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Pallet and poor bedding

paillasse; grabat

Paillasse is straw bedding or a straw pallet; grabat is a mean or wretched bed.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Related words and phrases.

Paillasse is straw bedding or a straw pallet; grabat is a mean or wretched bed. These objects show the bodily terms of hospitality. Brotteaux offers the better mattress to the priest, who insists on the pallet from humility; later Athénaïs receives the mattress and Longuemare takes the ruined chair. The words matter because generosity redistributes actual comfort within severe scarcity.

Places to read

  1. Chapter XI, paragraph 3Frenchmon grabat: my pallet. Brotteaux admits that rain sometimes falls on his bed.
  2. Chapter XII, paragraph 24Frenchgarda pour lui la paillasse: kept the straw pallet for himself. Longuemare subsequently insists on exchanging places out of humility.
  3. Chapter XIV, paragraph 63FrenchBrotteaux s’étendit sur la paillasse: Brotteaux lay on the straw pallet. Athénaïs has the mattress and the priest the chair.