Wednesday, April 3, 2024

C is for Canada


The Tiens-bon-la

A priest wants to have an affair with a baker's wife. Therefore, he sets the baker up by telling the king that he can do various impossible things. If he fails, he dies. A kind fairy assists the poor man. The first two challenges go well but then the king orders a "tiens-bon-la" despite not knowing what that is. Enter the fairy; she provides the baker with a magic wand and whenever he  shouts "tiens-bon la" the objects will be bound together. The baker magically sticks more people and animals together and leads the conga line to the castle and dupes the king into getting stuck and only lets everyone go once the king agrees to pay him 5,000 pounds yearly for his entire lifetime.

Source: Canadian Folk-life and Folk-lore by William Parker Greenough.

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1 comment:

  1. DiegoApril 3, 2024 at 10:31 AM

    Hello Lissa. Fun fact that I didn't include: the wife is conspiring with the priest. So, he technically gets what he wants.

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