Merry Christmas everyone.I thought I would offer you a Christmas as a sort of blogging/virtual present. I found googling about it a short story/tale by
Alphonse Daudet translated in English. It is taken from
Les Lettres de mon Moulin. I have blogged about it in French before,
back in 2009. The story is about a priest, Dom Balaguère tempted by the devil, who took the guise of his clerk Garrigou, on Christmas Eve to rush up the and thus mess up the three Christmas masses he needs to perform, so he could eat the Christmas supper (réveillon). It is, in other words, about the sin of
gluttony. Which is an important
element of Christmas. The tale is called
Les trois messes basses, in Enligh it is translated by
The Three Low Masses or
The Three Christmas masses. You will find the story
here.
Tell me what you think about it. It is my dad's
Christmas Carol. When he was a child, growing up in a very Catholic Québec, he had to read it and learn the story by heart. He also had to sit through the Midnight mass before going back home to celebrate. So he understood Dom Balaguère's impatience. Even if one cannot care less about Catholic moralism (like myself), he/she can still enjoy the tale. It is a beautifully told story, atmospheric like XIXth century literature often is. You can feel the cold weather and smell the food.
