The Schoolboy: Saint-Leons 



stones, can I have found, but on a much richer 

 scale, the thing that shines quite small in my 

 mother's ring? I want more such. 



The dragon of the subterranean treasures treats 

 me generously. He gives me his diamonds in such 

 quantities that soon I possess a heap of broken stones 

 sparkling with magnificent clusters. He does more : 

 he gives me his gold. The water from the rock 

 falls on a bed of fine sand which it swirls into 

 bubbles. If I bend towards the light, I see some- 

 thing like gold-filings whirl where the fall touches 

 the bottom. Is it really the famous metal of 

 which twenty-franc pieces, so rare with us at home, 

 are made? One would think so, from the glitter. 



I take a pinch of sand and place it in my palm. 

 The brilliant particles are numerous, but so small 

 that I have to pick them up with a straw moistened 

 in my mouth. Let us drop this: they are too tiny 

 and too bothersome to collect. The big, valuable 

 lumps must be farther on, in the thickness of the 

 rock. We'll come back later; we'll blast the 

 mountain. 



I break more stones. Oh, what a queer thing 

 has just come loose, all in one piece! It is turned 

 spiral-wise, like certain flat Snails that come out 

 of the cracks of old walls in rainy weather. With 

 its gnarled sides, it looks like a little ram's-horn. 

 Shell or horn, it is very curious. How do things 

 like that find their way into the stone? 



Treasures and curiosities make my pockets bulge 

 with pebbles. It is late, and the little ducklings 

 have had all they want to eat. Come along, young- 



49 



