"And what do the Korrigans eat on that table cloth as white as snow? Do you know, Karadeucq, you who love them so much?"
"The dear little darlings! It can not be costly to nourish their rosy and transparent bodies that are hardly two feet high. Sister Roselyk says they are gourmands. What is it they eat? The juice of night flowers, served upon gold grass blades?"
"Gold grass blades? That superb grass that, if you step upon it, puts you to sleep and imparts to you the knowledge of the language of birds--"
"The dew of heaven in the azure shell of wrens' eggs--what boozers they are! But at the slightest sound of human feet--off they vanish. They vanish into the fountain and return to their crystal and coral palace at the bottom of the water. It is to the end of being able to escape quickly the sight of men that they always stay near the water. Oh, the pretty little fairies! I would give my best bow and twenty arrows, I would give all my fishing nets, I would give ten years, twenty years of my life to see a Korrigan!"
"Karadeucq, my son, make not such impious vows on such a stormy night as this--it may bring ill luck--I have never heard the enraged sea roar like this--it sounds like thunder--"
"Good mother, I would brave murky darkness, tempest and thunder to see a Korrigan!"
"Hold your tongue, rash boy, hold your tongue--do not say such words!"
"What a bold and venturesome lad you are, my boy!"
"Grandfather, you should join us in scolding my brother Karadeucq instead of encouraging him in his dangerous wishes. Do you not know--"
"Alas! grandfather, the Korrigans steal the children of poor mothers and put little monsters in their place. The song so has it--"
"Let's hear that song, my little Roselyk."
"Mary is very sad; she has lost her little Laoik; the Korrigan snatched him away.
"As I went to the spring for water I left my Laoik in his cradle; when I came back to the house, my little one was gone far away.
"And in its place the Korrigan left me this monster--with a face as red as a toad's; he scratches and bites.
"And all day he wants to be nursed, and yet he is seven years old--and yet he wants to be nursed.
"Mary is very sad; she has lost her little Laoik; the Korrigan snatched him away!