Gargantua And Pantagruel

When Panurge still expresses doubts over marriage, Friar Jean says Panurge does not have more time to procrastinate, since his hair has already started showing bits of gray. In any case, if he does get cuckolded, it implies his wife will be beautiful. If she has cheated on him, she will also treat him well. He can always turn to his friends for solace.

Pantagruel invites a theologian, a physician, a lawyer, and a philosopher for their perspectives on Panurge’s marriage.

Since Panurge feels the “importunate prickings of the flesh” (524), the theologian says it is better for him to marry than burn in lust. God willing, Panurge will not be cuckolded.

The physician tells Panurge medically the only way to dull lust is through excessive wine, drugs, or toil. Failing which, Pantagruel should marry.

Rondibilis tells Panurge marriage and cuckoldry go hand-in-hand since women are by nature “so weak, so fickle, so variable, so changeable, so imperfect” (533).

On Pantagruel’s insistence, Rondibilis tells him the one remedy for cuckoldry. The husbands who do not offer Signor Cuckoldry his desired sacrifice of suspicion and doubt are left alone by him. Those who spy on their wives are visited by Cuckoldry. In both cases, men are doomed because women, like Eve, are, according to Rondibilis, prone to desiring forbidden things.

Carpalim narrates a story about the inconstancy of women. Some abbesses (nuns) asked the Pope for the power to confess to each other, instead of male priests. To test their resolve, the Pope gave them a closed box of written confessions with a tiny bird inside, forbidding them from opening it. The next time he visited, the bird was gone. The nuns had opened the box and were therefore not trustworthy enough to receive confessions.

Pantagruel turns to the philosopher to know if Panurge should marry or not, and the philosopher replies, “both” (35). Gargantua drops in for a visit.

Flummoxed by Trouillogon’s reply, Panurge asks him for a logical debate. During the debate Trouillogon’s answers are evasive; Gargantua leaves the company deeming such philosophy pointless.

The guests leave. Pantagruel tells Panurge that since he is not satisfied by the answers of the wise, he must seek the counsel of a fool.

Panurge agrees to seek advice from Triboullet, a famous “fool.” Pantagruel and Panurge describe the qualities of Triboullet in a blazon, a descriptive poem usually used in courtly love poetry to describe the qualities of the beloved.

Pantagruel attends a hearing of the elderly judge Bridoye, in the docks for judging cases using the throw of a dice. Bridoye explains how and why he judges cases in such a strange fashion.

A counselor asks Bridoye why he needs to delay judgment if he decides lawsuits by the throw of a dice. Bridoye replies that cases must be allowed to ripen before being resolved.

Bridoye tells the story of an appointer, or out-of-court settler of lawsuits. Perrin Dendin was great at settling cases out of court, but his son Tenot was terrible at the profession. Dendin tells Tenot the skill in appointing is that one must wait to settle till the client is exhausted by the legal process.

Bridoye lets cases ripen just like Perrin Dendin did. When a case is born it is like a hairless, clawless bear cub, which judges like Bridoye nurture into perfect shape.

After Bridoye leaves the court, the counselors ask Pantagruel to decide his case. Pantagruel decides to show Bridoye clemency since his judgments have always been sound despite his unusual method.

Pantagruel tells the story of a woman from Smyrna, being tried for murdering her second husband and stepson after they killed her son from her first marriage. Since the woman was both right and wrong in her actions, either throw of the dice could have fittingly decided her case.

Triboullet, a “fool,” visits Pantagruel. When Panurge asks him for advice, Triboullet plays the fool and shouts strange things, such as “Ware monk […] Horn of the Buzancais bagpipes!” (586).

Pantagruel thinks Triboullet is warning Panurge he will be cuckolded by a monk; Panurge thinks Triboullet goofed around to indicate he and his wife will always have a merry marriage.

Panurge decides to visit the Dive (divine) Bouteille, an Oracle in a far-off land, for advice. Pantagruel says they must first seek his father’s blessings and find a sybil as a guide.

Pantagruel meets Gargantua to seek his approval for their journey. Gargantua wishes Pantagruel too would marry. When the time comes, Pantagruel’s marriage should not be clandestine. In fact, Gargantua will find a match for Pantagruel while he is away.

Epistemon and Jean are to accompany Pantagruel and Panurge. Pantagruel equips his ship for the voyage, taking with him the plant called pantagruelion, a tall evergreen with medicinal properties.

Pantagruelion is prepared for use over the autumn equinox by maceration in water. Once the woody bark is stripped away, the fibers are ready for use.

Pantagruelion’s fibers are so strong they are used to make hangman’s nooses, as well as all kinds of fabric. Its sap kills parasites, and its essence relaxes muscles.

A certain species of pantagruelion cannot be killed even by fire.