91 pages 3 hours read

François Rabelais, Transl. Thomas Urquhart

Gargantua And Pantagruel

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1564

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Book 2, Chapters 36-57

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Book 2: “Gargantua”

Book 2, Chapter 36 Summary: “How Gargantua ate six pilgrims in his lettuce”

At the grand feast, Gargantua craves salad. While picking lettuce, he accidentally also grabs six pilgrims from Lerne hiding in the greenery. Gargantua almost eats the pilgrims in his salad before they grab onto his teeth to avoid being swallowed. Thinking something is stuck between his teeth, Gargantua picks them out with a toothpick and throws them away. He urinates, still unable to spot the pilgrims, and the copious stream carries the pilgrims away.

Book 2, Chapter 37 Summary: “How the monk was feasted by Gargantua; and the fair words he spoke over supper”

Friar Jean is invited to supper and welcomed warmly for his defense of the abbey. The chatty monk jokes around, indulging in a bawdy explanation about why “a damsel’s thighs are always cool” (326): because they are surrounded by water (urine), topped by a dark place (genitalia), and fanned by wind blowing in through the chemise and skirts.

Book 2, Chapter 38 Summary: “Why everyone avoids monks and why some men have noses bigger than others”

Impressed by Jean’s wisdom, Eudemon wonders why men dislike monks. Gargantua replies it is because monks are lazy and corrupt, but Jean reminds them that he is “never idle” (330). On being asked why some men—like him—have large noses, Jean answers his nose had more room to grow when he was a baby as it was buried in his wet-nurse’s deep cleavage.

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Pantagruel

François Rabelais

Pantagruel

François Rabelais