LEGEND OF THE SEINE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 July 1939, Page 9

LEGEND OF THE SEINE

ASSOCIATIONS OF FAMOUS

FRENCH RIVER

The broad stream that flows between (he thirty two handsome bridges nl Paris has. like almost every river m France its legend. Al a, village nc-ai its source, according to tn is legend. ..

tired traveller begged in vain at many doors for a little food and a corner in which to rest the night. At last a good woman look him in. and after ho halt finished his meal he said to her. "Whatever is your first task tomorrow will be your task for ever. On rising the following day. the woman went to her clothes chest to take out a sheet, but. it was immedi ately replaced by another, and the more she took the more remained. Another woman of the village, learning of her good fortune, regretted that she had turned the weary traveller away. Some time later, a knock came at her door ’ and she hastened this time to offer hospitality. When the traveller had eaten, he said to her. as he han said to his previous hostess, that her first task next day would be repeated for ever. At break of day, the woman ros'S eagerly, but decided to take a drink of water before beginning the task she had chosen. But she found herself chained to the pump, and she pumped and pumped while the water gushed through the house and down (he hill into the valley, where it flows for ever more as the river Seine.