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Original Short Stories — Volume 04

by Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893)

  • Free to read
  • 3 hours to read
  • 6 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"Original Short Stories — Volume 04" by Guy de Maupassant is a collection of short stories written during the late 19th century. This volume includes various narratives that encapsulate the complexities of human relationships, rural life, and existential themes. With a keen eye for detail and character, Maupassant explores the intricacies of love, loss, and societal norms through vivid portrayals of diverse characters, such as a dying patriarch and a diligent farm girl. The opening of this volume introduces readers to "The Moribund," where an old farmer and his wife navigate the impending death of the patriarch, setting a somber yet realistic tone. With the backdrop of a rural farm, the couple discusses practical concerns related to the old man’s death, showcasing their resigned acceptance of life’s cyclical nature. Their stoic conversations reveal more than just their sadness; they reflect the harsh reality of peasant life, intertwined with the inevitability of death, which looms over them as they prepare for the funeral. This contrast between stark reality and human resilience serves as an engaging entry point that prepares readers for the subsequent stories in the collection.

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  • Short stories, French · Translations into English

Read the opening

Volume IV

THE MORIBUND

The warm autumn sun was beating down on the farmyard. Under the grass, which had been cropped close by the cows, the earth soaked by recent rains, was soft and sank in under the feet with a soggy noise, and the apple trees, loaded with apples, were dropping their pale green fruit in the dark green grass.

Four young heifers, tied in a line, were grazing and at times looking toward the house and lowing. The fowls made a colored patch on the dung-heap before the stable, scratching, moving about and cackling, while two roosters crowed continually, digging worms for their hens, whom they were calling with a loud clucking.

The wooden gate opened and a man entered. He might have been forty years old, but he looked at least sixty, wrinkled, bent, walking slowly, impeded by the weight of heavy wooden shoes full of straw. His long arms hung down on both sides of his body. When he got near the farm a yellow cur, tied at the foot of an enormous pear tree, beside a barrel which served as his kennel, began at first to wag his tail and then to bark for joy. The man cried:

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Contents

  1. Volume IV
  2. Part I
  3. Part II
  4. Part III
  5. Part IV
  6. Part V

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About this edition

This free edition of Original Short Stories — Volume 04 by Guy de Maupassant comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #3080, released 2004-10-03. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Short Stories, French Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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