--How
Pantagruel
went ashore in the island of Pope-Figland
Chapter 4.
Chapter 4.
Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
XXXIII.
--How Pantagruel became sick, and the manner how he was
recovered
Chapter 2. XXXIV. --The conclusion of this present book, and the excuse of
the author
THE THIRD BOOK.
Francois Rabelais to the Soul of the Deceased Queen of Navarre
The Author's Prologue
Chapter 3. I. --How Pantagruel transported a colony of Utopians into Dipsody
Chapter 3. II. --How Panurge was made Laird of Salmigondin in Dipsody, and
did waste his revenue before it came in
Chapter 3. III. --How Panurge praiseth the debtors and borrowers
Chapter 3. IV. --Panurge continueth his discourse in the praise of borrowers
and lenders
Chapter 3. V. --How Pantagruel altogether abhorreth the debtors and borrowers
Chapter 3. VI. --Why new married men were privileged from going to the wars
Chapter 3. VII. --How Panurge had a flea in his ear, and forbore to wear any
longer his magnificent codpiece
Chapter 3. VIII. --Why the codpiece is held to be the chief piece of armour
amongst warriors
Chapter 3. IX. --How Panurge asketh counsel of Pantagruel whether he should
marry, yea, or no
Chapter 3. X. --How Pantagruel representeth unto Panurge the difficulty of
giving advice in the matter of marriage; and to that purpose mentioneth
somewhat of the Homeric and Virgilian lotteries
Chapter 3. XI. --How Pantagruel showeth the trial of one's fortune by the
throwing of dice to be unlawful
Chapter 3. XII. --How Pantagruel doth explore by the Virgilian lottery what
fortune Panurge shall have in his marriage
Chapter 3. XIII. --How Pantagruel adviseth Panurge to try the future good or
bad luck of his marriage by dreams
Chapter 3. XIV. --Panurge's dream, with the interpretation thereof
Chapter 3. XV. --Panurge's excuse and exposition of the monastic mystery
concerning powdered beef
Chapter 3. XVI. --How Pantagruel adviseth Panurge to consult with the Sibyl
of Panzoust
Chapter 3. XVII. --How Panurge spoke to the Sibyl of Panzoust
Chapter 3. XVIII. --How Pantagruel and Panurge did diversely expound the
verses of the Sibyl of Panzoust
Chapter 3. XIX. --How Pantagruel praiseth the counsel of dumb men
Chapter 3. XX. --How Goatsnose by signs maketh answer to Panurge
Chapter 3. XXI. --How Panurge consulteth with an old French poet, named
Raminagrobis
Chapter 3. XXII. --How Panurge patrocinates and defendeth the Order of the
Begging Friars
Chapter 3. XXIII. --How Panurge maketh the motion of a return to Raminagrobis
Chapter 3. XXIV. --How Panurge consulteth with Epistemon
Chapter 3. XXV. --How Panurge consulteth with Herr Trippa
Chapter 3. XXVI. --How Panurge consulteth with Friar John of the Funnels
Chapter 3. XXVII. --How Friar John merrily and sportingly counselleth Panurge
Chapter 3. XXVIII. --How Friar John comforteth Panurge in the doubtful matter
of cuckoldry
Chapter 3. XXIX. --How Pantagruel convocated together a theologian,
physician, lawyer, and philosopher, for extricating Panurge out of the
perplexity wherein he was
Chapter 3. XXX. --How the theologue, Hippothadee, giveth counsel to Panurge
in the matter and business of his nuptial enterprise
Chapter 3. XXXI. --How the physician Rondibilis counselleth Panurge
Chapter 3. XXXII. --How Rondibilis declareth cuckoldry to be naturally one of
the appendances of marriage
Chapter 3. XXXIII. --Rondibilis the physician's cure of cuckoldry
Chapter 3. XXXIV. --How women ordinarily have the greatest longing after
things prohibited
Chapter 3. XXXV. --How the philosopher Trouillogan handleth the difficulty of
marriage
Chapter 3. XXXVI. --A continuation of the answer of the Ephectic and
Pyrrhonian philosopher Trouillogan
Chapter 3. XXXVII. --How Pantagruel persuaded Panurge to take counsel of a
fool
Chapter 3. XXXVIII. --How Triboulet is set forth and blazed by Pantagruel and
Panurge
Chapter 3. XXXIX. --How Pantagruel was present at the trial of Judge
Bridlegoose, who decided causes and controversies in law by the chance and
fortune of the dice
Chapter 3. XL. --How Bridlegoose giveth reasons why he looked upon those law-
actions which he decided by the chance of the dice
Chapter 3. XLI. --How Bridlegoose relateth the history of the reconcilers of
parties at variance in matters of law
Chapter 3. XLII. --How suits at law are bred at first, and how they come
afterwards to their perfect growth
Chapter 3. XLIII. --How Pantagruel excuseth Bridlegoose in the matter of
sentencing actions at law by the chance of the dice
Chapter 3. XLIV. --How Pantagruel relateth a strange history of the
perplexity of human judgment
Chapter 3. XLV. --How Panurge taketh advice of Triboulet
Chapter 3. XLVI. --How Pantagruel and Panurge diversely interpret the words
of Triboulet
Chapter 3. XLVII. --How Pantagruel and Panurge resolved to make a visit to
the Oracle of the Holy Bottle
Chapter 3. XLVIII. --How Gargantua showeth that the children ought not to
marry without the special knowledge and advice of their fathers and mothers
Chapter 3. XLIX. --How Pantagruel did put himself in a readiness to go to
sea; and of the herb named Pantagruelion
Chapter 3. L. --How the famous Pantagruelion ought to be prepared and wrought
Chapter 3. LI. --Why it is called Pantagruelion, and of the admirable virtues
thereof
Chapter 3. LII. --How a certain kind of Pantagruelion is of that nature that
the fire is not able to consume it
THE FOURTH BOOK.
The Translator's Preface
The Author's Epistle Dedicatory
The Author's Prologue
Chapter 4. I. --How Pantagruel went to sea to visit the oracle of Bacbuc,
alias the Holy Bottle
Chapter 4. II. --How Pantagruel bought many rarities in the island of
Medamothy
Chapter 4. III. --How Pantagruel received a letter from his father Gargantua,
and of the strange way to have speedy news from far distant places
Chapter 4. IV. --How Pantagruel writ to his father Gargantua, and sent him
several curiosities
Chapter 4. V. --How Pantagruel met a ship with passengers returning from
Lantern-land
Chapter 4. VI. --How, the fray being over, Panurge cheapened one of
Dingdong's sheep
Chapter 4. VII. --Which if you read you'll find how Panurge bargained with
Dingdong
Chapter 4. VIII. --How Panurge caused Dingdong and his sheep to be drowned in
the sea
Chapter 4. IX. --How Pantagruel arrived at the island of Ennasin, and of the
strange ways of being akin in that country
Chapter 4. X. --How Pantagruel went ashore at the island of Chely, where he
saw King St. Panigon
Chapter 4. XI. --Why monks love to be in kitchens
Chapter 4. XII. --How Pantagruel passed by the land of Pettifogging, and of
the strange way of living among the Catchpoles
Chapter 4. XIII. --How, like Master Francis Villon, the Lord of Basche
commended his servants
Chapter 4. XIV. --A further account of catchpoles who were drubbed at
Basche's house
Chapter 4. XV. --How the ancient custom at nuptials is renewed by the
catchpole
Chapter 4. XVI. --How Friar John made trial of the nature of the catchpoles
Chapter 4. XVII. --How Pantagruel came to the islands of Tohu and Bohu; and
of the strange death of Wide-nostrils, the swallower of windmills
Chapter 4. XVIII. --How Pantagruel met with a great storm at sea
Chapter 4. XIX. --What countenances Panurge and Friar John kept during the
storm
Chapter 4. XX. --How the pilots were forsaking their ships in the greatest
stress of weather
Chapter 4. XXI. --A continuation of the storm, with a short discourse on the
subject of making testaments at sea
Chapter 4. XXII. --An end of the storm
Chapter 4. XXIII. --How Panurge played the good fellow when the storm was
over
Chapter 4. XXIV. --How Panurge was said to have been afraid without reason
during the storm
Chapter 4. XXV. --How, after the storm, Pantagruel went on shore in the
islands of the Macreons
Chapter 4. XXVI. --How the good Macrobius gave us an account of the mansion
and decease of the heroes
Chapter 4. XXVII. --Pantagruel's discourse of the decease of heroic souls;
and of the dreadful prodigies that happened before the death of the late
Lord de Langey
Chapter 4. XXVIII. --How Pantagruel related a very sad story of the death of
the heroes
Chapter 4. XXIX. --How Pantagruel sailed by the Sneaking Island, where
Shrovetide reigned
Chapter 4. XXX. --How Shrovetide is anatomized and described by Xenomanes
Chapter 4. XXXI. --Shrovetide's outward parts anatomized
Chapter 4. XXXII. --A continuation of Shrovetide's countenance
Chapter 4. XXXIII. --How Pantagruel discovered a monstrous physeter, or
whirlpool, near the Wild Island
Chapter 4. XXXIV. --How the monstrous physeter was slain by Pantagruel
Chapter 4. XXXV. --How Pantagruel went on shore in the Wild Island, the
ancient abode of the Chitterlings
Chapter 4. XXXVI. --How the wild Chitterlings laid an ambuscado for
Pantagruel
Chapter 4. XXXVII. --How Pantagruel sent for Colonel Maul-chitterling and
Colonel Cut-pudding; with a discourse well worth your hearing about the
names of places and persons
Chapter 4. XXXVIII. --How Chitterlings are not to be slighted by men
Chapter 4. XXXIX. --How Friar John joined with the cooks to fight the
Chitterlings
Chapter 4. XL. --How Friar John fitted up the sow; and of the valiant cooks
that went into it
Chapter 4. XLI. --How Pantagruel broke the Chitterlings at the knees
Chapter 4. XLII. --How Pantagruel held a treaty with Niphleseth, Queen of the
Chitterlings
Chapter 4. XLIII. --How Pantagruel went into the island of Ruach
Chapter 4. XLIV. --How small rain lays a high wind
Chapter 4. XLV.
--How Pantagruel went ashore in the island of Pope-Figland
Chapter 4. XLVI. --How a junior devil was fooled by a husbandman of Pope-
Figland
Chapter 4. XLVII. --How the devil was deceived by an old woman of Pope-
Figland
Chapter 4. XLVIII. --How Pantagruel went ashore at the island of Papimany
Chapter 4. XLIX. --How Homenas, Bishop of Papimany, showed us the Uranopet
decretals
Chapter 4. L. --How Homenas showed us the archetype, or representation of a
pope
Chapter 4. LI. --Table-talk in praise of the decretals
Chapter 4. LII. --A continuation of the miracles caused by the decretals
Chapter 4. LIII. --How, by the virtue of the decretals, gold is subtilely
drawn out of France to Rome
Chapter 4. LIV. --How Homenas gave Pantagruel some bon-Christian pears
Chapter 4. LV. --How Pantagruel, being at sea, heard various unfrozen words
Chapter 4. LVI. --How among the frozen words Pantagruel found some odd ones
Chapter 4. LVII. --How Pantagruel went ashore at the dwelling of Gaster, the
first master of arts in the world
Chapter 4. LVIII. --How, at the court of the master of ingenuity, Pantagruel
detested the Engastrimythes and the Gastrolaters
Chapter 4. LIX. --Of the ridiculous statue Manduce; and how and what the
Gastrolaters sacrifice to their ventripotent god
Chapter 4. LX. --What the Gastrolaters sacrificed to their god on interlarded
fish-days
Chapter 4. LXI. --How Gaster invented means to get and preserve corn
Chapter 4. LXII. --How Gaster invented an art to avoid being hurt or touched
by cannon-balls
Chapter 4. LXIII. --How Pantagruel fell asleep near the island of Chaneph,
and of the problems proposed to be solved when he waked
Chapter 4. LXIV. --How Pantagruel gave no answer to the problems
Chapter 4. LXV. --How Pantagruel passed the time with his servants
Chapter 4. LXVI. --How, by Pantagruel's order, the Muses were saluted near
the isle of Ganabim
Chapter 4. LXVII. --How Panurge berayed himself for fear; and of the huge cat
Rodilardus, which he took for a puny devil
THE FIFTH BOOK.
The Author's Prologue
Chapter 5. I. --How Pantagruel arrived at the Ringing Island, and of the
noise that we heard
Chapter 5. II. --How the Ringing Island had been inhabited by the Siticines,
who were become birds
Chapter 5. III. --How there is but one pope-hawk in the Ringing Island
Chapter 5. IV. --How the birds of the Ringing Island were all passengers
Chapter 5. V. --Of the dumb Knight-hawks of the Ringing Island
Chapter 5. VI. --How the birds are crammed in the Ringing Island
Chapter 5. VII. --How Panurge related to Master Aedituus the fable of the
horse and the ass
Chapter 5. VIII. --How with much ado we got a sight of the pope-hawk
Chapter 5. IX. --How we arrived at the island of Tools
Chapter 5. X. --How Pantagruel arrived at the island of Sharping
Chapter 5. XI. --How we passed through the wicket inhabited by Gripe-men-all,
Archduke of the Furred Law-cats
Chapter 5. XII. --How Gripe-men-all propounded a riddle to us
Chapter 5. XIII. --How Panurge solved Gripe-men-all's riddle
Chapter 5. XIV. --How the Furred Law-cats live on corruption
Chapter 5. XV. --How Friar John talks of rooting out the Furred Law-cats
Chapter 5. XVI. --How Pantagruel came to the island of the Apedefers, or
Ignoramuses, with long claws and crooked paws, and of terrible adventures
and monsters there
Chapter 5. XVII. --How we went forwards, and how Panurge had like to have
been killed
Chapter 5. XVIII. --How our ships were stranded, and we were relieved by some
people that were subject to Queen Whims (qui tenoient de la Quinte)
Chapter 5. XIX. --How we arrived at the queendom of Whims or Entelechy
Chapter 5. XX. --How the Quintessence cured the sick with a song
Chapter 5. XXI. --How the Queen passed her time after dinner
Chapter 5. XXII. --How Queen Whims' officers were employed; and how the said
lady retained us among her abstractors
Chapter 5. XXIII. --How the Queen was served at dinner, and of her way of
eating
Chapter 5. XXIV. --How there was a ball in the manner of a tournament, at
which Queen Whims was present
Chapter 5. XXV. --How the thirty-two persons at the ball fought
Chapter 5. XXVI. --How we came to the island of Odes, where the ways go up
and down
Chapter 5. XXVII. --How we came to the island of Sandals; and of the order of
Semiquaver Friars
Chapter 5. XXVIII. --How Panurge asked a Semiquaver Friar many questions, and
was only answered in monosyllables
Chapter 5. XXIX. --How Epistemon disliked the institution of Lent
Chapter 5. XXX. --How we came to the land of Satin
Chapter 5. XXXI. --How in the land of Satin we saw Hearsay, who kept a school
of vouching
Chapter 5. XXXII. --How we came in sight of Lantern-land
Chapter 5. XXXIII. --How we landed at the port of the Lychnobii, and came to
Lantern-land
Chapter 5. XXXIV. --How we arrived at the Oracle of the Bottle
Chapter 5. XXXV. --How we went underground to come to the Temple of the Holy
Bottle, and how Chinon is the oldest city in the world
Chapter 5. XXXVI. --How we went down the tetradic steps, and of Panurge's
fear
Chapter 5. XXXVII. --How the temple gates in a wonderful manner opened of
themselves
Chapter 5. XXXVIII. --Of the temple's admirable pavement
Chapter 5. XXXIX. --How we saw Bacchus's army drawn up in battalia in mosaic
work
Chapter 5. XL. --How the battle in which the good Bacchus overthrew the
Indians was represented in mosaic work
Chapter 5. XLI. --How the temple was illuminated with a wonderful lamp
Chapter 5. XLII. --How the Priestess Bacbuc showed us a fantastic fountain in
the temple, and how the fountain-water had the taste of wine, according to
the imagination of those who drank of it
Chapter 5. XLIII. --How the Priestess Bacbuc equipped Panurge in order to
have the word of the Bottle
Chapter 5. XLIV. --How Bacbuc, the high-priestess, brought Panurge before the
Holy Bottle
Chapter 5. XLV. --How Bacbuc explained the word of the Goddess-Bottle
Chapter 5. XLVI. --How Panurge and the rest rhymed with poetic fury
Chapter 5. XLVII. --How we took our leave of Bacbuc, and left the Oracle of
the Holy Bottle
Introduction.
Had Rabelais never written his strange and marvellous romance, no one would
ever have imagined the possibility of its production. It stands outside
other things--a mixture of mad mirth and gravity, of folly and reason, of
childishness and grandeur, of the commonplace and the out-of-the-way, of
popular verve and polished humanism, of mother-wit and learning, of
baseness and nobility, of personalities and broad generalization, of the
comic and the serious, of the impossible and the familiar. Throughout the
whole there is such a force of life and thought, such a power of good
sense, a kind of assurance so authoritative, that he takes rank with the
greatest; and his peers are not many. You may like him or not, may attack
him or sing his praises, but you cannot ignore him. He is of those that
die hard. Be as fastidious as you will; make up your mind to recognize
only those who are, without any manner of doubt, beyond and above all
others; however few the names you keep, Rabelais' will always remain.
We may know his work, may know it well, and admire it more every time we
read it. After being amused by it, after having enjoyed it, we may return
again to study it and to enter more fully into its meaning. Yet there is
no possibility of knowing his own life in the same fashion. In spite of
all the efforts, often successful, that have been made to throw light on
it, to bring forward a fresh document, or some obscure mention in a
forgotten book, to add some little fact, to fix a date more precisely, it
remains nevertheless full of uncertainty and of gaps. Besides, it has been
burdened and sullied by all kinds of wearisome stories and foolish
anecdotes, so that really there is more to weed out than to add.
This injustice, at first wilful, had its rise in the sixteenth century, in
the furious attacks of a monk of Fontevrault, Gabriel de Puy-Herbault, who
seems to have drawn his conclusions concerning the author from the book,
and, more especially, in the regrettable satirical epitaph of Ronsard,
piqued, it is said, that the Guises had given him only a little pavillon in
the Forest of Meudon, whereas the presbytery was close to the chateau.
From that time legend has fastened on Rabelais, has completely travestied
him, till, bit by bit, it has made of him a buffoon, a veritable clown, a
vagrant, a glutton, and a drunkard.
The likeness of his person has undergone a similar metamorphosis. He has
been credited with a full moon of a face, the rubicund nose of an
incorrigible toper, and thick coarse lips always apart because always
laughing. The picture would have surprised his friends no less than
himself. There have been portraits painted of Rabelais; I have seen many
such. They are all of the seventeenth century, and the greater number are
conceived in this jovial and popular style.
As a matter of fact there is only one portrait of him that counts, that has
more than the merest chance of being authentic, the one in the Chronologie
collee or coupee. Under this double name is known and cited a large sheet
divided by lines and cross lines into little squares, containing about a
hundred heads of illustrious Frenchmen. This sheet was stuck on pasteboard
for hanging on the wall, and was cut in little pieces, so that the
portraits might be sold separately. The majority of the portraits are of
known persons and can therefore be verified. Now it can be seen that these
have been selected with care, and taken from the most authentic sources;
from statues, busts, medals, even stained glass, for the persons of most
distinction, from earlier engravings for the others. Moreover, those of
which no other copies exist, and which are therefore the most valuable,
have each an individuality very distinct, in the features, the hair, the
beard, as well as in the costume. Not one of them is like another. There
has been no tampering with them, no forgery. On the contrary, there is in
each a difference, a very marked personality. Leonard Gaultier, who
published this engraving towards the end of the sixteenth century,
reproduced a great many portraits besides from chalk drawings, in the style
of his master, Thomas de Leu. It must have been such drawings that were
the originals of those portraits which he alone has issued, and which may
therefore be as authentic and reliable as the others whose correctness we
are in a position to verify.
Now Rabelais has here nothing of the Roger Bontemps of low degree about
him. His features are strong, vigorously cut, and furrowed with deep
wrinkles; his beard is short and scanty; his cheeks are thin and already
worn-looking. On his head he wears the square cap of the doctors and the
clerks, and his dominant expression, somewhat rigid and severe, is that of
a physician and a scholar. And this is the only portrait to which we need
attach any importance.
This is not the place for a detailed biography, nor for an exhaustive
study. At most this introduction will serve as a framework on which to fix
a few certain dates, to hang some general observations. The date of
Rabelais' birth is very doubtful. For long it was placed as far back as
1483: now scholars are disposed to put it forward to about 1495. The
reason, a good one, is that all those whom he has mentioned as his friends,
or in any real sense his contemporaries, were born at the very end of the
fifteenth century. And, indeed, it is in the references in his romance to
names, persons, and places, that the most certain and valuable evidence is
to be found of his intercourse, his patrons, his friendships, his
sojournings, and his travels: his own work is the best and richest mine in
which to search for the details of his life.
Like Descartes and Balzac, he was a native of Touraine, and Tours and
Chinon have only done their duty in each of them erecting in recent years a
statue to his honour, a twofold homage reflecting credit both on the
province and on the town. But the precise facts about his birth are
nevertheless vague. Huet speaks of the village of Benais, near Bourgeuil,
of whose vineyards Rabelais makes mention. As the little vineyard of La
Deviniere, near Chinon, and familiar to all his readers, is supposed to
have belonged to his father, Thomas Rabelais, some would have him born
there. It is better to hold to the earlier general opinion that Chinon was
his native town; Chinon, whose praises he sang with such heartiness and
affection. There he might well have been born in the Lamproie house, which
belonged to his father, who, to judge from this circumstance, must have
been in easy circumstances, with the position of a well-to-do citizen. As
La Lamproie in the seventeenth century was a hostelry, the father of
Rabelais has been set down as an innkeeper. More probably he was an
apothecary, which would fit in with the medical profession adopted by his
son in after years. Rabelais had brothers, all older than himself.
Perhaps because he was the youngest, his father destined him for the
Church.
The time he spent while a child with the Benedictine monks at Seuille is
uncertain. There he might have made the acquaintance of the prototype of
his Friar John, a brother of the name of Buinart, afterwards Prior of
Sermaize. He was longer at the Abbey of the Cordeliers at La Baumette,
half a mile from Angers, where he became a novice. As the brothers Du
Bellay, who were later his Maecenases, were then studying at the University
of Angers, where it is certain he was not a student, it is doubtless from
this youthful period that his acquaintance and alliance with them should
date. Voluntarily, or induced by his family, Rabelais now embraced the
ecclesiastical profession, and entered the monastery of the Franciscan
Cordeliers at Fontenay-le-Comte, in Lower Poitou, which was honoured by his
long sojourn at the vital period of his life when his powers were ripening.
There it was he began to study and to think, and there also began his
troubles.
In spite of the wide-spread ignorance among the monks of that age, the
encyclopaedic movement of the Renaissance was attracting all the lofty
minds. Rabelais threw himself into it with enthusiasm, and Latin antiquity
was not enough for him. Greek, a study discountenanced by the Church,
which looked on it as dangerous and tending to freethought and heresy, took
possession of him. To it he owed the warm friendship of Pierre Amy and of
the celebrated Guillaume Bude. In fact, the Greek letters of the latter
are the best source of information concerning this period of Rabelais'
life. It was at Fontenay-le-Comte also that he became acquainted with the
Brissons and the great jurist Andre Tiraqueau, whom he never mentions but
with admiration and deep affection.
recovered
Chapter 2. XXXIV. --The conclusion of this present book, and the excuse of
the author
THE THIRD BOOK.
Francois Rabelais to the Soul of the Deceased Queen of Navarre
The Author's Prologue
Chapter 3. I. --How Pantagruel transported a colony of Utopians into Dipsody
Chapter 3. II. --How Panurge was made Laird of Salmigondin in Dipsody, and
did waste his revenue before it came in
Chapter 3. III. --How Panurge praiseth the debtors and borrowers
Chapter 3. IV. --Panurge continueth his discourse in the praise of borrowers
and lenders
Chapter 3. V. --How Pantagruel altogether abhorreth the debtors and borrowers
Chapter 3. VI. --Why new married men were privileged from going to the wars
Chapter 3. VII. --How Panurge had a flea in his ear, and forbore to wear any
longer his magnificent codpiece
Chapter 3. VIII. --Why the codpiece is held to be the chief piece of armour
amongst warriors
Chapter 3. IX. --How Panurge asketh counsel of Pantagruel whether he should
marry, yea, or no
Chapter 3. X. --How Pantagruel representeth unto Panurge the difficulty of
giving advice in the matter of marriage; and to that purpose mentioneth
somewhat of the Homeric and Virgilian lotteries
Chapter 3. XI. --How Pantagruel showeth the trial of one's fortune by the
throwing of dice to be unlawful
Chapter 3. XII. --How Pantagruel doth explore by the Virgilian lottery what
fortune Panurge shall have in his marriage
Chapter 3. XIII. --How Pantagruel adviseth Panurge to try the future good or
bad luck of his marriage by dreams
Chapter 3. XIV. --Panurge's dream, with the interpretation thereof
Chapter 3. XV. --Panurge's excuse and exposition of the monastic mystery
concerning powdered beef
Chapter 3. XVI. --How Pantagruel adviseth Panurge to consult with the Sibyl
of Panzoust
Chapter 3. XVII. --How Panurge spoke to the Sibyl of Panzoust
Chapter 3. XVIII. --How Pantagruel and Panurge did diversely expound the
verses of the Sibyl of Panzoust
Chapter 3. XIX. --How Pantagruel praiseth the counsel of dumb men
Chapter 3. XX. --How Goatsnose by signs maketh answer to Panurge
Chapter 3. XXI. --How Panurge consulteth with an old French poet, named
Raminagrobis
Chapter 3. XXII. --How Panurge patrocinates and defendeth the Order of the
Begging Friars
Chapter 3. XXIII. --How Panurge maketh the motion of a return to Raminagrobis
Chapter 3. XXIV. --How Panurge consulteth with Epistemon
Chapter 3. XXV. --How Panurge consulteth with Herr Trippa
Chapter 3. XXVI. --How Panurge consulteth with Friar John of the Funnels
Chapter 3. XXVII. --How Friar John merrily and sportingly counselleth Panurge
Chapter 3. XXVIII. --How Friar John comforteth Panurge in the doubtful matter
of cuckoldry
Chapter 3. XXIX. --How Pantagruel convocated together a theologian,
physician, lawyer, and philosopher, for extricating Panurge out of the
perplexity wherein he was
Chapter 3. XXX. --How the theologue, Hippothadee, giveth counsel to Panurge
in the matter and business of his nuptial enterprise
Chapter 3. XXXI. --How the physician Rondibilis counselleth Panurge
Chapter 3. XXXII. --How Rondibilis declareth cuckoldry to be naturally one of
the appendances of marriage
Chapter 3. XXXIII. --Rondibilis the physician's cure of cuckoldry
Chapter 3. XXXIV. --How women ordinarily have the greatest longing after
things prohibited
Chapter 3. XXXV. --How the philosopher Trouillogan handleth the difficulty of
marriage
Chapter 3. XXXVI. --A continuation of the answer of the Ephectic and
Pyrrhonian philosopher Trouillogan
Chapter 3. XXXVII. --How Pantagruel persuaded Panurge to take counsel of a
fool
Chapter 3. XXXVIII. --How Triboulet is set forth and blazed by Pantagruel and
Panurge
Chapter 3. XXXIX. --How Pantagruel was present at the trial of Judge
Bridlegoose, who decided causes and controversies in law by the chance and
fortune of the dice
Chapter 3. XL. --How Bridlegoose giveth reasons why he looked upon those law-
actions which he decided by the chance of the dice
Chapter 3. XLI. --How Bridlegoose relateth the history of the reconcilers of
parties at variance in matters of law
Chapter 3. XLII. --How suits at law are bred at first, and how they come
afterwards to their perfect growth
Chapter 3. XLIII. --How Pantagruel excuseth Bridlegoose in the matter of
sentencing actions at law by the chance of the dice
Chapter 3. XLIV. --How Pantagruel relateth a strange history of the
perplexity of human judgment
Chapter 3. XLV. --How Panurge taketh advice of Triboulet
Chapter 3. XLVI. --How Pantagruel and Panurge diversely interpret the words
of Triboulet
Chapter 3. XLVII. --How Pantagruel and Panurge resolved to make a visit to
the Oracle of the Holy Bottle
Chapter 3. XLVIII. --How Gargantua showeth that the children ought not to
marry without the special knowledge and advice of their fathers and mothers
Chapter 3. XLIX. --How Pantagruel did put himself in a readiness to go to
sea; and of the herb named Pantagruelion
Chapter 3. L. --How the famous Pantagruelion ought to be prepared and wrought
Chapter 3. LI. --Why it is called Pantagruelion, and of the admirable virtues
thereof
Chapter 3. LII. --How a certain kind of Pantagruelion is of that nature that
the fire is not able to consume it
THE FOURTH BOOK.
The Translator's Preface
The Author's Epistle Dedicatory
The Author's Prologue
Chapter 4. I. --How Pantagruel went to sea to visit the oracle of Bacbuc,
alias the Holy Bottle
Chapter 4. II. --How Pantagruel bought many rarities in the island of
Medamothy
Chapter 4. III. --How Pantagruel received a letter from his father Gargantua,
and of the strange way to have speedy news from far distant places
Chapter 4. IV. --How Pantagruel writ to his father Gargantua, and sent him
several curiosities
Chapter 4. V. --How Pantagruel met a ship with passengers returning from
Lantern-land
Chapter 4. VI. --How, the fray being over, Panurge cheapened one of
Dingdong's sheep
Chapter 4. VII. --Which if you read you'll find how Panurge bargained with
Dingdong
Chapter 4. VIII. --How Panurge caused Dingdong and his sheep to be drowned in
the sea
Chapter 4. IX. --How Pantagruel arrived at the island of Ennasin, and of the
strange ways of being akin in that country
Chapter 4. X. --How Pantagruel went ashore at the island of Chely, where he
saw King St. Panigon
Chapter 4. XI. --Why monks love to be in kitchens
Chapter 4. XII. --How Pantagruel passed by the land of Pettifogging, and of
the strange way of living among the Catchpoles
Chapter 4. XIII. --How, like Master Francis Villon, the Lord of Basche
commended his servants
Chapter 4. XIV. --A further account of catchpoles who were drubbed at
Basche's house
Chapter 4. XV. --How the ancient custom at nuptials is renewed by the
catchpole
Chapter 4. XVI. --How Friar John made trial of the nature of the catchpoles
Chapter 4. XVII. --How Pantagruel came to the islands of Tohu and Bohu; and
of the strange death of Wide-nostrils, the swallower of windmills
Chapter 4. XVIII. --How Pantagruel met with a great storm at sea
Chapter 4. XIX. --What countenances Panurge and Friar John kept during the
storm
Chapter 4. XX. --How the pilots were forsaking their ships in the greatest
stress of weather
Chapter 4. XXI. --A continuation of the storm, with a short discourse on the
subject of making testaments at sea
Chapter 4. XXII. --An end of the storm
Chapter 4. XXIII. --How Panurge played the good fellow when the storm was
over
Chapter 4. XXIV. --How Panurge was said to have been afraid without reason
during the storm
Chapter 4. XXV. --How, after the storm, Pantagruel went on shore in the
islands of the Macreons
Chapter 4. XXVI. --How the good Macrobius gave us an account of the mansion
and decease of the heroes
Chapter 4. XXVII. --Pantagruel's discourse of the decease of heroic souls;
and of the dreadful prodigies that happened before the death of the late
Lord de Langey
Chapter 4. XXVIII. --How Pantagruel related a very sad story of the death of
the heroes
Chapter 4. XXIX. --How Pantagruel sailed by the Sneaking Island, where
Shrovetide reigned
Chapter 4. XXX. --How Shrovetide is anatomized and described by Xenomanes
Chapter 4. XXXI. --Shrovetide's outward parts anatomized
Chapter 4. XXXII. --A continuation of Shrovetide's countenance
Chapter 4. XXXIII. --How Pantagruel discovered a monstrous physeter, or
whirlpool, near the Wild Island
Chapter 4. XXXIV. --How the monstrous physeter was slain by Pantagruel
Chapter 4. XXXV. --How Pantagruel went on shore in the Wild Island, the
ancient abode of the Chitterlings
Chapter 4. XXXVI. --How the wild Chitterlings laid an ambuscado for
Pantagruel
Chapter 4. XXXVII. --How Pantagruel sent for Colonel Maul-chitterling and
Colonel Cut-pudding; with a discourse well worth your hearing about the
names of places and persons
Chapter 4. XXXVIII. --How Chitterlings are not to be slighted by men
Chapter 4. XXXIX. --How Friar John joined with the cooks to fight the
Chitterlings
Chapter 4. XL. --How Friar John fitted up the sow; and of the valiant cooks
that went into it
Chapter 4. XLI. --How Pantagruel broke the Chitterlings at the knees
Chapter 4. XLII. --How Pantagruel held a treaty with Niphleseth, Queen of the
Chitterlings
Chapter 4. XLIII. --How Pantagruel went into the island of Ruach
Chapter 4. XLIV. --How small rain lays a high wind
Chapter 4. XLV.
--How Pantagruel went ashore in the island of Pope-Figland
Chapter 4. XLVI. --How a junior devil was fooled by a husbandman of Pope-
Figland
Chapter 4. XLVII. --How the devil was deceived by an old woman of Pope-
Figland
Chapter 4. XLVIII. --How Pantagruel went ashore at the island of Papimany
Chapter 4. XLIX. --How Homenas, Bishop of Papimany, showed us the Uranopet
decretals
Chapter 4. L. --How Homenas showed us the archetype, or representation of a
pope
Chapter 4. LI. --Table-talk in praise of the decretals
Chapter 4. LII. --A continuation of the miracles caused by the decretals
Chapter 4. LIII. --How, by the virtue of the decretals, gold is subtilely
drawn out of France to Rome
Chapter 4. LIV. --How Homenas gave Pantagruel some bon-Christian pears
Chapter 4. LV. --How Pantagruel, being at sea, heard various unfrozen words
Chapter 4. LVI. --How among the frozen words Pantagruel found some odd ones
Chapter 4. LVII. --How Pantagruel went ashore at the dwelling of Gaster, the
first master of arts in the world
Chapter 4. LVIII. --How, at the court of the master of ingenuity, Pantagruel
detested the Engastrimythes and the Gastrolaters
Chapter 4. LIX. --Of the ridiculous statue Manduce; and how and what the
Gastrolaters sacrifice to their ventripotent god
Chapter 4. LX. --What the Gastrolaters sacrificed to their god on interlarded
fish-days
Chapter 4. LXI. --How Gaster invented means to get and preserve corn
Chapter 4. LXII. --How Gaster invented an art to avoid being hurt or touched
by cannon-balls
Chapter 4. LXIII. --How Pantagruel fell asleep near the island of Chaneph,
and of the problems proposed to be solved when he waked
Chapter 4. LXIV. --How Pantagruel gave no answer to the problems
Chapter 4. LXV. --How Pantagruel passed the time with his servants
Chapter 4. LXVI. --How, by Pantagruel's order, the Muses were saluted near
the isle of Ganabim
Chapter 4. LXVII. --How Panurge berayed himself for fear; and of the huge cat
Rodilardus, which he took for a puny devil
THE FIFTH BOOK.
The Author's Prologue
Chapter 5. I. --How Pantagruel arrived at the Ringing Island, and of the
noise that we heard
Chapter 5. II. --How the Ringing Island had been inhabited by the Siticines,
who were become birds
Chapter 5. III. --How there is but one pope-hawk in the Ringing Island
Chapter 5. IV. --How the birds of the Ringing Island were all passengers
Chapter 5. V. --Of the dumb Knight-hawks of the Ringing Island
Chapter 5. VI. --How the birds are crammed in the Ringing Island
Chapter 5. VII. --How Panurge related to Master Aedituus the fable of the
horse and the ass
Chapter 5. VIII. --How with much ado we got a sight of the pope-hawk
Chapter 5. IX. --How we arrived at the island of Tools
Chapter 5. X. --How Pantagruel arrived at the island of Sharping
Chapter 5. XI. --How we passed through the wicket inhabited by Gripe-men-all,
Archduke of the Furred Law-cats
Chapter 5. XII. --How Gripe-men-all propounded a riddle to us
Chapter 5. XIII. --How Panurge solved Gripe-men-all's riddle
Chapter 5. XIV. --How the Furred Law-cats live on corruption
Chapter 5. XV. --How Friar John talks of rooting out the Furred Law-cats
Chapter 5. XVI. --How Pantagruel came to the island of the Apedefers, or
Ignoramuses, with long claws and crooked paws, and of terrible adventures
and monsters there
Chapter 5. XVII. --How we went forwards, and how Panurge had like to have
been killed
Chapter 5. XVIII. --How our ships were stranded, and we were relieved by some
people that were subject to Queen Whims (qui tenoient de la Quinte)
Chapter 5. XIX. --How we arrived at the queendom of Whims or Entelechy
Chapter 5. XX. --How the Quintessence cured the sick with a song
Chapter 5. XXI. --How the Queen passed her time after dinner
Chapter 5. XXII. --How Queen Whims' officers were employed; and how the said
lady retained us among her abstractors
Chapter 5. XXIII. --How the Queen was served at dinner, and of her way of
eating
Chapter 5. XXIV. --How there was a ball in the manner of a tournament, at
which Queen Whims was present
Chapter 5. XXV. --How the thirty-two persons at the ball fought
Chapter 5. XXVI. --How we came to the island of Odes, where the ways go up
and down
Chapter 5. XXVII. --How we came to the island of Sandals; and of the order of
Semiquaver Friars
Chapter 5. XXVIII. --How Panurge asked a Semiquaver Friar many questions, and
was only answered in monosyllables
Chapter 5. XXIX. --How Epistemon disliked the institution of Lent
Chapter 5. XXX. --How we came to the land of Satin
Chapter 5. XXXI. --How in the land of Satin we saw Hearsay, who kept a school
of vouching
Chapter 5. XXXII. --How we came in sight of Lantern-land
Chapter 5. XXXIII. --How we landed at the port of the Lychnobii, and came to
Lantern-land
Chapter 5. XXXIV. --How we arrived at the Oracle of the Bottle
Chapter 5. XXXV. --How we went underground to come to the Temple of the Holy
Bottle, and how Chinon is the oldest city in the world
Chapter 5. XXXVI. --How we went down the tetradic steps, and of Panurge's
fear
Chapter 5. XXXVII. --How the temple gates in a wonderful manner opened of
themselves
Chapter 5. XXXVIII. --Of the temple's admirable pavement
Chapter 5. XXXIX. --How we saw Bacchus's army drawn up in battalia in mosaic
work
Chapter 5. XL. --How the battle in which the good Bacchus overthrew the
Indians was represented in mosaic work
Chapter 5. XLI. --How the temple was illuminated with a wonderful lamp
Chapter 5. XLII. --How the Priestess Bacbuc showed us a fantastic fountain in
the temple, and how the fountain-water had the taste of wine, according to
the imagination of those who drank of it
Chapter 5. XLIII. --How the Priestess Bacbuc equipped Panurge in order to
have the word of the Bottle
Chapter 5. XLIV. --How Bacbuc, the high-priestess, brought Panurge before the
Holy Bottle
Chapter 5. XLV. --How Bacbuc explained the word of the Goddess-Bottle
Chapter 5. XLVI. --How Panurge and the rest rhymed with poetic fury
Chapter 5. XLVII. --How we took our leave of Bacbuc, and left the Oracle of
the Holy Bottle
Introduction.
Had Rabelais never written his strange and marvellous romance, no one would
ever have imagined the possibility of its production. It stands outside
other things--a mixture of mad mirth and gravity, of folly and reason, of
childishness and grandeur, of the commonplace and the out-of-the-way, of
popular verve and polished humanism, of mother-wit and learning, of
baseness and nobility, of personalities and broad generalization, of the
comic and the serious, of the impossible and the familiar. Throughout the
whole there is such a force of life and thought, such a power of good
sense, a kind of assurance so authoritative, that he takes rank with the
greatest; and his peers are not many. You may like him or not, may attack
him or sing his praises, but you cannot ignore him. He is of those that
die hard. Be as fastidious as you will; make up your mind to recognize
only those who are, without any manner of doubt, beyond and above all
others; however few the names you keep, Rabelais' will always remain.
We may know his work, may know it well, and admire it more every time we
read it. After being amused by it, after having enjoyed it, we may return
again to study it and to enter more fully into its meaning. Yet there is
no possibility of knowing his own life in the same fashion. In spite of
all the efforts, often successful, that have been made to throw light on
it, to bring forward a fresh document, or some obscure mention in a
forgotten book, to add some little fact, to fix a date more precisely, it
remains nevertheless full of uncertainty and of gaps. Besides, it has been
burdened and sullied by all kinds of wearisome stories and foolish
anecdotes, so that really there is more to weed out than to add.
This injustice, at first wilful, had its rise in the sixteenth century, in
the furious attacks of a monk of Fontevrault, Gabriel de Puy-Herbault, who
seems to have drawn his conclusions concerning the author from the book,
and, more especially, in the regrettable satirical epitaph of Ronsard,
piqued, it is said, that the Guises had given him only a little pavillon in
the Forest of Meudon, whereas the presbytery was close to the chateau.
From that time legend has fastened on Rabelais, has completely travestied
him, till, bit by bit, it has made of him a buffoon, a veritable clown, a
vagrant, a glutton, and a drunkard.
The likeness of his person has undergone a similar metamorphosis. He has
been credited with a full moon of a face, the rubicund nose of an
incorrigible toper, and thick coarse lips always apart because always
laughing. The picture would have surprised his friends no less than
himself. There have been portraits painted of Rabelais; I have seen many
such. They are all of the seventeenth century, and the greater number are
conceived in this jovial and popular style.
As a matter of fact there is only one portrait of him that counts, that has
more than the merest chance of being authentic, the one in the Chronologie
collee or coupee. Under this double name is known and cited a large sheet
divided by lines and cross lines into little squares, containing about a
hundred heads of illustrious Frenchmen. This sheet was stuck on pasteboard
for hanging on the wall, and was cut in little pieces, so that the
portraits might be sold separately. The majority of the portraits are of
known persons and can therefore be verified. Now it can be seen that these
have been selected with care, and taken from the most authentic sources;
from statues, busts, medals, even stained glass, for the persons of most
distinction, from earlier engravings for the others. Moreover, those of
which no other copies exist, and which are therefore the most valuable,
have each an individuality very distinct, in the features, the hair, the
beard, as well as in the costume. Not one of them is like another. There
has been no tampering with them, no forgery. On the contrary, there is in
each a difference, a very marked personality. Leonard Gaultier, who
published this engraving towards the end of the sixteenth century,
reproduced a great many portraits besides from chalk drawings, in the style
of his master, Thomas de Leu. It must have been such drawings that were
the originals of those portraits which he alone has issued, and which may
therefore be as authentic and reliable as the others whose correctness we
are in a position to verify.
Now Rabelais has here nothing of the Roger Bontemps of low degree about
him. His features are strong, vigorously cut, and furrowed with deep
wrinkles; his beard is short and scanty; his cheeks are thin and already
worn-looking. On his head he wears the square cap of the doctors and the
clerks, and his dominant expression, somewhat rigid and severe, is that of
a physician and a scholar. And this is the only portrait to which we need
attach any importance.
This is not the place for a detailed biography, nor for an exhaustive
study. At most this introduction will serve as a framework on which to fix
a few certain dates, to hang some general observations. The date of
Rabelais' birth is very doubtful. For long it was placed as far back as
1483: now scholars are disposed to put it forward to about 1495. The
reason, a good one, is that all those whom he has mentioned as his friends,
or in any real sense his contemporaries, were born at the very end of the
fifteenth century. And, indeed, it is in the references in his romance to
names, persons, and places, that the most certain and valuable evidence is
to be found of his intercourse, his patrons, his friendships, his
sojournings, and his travels: his own work is the best and richest mine in
which to search for the details of his life.
Like Descartes and Balzac, he was a native of Touraine, and Tours and
Chinon have only done their duty in each of them erecting in recent years a
statue to his honour, a twofold homage reflecting credit both on the
province and on the town. But the precise facts about his birth are
nevertheless vague. Huet speaks of the village of Benais, near Bourgeuil,
of whose vineyards Rabelais makes mention. As the little vineyard of La
Deviniere, near Chinon, and familiar to all his readers, is supposed to
have belonged to his father, Thomas Rabelais, some would have him born
there. It is better to hold to the earlier general opinion that Chinon was
his native town; Chinon, whose praises he sang with such heartiness and
affection. There he might well have been born in the Lamproie house, which
belonged to his father, who, to judge from this circumstance, must have
been in easy circumstances, with the position of a well-to-do citizen. As
La Lamproie in the seventeenth century was a hostelry, the father of
Rabelais has been set down as an innkeeper. More probably he was an
apothecary, which would fit in with the medical profession adopted by his
son in after years. Rabelais had brothers, all older than himself.
Perhaps because he was the youngest, his father destined him for the
Church.
The time he spent while a child with the Benedictine monks at Seuille is
uncertain. There he might have made the acquaintance of the prototype of
his Friar John, a brother of the name of Buinart, afterwards Prior of
Sermaize. He was longer at the Abbey of the Cordeliers at La Baumette,
half a mile from Angers, where he became a novice. As the brothers Du
Bellay, who were later his Maecenases, were then studying at the University
of Angers, where it is certain he was not a student, it is doubtless from
this youthful period that his acquaintance and alliance with them should
date. Voluntarily, or induced by his family, Rabelais now embraced the
ecclesiastical profession, and entered the monastery of the Franciscan
Cordeliers at Fontenay-le-Comte, in Lower Poitou, which was honoured by his
long sojourn at the vital period of his life when his powers were ripening.
There it was he began to study and to think, and there also began his
troubles.
In spite of the wide-spread ignorance among the monks of that age, the
encyclopaedic movement of the Renaissance was attracting all the lofty
minds. Rabelais threw himself into it with enthusiasm, and Latin antiquity
was not enough for him. Greek, a study discountenanced by the Church,
which looked on it as dangerous and tending to freethought and heresy, took
possession of him. To it he owed the warm friendship of Pierre Amy and of
the celebrated Guillaume Bude. In fact, the Greek letters of the latter
are the best source of information concerning this period of Rabelais'
life. It was at Fontenay-le-Comte also that he became acquainted with the
Brissons and the great jurist Andre Tiraqueau, whom he never mentions but
with admiration and deep affection.
