The woman said, “Go away. There’s enough bums around here.”
He said, “You don’t want to give me anything to eat?”
The woman said, “No, go away, I’m tired.”
The bum said, “You’ll pay for this.”
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LES QUÊTEUX This story was told by Joséphine Paré in 1946. She was born in Rivière-aux-Canards in 1906. It is part of a collection of legends recorded by Marguerite Deneau and preserved in the Wayne State University Folklore Archives in Detroit. According to tradition, beggars - les quêteux - had the power to cast spells on people. If a quêteux came to someone’s door and was refused food or money, he would put a spell on the house.
Collection Marguerite Deneau |
| One day a bum came to our house and asked for a piece of bread. We gave him a
piece and then he went to another farm down the road for another one. The woman said, “Go away. There’s enough bums around here.” He said, “You don’t want to give me anything to eat?” The woman said, “No, go away, I’m tired.” The bum said, “You’ll pay for this.” |
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| A few days later the dishes started to fall out of the cupboards and all the
clean clothes rolled out onto the floor. Even the rugs rolled up on the floor! One Sunday morning when the girls were in bed they said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that man came along?” She stuck her leg from the covers and she got such a slap that the finger marks were left there. She told this to the priest and asked him to bless the house. After that it was all right. |
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