Scene 10

Maille loved broad beans – also because it caused a wonderful flatulence, which he always associated with the spirit of resistance. Because the best school hours were those that had been skipped and spent together with Oskar, his current butcher – during which Oskar and he had sat together on a rock by the sea and engaged in what they called Contrepèterie* – at once the highest and the most wicked form of word play that, according to his friend, went dated back to Rabelais, who had put the following words into the mouth of the cunning Panurge: «Car il disoit qu'il n'y avoit qu'une antistrophe entre femme folle à la messe, et femme molle, à la fesse.»**

That, as a friendly duo, Oskar and he appeared themselves to be somewhat like Pantagruel and Panurge made the sparring game even more stimulating. One of Maille's favourite Contrepèteries, which flashed through his mind at that moment, seemed to be perfectly suited to the rather muddled situation here at the Gulf: «Prenons la chose en riant».***

*The literal translation of Contrepèterie in English is «counter-farting». The English equivalent of this form of word-game is the so called Spoonerism (after Reverend William A. Spooner) as applied in the following sentence: «To brush my teeth» (also: «To tease my brush»).

** François Rabelais: «Les horribles et épouvantables faits et prouesses du très renommé Pantagruel Roi des Dipsodes, fils du Grand Géant Gargantua», 1532, Book II, Chapter XVI.

*** «Let's take things with a laugh»

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