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Part 1 — Market Day
It was a beautiful morning in Goderville. It was market day, and people came from many small villages. The roads were full of farmers, animals, carts, and horses. Some men brought cows and sheep. Women carried baskets with chickens and ducks.
The market was busy and noisy.
Maitre Hauchecome was walking slowly along the road. He was an old farmer from Breaute. He was not rich, but he worked hard every day. He was also very careful with his things. He did not like to waste anything.
“If something can be useful, I should keep it,” he often thought.
That morning, he suddenly saw something on the road.
He stopped and looked down.
It was a small piece of string.
Hauchecome smiled.
“This may be useful,” he said quietly.
He bent down slowly and picked it up. His back hurt, but he put the string carefully into his pocket.
Then he looked up.
Maitre Malandain was standing near his shop.
Malandain made things for horses. He and Hauchecome did not like each other. They had had problems before.
Malandain was looking at Hauchecome.
Hauchecome felt embarrassed.
“He saw me pick up the string,” he thought.
He quickly put his hand into his pocket and walked toward the market.
Soon, Hauchecome was in the middle of the busy market. People were buying and selling animals, food, and other things. Everyone was talking loudly and trying to get a good price.
At noon, Hauchecome went to Maitre Jourdain’s restaurant. Many farmers were there. They were eating meat, drinking cider, and talking about the market.
Suddenly, a drum sounded outside.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Everyone stopped eating.
A public crier stood outside with a drum. He had an important message.
“A black leather wallet is lost,” he announced. “It has five hundred francs and some papers inside. The person who finds it will receive twenty francs.”
The man finished his announcement and walked away.
Everyone began to talk about the lost wallet.
Hauchecome listened quietly.
He did not know that this lost wallet would soon bring terrible trouble into his life.
Part 2 — The Accusation
A short time later, a police officer came into the restaurant.
“Is Maitre Hauchecome here?” he asked.
Hauchecome looked up.
“Yes. I am here.”
“The mayor wants to see you.”
Hauchecome was surprised.
“Me? Why?”
The officer did not answer.
Hauchecome followed him to the mayor’s office. The mayor was waiting for him. He looked very serious.
“Maitre Hauchecome,” the mayor said, “you were seen this morning.”
Hauchecome looked worried.
“Seen doing what?”
“You were seen picking up the lost wallet.”
Hauchecome was shocked.
“The wallet? No! I did not pick up a wallet!”
The mayor looked at him.
“Malandain saw you.”
Hauchecome became very angry.
“Malandain? He saw me pick up something, yes. But it was not a wallet!”
Hauchecome put his hand into his pocket.
Then he took out the little piece of string.
“Look! This is what I picked up. It was only a piece of string!”
The mayor looked at the string.
But he did not seem convinced.
“You say this is what you found?”
“Yes! I swear it!”
Hauchecome was very upset.
“I did not take the wallet. I found this string.”
Malandain was called into the office. He looked at Hauchecome.
“I saw him pick something up,” he said.
Hauchecome became angry.
“Yes, but it was this string!”
The two men argued for a long time.
“I am telling the truth!” Hauchecome cried.
The mayor searched Hauchecome.
But there was no wallet.
There was only the small piece of string.
Finally, the mayor let him go.
Hauchecome left the office and saw many people outside. They wanted to know what had happened. He told them his story and showed them his empty pockets.
“Look! I have no wallet. I only picked up a piece of string!”
But some people laughed.
“Old thief!” someone said.
Hauchecome felt terrible.
“I am not a thief!”
But nobody seemed to listen.
That evening, Hauchecome went home. He was angry and sad. He could not understand why people did not believe him.
He kept thinking about the little piece of string.
Part 3 — The Wallet Is Found
The next day, good news came to the village.
The lost wallet had been found.
A farm worker named Marius Paumelle had found it on the road. He did not know how to read, so he gave the wallet to his employer. His employer returned it to Maitre Houlbreque.
The wallet was safe.
The five hundred francs were still inside.
When Hauchecome heard the news, he was very happy.
“Now they will believe me!” he thought.
He went from place to place and told everyone the news.
“The wallet is found!”
“I told you the truth!”
“I only picked up a piece of string!”
Hauchecome was sure that people would now understand that he was innocent.
But something strange happened.
People still looked at him in a strange way.
One man said:
“Perhaps you gave the wallet to another man.”
Another man laughed.
“Maybe you had a friend. Your friend returned the wallet.”
Hauchecome stared at them.
“No! I did not take the wallet!”
“But the wallet is back,” the man said.
“Yes! And that proves I did not take it!”
But the people did not agree.
They had another story in their minds. They thought Hauchecome had found the wallet and asked another person to return it.
Hauchecome could not believe what he heard.
He tried again and again to explain.
He showed them the string.
“Look! This is what I picked up!”
But people only laughed.
Every day, Hauchecome talked about the same thing. He told the story in the street and in the restaurant. He even told it to people he did not know.
“I am innocent,” he said.
“I only picked up a piece of string.”
But the more he talked, the less people believed him.
Hauchecome became tired.
His heart was full of sadness.
He could not forget the people who called him a thief.
He could not forget the little piece of string.
It was only a small thing.
But now it was the most important thing in his life.
Part 4 — The Little String
Days passed.
Then weeks passed.
Hauchecome still talked about the string. He wanted to clear his name. He wanted people to believe him.
But the people laughed whenever he told his story.
Some people even asked him about the string because they wanted to have fun.
“Tell us again, Hauchecome!”
“What did you find?”
“A piece of string!” he answered.
Then they laughed.
Hauchecome was deeply hurt.
He began to lose his strength. He did not enjoy his work anymore. He stayed at home and thought about the same thing again and again.
“I told the truth.”
“Why does nobody believe me?”
He tried to find new ways to explain his story.
But nothing helped.
The people had already made up their minds.
They believed Hauchecome was guilty.
The truth could not change their minds.
Hauchecome became weaker and weaker.
His family saw the change in him.
He was old, tired, and unhappy.
Toward the end of December, he stayed in bed.
He was very sick.
But even in bed, he talked about the string.
“A piece of string,” he said.
“I only picked up a piece of string.”
Nobody could make him forget it.
He thought about the market.
He thought about Malandain.
He thought about the mayor.
Most of all, he thought about the people who did not believe him.
In the first days of January, Hauchecome died.
His last thoughts were about the little piece of string.
“A piece of string,” he whispered.
“A piece of string… Look… here it is…”
Then he was silent.
The story began with a very small thing.
It was only a piece of string.
But that small thing brought great sadness to Hauchecome’s life.
He was innocent.
He told the truth.
But the people around him believed a different story.
Sometimes, people can believe a story even when it is not true.
And sometimes, a small misunderstanding can cause great pain.