Candide — Chapter 7 in French
By Voltaire
Comment la vieille prit soin de Candide, et comment il trouva l'objet de son amour How the Old Woman Took Care of Candide, and How He Found the Object of His Love
Candide ne prit point courage, mais il suivit la vieille dans une masure : elle lui donna un pot de pommade pour se frotter, lui laissa à manger et à boire ; elle lui montra un petit lit assez propre ; il y avait auprès du lit un habit complet. Candide followed the old woman, though without taking courage, to a decayed house where she gave him a pot of pomatum to anoint his sores, showed him a very neat bed, with a suit of clothes hanging up by it; and set victuals and drink before him.
« Mangez, buvez, dormez, lui dit-elle, et que Notre-Dame d’Atocha, monseigneur saint Antoine de Padoue, et monseigneur saint Jacques de Compostelle prennent soin de vous ! “There,” said she, “eat, drink, and sleep, and may our blessed Lady of Atocha, and the great St. Anthony of Padua, and the illustrious St. James of Compostella, take you under their protection. je reviendrai demain. I shall be back to-morrow.”
» Candide, toujours étonné de tout ce qu’il avait vu, de tout ce qu’il avait souffert, et encore plus de la charité de la vieille, voulut lui baiser la main. Candide, struck with amazement at what he had seen, at what he had suffered, and still more with the charity of the old woman, would have shown his acknowledgment by kissing her hand.