Jean de L'Ours - Summary (English)

Summary (English)

Once upon a time, a woman meets a large bear in a forest. The bear takes the woman into a cavern and prevents her from getting out by putting a large boulder in front of the cave's entrance.

The woman and the bear have a child named Jean de l'Ours, and he becomes very strong. One day, Jean pushes the boulder away from the entrance to the cave, and he and his mother leave the bear's cavern.

Then, Jean begins to work for a blacksmith, but the blacksmith doesn't give Jean a lot of money for his work. So, with some pieces of iron, Jean makes himself a cane and leaves on a journey.

On his journey, Jean meets three strong men: Roue de Moulin, Coupe Chêne, and Porte Montagne. The four men travel together, and they find a castle in the middle of a forest. They enter the castle, and on the next day, they decide that three of them will go out and hunt for food for the upcoming days while one will stay home and prepare dinner. Once dinner is ready, the person will ring a bell to tell the three out hunting to come back and eat. They will alternate who will stay home at the castle every night.

Roue de Moulin is the first one to stay at the castle, and he is preparing soup for dinner. All of a sudden, he hears a noise coming from the chimney. Then, a hand, an arm, an ear, and a head fall down the chimney like hail, and they form together to become a man. This man is the devil, and he asks Roue de Moulin to light his pipe. However, Roue de Moulin doesn't light his pipe, so the devil beats him up and prevents Roue de Moulin from finishing the dinner or ringing the bell. The others come back to the castle without hearing the bell, but Roue de Moulin fabricates an excuse and doesn't reveal what really happened. In the coming days, Coupe Chêne and Porte Montagne have the same experience as Roue de Moulin.

A few days later, Roue de Moulin, Coupe Chêne, and Porte Montagne are out hunting, and Jean is left at the castle to prepare dinner. When the devil comes down the chimney and asks Jean to light his pipe, Jean hits him and puts a large boulder on top of him. Jean is able to prepare dinner, and he rings the bell to call everyone else back to the castle. However, before the others get back, the devil escapes from under the boulder and goes down a water well next to the stove.

Jean de l'Ours tells his friends the story about the devil and that he has escaped, and the four men look around the castle, eventually spotting the water well next to the stove and the rope that the devil used to descend down the well. With the rope and the bell, Roue de Moulin, Coupe Chêne, and Porte Montagne descend down the well, but they get scared and ascend back up the well.

Then, Jean descends down the well himself, and when he gets to the bottom, he finds a castle there. In the castle is an old woman, and she says that she is the devil's wife. Jean then talks to the devil, and the devil gives Jean three treasure chests and three princesses. Jean rings the bell, and he and his friends use the cord to lift the chests and princesses to the surface. When they get the chests and princesses to the top, Jean's friends run off with them and leave Jean at the bottom of the well.

Jean talks with the devil again, and the devil gives him a white eagle that he has locked up in a cage. The devil tells Jean that if he gives the eagle raw meat, it will begin to ascend. So, Jean gets on the eagle's back, gives it some raw meat, and begins to ascend. However, Jean runs out of meat before the eagle brings him all the way up, so he cuts off a piece of his thigh, gives it to the eagle, and begins to ascend again. Jean finally gets out of the well.

Then, Jean goes to the city with his cane in search of his former friends. When Roue de Moulin, Coupe Chêne, and Porte Montagne see Jean, they jump out of the window, run away, and never encounter Jean again.

Jean de l'Ours marries the youngest princess out of the three given to him, and he uses some of the money from the chests to buy his mother a beautiful horse-drawn carriage. Finally, Jean, his wife, and his mother live happily ever after in the castle in the forest and are never disturbed again.

THE END