This little known story from Guy de Maupassant is about a man and woman who meet and become friends during a long train journey. The idyllic countryside they are traveling through is in contrast to the way the woman feels. She is a wet-nurse (a woman who cares for and breast-feeds other people’s babies) and has not had a baby to her breast in the last two days. She is in great pain because of this, and the man offers to help her. In doing this, the man solves a problem of his own.
Original Text / PDF (1,546 words)
General Comments
I imagine that this story would have been considered quite shocking at the time it was written, which is probably why it is not included in any of the Maupassant short story collections available in the public domain.
An Idyll is a piece of writing that describes peaceful country life. The extensive descriptions of the setting throughout the story are therefore important. They provide a contrast to the far from peaceful journey being experienced by the two travelers. The woman is in great pain because her breasts are too full of milk; the young man, who watches as the woman enjoys her lunch, has no money and has not eaten for two days.
The story raises the question of why in some cultures women’s breasts are regarded as so erotic that they must always be covered, whereas in others they are left bare and not given a second thought. At the beginning of the story there is a suggestion that the young man is shocked and perhaps even aroused as the woman unbuttons her dress and he sees a flash of white undergarment and a little of her skin. As the story progresses her breasts are reduced to their purely functional forms and are described as human fountains and living gourds.
One must wonder whether Maupassant’s surprise ending was intended to raise a question in the mind of readers. In most cultures, a man drinking a woman’s milk would be considered socially unacceptable. Is there a suggestion here that the young man might have let the woman suffer if he had not been so hungry? Could Maupassant be going even further and asking readers to think about whether they would do the same thing to help a woman in similar circumstances?
Video Version
This 2016 modern adaptation of the story differs from the original in a number of ways. First, the countryside through which the train travels could hardly be described as “idyllic”. It is barren and in some places looks rather surreal. Second, the man is not a hungry young laborer on his way to look for work in the big city. Instead, he is a well-dressed professional man who seems to me to “help” the woman for a little longer than necessary. Watch and enjoy!