Short Fiction · Chapter
Father Judas explained
The narrator visits a remote, desolate region and meets an old boatman, Father Joseph, who lives on a gloomy tarn.
What happens
The narrator visits a remote, desolate region and meets an old boatman, Father Joseph, who lives on a gloomy tarn. During a boat ride, they see a ruined hovel with a red cross on its wall, which Father Joseph claims is where Judas died—referring to the Wandering Jew. The legend unfolds: a beggar woman took in an ancient, wandering man, and the locals called him Father Judas. He kept pigs, and after his companion died, he was eventually devoured by his own pigs on Good Friday. The red cross appeared mysteriously, and the narrator momentarily believes the tale.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Loneliness
The setting of the solitary tarn and the hermit-like existence of Father Joseph and the beggars emphasize profound isolation.
Illusion vs. Reality
The narrator is drawn into believing the supernatural legend, blurring the line between historical fact and folk myth.
Characters to notice
- Guy de Maupassant
The narrator who visits the tarn and hears the legend from Father Joseph.
- Old Boniface
Father Joseph, the old boatman who lives by the tarn and recounts the story of Father Judas.
Key passages
“In the centre of a quiet ring of bare hills, where nothing grew but whins and a rare, freakish oak twisted by the wind, there lay a vast wild tarn, in whose black and stagnant waters shivered thousands of reeds.”
The landscape is barren and eerie, with a large, still lake surrounded by sparse vegetation.
Sets the desolate, almost supernatural atmosphere of the chapter.
“That is where Judas died.”
The ruin marks the spot where the Wandering Jew met his end.
Central revelation that anchors the legend.
“His pigs had eaten him.”
The old man's own pigs devoured his corpse.
Grim conclusion to the story of Father Judas.