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Folk-Tales of Napoleon - The Napoleon of the People; Napoleonder by Honoré de Balzac;Alexander Amphiteatrof
page 8 of 48 (16%)
"Napoleonder!" cries the Lord God. "Who's he? Where did he come from?"

"He's a certain little man," Satan says, "who may not be wise enough to
hurt, but he's terribly fierce in his habits."

The Lord God says to the archangel Gabriel: "Look in the Book of Life,
Gabriel, and see if we've got Napoleonder written down."

The archangel looked and looked, but he couldn't look up any such
person.

"There isn't any kind of Napoleonder in the Book," he says. "Satan is a
liar. We haven't got Napoleonder written down anywhere."

Then Satan replies: "It isn't strange that you can't find Napoleonder in
the Book of Life, because you write in that Book only the names of those
who were born of human fathers and mothers, and who have navels.
Napoleonder never had a father or a mother, and, moreover, he hasn't any
navel--and that's so surprising that you might exhibit him for money."

The Lord God was greatly astonished. "How did your Napoleonder ever get
into the world?" he says.

"In this way," Satan replies. "I made him, as a doll, just for
amusement, out of sand. At that very time, you, Lord, happened to be
washing your holy face; and, not being careful, you let a few drops of
the water of life splash over. They fell from heaven right exactly on
Napoleonder's head, and he immediately took breath and became a man. He
is living now, not very near nor very far away, on the island of Buan,
in the middle of the ocean-sea. There is a little less than a verst of
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