Excerpt from Readings in Rabelais IN these Readings I have set myself especially to illustrate the wisdom of Rabelais. As for his stout heart, his cheerfulness, and his brave face, these are apparent in every page, and need no one to point them out. The stories, however, with which he sought to enliven his readers will be found sparingly represented here. They are neither better nor worse (though much better told) than the stories in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, ' those of Desperiers, or the 'heptameron'; but the tales of Brother Tappecoue and the Sieur Dindenault may serve as favourable specimens. In the Comedie Humaine of Rabelais, we are taught, by allegory, by parable, or by direct admon ition, in every page. The man's head is full of learning, and his heart is full of his fellow-creatures. Even in his maddest and most extravagant mo ments, there drops a word of wisdom, unexpected. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.