Sophie's Misfortunes (chapter 9)

Les Malheurs de Sophie(in English, Sophie's Misfortunes) is a children's book, written in 1858 by the Countess of Ségur. The original, in French, can be read here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15058
The following is an English translation of the 9th chapter, by Christopher Peck, Jr.

Note: In 1800s France, children drinking alcohol was not only common, it was considered healthy.





IX – Bread for Horses

Sophie loved to eat. Her mother knew that eating too much was unhealthy, so she forbade Sophie from eating between meals. But Sophie, who was hungry, ate whatever she could get her hands on.

Everyday after lunch, around two o’clock, Mrs. de Réan went to give bread and salt to Mr. de Réan’s horses. He had more than a hundred of them.

Sophie followed her mother with a basket full of brown bread. She gave one to her in each stall she went into. But her mother strictly forbade her from eating any of it, because this black and badly baked bread would upset her stomach.

They ended with the pony stable. Sophie had a pony of her own, which her father gave her. It was a little black horse, no bigger than a young donkey. They allowed her to give her pony some bread herself. Often, she would bite into it before giving it to him.

One day, she craved this brown bread more than usual. She held the piece between her fingers, so as to only let a little tip stick out.

“The pony will bite what’s sticking out from my fingers,” she said, “and I’ll eat the rest.”

She presented the bread to her little horse, who chomped onto the piece and, at the same time, the tip of Sophie’s finger. Sophie didn’t dare to cry out, but the pain forced her to let go of the bread, which fell to the ground. The horse let go of her finger to eat the bread.

Sophie’s finger was bleeding so heavily, the blood dripped to the ground. She pulled out her handkerchief and wrapped her finger up tightly, which stopped the blood but not before the handkerchief was drenched. Sophie hid her wrapped-up hand under her apron. Her mother saw nothing.

But when they sat down to eat dinner, Sophie would have to show her hand. It hadn’t healed enough yet for the blood to completely stop. When she was reaching for her spoon, her glass and her bread, she stained the tablecloth. Her mother noticed.

“What’s wrong with your hands, Sophie?” she said. “The tablecloth has spots of blood around your plate.”

Sophie didn’t answer.

“Do you not hear what I’m asking you? The blood staining the tablecloth, where is it coming from?”

“Mother... it’s... it’s... my finger.”

“What’s wrong with your finger? How long has it been hurt?”

“Since this morning, mother. My pony bit me.”

“How could that pony, as sweet as a lamb, have bitten you?”

“It was when I was giving him bread, mother.”

“So you didn’t hold the bread in your hand wide open, like I suggested so many times?”

“No, mother, I was holding the bread in my fingers.”

“Since you’re so foolish, you will no longer give bread to your horse.”

Sophie held back from answering. She figured she would still have the basket of bread for the horses, and that she would take a piece here and there.

The next day, she was following her mother through the stables. While passing bread to her, she took a piece, which she hid in her pocket and ate while her mother wasn’t watching.

When they came to the last horse, there was nothing left to give. The stable hand assured her that he had put as many pieces in the basket as there were horses. The mother showed him that they were missing one. While she was speaking, she looked at Sophie. Her mouth full, she quickly swallowed the last mouthful of the piece she had taken. Even though she rushed to swallow her bread without even taking the time to chew it, her mother saw that she was eating and that it was the missing piece. The horse was waiting for its bread, and it showed its impatience by scratching the ground with its hoof and neighing.

“You little glutton,” Mrs. de Réan said, “while I wasn’t watching, you steal bread from my poor horses and disobey me. You know how many times I told you not to eat it. Go to your room, young lady. You will no longer accompany me to give bread to the horses, and I will give you nothing but bread and bread soup for dinner, since you like it so much.”

Sophie lowered her head sadly and walked slowly to the house and to her room.

“Well, well!” her maid said. “You look sad again? Are you sorry again? What new foolishness have you done?”

“I just ate the horses’ bread,” Sophie cried. “I like it so much! The basket was so full, I thought mother wouldn’t notice. I’m only going to get soup and dry bread for dinner,” she cried more heavily.

The maid looked at her with compassion and sighed. She spoiled Sophie. She thought Sophie’s mother was sometimes too strict. She tried to console her and make her punishments less severe. So, when a servant brought the soup, the piece of bread and the glass of water which was supposed to be Sophie’s dinner, she took them with humor, put them on a table and opened a cabinet. She pulled out a big piece of cheese and a jar of jam. Then she said to Sophie:

“There. First, eat the cheese with your bread, then the jam.” Seeing Sophie hesitate, she added, “Your mother is only sending you bread, but she hasn’t told me not to add anything.”

“But when mother asks me if I had anything else with my bread, I’ll have to tell her, so…”

“So you’ll tell her I gave you cheese and jam and I told you to eat them. I’ll take care of explaining to her that I didn’t want to let you eat your bread dry because that's no good for the stomach. They give prisoners the same thing, nothing but bread.”

The maid hurt as she advised Sophie to secretly eat what her mother told her not to. But Sophie, who was quite young and craved cheese, which she liked a lot, and jam, which she liked even more, happily obeyed her and had an excellent dinner. Her maid added a little bit of wine to her water and, to replace dessert, gave her a glass of water and sweet wine, which Sophie dipped what was left of her bread into.

“Do you know what you have to do, when you’re punished or you feel like eating? Come tell me. I'll find something good to give you, which will be better than that nasty black bread for horses and dogs.”

Sophie promised her maid that she wouldn’t forget her advice anytime she craved something good.