' Do you speak a Christian tongue, my friend, or do you make your lingo as you go along ? ' asked Epistemon, who was beginning to get rather tired.
Then in Dutch —
' Quite as bad as the others !' muttered Pantagruel under his breath.
Then in Spanish —
' See here, my friend,' retorted Pantagruel, who in his turn was getting tired, 'I have not the slightest doubt that you are master of various languages. But all I ask is that you should tell us what you want to say in some tongue which we can understand.'
Then in Danish —
'I think,' said Eusthenes, 'the old Goths must have spoken, that way.'
Then in a sonorous tongue —
Here Master Epistemon thought it right to say : ' This time I have caught his meaning. What he has just said is in the old Hebrew, rhetorically pronounced.'
Then in Greek —
'Oh! That's Greek. I know it. How long didst thou stay in Greece ?' asked the valet Carpalim, who had once been in that country.
1 Low Breton tongue—
Then the It was now
Pantagruel's turn to say: 'It seems to me that I un-
PANTAGRUEL MEETS PANURGE.
derstand what you are trying to say; for it is the tongue of my own country, of Utopia, or something very like it.'
But, just as he was beginning to say something more, the stranger broke out again ; —
In the Latin language —
'That's all very well, my friend, but can't you speak French?' ' Certainly, and very well, too, an it please you, my lord,' answered the man. 'By good luck, the French is at once my natural and maternal language. I was born in the garden of France, — fair Toulouse.'
'Then you are a Frenchman ! Let us know at once what is your name. If you satisfy me in this, you need never wander from my company, and we shall be one to the other, as ^Eneas and Achates.'
' Sir,' said the stranger, 'my name in baptism was Panurge. I have just come home from Turkey, where I had the misfortune of being made a prisoner in the expedition against Metelin. I have ever so many good stories to tell Your Highness, more marvellous than those of Ulysses. As you are gracious enough to promise to keep me among your friends, I protest that I shall never leave you. I beg your pardon, my lord, I want one word more. I am desperately hungry, my teeth being very sharp, and my throat very dry. A dinner just now would be just as good as a balsam for sore eyes.'
Pantagruel, on hearing these words from the stranger, was delighted. He at once ordered that a full meal should be got ready. This being set before him Panurge, who hadn't eaten for two whole days, stuffed himself and went to bed with the roosters, and never woke up until dinner-time next day, when he leaped from his bed, and, without so much as washing his face, reached the dining-room in three hops and one jump.
CHAPTER XXVI.
PANTAGRUEL BEATS THE SORBONNE IN ARGUMENT, AND PANURGE PROVES THAT AN ENGLISHMAN'S FINGERS ARE NOT SO NIMBLE AS A FRENCHMAN'S.
WHILE Pantagruel was at Paris, he was receiving, every now and then, letters from his father, which were so kind, and so full of good advice to him to improve himself in the Languages, that he had not the heart to neglect them, even had he wished. One day, after laughing more than usual at one of Panurge's pranks, — and his new friend had turned out a queer fish indeed, — he thought it was right to see how much he had really learned. The very next day, therefore, at all the crossings of the city he posted, with his own hand, nine thousand seven hundred and sixty-four propositions, challenging all the wise men of Paris to argue with him, and show where, and in what, and how far, any of his propositions was wrong. At so bold a defiance, the wise men of Paris puckered their foreheads, opened wide their nostrils, breathed heavily, and ended by accepting the challenge. They thought that a Giant's strongest point was his body ; but Pantagruel very soon proved to them that he was stronger than all of them, bunched together, in brains.
It was at the gates of Sorbonne itself — the great University — that Pantagruel, flushed with victory, next knocked. Sorbonne was not too proud to meet the bold Giant from Utopia in a fair combat, not of blows, but of words. For six weeks, Pantagruel maintained his theses against all the theologians, from four o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the evening, with the exception of two hours
allowed for refreshment. The contest made a great noise in the court, and most of the lords, masters of requests, presidents, counsellors, bankers, secretaries, lawyers, together with the doctors and professors of the great city, came to hear the learned talk day after day. Among all these there were, of course, some very headstrong and restive, who must needs take a hand in helping the theologians to puzzle Pantagruel; but, at the end, they themselves were routed, the most learned doctors of the Sorbonne along with all the rest.
From that time, everybody began to talk about Pantagruel's wonderful knowledge, — as, before that, all the talk had been about his monstrous size, — even to the wash-women, roast-meat sellers, penknife-makers, and others, who, whenever they would catch a sight of him on the street, would poke each other in the ribs and call out: ' Oh, look, there he goes!' Pantagruel would have been blind if he had not seen these good people nudge one another, and deaf if he had not heard what they were saying. He certainly was very much pleased; but that is not at all strange, since Demosthenes, the prince of Greek orators, felt the same when once, in passing along a street in Athens, an old hag pointed her skinny fingers sharp at him, screaming : ' That's the man ! '
So great did Pantagruel's fame become in Paris that, whenever there was a law-nut harder to crack than usual, the parties would appeal to him to decide between them, and his decisions were always so just that, strange to say, both sides would go away satisfied,— which is a thing hard to be believed, since the like is not to be seen for thirteen Jubilees. His reputation also went abroad, and, in consequence, attracted the attention of a wise Englishman named Thau-mastes, who came all the way from England with the sole intention of seeing Pantagruel, and testing for himself if his knowledge was so great as had been told. On reaching Paris, Thaumastes asked where Pantagruel lodged, and, on being informed, went to the St. Denis Hotel, where he found him walking in the garden with Panurge on his arm. When his eyes first fell on the Giant, he was almost out of his senses for fear, seeing him so big and so tall. At last he managed to pluck up courage enough to salute him very courteously.
'Very true it is, mighty Sir,' he said, 'what Pluto, prince of philosophers, once declared, that, if the image of Science were corporeal enough to be brought in all her beauty before the eyes of men, she would excite in all the world great wonder. I came disposed to wonder; now, seeing, I do more — I admire. Having heard of your renown I have left country, home,
AT THE GATES OP SORBONN'E.
and kinsmen, and have, in spite of the long journey and the hardships of crossing the sea, presented myself here with the sole purpose of seeing you, and consulting you upon some passages of Philosophy in which I believe, and yet cannot be sure, that I am right. If you will only deign to solve my doubts, I hereby declare myself your slave. But I beg to make plain one point, and that is, that I wish to dispute through signs only, without speaking.
I shall be found, if it suits Your Magnificence, in the great hall of Navarre, at seven o'clock to-morrow morning.'
Pantagruel, although by no means sure that he knew how to argue with his fingers, replied with his usual
