man Grangousier, who was then merrily drinking with his
guests, heard his son roar out for drink, he said to him in French, "Que
Grand Tu As et souple le gousier!" That is to say, "How great and nimble
a throat thou hast." Hearing this, the company said that the child
verily ought to be called Gargantua, because it was the first word
uttered by his father at his birth. Which the father graciously
permitted, and to calm the child they gave him enough drink to crack his
throat, and then carried him to the font where he was christened
according to the manner of good Christians.

So great was Gargantua, even when a babe of a day old, that seventeen
thousand nine hundred and thirteen cows were required to furnish him
with milk. By the ancient records to be seen in the chamber of accounts
at Montsoreau, I find that nine thousand six hundred ells of blue velvet
were used for his gown, four hundred and six ells of crimson velvet were
taken up for his shoes, which were soled with the hides of eleven
hundred brown cows; and the rest of his costume was in proportion. By
the commandment of his father, Gargantua was brought up and instructed
in all convenient discipline, and he spent his time like the other
children of the country--that is, in drinking, eating, and sleeping; in
eating, sleeping, and drinking; and in sleeping, drinking, and eating.

In his youth he studied hard under a very learned man, called Master
Tubal Holofermes, and, after studying with him for five years and three
months, he learnt so much that he was able to say the alphabet
backwards. About this time, the king of Numidia sent out of the country
of Africa to Grangousier, the hugest and most enormous mare that was
ever seen. She was as large as six elephants, and of a burnt sorrel
colour with dapple grey spots; but, above all, she had a horrible tail.
For it was little more or less as great as the pillar of St. Mars,
which, as you know, is eighty-six feet in height.

When Grangousier saw her, he said, "Here is the very thing to carry my
son to Paris. He shall go there and learn what the study of the young
men of France is, and in time to come he shall be a great scholar!"

The next morning, after, of course, drinking, Gargantua set out on his
journey. He passed his time merrily along the highway, until he came a
little above Orleans, in which place there was a forest five-and-thirty
leagues long and seventeen wide. This forest was most horribly fertile
and