The old Sauvage

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The old Sauvage (French La Mère Sauvage ) is a novella by Guy de Maupassant . It first appeared on March 3, 1884 in Le Gaulois .

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After the end of the Franco-Prussian War, four soldiers are housed in the house of the old farmer Sauvage in the village of Virelonge . The old woman gets on well with them, cooks and washes for them. When she receives the news that her son has fallen, she seeks revenge. She sets her house on fire and waits in front of it with a gun so that none of her roommates can escape. But that is not necessary. The four young men perish in agony in the fire. The hurried German military and the villagers initially believe that there has been an accident, but old Sauvage confesses what she has done and is shot.