The Green Mare translated by Norman Denny
 
There existed between the families of Haudouin and Maloret, in the village of Claquebue, an ancient hatred that was pure and flawless inasmuch as it was born of no open quarrel, not even of any conflict of interests. Its roots had to be looked for in the hearts of the families themselves, in their respective natures, their intimacies, their attitude to love. But there was one episode which might have brought about the long-threatened explosion had not circumstances caused it to be passed over, so that for a period of years it remained as it were dormant, a smouldering spark. Then circumstances, arising out of the political projects of Ferdinand Haudouin, brought it to light again, and Honoré, his brother, was moved at last to take the revenge he had long craved for.
Such is the substance of this gay and tender and mocking Rabelaisian fantasy of French village life during the latter half of the last century: but the story is punctuated throughout by the searching and sometimes startling comments of the miraculous portrait of the miraculous Green Mare, which concludes its several discourses by modestly observing:
'It is a fortunate circumstance that a Green Mare should have been present to point in a sturdy and straightforward fashion the moral of this tale, namely that there can be no enduring love, rooted in true happiness, except within the family?
1972 Hardcover Edition - Vintage