchanting hours in front of that globe ! I found it hard to believe that our country was so small on a planetary scale. I first tried to locate Rome, then Athens, to follow the path of the great discoverers of the past... I had to stand on tiptoes to see the lands near the North Pole and crawl on the waxed floor to see the Cape ! Retracing the voyage of Jacques Cartier from Newfoundland to Hochelaga was a veritable act of physical prowess ! True, i was somewhat small for my age, but no one could beat me in a race !