The Parrot by Guy De Maupassant - Short Story - Full Audiobook - video Dailymotion

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🔥  ➡️   The Parrot by Guy De Maupassant - Short Story - Full Audiobook  Originally published in 1888, The Parrot by Guy De Maupassant features a parrot with a unique ability to communicate and its impact on the lives of those around it. https://quizlit.org/the-parrot-by-guy-de-maupassant  🔔 Subscribe for more just like this:     BOOKS FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO  Selected Stories https://amzn.to/4eVLHqZ   ↑ Links listed above are amazon affiliate links ↑  CHAT WITH QUIZLIT! =============================== 🛠️ - QUIZLIT CUSTOMER SUPPORT: support@quizlit.org FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/quizlitbooks X  https://twitter.com/Stephen48437445 IG: https://www.instagram.com/quizlitbooks/ PIN - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/QuizlitBooks/ SUBSTACK https://substack.com/@quizlitbooks THREADS @quizlitbooks  #podcast #guydemaupassant #shortstory #audiobook #booktok #read #books #booktube #book #fiction #literature #reading  Narrated by Andrew Gaunce, courtesy of Librivox

Transcript

00:00The Parrot by Guy de Maupassant

00:031. Everybody in Fecamp knew Mother Pétain's story. She had certainly been unfortunate with

00:12her husband, for in his lifetime he used to beat her, just as wheat is threshed in the barn.

00:17He was a master of a fishing-bark, and had married her formerly because she was pretty,

00:22although poor. Pétain was a good sailor, but brutal. He used to frequent Father Aubin's inn,

00:27where he would usually drink four or five glasses of brandy, on lucky days eight or ten glasses and

00:33even more according to his mood. The brandy was served to the customers by Father Aubin's daughter,

00:38a pleasing brunette who attracted people to the house only by her pretty face, for nothing had

00:43ever been gossiped about her. Pétain, when he entered the inn, would be satisfied to look at her

00:48and to compliment her politely and respectfully. After he had had his first glass of brandy,

00:53he would already find her much nicer. At the second, he would wink. At the third, he would say,

00:59If you were only willing, Mademoiselle Désirée, without ever finishing his sentence. At the fourth,

01:05he would try to hold her back by her skirt in order to kiss her. And when he went as high as ten,

01:11it was Father Aubin who brought him the remaining drinks.

01:15The old innkeeper, who knew all the tricks of the trade, made Désirée walk about between the tables

01:20in order to increase the consumption of drinks. And Désirée, who was a worthy daughter of Father

01:25Aubin, flitted around among the benches and joked with them, her lips smiling and her eyes sparkling.

01:31Pétain got so well accustomed to Désirée's face that he thought of it even while at sea,

01:36when throwing out his nets, in storms or in calms, on moonlit or dark evenings.

01:43He thought of her while holding the tiller in the stern of his boat,

01:46while his four companions were slumbering with their heads on their arms. He always saw her,

01:52smiling, pouring out the yellow brandy with a peculiar shoulder movement, and then exclaiming

01:57as she turned away, There, now are you satisfied? He saw her so much in his mind's eye that he was

02:03overcome by an irresistible desire to marry her, and, not being able to hold out any longer,

02:09he asked for her hand. He was rich, owned his own vessel, his nets in a little house at the foot of

02:15the hill on the retinue, whereas Father Aubin had nothing. The marriage was therefore eagerly

02:20agreed upon, and the wedding took place as soon as possible, as both parties were desirous for

02:25the affair to be concluded as early as convenient. Three days after the wedding, Pétain could no

02:31longer understand how he had ever imagined Désirée to be different from other women.

02:36What a fool he had been to encumber himself with a penniless creature, who had undoubtedly

02:40inveigled him with some drug which he had put in his brandy. He would curse all day long,

02:46break his pipe with his teeth, and maul his crew. After he had sworn by every known term at everything

02:53that came his way, he would rid himself of his remaining anger on the fish and lobsters,

02:57which he pulled from the nets and threw into the baskets amid oaths and foul language.

03:03When he returned home, he would find his wife, Father Aubin's daughter, within reach of his mouth and

03:08hand, and it was not long before he treated her like the lowest creature in the world.

03:13As she listened calmly, accustomed to paternal violence, he grew exasperated at her quiet,

03:19and one evening he beat her. Then life at his home became unbearable.

03:23For ten years, the principal topic of conversation on the retinue was about the beatings that Pétain

03:29gave his wife and his manner of cursing at her for the least thing. He could, indeed, curse with a

03:34richness of vocabulary and a roundness of tone unequaled by other men in Fecamp.

03:40As soon as his ship was sighted at the entrance of the harbor returning from the fishing expedition,

03:45every one awaited the first volley he would hurl from the bridge as soon as he perceived his wife's

03:50white cap. Standing at the stern, he would steer, his eye fixed on the bows and on the sail, and,

03:56notwithstanding the difficulty of the narrow passage and the height of the turbulent waves,

04:01he would search among the watching women and try to recognize his wife, Father Aubin's daughter,

04:06the wretch. Then, as soon as he saw her, notwithstanding the noise of the wind and the

04:11waves, he would let loose upon her with such power and volubility that everyone would laugh,

04:17although they pitied her greatly. When he arrived at the dock, he would relieve his mind while unloading

04:22the fish in such an expressive manner that he attracted around him all the loafers of the

04:28neighborhood. The words left his mouth sometimes like shots from a cannon, short and terrible,

04:34sometimes like peals of thunder which roll and rumble for five minutes. Such a hurricane of oaths

04:40that he seemed to have in his lungs one of the storms of the Eternal Father. When he left his ship and

04:46found himself face to face with her, surrounded by all the gossips of the neighborhood, he would bring

04:51up a new cargo of insults and bring her back to their dwelling, she in front, he behind, she weeping,

04:57he yelling at her. At last, when alone with her behind closed doors, he would thrash her on the

05:03slightest pretext. The least thing was sufficient to make him raise his hand, and when he had once

05:09begun he did not stop, but he would throw into her face the true motive for his anger. At each blow he

05:16would roar, there, you beggar, there, you wretch, there, you pauper. What a bright thing I did when I

05:23rinsed my mouth with your rascal of a father's apology for brandy. The poor woman lived in

05:29continual fear, in a ceaseless trembling of body and soul, in everlasting expectation of outrageous

05:36thrashings. This lasted ten years. She was so timorous that she would grow pale whenever she spoke to

05:43anyone, and she thought of nothing but the blows with which she was threatened, and she became thinner,

05:49more yellow and drier than a smoked fish. Two. One night, when her husband was at sea, she was

05:58suddenly awakened by the wild roaring of the wind. She sat up in her bed, trembling, but as she heard

06:05nothing more, she lay down again. Almost immediately there was a roar in the chimney which shook the

06:10entire house. It seemed to cross the heavens like a pack of furious animals, snorting and roaring.

06:16Then she arose and rushed to the harbor. Other women were arriving from all sides carrying lanterns.

06:23The men were also gathering, and all were watching the foaming crests of the breaking wave.

06:28The storm lasted fifteen hours. Eleven sailors never returned. Petain was among them.

06:36In the neighborhood of Dieppe, the wreck of his bark, the Jeune Amélie, was found. The bodies of his

06:41sailors were found near Saint-Valerie, but his body was never recovered. As his vessel seemed to have

06:47been cut in two, his wife expected and feared his return for a long time, for if there had been a

06:53collision, he alone might have been picked up and carried afar off. Little by little she grew accustomed

07:00to the thought that she was rid of him, although she would start every time that a neighbor, a beggar,

07:05or a peddler would enter suddenly. One afternoon, about four years after the disappearance of her

07:10husband, while she was walking along the Rue aux Juifs, she stopped before the house of an old sea

07:16captain, who had recently died and whose furniture was for sale. Just at that moment, a parrot was at

07:22auction. He had green feathers and a blue head, and was watching everybody with a displeased look.

07:27"'Three francs!' cried the auctioneer. "'A bird that can talk like a lawyer. Three francs!'

07:33A friend of the Patin woman nudged her and said, "'You ought to buy that, you who are rich. It would be good

07:39company for you. That bird is worth more than thirty francs. Anyhow, you can always sell it for twenty or

07:45twenty-five.' Patin's widow added fifty centines, and the bird was given her in a little cage, which she

07:51carried away. She took it home, and, as she was opening the wire door in order to give it something to

07:57drink, he bit her finger and drew blood. "'Oh, how naughty he is!' she said. Nevertheless, she gave it some

08:04hemp seed and corn, and watched it pruning its feathers as it glanced warily at its new home and

08:09its new mistress. On the following morning, just as day was breaking, the Patin woman distinctly heard

08:16a loud, deep, roaring voice calling, "'Are you going to get up, Carrion?' Her fear was so great that she hid

08:23her head under the sheets, for when Patin was with her, as soon as he would open his eyes, he would

08:28shout those well-known words into her ears. Trembling, rolled into a ball, her back prepared for the

08:34thrashing which she already expected. Her face buried in the pillows, she murmured, "'Good Lord, he is here!

08:41Good Lord, he is here! Good Lord, he has come back!' Minutes passed. No noise disturbed the quiet room.

08:48Then, trembling, she stuck her head out of the bed, sure that he was there, watching, ready to beat her.

08:55Except for a ray of sun shining through the window, she saw nothing, and she said to herself,

09:00"'He must be hidden.' She waited a long time, and then, gaining courage, she said to herself,

09:06"'I must have dreamed it, seeing there is nobody here.' A little reassured, she closed her eyes,

09:12when from quite near a furious voice the thunderous voice of the drowned man could be heard crying,

09:17"'Say, when in the name of all that's holy are you going to get up?'

09:22"'You, buh!' She jumped out of bed, moved by obedience, by the passive obedience of a woman

09:28accustomed to blows, and who still remembers and always will remember that voice. She said,

09:33"'Here I am, Patin, what do you want?' But Patin did not answer. Then, at a complete loss,

09:39she looked around her, then in the chimney and under the bed, and finally sank into a chair,

09:43wild with anxiety, convinced that Patin's soul alone was there, near her, and that he had

09:49returned in order to torture her. Suddenly she remembered the loft, in order to reach which

09:54one had to take a ladder. Surely he must have hidden there in order to surprise her. He must

09:59have been held by savages on some distant shore, unable to escape until now, and he had returned

10:05worse than ever. There was no doubting the quality of that voice. She raised her head and asked,

10:11"'Are you up there, Patin?' Patin did not answer. Then, with a terrible fear which made her heart

10:17tremble, she climbed the ladder, opened the skylight, looked, saw nothing, entered, looked

10:22about, and found nothing. Sitting on some straw, she began to cry, but while she was weeping,

10:28overcome by a poignant and supernatural terror, she heard Patin talking in the room below. He seemed

10:34less angry, and he was saying, "'Nasty weather, fierce wind, nasty weather, I haven't eaten,

10:39damn it!' She cried through the ceiling, "'Here I am, Patin, I am getting your meal ready,

10:45don't get angry!' She ran down again. There was no one in the room. She felt herself growing weak,

10:51as if death were touching her, and she tried to run and get help from the neighbors when a voice

10:55near her cried out, "'I haven't had my breakfast, by-gah!' And the parrot in his cage watched her with his

11:02round, knowing, wicked eye. She, too, looked at him wildly, murmuring, "'Ah, so it's you!'

11:08He shook his head, and continued, "'Just you wait, I'll teach you how to loaf!'

11:13What happened within her? She felt she understood that it was he, the dead man, who had come back,

11:20who had disguised himself in the feathers of this bird in order to continue to torment her,

11:25that he would curse as formerly all day long, and bite her, and swear at her in order to attract the

11:31neighbors and make them laugh. Then she rushed for the cage and seized the bird, which scratched and

11:37tore her flesh with its claws and beak. But she held it with all her strength between her hands.

11:43She threw it on the ground and rolled over it with the frenzy of one possessed. She crushed it,

11:49and finally made of it nothing but a little green flabby lump which no longer moved or spoke.

11:55Then she wrapped it in a cloth, as in a shroud, and she went out in her nightgown, barefoot. She crossed

12:01the dock against which the choppy waves of the sea were beating, and she shook the cloth, and let

12:07drop this little dead thing which looked like so much grass. Then she returned, threw herself on her

12:14knees before the empty cage, and, overcome by what she had done, kneeled and prayed for forgiveness,

12:21as if she had committed some heinous crime.

12:23End of the Parrot

The Parrot by Guy De Maupassant - Short Story - Full Audiobook

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