À Éric qui, lui aussi, aspire à la légèreté… Cécile
À tous les marins-poètes encrés sur Terre, Aude
Little holes Cécile Bergame … Aude Léonard
© 2013, Cécile Bergame et Lirabelle pour le texte. © 2013, Aude Léonard et Lirabelle pour les illustrations. © 2015, Alison Taylor pour le texte en anglais. Tous droits réservés pour tout pays. Reproduction interdite, quel qu’en soit le procédé, sans autorisation expresse de l’éditeur. Achevé d’imprimer sur les presses de Papergraf (Italie) en février. Dépôt légal à parution.
ISBN 978-2-35878-086-5
Prix en France : 19 €
LIRABELLE www.lirabelle.fr
In a little house, no bigger than a pocket handkerchief, lived a Little Man.
All he owned was a table, a bed, a chair, an old stove to keep him warm, a goldfish to talk to and holes everywhere !
He was surrounded by holes : in the roof of his house, in the drainpipes, in his socks, in his trouser pockets‌
and even in his purse.
In the town where the Little Man lived the weather was always cold and grey. People rarely went out and did not talk much to each other. The Little Man, on the contrary, liked to talk. So, every evening before going to bed, he would have a chat with his goldfish.
One evening, the goldfish said to him : “You have so many holes, couldn’t you take one and place it in the bottom of my bowl ?” “But”, replied the Little Man, “then you would swim away and I should be left all alone !” “Come with me”, said the goldfish, “I should so love to see the sea !” “All right !” agreed the Little Man.
He made a boat out of the plastic tablecloth, seized a hole and stuck it in the bottom of the goldfish bowl. The water ran away, the fish swam away, the Little Man climbed into his boat and - anchors aweigh !
Carried by the current, they swiftly found themselves in the gutter. But the tablecloth was full of holes and the Little Man had to bail out all day long.
Come the evening, they found themselves on the dark waters of the great river. The wind gently filled the sail and the boat danced on the waves.
After many a rising and setting of the sun, they arrived one morning at the river mouth. Before them, the sea stretched to the horizon. They floated for a long, long time on the wide ocean.
Then the boat washed up on a beach. In the sky, the sun shone so brightly that the Little Man removed some clothes. He lay on the sand and watched his goldfish playing in the waves.
A child approached him and said “Welcome !� She brought fruit to the Little Man and sat down beside him. More people arrived with smiling faces, carrying armfuls of flowers.
The Little Man felt his heart rise within him. Here were new friends, friends with whom he could talk and share. He had found a home, a real home, as big as the world, with no roof, no walls and no holes.