*French Fairy Tales and Legends: Fortunate Cricket retold from Pourrat*

*There was a family called the Crickets because the father had a build like a cricket. They were kind and good. It was difficult for them to earn their living with a farm with more rocks than soil. They gave the farm to the eldest son. For the second son, when he was old enough, they told him to travel to seek his fortune.*

*The second son travelled many places and worked with many jobs but same it was very difficult for him to feed his stomach full. He was hungry, tired and wished he could have three days of eating and sleeping at ease, afterwards he didn’t care the consequences. The wish was bigger and bigger day by day. One day, he heard people talking about a lost of the treasured gold and diamond ring of a lady from the biggest castle thereabouts. He came there and told them he was a magician, he could find the ring if they received him three days with good meals. Three consecutive days, he was treated with very delicious meals and slept in a very luxury bed. In the last night, while he was sleeping, suddenly he woke up and found three valets who had served his meals for three days at his bed. They begged him for not revealing their stealing and paying him six crowns each. Because for three days, whenever he finished a meal he said "That's one I've got, of the three,", "That's two I've got now, of the three," and "Now I've got all three of them." for showing that he had just fulfilled his dream. But the valets thought he found out them because they had found the ring in the tablecloth the lady left when she washed her hands on sitting down to eat and hadn’t return back to her. The following day, the magician showed the lady where the ring he had hidden before was. The lady was very happy and paid him sixty crowns.*

*After the lord came back to his castle and heard the story of the ring from his wife, he wanted to find the magician because he believed that’s his luck not his ability. The lord found him. He tested him. The first time, he told the cricket to guess what was in his fist. If he could say right, he would receive 60 crowns if not he would receive 60 blows of the rod. The cricket was afraid and wanted to confess that he was just like anyone else. "Oh!" he blurted, "This looks very bitter to me!". The lord opened his palm and that was a bitter plum that he'd picked off the nearest branch. He gave him 60 crowns. The cricket felt relieved and quickly ran away. However, the Lord called him back. The second test was same like the first test to guess what was in his fist but with the reward of 120 crowns. The cricket twisted his brain and was not wiser for it. Finally, he gave up and cried out, "Poor Cricket, they've got you now!". The lord opened his palm and that was a cricket that he'd just caught in a flowerbed. The lord gave him the money and invited him to stay for dinner and eat the fat goose. The cricket got married to a nice chambermaid.*

*After that, the cricket never tried his luck again. He lived happily with his family in a farm with pastures, plenty of cows, and more children than he knew what to do with. Finally, people gave him the name of the property where he had settled, and called him Master de Cricket of Cricketon.*