The Emperor's Messenger

Overview

After leaving Elba, Napoleon camps in a wood near Grenoble, where a peasant leads him to a gameskeeper's cottage. Napoleon sends an orderly officer with the intention to warn Colonel Labédoyère and his grenadiers in the city, but the guards at the gate turn him back. The gamekeeper and his son volunteer instead, and the boy is hidden in a basket of cabbages carried into the city by a peasant. At the checkpoint, a guard stabs the basket with his bayonet, wounding the boy's arm, but he stays silent and delivers the message before fainting. The next day, Napoleon enters Grenoble in triumph and awards the boy the Legion of Honour.