Gargantua And Pantagruel

Since he does not want to repeat himself, the narrator says the reader can consult his previous book Pantagruel for Gargantua’s lineage. Gargantua’s genealogy was discovered by Jean Adeau in a great tomb in a meadow near Arcea-Galeau and also contained a little treatise called “Antidoted Bubbles”.

The narrator recounts the treatise, which was written as a poem. The poem is nonsensical.

In the olden days lived a jolly fellow called Grandgousier who married the fine-looking Gargamelle. Gargamelle becomes pregnant and carries their baby for 11 months. Women have long pregnancies when they are carrying a masterpiece.

Grandgousier warns Gargamelle against feasting on tripe (cow stomach) during her pregnancy, as tripe goes putrid fast and can upset her stomach. Despite his expostulations, Gargamelle eats over 16 tons of tripe.

Gargamelle’s labor pains are so terrible she asks Grandgousier to cut off the member that made her pregnant in the first place. Grandgousier agrees and comforts her; Gargamelle tells him she was jesting. Gargamelle expels something that the midwives think is a baby, but it is ordure from eating too much tripe.

The midwives give Gargamelle a constrictive to stop the diarrhea. As a result, the veins of her womb release from above and Gargantua is born through Gargamelle’s ears. Unlike other babies, he does not cry “mee, mee” but shouts “drink, drink.” The narrator notes his birth is not all that strange, since Minerva was born from the brain of Jupiter and Leda laid an egg.

When Grandgousier hears his newborn son crying “drink, drink” he exclaims “Que-grant-tu-as! (How great hast thou!)” (228). The baby is named Gargantua after the phrase. Gargantua feeds on gallons of milk and, as he grows up, on copious amounts of “the juice of September” (229), or wine.

When Gargantua comes of age, Grandgousier has him dressed in sumptuous accessories and his livery of blue and white. Hundreds of ells (an old unit of measurement) of fabric are required to make Gargantua’s fine, royal uniform, the finely embroidered codpiece alone requiring 16-and-a-quarter ells of cloth. Unlike the codpieces worn by weaklings that contain mostly air, Gargantua’s codpiece is “well victualled within” (232).

The author states that Grandgousier chose blue and white for his livery as they signify firmness and faith, but these associations are actually arbitrary. The reader should not believe that colors carry these particular meanings, just because it is so written in wretched books like The Blason of Colors.

The meaning of colors is natural, rather than arbitrarily imposed, as can be proven through the study of the classics. Aristotle rightfully thought white meant joy and light, and black, grief, as these are the natural qualities of the colors. By the same natural, universal symbolism, blue signifies heaven and celestial beings.

From the age of three to five, Gargantua is brought up in age-appropriate disciplines, that is to say eating, sleeping, and drinking. Raised by peasants, Gargantua loves dirt and mess and is always wallowing in filth, eating from the bowls of the dogs, and feeling up his nurses.

A wooden horse is fashioned for Gargantua so he can practice riding before he mounts a real horse. Gargantua loves the horse so much he makes himself a dozen more. When guests inquire for stable space for their horses, Gargantua leads them to the stables where he keeps his hobby-horses.

Home from a long battle, Grandgousier visits Gargantua at the end of his fifth year. Gargantua proudly tells his father he has invented a way to wipe his bum, which is “the most royal one […] ever seen” (252). He tries cat’s claws, his mummy’s gloves, straw, and oak, and came to the conclusion paper is the best bum-wiper. Grandgousier is impressed with Gargantua’s ingenuity.

To make sure Gargantua’s intelligence is well-utilized, Grandgousier requests Magister Thubal Holofernes, noted theologian, to teach Gargantua the alphabet and Latin literature.

Although Gargantua studies hard under the theologian, study makes him a “fool” and a “dolt.” Don Philip Desmarais, a friend of Grandgousier recommends that Ponocrates, his page Eudemon’s tutor, coach Gargantua instead, since Eudemon is wiser and more articulate than Gargantua. They all decide to travel to Paris to learn what the youth of France study nowadays.

King Faydes of Numidia gifts Grandgousier an enormous mare from the shores of Africa, which Grandgousier gives to Gargantua to ride to Paris. On the way they pass a forest full of hornets, but the mare manages to fend off their advances. Gargantua christens her Beauce, or “beautiful, that.”

In Paris, Gargantua’s size attracts a lot of attention, for the people of Paris are so “oafish” that they are forever looking for entertainment rather than education. Gargantua is irritated by the people following him and their expectation that he pay for their welcome of him, so he urinates over them, drowning them. Since the city is awash in pee, per ris, it gets called Paree (another name for Paris).

Gargantua steals the great bells of Notre Dame for his mare. Enraged, the theological department of the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) send Magister Noster Janotus to get the bells from Gargantua.

Ponocrates spots the Magister is terror-struck, and informs Gargantua of his advent. The group decides they will return the bells to the Provost of Paris and the Vicar of Notre Dame before letting the theologian argue his case for taking the bells.

Magister Janotus makes his plea for the bells in garbled speech filled with incorrect Latin words.

Ponocrates, Gargantua, and Eudemon burst out laughing at the absurd speech; Janotus sees the hilarity of the situation and joins in. Janotus accepts gifts of food from Gargantua.

On his return to the faculty, the other theologians deny his right to the gifts, or any other rewards, as Gargantua had already returned the bells. Janotus takes the faculty to court, but the case remains undecided.

After the bell is returned, the people of Paris are happy with Gargantua and he can focus on his education. Ponocrates bids Gargantua to study in his older fashion, so he can see why his education made him a dolt. Ponocrates finds Gargantua wasting most of his study time sleeping, eating, and farting excessively.