At the hour when I usually went downstairs to find out what there was for dinner, its preparation would already have begun, and Françoise, a colonel with all the forces of nature for her subalterns, as in the fairy-tales where giants hire themselves out as scullions, would be stirring the coals, putting the potatoes to steam, and, at the right moment, finishing over the fire those culinary masterpieces which had been first got ready in some of the great array of vessels, triumphs of the potter's craft, which ranged from tubs and boilers and cauldrons and fish kettles down to jars for game, moulds for pastry, and tiny pannikins for cream, and included an entire collection of pots and pans of every shape and size.
Menuaren berri galdetzera jaisten nintzenerako, afariaren prestakuntza hasia izaten zen zegoeneko, eta Françoise hantxe, naturaren indar bere laguntzaile bihurtuei aginduka, diganteak sukaldari gisa agertzen diren lamia-ipuinetan bezala, harrikatzari antxit egiten, lursagarrak lurrunetan erregosten, eta azken sualdia ematen aurretiaz hainbat buztin-ontzitan atonduak zituèn bere sukaldaritza-maisulan haiei, zirela ontziok upa, tupina, lapiko edo arrain-zartagin, nahiz ehizakirako terrina, pastizarako molde, edo kremarako antoxin, neurri orotako eltzeak ere barne.