DiotimosReading Desk

Animals

Prison informer

mouton

Mouton usually means sheep; prison slang here names an informer who lives among inmates.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Lemma.

Mouton usually means sheep; prison slang here names an informer who lives among inmates. The narrator explicitly glosses the sense as spies, but says Navette and Bellier are suspected of being such men, not that their identity has been proved in this paragraph. Elsewhere Mouton is also the carpenter’s dog’s proper name. Keeping slang and animal-name uses separate prevents an accidental equivalence.

Places to read

  1. Chapter XVII, paragraph 30FrenchMouton, le chien du menuisier: Mouton, the carpenter’s dog. This is a proper name, not a claim about an informer.
  2. Chapter XIX, paragraph 28Frenchdes "moutons", c’est-à-dire des espions: “sheep,” that is spies. Suspicion falls on two recently transferred inmates.