Frenchman Sells Bakery To Heroic Homeless Man For One Euro

A homeless man in France has become the owner of a bakery for a nominal fee of just one euro, or about $1.14, after he saved the baker's life and the two became friends.

According to The Local, the baker was familiar with the homeless man, who regularly stood in front of the bakery and asked passersby for change. The baker would often give him a cup of coffee and a croissant in the mornings when he saw him. Then one day last December, one of the bread ovens in the bakery started leaking carbon monoxide gas. The baker was in the facility alone, but when the homeless man who hung out in front of the shop noticed the baker staggering around, he knew something was wrong and called emergency services. Thanks to his efforts, the baker was rescued, though he did wind up hospitalized for nearly two weeks with carbon monoxide poisoning.

"If Jerome wasn't around that day I would have been a goner," the baker said of the homeless man.

The 62-year-old baker decided to give the homeless man a part-time job at the bakery, but then after a few months he realized he just wanted to retire. So he's decided to sell the bakery to his rescuer for one euro.

"What's more important, money or life?" the baker said. "I don't care about money. I'm not rich but I don't care. I want to be free, I want to take it easy now."

The baker said he'll stick around and train his protegee until September, at which point he'll hand over the keys and go take it easy.

"I want to work and the hours don't put me off," said Jerome Aucant, the homeless hero and now baker, who described this turn of events as a real gift and says he hopes to be worthy of it.