Les Querelles
I didn't usually interfere when Cogsworth and Lumière bickered. It was just a way of life at the castle. Certain as the sun rose in the east every morning, Lumière and Cogsworth would find something to fight about. However, one day they quarreled even more than usual, and I decided I'd had enough. Many of my servants had been taking everything for granted lately, and the squabbling was the final straw.
"I am convinced that most of us have forgotten to be grateful for our blessings," I announced during dinner one evening. "I think it would be good if we lived more like peasants for a while. It would remind us how much better our lives are than those of many people. It would teach us what is truly important in life. For the next few days, we will eat only what we buy from the nearby towns with our own money or what we can find in the forest. We will wear simple clothing, and we will all share in the responsibilities of chores."
There was definitely a mixed reaction. For some of the servants, this was no different than their usual way of life. For others, the idea of living this way was appalling.
"Furthermore," I continued, "I have arranged for us to stay with peasant families in exchange for assistance with their chores and a little pay. We leave tomorrow evening."
The chefs did not prepare breakfast the next morning. Finally, the servants realized that if they wanted to eat, they'd have to find their own food.
"How about game?" suggested Cogsworth. "We could kill a deer, snare a few rabbits, and maybe get a duck."
Several of the other servants went out to the forest with him and began placing snares. This turned out to be a mistake. They had only been in the woods for a few minutes when the forest workers discovered them.
"You can't leave your snares here," one stated. "This area of forest has several renards, which eat les lapins. If you kill too many rabbits here, the foxes go hungry and move to other locations in the forest, and animals there would be affected. You could ruin an entire ecosystem."
Frustrated, the servants went elsewhere to try killing a deer. Again, they were discovered.
"Not here!" One of my forest workers gestured to the surrounding area. "You're on the border. Right now, you're still on the masters' property, but if you go anywhere past these points, you'd be in a different forest, one that we don't patrol. There are wolves in that woodland. Fortunately, there's a high population of deer in this area, so the wolves don't bother us, but if you massacre the deer, the wolves will have to search elsewhere, which means coming into the masters' forest. The masters have young children. Do you think they want any wolves around here? They're generally harmless, but a provoked or rabid wolf could cause problems, especially if there's an entire pack."
Realizing they weren't going to find any game, Lumière suggested to the other servants that they go fishing.
"Go somewhere else to fish!" a forest worker exclaimed.
Without waiting for an explanation, they came and complained to me that they weren't being allowed to get food.
"Why don't you ask them for help?" I replied.
La Plume stared in disbelief. "Ask the wolves?!"
"Anyone who spent a decade as a wolf would know how to find food in a forest," I answered. "You know whether or not you are hungry."
Reluctantly, the servants trudged back into the forest.
Cogsworth frowned. "Do you smell a soufflé?"
"Not to mention beef ragout," added Lumière.
As they came into a clearing, they saw the forest workers feasting on a variety of dishes, the ingredients having been taken from the castle.
"The masters have ordered us to eat only what we found in the forest or purchased in town," Cogsworth reminded them.
"We did find it in the forest!" one remarked. "Louve got it from the kitchen and cooked it. Then she told us all to close our eyes and count to vingt, and when we opened them, we saw plates of food on a nearby stump. The stump is in the forest, and that's where we found our meal, so we are eating what we have found in the forest."
"Can we eat? Please?" begged La Plume.
Loup shrugged. "You found us, so the food with us is what you have found in the forest. You may eat if you can convince Lumière to do his 'Be Our Guest' routine."
Having no choice, Lumière began singing.
"With the dance!" put in Louve.
Lumière frowned, but as he and the other servants were hungry, he started dancing. A few of the forest workers were too polite to react to his performance, but several howled with laughter (if they will forgive me for using that expression). However, they did allow the other servants to share their meal.
As soon as we arrived in town that evening, Angelique began singing:
Little town,
It's a quiet village
Every day
Like the one before…
The whole village stared at her like she had lost her mind, especially when some of the other servants started singing with her. As if that wasn't bad enough, Maestro Fife began another song as soon as they had finished:
No one plots like Gaston
Takes cheap shots like Gaston
Likes to persecute harmless crackpots like Gaston
So his marriage we soon will be celebrating
My, what a guy!
Gaston!
The other servants thought it was hilarious, but I didn't. (Neither did Belle, I'm sure.)
"Did you know that Lefou actually married one of those ladies that used to dote on Gaston?" La Plume commented.
"I did," replied Webster. "My best wishes to them for a successful matrimony."
Bidding each other good night, we went to the respective homes where we would be staying. One cottage was large enough to accommodate several of us.
"A successful farm you have," Webster commented.
"Merci," the farmer replied. "I used to have a lot more livestock until that wolf came! I shot it twice, once with a bullet to the shoulder, and the other time, I hit it between the ribs with an arrow, but that still didn't stop it! It just kept killing my livestock! No animal was safe! This wolf was more cunning than any human I've ever met! You should have seen the way it outsmarted my wolfhounds!"
Speaking of his wolfhounds, none of them looked too happy to see Louve, who also seemed a bit uneasy.
"My wife's making dinner," the farmer continued. "Everything came from our farm!"
It was a wonderful meal of fresh vegetables, delectable meat dishes, and fine cheeses, but neither Loup nor Louve touched a bite.
"It's alright now," Louve whispered to her brother. "It is freely given this time, not stolen."
He shook his head. "It hurts my tongue. I am reminded of all the times I nearly became an only child just so our friends could eat."
"And I vowed that if the spell was ever broken, I would never again eat a thing that came from this farm, be it animal or plant."
Before going to sleep that evening, Cogsworth told the other servants that he was going to read them a bedtime story. No one cared for that idea until he announced that the book's title was Prince Adam's Journal. Needless to say, I put an end to it.
None of the servants were too happy about having to help with chores the next day. Cogsworth and Lumière got into another dispute and started throwing grains of wheat at each other.
"The farmer no doubt needs the wheat for something," Webster reminded them. "You shouldn't waste it like that."
Belle showed me how to help tend the garden. Although it was a bit tiring, the work really wasn't so bad. The hard part was helping the farmer shear his sheep. Having been raised as a peasant, Belle was used to such chores, but I wasn't. In fact, I had a new respect for everyone who had not been born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths.
By the end of the day, the servants had learned to set aside their differences and work together, so we returned to the castle the next morning.
