A Simple Heart

Gustave Flaubert, Brahim Koulila

• Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781667418988
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Colecciones literarias europeas

"A Simple Heart" : "A Simple Heart" is Gustave Flaubert's first short story published in the book Three Tales, published in 1877.
The story of "A Simple Heart" is simply the story of an obscure life, that of a poor country girl, devout but mystical, devoted without exaltation and tender as fresh bread.
She loves successively a man, the children of her mistress, a nephew, an old man whom she cares for and then her parrot; when the parrot is dead, she has it stuffed and, dying in turn, she confuses the parrot with the Holy Spirit.
"This is by no means ironic as you suppose, but on the contrary, very serious and very sad. I want to pity and make sensitive souls cry, by being one myself." Gustave Flaubert.

III

The banquet hall was packed with guests.

It had three naves, like a basilica, separated by columns of algumim wood, with bronze capitals covered with sculptures. Two galleries with a clerestory were supported by it, and a third one in gold filigree was bulging at the back, opposite a huge archway, which opened to the other end.

Some candelabras, burning on the tables aligned in all the length of the vessel, formed fire bushes between the painted earthen cups and the copper dishes, the snow cubes and the grape heaps. However, these red lights were gradually lost, because of the height of the ceiling; luminous points shone like stars at night, through the branches. Through the opening of the great bay, one could see torches on the terraces of the houses, for Antipas was giving thanks to his friends, his people and all those who had come along.

Slaves, who were as alert as dogs and whose toes were in felt sandals, circulated carrying trays.

The proconsular table occupied, under the gilded tribune, a platform in planks of sycamore, which was enclosed in a kind of pavilion by Babylonian carpets.

Three ivory beds, one in front and two on the sides, accommodated Vitellius, his son and Antipas; the Proconsul was close to the door on the left; Aulus was on the right, and the Tetrarch was in the middle.

He had a heavy black cloak, whose weave disappeared under colored patches, blush on his cheekbones, his beard fanned out and azure powder in his hair clasped by a diadem of gems. Vitellius kept his purple harness, which went down diagonally on a linen toga. Aulus had tied himself in the back of his purple silk dress, decorated with silver. His hair was in layers, and a necklace of sapphires sparkled on his chest, fat and white as a woman's. On a mat and with his legs crossed, a very handsome child was standing next to him, always smiling. He had seen him in the kitchens, could not do without him, and, having difficulty remembering his Chaldean name, called him simply: "The Asian". From time to time, he would lie down on the triclinium, and his bare feet would dominate the floor.

On this side, there were the priests and officers of Antipas, some inhabitants of Jerusalem and the principals of the Greek cities. Under the Proconsul, there were the publicans of Marcellus, some of the Tetrarch's friends, people from Kana, Ptolemaida and Jericho; then there were in no particular order a group of mountaineers from Lebanon and the old soldiers of Herod, twelve Thracians, a Gaul, two Germans, gazelle hunters, shepherds from Idumea, the Sultan of Palmyra and sailors from Eziongaber. Each one had before him a cake of soft dough, to wipe his fingers, and the arms, stretching out like the necks of vultures, took olives, pistachios and almonds. All the figures were joyful, under crowns of flowers.

The Pharisees had rebuffed them as a sign of Roman indecency. They shuddered when they were sprinkled with galbanum and incense, a composition reserved for temple use.

Aulus rubbed his armpit with it, and Antipas pledged to give him a whole load of it, as well as three cups of the real balm that had made Cleopatra aspire to enter Palestine.

Meanwhile, a captain from his garrison in Tiberias had come up behind him to talk about some extraordinary events. His attention was, however, divided between the Proconsul and what was being said at the neighboring tables.

They were talking about Iaokanann and the likes of him; Simon of Gittoy was cleansing sins with fire. A certain Jesus...

- The worst of them all, cried Eleazar. What an infamous juggler!

Behind the Tetrarch, a man, pale as the edge of his chlamydia, stood up. He came down from the platform, and, calling out to the Pharisees, said:

- That’s a fallacy! Jesus performs miracles!

Antipas wanted to see them.

- You should have brought him! Let us know!

So he related that Jacob, who had a sick daughter, had gone to Capernaum to beg the Master to heal her. The Master answered, "Go home; she has been healed." He found her on the threshold, having come out of her bed when the gnomon in the palace marked the third hour, the very moment when he approached Jesus.

Undoubtedly, the Pharisees objected: there were some practices and powerful herbs! Sometimes, even here in Machaerus, one could find the baaras that made people invulnerable, but curing people without seeing or touching them was impossible, unless Jesus used demons.

The friends of Antipas and the leaders of

Galilee said, shaking their heads:

- Obviously, demons.

Jacob, standing between their table and that of the priests, kept silent in a haughty and gentle manner.

They summoned him to speak:

- Please justify his power!

He curved his shoulders, and slowly in a low voice, as if afraid of himself, said:

- Don't you know that this is the Messiah?

The priests all stared at each other, and Vitellius asked for an explanation of the word. It took his interpreter a minute to answer.

They thus called for a liberator who would bring them the pleasure of all possessions and the domination of all peoples. Some even maintained that there were two, and the first would be defeated by Gog and Magog, demons from the North, yet the other would exterminate the Prince of Evil. For centuries, they had been waiting for him every minute.

When the priests had discussed the matter, Eleazar spoke up.

First, the Messiah should be the son of David, not of a carpenter; he would confirm the law. This Nazarene was attacking him, and the stronger argument was that he would have to be preceded by the coming of Elijah.

Jacob replied:

- But Elijah has come!

- Elijah! Elijah! repeated the crowd all the way to the other end of the room.

By imagination, they all saw an old man under a flight of ravens, lightning an altar of idolatrous pontiffs thrown to the torrents, and the women in the stands thought of the widow of Zarephath.

Jacob exhausted himself by repeating that he knew him!

He had seen him, and so had the people!

- What is he called?

So he cried out with all his might:

- Iaokanann!

Antipas leaned back as though struck in the chest, and the Sadducees leapt upon Jacob. Eleazar spoke to make himself heard.

When silence was established, he draped his cloak and, like a judge, asked questions.

- Since the prophet is dead...

Some murmurs interrupted him; they thought Elijah had simply disappeared.

He got mad at the crowd, and, continuing his inquiry, said:

- Do you think he has come back to life?

- Why not? said Jacob.

The Sadducees shrugged their shoulders, while Jonathas, with his eyes wide open, tried to laugh like a clown. Nothing is more foolish than the body's claim to eternal life, and he declaimed, for the Proconsul, this line from a contemporary poet:

Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.

Aulus, however, was leaning on the edge of the triclinium, with a sweaty forehead, a green face and his fists on his stomach.

The Sadducees made a pretense of a great commotion the next day, and the sacrifices were returned to them. Antipas appeared desperate, while Vitellius remained impassive, but his anguish was violent: he was losing his wealth with his son.

No sooner had Aulus finished making himself vomit than he wanted to eat again.

- Let them give me marble shavings, Naxos schist, sea water or whatever! What if I took a bath?

He crunched some snow, then, having swung between a Commagene terrine and pink blackbirds, went for squash with honey. The Asian contemplated him; this faculty of gulping denoted a prodigious being of a superior race.

They served bull's kidneys, dormice, nightingales and minced meat in vine leaves, while the priests discussed the resurrection. Ammonius, a pupil of Philo the Platonist, judged them to be stupid and said so to some Greeks who mocked the oracles; Marcellus and Jacob had joined. The former told the latter about the happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithras, and Jacob urged him to follow Jesus. Palm and tamarisk wines, those of Safet and Byblos, flowed from the amphorae into the craters, from the craters into the cups and from the cups into the throats; people were chatting, and hearts were pouring out. Although he was a Jew, Iaçim no longer hid his adoration of planets. A merchant from Aphaka amazed the nomads by detailing the wonders of the temple of Hierapolis, and they asked how much the pilgrimage would cost. Others held on to their native religion, and one almost blind German was singing a hymn celebrating this promontory of Scandinavia, where the gods appear with great power. Also, people from Shechem did not eat turtle-doves, out of deference to the dove Azima.

Many people were standing in the middle of the room talking, and the steam of their breaths, together with the smoke from the candelabras, made a fog in the air. Phanuel passed along the walls; he had just studied the sky again but did not go as far as the Tetrarch, fearing the oil stains which, for the Essenes, were a great threat.

There was a banging on the door of the castle.

Now it was known that Iaokanann was being imprisoned there, and men with torches were climbing the path. A black mass was swarming in the ravine and they shouted from time to time:

- Iaokanann! Iaokanann!

- He upsets everything! Jonathas said.

- We won't have any more money, if he carries on! added the Pharisees.

Recriminations broke out:

- Protect us!

- Let's be done with it!

- You are breaking away from religion!

- You are as godless as the Herods!

- Less than you! r...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• A Simple Heart
• I
• II
• III
• IV
• V
• The Legend of Saint-Julian the Hospitaller
• I
• II
• III
• Herodias
• I
• II
• III
• Table of Content