A Piece of String

It was market-day, and from all the country round Goderville the peasants and their wives were
coming toward the town. The men walked slowly, throwing the whole body forward at every step
of their long, crooked legs. They were deformed from pushing the plough which makes the left-
shoulder higher, and bends their figures side-ways; from reaping the grain, when they have to
spread their legs so as to keep on their feet. Their starched blue blouses, glossy as though
varnished, ornamented at collar and cuffs with a little embroidered design and blown out around
their bony bodies, looked very much like balloons about to soar, whence issued two arms and
two feet.
Some of these fellows dragged a cow or a calf at the end of a rope. And just behind the
animal followed their wives beating it over the back with a leaf-covered branch to hasten its
pace, and carrying large baskets out of which protruded the heads of chickens or ducks. These
women walked more quickly and energetically than the men, with their erect, dried-up figures,
adorned with scanty little shawls pinned over their flat bosoms, and their heads wrapped round
with a white cloth, enclosing the hair and surmounted by a cap.
Now a char-a-banc passed by, jogging along behind a nag and shaking up strangely the two
men on the seat, and the woman at the bottom of the cart who held fast to its sides to lessen
the hard jolting.
In the market-place at Goderville was a great crowd, a mingled multitude of men and beasts.
The horns of cattle, the high, long-napped hats of wealthy peasants, the headdresses of the
women came to the surface of that sea. And the sharp, shrill, barking voices made a continuous,
wild din, while above it occasionally rose a huge burst of laughter from the sturdy lungs of a
merry peasant or a prolonged bellow from a cow tied fast to the wall of a house.
It all smelled of the stable, of milk, of hay and of perspiration, giving off that half-human,
half-animal odor which is peculiar to country folks.
< 2 >
Maitre Hauchecorne, of Breaute, had just arrived at Goderville and was making his way
toward the square when he perceived on the ground a little piece of string. Maitre Hauchecorne,
economical as are all true Normans, reflected that everything was worth picking up which could
be of any use, and he stooped down, but painfully, because he suffered from rheumatism. He
took the bit of thin string from the ground and was carefully preparing to roll it up when he saw
Maitre Malandain, the harness maker, on his doorstep staring at him. They had once had a
quarrel about a halter, and they had borne each other malice ever since. Maitre Hauchecorne
was overcome with a sort of shame at being seen by his enemy picking up a bit of string in the
road. He quickly hid it beneath his blouse and then slipped it into his breeches, pocket, then
pretended to be still looking for something on the ground which he did not discover and finally
went off toward the market-place, his head bent forward and his body almost doubled in two by
rheumatic pains.
He was at once lost in the crowd, which kept moving about slowly and noisily as it chaffered
and bargained. The peasants examined the cows, went off, came back, always in doubt for fear
of being cheated, never quite daring to decide, looking the seller square in the eye in the effort
to discover the tricks of the man and the defect in the beast.
The women, having placed their great baskets at their feet, had taken out the poultry, which
lay upon the ground, their legs tied together, with terrified eyes and scarlet combs.
They listened to propositions, maintaining their prices in a decided manner with an impassive
face or perhaps deciding to accept the smaller price offered, suddenly calling out to the customer
who was starting to go away:
"All right, I'll let you have them, Mait' Anthime."
Then, little by little, the square became empty, and when the Angelus struck midday those
who lived at a distance poured into the inns.
< 3 >
At Jourdain's the great room was filled with eaters, just as the vast court was filled with
vehicles of every sort -- wagons, gigs, chars-a- bancs, tilburies, innumerable vehicles which
have no name, yellow with mud, misshapen, pieced together, raising their shafts to heaven like
two arms, or it may be with their nose on the ground and their rear in the air.
Just opposite to where the diners were at table the huge fireplace, with its bright flame, gave
out a burning heat on the backs of those who sat at the right. Three spits were turning, loaded
with chickens, with pigeons and with joints of mutton, and a delectable odor of roast meat and
of gravy flowing over crisp brown skin arose from the hearth, kindled merriment, caused mouths
to water.
All the aristocracy of the plough were eating there at Mait' Jourdain's, the innkeeper's, a
dealer in horses also and a sharp fellow who had made a great deal of money in his day.
The dishes were passed round, were emptied, as were the jugs of yellow cider. Every one
told of his affairs, of his purchases and his sales. They exchanged news about the crops. The
weather was good for greens, but too wet for grain.
Suddenly the drum began to beat in the courtyard before the house. Every one, except some
of the most indifferent, was on their feet at once and ran to the door, to the windows, their
mouths full and napkins in their hand.
When the public crier had finished his tattoo he called forth in a jerky voice, pausing in the
wrong places:
"Be it known to the inhabitants of Goderville and in general to all persons present at the
French writer Guy de Maupassant wrote short stories like "The Necklace" and "Bel Amim," but he also wrote poetry,
novels and newspaper articles. He was an author of the naturalist and realist schools of writing and is best known for his
short stories, which are considered highly influential on much of modern literature.

DE MAUPASSANT EARLY LIFE

It's believed de Maupassant was probably born at the Chteau de Miromesniel, Dieppe on Aug.

5, 1850. His paternal ancestors were noble, and his maternal grandfather, Paul Le Poittevin, was the artist Gustave
Flaubert's godfather.

His parents separated when he was 11 years old after his mother, Laure Le Poittevin, left his father Gustave de
Maupassant. She took custody of Guy and his younger brother, and it was her influence that led her sons to develop an
appreciation for literature. But it was her friend Flaubert who opened doors for the budding young writer.

From 1870-71, Guy de Maupassant served in the army. He then became a government clerk.

He moved from Normandy to Paris after the war, and after leaving his clerkship in the French Navy worked for several
prominent French newspapers. In 1880, Flaubert published one of his most famous short stories "Boule du Suif," about a
prostitute pressured to provide her services to a Prussian officer.

Perhaps his best-known work, "The Necklace,"

At some point in his 20s, de Maupassant contracted syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that if left untreated, leads to
mental impairment. This was to be the case for de Maupassant, unfortunately. By 1890, the disease had started to cause
increasingly strange behavior.

Some critics have charted his developing mental illness through the subject matter of his stories. But de Maupassant's
horror fiction is only a small portion of his work, some 39 stories or so.

After a gruesome suicide attempt in 1891 (he tried to cut his throat), de Maupassant spent the last 18 months of his life in
a Paris mental home, the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Espirit Blanche. The suicide attempt was believed to be a result
of his impaired mental state. Maupassant was a protg of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style
and efficient, effortless dnouements (outcomes). Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing
the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by
their experiences. He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first
published story, "Boule de Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880), is often considered his masterpiece. Maupassant is considered one
of the fathers of the modern short story. He delighted in clever plotting, and served as a model for Somerset
Maugham and O. Henry in this respect. One of his famous short stories, "The Necklace", was imitated with a twist by both
Maugham ("Mr Know-All", "A String of Beads") and Henry James ("Paste").Maupassant was the elder of the two children
of Gustave and Laure de Maupassant. His mothers claim that he was born at the Chteau de Miromesnil has been
disputed. The couples second son, Herv, was born in 1856.

Both parents came of Norman families, the fathers of the minor aristocracy, but the marriage was a failure, and the
couple separated permanently when Guy was 11 years old. Although the Maupassants were a free-thinking family, Guy
received his first education from the church and at age 13 was sent to a small seminary at Yvetot that took both lay and
clerical pupils. He felt a decided antipathy for this form of life and deliberately engineered his own expulsion for some
trivial offense in 1868. He moved to the lyce at Le Havre and passed his baccalaureate the following year. In the autumn
of 1869 he began law studies in Paris, which were interrupted by the outbreak of the Franco-German War. Maupassant
volunteered, served first as a private in the field, and was later transferred through his fathers intervention to the
quartermaster corps. His firsthand experience of war was to provide him with the material for some of his finest stories.

Maupassant was demobilized in July 1871 and resumed his law studies in Paris. His father came to his assistance again
and obtained a post for him in the Ministry of Marine, which was intended to support him until he qualified as a lawyer. He
did not care for the bureaucracy but was not unsuccessful and was several times promoted. His father managed to have
him transferred, at his own wish, to the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1879.