The Drowned Man (Maupassant)
In a small fishing village, everyone knew the story of old Mother Patin. She had been married to a man who owned a fishing boat and had been very abusive towards her. He would often beat her and curse at her in front of the entire village.
For ten years, nothing was talked of on the Retenue but the beatings Patin inflicted on his wife, and his habit of cursing when he spoke to her, whatever the occasion.
For ten years, nothing was talked of on the Retenue but the beatings Patin inflicted on his wife, and his habit of cursing when he spoke to her, whatever the occasion.
One day, her husband went out to sea and never returned. His boat was found wrecked, and his body was never recovered. Four years after her husband's disappearance, Mother Patin bought a parrot from an auction. The parrot had a habit of cursing and shouting insults, which reminded her of her abusive husband.
She passed her days now, poor woman, in a state of incessant terror, in a continuous trembling of soul and of body, in stunned expectation of insults and thrashings.
She passed her days now, poor woman, in a state of incessant terror, in a continuous trembling of soul and of body, in stunned expectation of insults and thrashings.
One day, she became convinced that her husband's spirit had returned and was hiding in the parrot. In a fit of rage and fear, she killed the parrot and threw its body into the sea.
Then, wrapping him in a dishcloth as a shroud, she went out, in her shift, and barefooted, crossed the quay, against which the sea was breaking in small waves, and shaking the cloth, let fall this small green thing that looked like a handful of grass.
Then, wrapping him in a dishcloth as a shroud, she went out, in her shift, and barefooted, crossed the quay, against which the sea was breaking in small waves, and shaking the cloth, let fall this small green thing that looked like a handful of grass.
Overwhelmed with guilt and grief, Mother Patin fell to her knees and begged for forgiveness. She believed that she had committed a terrible crime by killing the parrot, which she thought was possessed by her husband's spirit. The villagers, who had witnessed her husband's abuse for years, could only pity her as she continued to live in fear and sorrow.