The Devil’s Pool · Chapter
IV: The Cabbage explained
The chapter describes the third day of a wedding celebration, focusing on the traditional 'cabbage' ceremony symbolizing marital fruitfulness.
What happens
The chapter describes the third day of a wedding celebration, focusing on the traditional 'cabbage' ceremony symbolizing marital fruitfulness. It details the roles of the 'infidel' and his wife, the procession to dig up a cabbage, and its placement on the roof as a fertility charm. The narrative also recounts the life and tragic death of the gravedigger, Father Bontemps, and concludes with Germain's wedding at Belair.
Themes in this chapter
Tradition and Custom
The entire chapter is devoted to the detailed description of the cabbage ceremony, a traditional rural wedding custom symbolizing fertility and prosperity.
Death and Mortality
The gravedigger's life and death are juxtaposed with the wedding festivities, highlighting the coexistence of joy and sorrow.
Love and Marriage
The chapter culminates in Germain's wedding, and the cabbage ceremony is a symbolic representation of marital fruitfulness.
Characters to notice
- Germain
Germain is married at the end of the chapter, described as 'proud and active' as he goes to hitch his oxen.
- The Gravedigger
The gravedigger, Father Bontemps, is celebrated for his cooking and merry nature despite his epilepsy; his tragic death by falling from a loft is recounted.
- Petit-Pierre
Petit-Pierre is mentioned as part of the wedding festivities, though not directly active in this chapter.
Key passages
“When he left a marriage, he would go to dig a grave, and nail up a coffin. Then he would become very grave, and though nothing of this appeared in his gay humor, it left a melancholy impression which hastened the return of his attacks.”
After attending a wedding, the gravedigger would immediately go to prepare a burial, and the somberness of that work, though hidden by his cheerful demeanor, deepened his melancholy and triggered his epileptic seizures.
This illustrates the theme of death and mortality intertwined with the joy of marriage.
“The triumphant and toilsome entry of the cabbage into the house is a symbol of the prosperity and fruitfulness it represents.”
The difficult and celebratory bringing of the cabbage into the home symbolizes the wealth and fertility that the marriage is expected to bring.
This explains the symbolic meaning of the cabbage ceremony.