Lyle
Saxon, Edward Dreyer, and Robert Tallant, Gumbo
Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1945), pp. 152-3.
These
bridal testers, at least the most elaborate ones, were the creations of a
certain Monsieur Dufau, a merchant at 37 Rue Chartres. But poor M. Dufau was
the victim of an unfortunate occurrence that all but wrecked his career and
business.
This
gentleman's shop was noted for its objets
d'art, bric-à-brac, and fine paintings. But the most famous articles of
merchandise were the artistically fashioned ciel-de-lits
or testers. These were very popular, even the ordinary ones being tastefully
made of calico or sateen. But most of M. Dufau 's art was expended on ciel-de-lits for brides. These were always
of pale blue silk, gathered in the middle by gilt ornaments. Across the pale
blue heaven chubby cupids would chase each other with bows and arrows, pink
ribbons modestly draping these tiny love gods. A wide cream-colored dentelle valencienne, the finest lace
obtainable, trimmed the edge. It all combined to create an atmosphere symbolizing
eternal love, blue horizons and rosy dreams.
Then
ruin descended upon M. Dufau. A member of a club called Le Comité des Bon Amis,
the time came for him to entertain his good friends. And it seemed that an
extraordinarily good piece of luck occurred at about the same time. A sailor
offered M. Dufau a keg of rum at a ridiculously low price. Seizing this
opportunity, the merchant bought the liquor with no loss of time and invited
his friends over to enjoy it. When the first round of drinks was passed
everyone remarked on its peculiar flavor. The second drink was so bad that no
one could finish it.
There
was great consternation and curiosity. An axe was brought and M. Dufau himself
split the keg open. What met the eyes of his guests was enough to stand their
hair on end. Inside the keg, sitting upright, in a perfect state of
preservation, was a little old man with long whiskers!
Poor
M. Dufau, though technically cleared of any connection with the corpse in the
rum, was immediately banished from his club, and he received no more orders for
his masterfully fashioned bridal ciel-de-lits.