"# They'll have the memory, # of a tear or a smile." "# and in their luggage, # perhaps a picture, # but they leave without remorse." "# I think that the sailors go away, # to listen to the song, # of the mermaid with long hair, # and I think that she sang for them." "Sébastien has just arrived at Morsan with his great uncle Louis Maréchal." "Everything there is strange and rather disturbing." "These noises, especially, that Sébastien hears overhead." "Jonathan." "Yes?" "You okay?" "Not bad." "And you?" "You'd be better off asleep at this hour." "Jonathan?" "Yes?" "What are you doing outside?" "Keeping watch." "I'm making my rounds." "Why?" "A group of surfers camped on the moor there." "They must be soaked to the skin." "I don't want them coming to warm themselves up in the stable, they'd likely set it on fire." "There's someone in the attic." "What?" "There's someone in the attic." "Have you fallen on your head?" "Listen, I tell you there's someone up there." "I'm quite sure." "Go and see." "And how do you think he got in." "He'd have to be invisible." "I heard him." "Are you crazy?" "Oh no!" "Not me anyway." "All right, go to bed." "I'll go and look in the attic in a moment." "Good night." "Good night." "It's not a ghost, it can't be a ghost, because ghosts don't exist." "Who's there?" "Well, you can pride yourself in having frightened me, you." "Hello." "Hello." "Well, hey, you should have said that you wanted to sleep on a bed, you don't need to play ghosts." "Here, look, this is Belle, the most beautiful dog that you've ever seen in the world." "Oh... you don't need to get upset." "You're not bad either, you know." "Strange house, eh?" "I think that I'll leave tomorrow." "Unless I stay..." "Wait a minute." "Look here." "Heads, I stay." "Tails, I go." "Damn!" "I stay." "You've changed since yesterday evening, Clarisse." "What's changed about me?" "I don't know." "This kid who's come here, it's like a window that's opened when it's hot." "You feel like breathing." "That's what you look like, Clarisse, someone who's breathing." "Hello." "But... how did you do it?" "I found this, a saddle and bridle." "Only they need oiling, because the leather is very dry." "Get off that thing, you make me dizzy, you'll be thrown off." "No danger of that." "I went 10 km at full gallop." "He's calmed down." "We've been working for a while, you know." "Well, you certainly get up early." "How did you get out?" "By the door, like everyone else." "I can't go through walls, like Gilles." "You shouldn't laugh at such things." "It'll bring you bad luck." "Aren't you hungry?" "Yes." "Then come and have breakfast." "Sit down." "Where's she going?" "To do your room, probably." "Did I say something I shouldn't have?" "I don't understand anything." "It's okay." "Well, yes." "But I'd prefer to understand." "And right now, you've got her all worked up!" "She was already a bit strange." "Exactly, you'd should have kept silent!" "But why?" "We must allow her, her notions." "Her ghost stories in the attic?" "She believes in it." "It'd be better if she got Gilles out of her mind." "That's not possible." "Hey..." "Gilles isn't a name one should say in front of the Captain." "I know." "Does he think about him a lot?" "He thinks of nothing else." "From morning till night and from night till morning." "And Clarisse, it's the same." "But it makes her crazy." "Possibly." "But it isn't a bad thing." "I think it is." "You can't understand." "How old was he?" "Gilles?" "Yes, when he died." "Sixteen." "They took him on 23rd January 1944." "And for your uncle and Clarisse, it's as if it was yesterday." "Who took him?" "The militia." "The soldiers." "That's to say, paramilitary." "He and his mother, they took them away." "We never saw them again." "Why?" "What had they done?" "Nothing but good." "Jonathan." "Jonathan!" "Jonathan, can I go with you?" "Jonathan, explain to me!" "Explain what to you?" "You shouldn't be curious, at Morsan." "You, at least, you look like a horse." "There's no mystery, you're a horse." "I should have done it." "No trouble, that's what I'm here for." "So I'll help you." "No, you go enjoy yourself" "At what?" "You knew that you'd get bored here." "Oh, I'm not bored." "Why are you always dressed in black?" "If you wore things, I don't know, more cheerful things, you'd look so much nicer." "You'll be even very pretty." "Well, I'm going to see the Captain." "He's in his room." "Exactly, where is his room?" "It's better to wait for him to come down." "Why?" "Ah..." "Yes." "His leg hurts him." "Possibly." "That can't be much fun." "No." "Is he in a bad mood?" "Yes." "That's just like Thomas." "Thomas, when his leg hurts, it's exactly the same, he's in a bad mood." "I brought you what you asked me for last night." "Oh great, tacks!" "Thank you." "Do you think there'll be enough?" "Well, what do you know!" "Did she go through the wall or through the door?" "Clarisse... are you angry?" "Of course not." "Good because I like you, only you have strange things in your head." "Don't pay attention to me." "Well, you're not transparent." "It's not my fault I see you." "It's the Captain's room." "Hello, Captain." "Hello, my nephew." "Come in." "Well, you see." "Are you coming in or staying outside?" "Close the door!" "Come closer!" "It's beautiful, isn't it!" "A gift from one of my crew, in the old days." "How are you feeling this morning?" "Good." "I thought that you were in a bad mood." "I am." "Does it hurt a lot?" "It irritates me, mainly." "I bought you a horse." "He's waiting for you in the meadow." "For me?" "Yes." "But Jonathan claims that he's impossible." "Of course." "He wanted to harness him." "He's not a draft horse, he's a thoroughbred." "He's even a thoroughbred that you know." "Your father trained him, 2 years ago." "And then he was forced to sell him... for I don't know what reason mentioned to me by M. Biard." "It was one of the boss's horses?" "What boss?" "My father." "I get on really well with him, only I can't help calling him that." "It's a habit." "Say, the horse, it isn't Lancelot is it?" "I would have recognized him." "Well, it's him all the same." "When your father sold him, he ended up in a riding school, who could do nothing with him, however." "It doesn't surprise me, he'd look like an idiot, going around in a riding school." "Recently, when I was looking for a horse for you, it was suggested to me as one among many, and I thought you'd like to see him again." "What's wrong with you?" "Nothing, I'm making a wish." "It's a secret, I can't tell you." "There." "Move your leg." "Oh!" "You little brute!" "Be careful, come on!" "Damn!" "It's ruined." "What?" "My wish." "I wanted to cure you." "Only, I'll never forget what you've done for me." "You know, he's amazing, Lancelot." "Maybe you'll change your mind when you've mounted him." "I've ordered a saddle and then a bridle." "You'll have them tomorrow." "Thanks, but it wasn't worth it, I already have everything I need." "And I've even ridden him." "You found a saddle?" "Yes, In the loft of the shed, only it's a bit worn, so I'll oil it." "And then it hasn't been used for a long time." "Nobody's used it for 25 years." "Was it hers, the saddle?" "Yes." "She... she was beautiful." "Yes." "Very beautiful." "I..." "I'll go for a ride with Lancelot." "Lancelot!" "If the boss could see you, he'd have a fit!" "You're not in shape." "It'll take work, both of us." "Come on Lancelot, let's go!" "Whoa!" "Calm down..." "whoa!" "Don't be afraid." "Get away from there!" "Get this straight, young man!" "A gust of wind, and you'll be head first over the edge, and your beast." "It's unforgiving, this cliff, you know." "Did he die like that, Joseph Théphanie?" "Who told you about that?" "Clarisse." "It doesn't surprise me." "She'd have done better to keep quiet." "Who was Joseph Théphanie?" "A sailor." "A good sailor, when he wasn't drunk." "Was he, when he fell?" "I don't know." "I was a kid when it happened." "It was nearly 25 years ago." "Who did he betray?" "That's enough questions!" "Get away from here." "It's dangerous." "Where are you going?" "To fetch some lobsters from the pool." "Can I go with you?" "With your horse?" "You have a bike." "Right." "It's there, just below." "Tie him up." "It'll be better." "Come on. you stay right here!" "Are you coming?" "Yes." "Are you following me?" "Come on!" "Wait for me!" "Coming!" "So wimp, this is it!" "Hey!" "It's beautiful!" "Yes." "This is Morsan Bay." "The boat which is on the beach, I use to pick up the traps." "And the boat, in the water there, is the Mary-Morgane." "People say it's the "ship of misfortune"." "Why do they say that?" "Because it's true." "But why do they say it's the ship of misfortune?" "You better come take a look at my lobsters." "Oh!" "they're fighting." "Why do you shut them in there?" "I catch them." "We can't eat them all at once." "So I put them here in the meantime." "It would be better not to catch them." "These, they're the best!" "I don't want to eat them." "You're wrong." "They're good." "You can hold them all the same?" "I'm turning out the boat." "You're leaving?" "So, are you ditching me?" "I wouldn't dare." "Come and give me a hand, since you're here." "Coil that up." "What?" "Wind it, eh!" "What have you done with my lobsters?" "Over there, on the wall." "Not in the sun, I hope!" "For what there is of it." "Are you criticising our sun now?" "Come on, work!" "I don't know how." "Tonight I'm going fishing." "Shall I take you?" "The Mary-Morgane, is it my uncle's boat?" "Fortunately, he has others." "That one is half rotted." "So, does he never use it?" "Yes, when he sails, it's aboard this old carcass." "Well, why?" "To make himself sick." "He goes fishing for memories." "Memories, as there's more in this boat than there can be in the head of a man." "What memories?" "You annoy me!" "Do you go with him, do you go on this boat with my uncle?" "Sometimes." "Most often, he goes alone." "When he returns, he's worse than before he left." "More sad?" "What?" "I said, more sad?" "That's it, yes, sadder." "Come." "Jonathan?" "Why do you say that it's the ship of misfortune, the Mary-Morgane?" "When you get an idea in your head!" "I should have cut off my tongue before I met you." "So tell me." "Like that, it'll be over, we won't speak about it any more." "Because of it's name." "You don't call a boat Mary-Morgane." "Why?" "You and your questions!" "Isn't it a normal question?" "It's like asking why we don't walk under a ladder, or take a rabbit aboard a ship." "Why?" "It's bad luck." "It makes you laugh?" "You talk about things that aren't true." "I don't say anything at all, it's the old folk who say that." "Go and ask them." "And you, do you think like them?" "Me?" "Yes, of course." "Mary-Morgane, it's the she-devil, the daughter of the sea." "It's the devil, eh." "Those who board them become bad, and end up badly, like Joseph Théphanie." "The one from the cliff?" "Happily, there aren't many people like Joseph Théphanie." "It was his boat during the war." "Looking at the sun, it's time to go." "You do everything you can to not tell me the truth." "What?" "You begin things, but you never finish them." "No!" "This time you've worn me out!" "Hup!" "Hurry up, your great-uncle is a stickler for time." "He has a lot of clocks in his room, but there isn't one that works." "In his room, time hasn't moved for 25 years." "His wife was beautiful, I saw her picture." "Yes, she was beautiful." "Her name was Claire." "When I was a kid," "I followed her for hours, just to see her walk." "Yes, she was beautiful." "Midday is sounding in the village, and we're dawdling!" "Go on!" "I'll catch you up." "If you can!" "# I think that the sailors go away, # to listen to the song, # of the mermaid with long hair, # and I think that she sang for them." "# However, if I were a sailor, # maybe one fine morning, # on lifting the trawl net, # like you don't see anymore," "# I would catch the mermaid, # the mermaid with long hair."