It was at this moment that Gargantua was born.  He did not whimper as the other babes used to do, but with a high, sturdy, and big voice, he shouted out, “Drink, drink, drink!” The sound was so extremely great that it rang over two counties.  I am afraid that you do not thoroughly believe in the truth of this strange nativity.  Believe it or not, I do not care.  But an honest man, a man of good sense, always believes what is told him, and what he finds written.

When the good 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!”