The Piece of String Short Story Project

The Piece of String by Guy de Maupassant Short Story Project.

Group Memebers submit your part below for rewiew, and feel free to edit other people's part.

If you lost the story I printed for you, go here: String\Story

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Presentation on 2/7/06 Please have your paragraph/thoughts completed by Thur. 2/2/06 on the web or Fri 2/3/06 in class.

Background

We are doing a 20 min presentation. First, we will have a 5 reenactment of the plaz written by Plaz. Each section/person then has 3 minutes to tell about their section and how it relates to the necklase story.

Reenactment (Plaz)

Here is my rough draft --Plaz 14:16, 27 February 2006 (EST) Feel free to leave me comments at User_Talk:ThePlaz

(everyone wondering around the room) (misc people can mime doing buiness again)

Main Character (Maitre Hauchecome of Breaute) steps out and argues w/ Maitre Malandain, harness maker, siently for a bit, then bends over slowly and picks up the string, puts in his pocket and hobbles back into crowd

Everyone wonders again (misc people can mime doing buiness again)

Hauchcome enters Jourdain’s tavern (host not shown) with 2 other people (not Malandain) and they start to eat, and mime talking

Drum beating heard and town crier talks (for the first time in the play, someone talks)

"Be it known to the inhabitants of Goderville and in general to all persons present at the market that there has been lost this morning on the Beuzeville road, between nine and ten o'clock, a black leather pocketbook containing five hundred francs and business papers. You are requested to return it to the mayor's office at once or to Maitre Fortune Houlbreque, of Manneville. There will be twenty francs reward."

3 people in tavern start talking about accusation (out loud this time) and whether Fortune will get his wallet back

Town crier returns: "Is Maitre Hauchecorne, of Breaute, here?" Maitre Hauchecorne answered: "Here I am, here I am." And he and the crier walk to the Mayor’s office The mayor was waiting for him, seated in an armchair. He was the notary of the place, a tall, grave man of pompous speech. "Maitre Hauchecorne," said he, "this morning on the Beuzeville road, you were seen to pick up the pocketbook lost by Maitre Houlbreque, of Manneville." The countryman looked at the mayor in amazement frightened already at this suspicion which rested on him, he knew not why. "I--I picked up that pocketbook?" "Yes, YOU." "I swear I don't even know anything about it." "You were seen." "I was seen--I? Who saw me?" "M. Malandain, the harness-maker." Then the old man remembered, understood, and, reddening with anger, said: "Ah! he saw me, did he, the rascal? He saw me picking up this string here, M'sieu le Maire." And fumbling at the bottom of his pocket, he pulled out of it the little end of string. But the mayor incredulously shook his head: "You will not make me believe, Maitre Hauchecorne, that M. Malandain, who is a man whose word can be relied on, has mistaken this string for a pocketbook." The peasant, furious, raised his hand and spat on the ground beside him as if to attest his good faith, repeating: "For all that, it is God's truth, M'sieu le Maire. There! On my soul's salvation, I repeat it." The mayor continued: "After you picked up the object in question, you even looked about for some time in the mud to see if a piece of money had not dropped out of it." The good man was choking with indignation and fear. "How can they tell--how can they tell such lies as that to slander an honest man! How can they? Search me!" they search him, find nothing mayor: “Ok. Leave, I will see you tmo.” Two restarunt patrons “Did you hear, Hauchecomb stole the wallet”… et al.

Then Marius Paumelle walks to the mayor and hands in the wallet

Patrons continue

Hauchcombe walks to them and tries to explain that is wasn’t him who stole it

Patrons contiinue and other townspeople join in

Hauchecomb goes to each one and tries to convince his innocense

Hauchecomb lies down and dies