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The Christening
Le Baptême (1885) short story by Guy de Maupassant, where the main character shares a story about "a little village in Brittany near Pont-l'Abbe," and a "tragedy caused by alcohol."
- GenresShort Stories
ebook
Published January 1, 1885
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About the author
Guy de Maupassant
7,566 books3,070 followersHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dénouement. He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who get crushed in it - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 11, 2022
Guy de Maupassant's "The Christening" is a truly depressing and horrifying short story about how customs should not just blindly followed but thought and allowances should be paid. This story is quite unforgettable in my mind. Zola's "L’Assommoir" is briefly mentioned and is on my to read soon list.
Story in short - A surgeon tells of his experience in the country that involved alcohol and customs that proved to be deadly.
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Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19646
“Well doctor, a little brandy?” “With pleasure.” The old ship’s surgeon, holding out his glass, watched it as it slowly filled with the golden liquid. Then, holding it in front of his eyes, he let the light from the lamp stream through it, smelled it, tasted a few drops and smacked his lips with relish. Then he said:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19649
“Ah! the charming poison! Or rather the seductive murderer, the delightful destroyer of peoples! “You people do not know it the way I do. You may have read that admirable book entitled L’Assommoir, but you have not, as I have, seen alcohol exterminate a whole tribe of savages, a little kingdom of negroes — alcohol calmly unloaded by the barrel by red-bearded English seamen. “Right near here, in a little village in Brittany near Pont-l’Abbe, I once witnessed a strange and terrible tragedy caused by alcohol. I was spending my vacation in a little country house left me by my father.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19664
“As I said, I was living in a little house near Pont-l’Abbe. I was there alone with my servant, an old sailor, and with a native family which took care of the grounds in my absence. It consisted of three persons, two sisters and a man, who had married one of them, and who attended to the garden. “A short time before Christmas my gardener’s wife presented him with a boy. The husband asked me to stand as god-father. I could hardly deny the request, and so he borrowed ten francs from me for
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19667
the cost of the christening, as he said. “The second day of January was chosen as the date of the ceremony. For a week the earth had been covered by an enormous white carpet of snow, which made this flat, low country seem vast and limitless. The ocean appeared to be black in contrast with this white plain; one could see it rolling, raging and tossing its waves as though wishing to annihilate its pale neighbor, which appeared to be dead, it was so calm, quiet and cold.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
The surgeon spends time on his father's property and he tells of the servants and the upcoming event of a Christening that turned deadly. As the stand in god father of their baby boy, the surgeon gives the father some money. It is the custom to wait outside the church until the priest comes and the baby is to be naked. It is extremely cold and the surgeon tries everything except physically taking the baby back home which he should have right away when he saw the insane practice. The baby is turning blue and finally the priest arrives quite aware of these strange customs. The surgeon hopes that the father and aunt come home quick but they seemed to not come home yet with the baby, they continue the custom of drinking alcohol and arrive back with a dead baby and very drunk. The mother has been neglected except by the surgeon and he soon has to bury an extremely grieved mother too. He tells this story years later. This custom does not seem Christian but more to a pagan god, Bacchus.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19671
“At nine o’clock the father, Kerandec, came to my door with his sister-in-law, the big Kermagan, and the nurse, who carried the infant wrapped up in a blanket. We started for the church. The weather was so cold that it seemed to dry up the skin and crack it open. I was thinking of the poor little creature who was being carried on ahead of us, and I said to myself that this Breton race must surely be of iron, if their children were able, as soon as they were born, to stand such an outing.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19675
“We came to the church, but the door was closed; the priest was late. “Then the nurse sat down on one of the steps and began to undress the child. At first I thought there must have been some slight accident, but I saw that they were leaving the poor little fellow naked completely naked, in the icy air. Furious at such imprudence, I protested: “‘Why, you are crazy! You will kill the child!’ “The woman answered quietly: ‘Oh, no, sir; he must wait naked before the Lord.’
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19679
“The father and the aunt looked on undisturbed. It was the custom. If it were not adhered to misfortune was sure to attend the little one. “I scolded, threatened and pleaded. I used force to try to cover the frail creature. All was in vain. The nurse ran away from me through the snow, and the body of the little one turned purple. I was about to leave these brutes when I saw the priest coming across the country, followed. by the sexton and a young boy. I ran towards him and gave vent to my indignation.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19683
He showed no surprise nor did he quicken his pace in the least. He answered: “‘What can you expect, sir? It’s the custom. They all do it, and it’s of no use trying to stop them.’ “‘But at least hurry up!’ I cried. “He answered: ‘But I can’t go any faster.’ “He entered the vestry, while we remained outside on the church steps. I was suffering. But what about the poor little creature who was howling from the effects of the biting cold.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19688
“At last the door opened. He went into the church. But the poor child had to remain naked throughout the ceremony. It was interminable. The priest stammered over the Latin words and mispronounced them horribly. He walked slowly and with a ponderous tread. His white surplice chilled my heart. It seemed as though, in the name of a pitiless and barbarous god, he had wrapped himself in another kind of snow in order to torture this little piece of humanity that suffered so from the cold.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19691
“Finally the christening was finished according to the rites and I saw the nurse once more take the frozen, moaning child and wrap it up in the blanket. “The priest said to me: ‘Do you wish to sign the register?’ “Turning to my gardener, I said: ‘Hurry up and get home quickly so that you can warm that child.’ I gave him some advice so as to ward off, if not too late, a bad attack of pneumonia. He promised to follow my instructions and left with his sister-in-law and the nurse. I followed the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19695
priest into the vestry, and when I had signed he demanded five francs for expenses. “As I had already given the father ten francs, I refused to pay twice. The priest threatened to destroy the paper and to annul the ceremony. I, in turn, threatened him with the district attorney. The dispute was long, and I finally paid five francs. “As soon as I reached home I went down to Kerandec’s to find out whether everything was all right. Neither father, nor sister-in-law, nor nurse had yet returned. The
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19699
mother, who had remained alone, was in bed, shivering with cold and starving, for she had had nothing to eat since the day before. “‘Where the deuce can they have gone?’ I asked. She answered without surprise or anger, ‘They’re going to drink something to celebrate: It was the custom. Then I thought, of my ten francs which were to pay the church and would doubtless pay for the alcohol. “I sent some broth to the mother and ordered a good fire to be built in the room. I was uneasy and furious
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19703
and promised myself to drive out these brutes, wondering with terror what was going to happen to the poor infant. “It was already six, and they had not yet returned. I told my servant to wait for them and I went to bed. I soon fell asleep and slept like a top. At daybreak I was awakened by my servant, who was bringing me my hot water. “As soon as my eyes were open I asked: ‘How about Kerandec?’ “The man hesitated and then stammered: ‘Oh! he came back, all
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19707
right, after midnight, and so drunk that he couldn’t walk, and so were Kermagan and the nurse. I guess they must have slept in a ditch, for the little one died and they never even noticed it.’ “I jumped up out of bed, crying: “‘What! The child is dead?’ “‘Yes, sir. They brought it back to Mother Kerandec. When she saw it she began to cry, and now they are making her drink to console her.’ “‘What’s that? They are making her drink!’
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19712
“‘Yes, sir. I only found it out this morning. As Kerandec had no more brandy or money, he took some wood alcohol, which monsieur gave him for the lamp, and all four of them are now drinking that. The mother is feeling pretty sick now.’ “I had hastily put on some clothes, and seizing a stick, with the intention of applying it to the backs of these human beasts, I hastened towards the gardener’s house. “The mother was raving drunk beside the blue body of her dead baby. Kerandec, the nurse, and the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19716
Kermagan woman were snoring on the floor. I had to take care of the mother, who died towards noon.” The old doctor was silent. He took up the brandy-bottle and poured out another glass. He held it up to the lamp, and the light streaming through it imparted to the liquid the amber color of molten topaz. With one gulp he swallowed the treacherous drink.
Story in short - A surgeon tells of his experience in the country that involved alcohol and customs that proved to be deadly.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19646
“Well doctor, a little brandy?” “With pleasure.” The old ship’s surgeon, holding out his glass, watched it as it slowly filled with the golden liquid. Then, holding it in front of his eyes, he let the light from the lamp stream through it, smelled it, tasted a few drops and smacked his lips with relish. Then he said:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19649
“Ah! the charming poison! Or rather the seductive murderer, the delightful destroyer of peoples! “You people do not know it the way I do. You may have read that admirable book entitled L’Assommoir, but you have not, as I have, seen alcohol exterminate a whole tribe of savages, a little kingdom of negroes — alcohol calmly unloaded by the barrel by red-bearded English seamen. “Right near here, in a little village in Brittany near Pont-l’Abbe, I once witnessed a strange and terrible tragedy caused by alcohol. I was spending my vacation in a little country house left me by my father.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19664
“As I said, I was living in a little house near Pont-l’Abbe. I was there alone with my servant, an old sailor, and with a native family which took care of the grounds in my absence. It consisted of three persons, two sisters and a man, who had married one of them, and who attended to the garden. “A short time before Christmas my gardener’s wife presented him with a boy. The husband asked me to stand as god-father. I could hardly deny the request, and so he borrowed ten francs from me for
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19667
the cost of the christening, as he said. “The second day of January was chosen as the date of the ceremony. For a week the earth had been covered by an enormous white carpet of snow, which made this flat, low country seem vast and limitless. The ocean appeared to be black in contrast with this white plain; one could see it rolling, raging and tossing its waves as though wishing to annihilate its pale neighbor, which appeared to be dead, it was so calm, quiet and cold.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
The surgeon spends time on his father's property and he tells of the servants and the upcoming event of a Christening that turned deadly. As the stand in god father of their baby boy, the surgeon gives the father some money. It is the custom to wait outside the church until the priest comes and the baby is to be naked. It is extremely cold and the surgeon tries everything except physically taking the baby back home which he should have right away when he saw the insane practice. The baby is turning blue and finally the priest arrives quite aware of these strange customs. The surgeon hopes that the father and aunt come home quick but they seemed to not come home yet with the baby, they continue the custom of drinking alcohol and arrive back with a dead baby and very drunk. The mother has been neglected except by the surgeon and he soon has to bury an extremely grieved mother too. He tells this story years later. This custom does not seem Christian but more to a pagan god, Bacchus.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19671
“At nine o’clock the father, Kerandec, came to my door with his sister-in-law, the big Kermagan, and the nurse, who carried the infant wrapped up in a blanket. We started for the church. The weather was so cold that it seemed to dry up the skin and crack it open. I was thinking of the poor little creature who was being carried on ahead of us, and I said to myself that this Breton race must surely be of iron, if their children were able, as soon as they were born, to stand such an outing.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19675
“We came to the church, but the door was closed; the priest was late. “Then the nurse sat down on one of the steps and began to undress the child. At first I thought there must have been some slight accident, but I saw that they were leaving the poor little fellow naked completely naked, in the icy air. Furious at such imprudence, I protested: “‘Why, you are crazy! You will kill the child!’ “The woman answered quietly: ‘Oh, no, sir; he must wait naked before the Lord.’
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19679
“The father and the aunt looked on undisturbed. It was the custom. If it were not adhered to misfortune was sure to attend the little one. “I scolded, threatened and pleaded. I used force to try to cover the frail creature. All was in vain. The nurse ran away from me through the snow, and the body of the little one turned purple. I was about to leave these brutes when I saw the priest coming across the country, followed. by the sexton and a young boy. I ran towards him and gave vent to my indignation.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19683
He showed no surprise nor did he quicken his pace in the least. He answered: “‘What can you expect, sir? It’s the custom. They all do it, and it’s of no use trying to stop them.’ “‘But at least hurry up!’ I cried. “He answered: ‘But I can’t go any faster.’ “He entered the vestry, while we remained outside on the church steps. I was suffering. But what about the poor little creature who was howling from the effects of the biting cold.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19688
“At last the door opened. He went into the church. But the poor child had to remain naked throughout the ceremony. It was interminable. The priest stammered over the Latin words and mispronounced them horribly. He walked slowly and with a ponderous tread. His white surplice chilled my heart. It seemed as though, in the name of a pitiless and barbarous god, he had wrapped himself in another kind of snow in order to torture this little piece of humanity that suffered so from the cold.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19691
“Finally the christening was finished according to the rites and I saw the nurse once more take the frozen, moaning child and wrap it up in the blanket. “The priest said to me: ‘Do you wish to sign the register?’ “Turning to my gardener, I said: ‘Hurry up and get home quickly so that you can warm that child.’ I gave him some advice so as to ward off, if not too late, a bad attack of pneumonia. He promised to follow my instructions and left with his sister-in-law and the nurse. I followed the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19695
priest into the vestry, and when I had signed he demanded five francs for expenses. “As I had already given the father ten francs, I refused to pay twice. The priest threatened to destroy the paper and to annul the ceremony. I, in turn, threatened him with the district attorney. The dispute was long, and I finally paid five francs. “As soon as I reached home I went down to Kerandec’s to find out whether everything was all right. Neither father, nor sister-in-law, nor nurse had yet returned. The
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19699
mother, who had remained alone, was in bed, shivering with cold and starving, for she had had nothing to eat since the day before. “‘Where the deuce can they have gone?’ I asked. She answered without surprise or anger, ‘They’re going to drink something to celebrate: It was the custom. Then I thought, of my ten francs which were to pay the church and would doubtless pay for the alcohol. “I sent some broth to the mother and ordered a good fire to be built in the room. I was uneasy and furious
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19703
and promised myself to drive out these brutes, wondering with terror what was going to happen to the poor infant. “It was already six, and they had not yet returned. I told my servant to wait for them and I went to bed. I soon fell asleep and slept like a top. At daybreak I was awakened by my servant, who was bringing me my hot water. “As soon as my eyes were open I asked: ‘How about Kerandec?’ “The man hesitated and then stammered: ‘Oh! he came back, all
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19707
right, after midnight, and so drunk that he couldn’t walk, and so were Kermagan and the nurse. I guess they must have slept in a ditch, for the little one died and they never even noticed it.’ “I jumped up out of bed, crying: “‘What! The child is dead?’ “‘Yes, sir. They brought it back to Mother Kerandec. When she saw it she began to cry, and now they are making her drink to console her.’ “‘What’s that? They are making her drink!’
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19712
“‘Yes, sir. I only found it out this morning. As Kerandec had no more brandy or money, he took some wood alcohol, which monsieur gave him for the lamp, and all four of them are now drinking that. The mother is feeling pretty sick now.’ “I had hastily put on some clothes, and seizing a stick, with the intention of applying it to the backs of these human beasts, I hastened towards the gardener’s house. “The mother was raving drunk beside the blue body of her dead baby. Kerandec, the nurse, and the
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 19716
Kermagan woman were snoring on the floor. I had to take care of the mother, who died towards noon.” The old doctor was silent. He took up the brandy-bottle and poured out another glass. He held it up to the lamp, and the light streaming through it imparted to the liquid the amber color of molten topaz. With one gulp he swallowed the treacherous drink.
July 8, 2017
For a short story, The Christening is memorable thanks to its strong visuals, as with this key paragraph to establish both the physical setting and the emotional tone:
"For a week the earth had been covered by an enormous white carpet of snow, which made this flat, low country seem vast and limitless. The ocean appeared to be black in contrast with this white plain; one could see it rolling, raging and tossing its waves as though wishing to annihilate its pale neighbor, which appeared to be dead, it was so calm, quiet and cold."
It's an effective analogy for the story. The main character tells a friend about the horrors of alcohol. He was living in a small village in Brittany where all the men work at sea and, as another great line puts it, "They have a saying which says: 'When the bottle is full you see the reef, but when it is empty you see it no more.'" Add this to a baptism in the middle of winter, and you cringe. From the set up you know where the story is going, and the main character follows that same thought process.
For 1,720 words, Maupassant knows how to suck a reader in.
"For a week the earth had been covered by an enormous white carpet of snow, which made this flat, low country seem vast and limitless. The ocean appeared to be black in contrast with this white plain; one could see it rolling, raging and tossing its waves as though wishing to annihilate its pale neighbor, which appeared to be dead, it was so calm, quiet and cold."
It's an effective analogy for the story. The main character tells a friend about the horrors of alcohol. He was living in a small village in Brittany where all the men work at sea and, as another great line puts it, "They have a saying which says: 'When the bottle is full you see the reef, but when it is empty you see it no more.'" Add this to a baptism in the middle of winter, and you cringe. From the set up you know where the story is going, and the main character follows that same thought process.
For 1,720 words, Maupassant knows how to suck a reader in.
April 25, 2025
AKA: The Christening#2; Christening; Le baptème #2
As cruel a story as Maupassant ever wrote, if not the cruelest.
The doctor-narrator has just been offered a golden glass of cognac and as he is slowly savouring it he recalls the tragic effect of alcohol on a baptism that he had participated in in the Brittany countryside near Pont-Aven. The parents and family were waiting in front of the church on a cold winter day waiting for the elderly priest, who was late, to arrive to open the door of the church. Local custom had it that the new-born child must be presented nude for the ceremony and the simple-minded father had insisted that the baby’s wrappings be removed while they were waiting in spite of the freezing cold, despite the doctor’s protestations. When the priest eventually arrived and the lengthy ceremony was over, the father departed with friends – and the baby – to celebrate the event, and only arrived home the next morning completely inebriated, having spent the money the doctor has provided for the religious service on liquor and having fallen asleep in a ditch on the way home. The baby had not survived the ordeal.
As cruel a story as Maupassant ever wrote, if not the cruelest.
The doctor-narrator has just been offered a golden glass of cognac and as he is slowly savouring it he recalls the tragic effect of alcohol on a baptism that he had participated in in the Brittany countryside near Pont-Aven. The parents and family were waiting in front of the church on a cold winter day waiting for the elderly priest, who was late, to arrive to open the door of the church. Local custom had it that the new-born child must be presented nude for the ceremony and the simple-minded father had insisted that the baby’s wrappings be removed while they were waiting in spite of the freezing cold, despite the doctor’s protestations. When the priest eventually arrived and the lengthy ceremony was over, the father departed with friends – and the baby – to celebrate the event, and only arrived home the next morning completely inebriated, having spent the money the doctor has provided for the religious service on liquor and having fallen asleep in a ditch on the way home. The baby had not survived the ordeal.
November 16, 2022
‘a little kingdom of negroes’ Xx
October 22, 2025
A very short and quick story. As the title suggests this story is about a family christening. They are a farming family and revolves around the priest and how moved he becomes during the ceremony.
June 18, 2021
At least the child was christened so's he could go to Heaven.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews