one day i had a great desire, wherefore i do not know, unless out of pure bravado and the spirit of perversity, to do something unseemly. after having searched all of one morning for this something i found it.

it is well known that the swarms of flies which one finds in the south during the summer, and which contaminate everything are a veritable plague. i knew that there was a trap set for them in the middle of my uncle's kitchen. it was a treacherous pipe of a special shape, at the bottom of which, in the soapy pan of water there, the flies were invariably drowned. now on the particular day in which i felt so devilish i bethought me of that disgusting blackish mass at the bottom of the vessel, made up of the thousands of flies drowned during the past two or three days, and i wondered what sort of toothsome dish i should make of it, a pancake, perhaps, or better still, an omelette.

quickly and nervously, and with a loathing that almost made me vomit, i poured the pasty black mass into a plate and carried it to the house of old madame jeanne, the only one in the world willing to do anything and everything for me.

“a fly omelette! to be sure! why not! that is very simple!” she exclaimed. she went immediately to the fire with a frying pan and some eggs. she gave the unclean mess a good preliminary beating, and then she placed it on her high and ancient fireplace. as i watched her procedure i was dismayed and surprised at myself.

but the three little peyrals, whom i had met unexpectedly, went into such ecstasies over my idea, a thing they always did, that i was fortified; and when the omelette, at just the right time, was turned out hot upon a plate we started forth triumphantly to carry the exhibit home to show to our families. we formed a procession in the order of our respective heights, and as we marched we sang, “the star of night” in voices loud and hoarse enough to summon the devil to earth.