TARTARIN OF TARASCON
by
ALPHONSE DAUDET




EPISODE THE FIRST
IN TARASCON



I.
The Garden Round the Giant Trees.


MY first visit to Tartarin of Tarascon has remained a never-to-be-
forgotten date in my life; although quite ten or a dozen years ago, I
remember it better than yesterday.

At that time the intrepid Tartarin lived in the third house on the left
as the town begins, on the Avignon road. A pretty little villa in the
local style, with a front garden and a balcony behind, the walls
glaringly white and the venetians very green; and always about the
doorsteps a brood of little Savoyard shoeblackguards playing
hopscotch, or dozing in the broad sunshine with their heads
pillowed on their boxes.

Outwardly the dwelling had no remarkable features, and none
would ever believe it the abode of a hero; but when you stepped