Explore "Toine" by Guy De Maupassant on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Well, it came to pass that 'Toine got a paralytic stroke. They put the colossus to bed in the little chamber behind the partition of the barroom -- so that he could hear what the folks were saying on the other side, and could talk with his friends; for his head was all right, although his body -- the enormous body, impossible to move or to lift -- was stricken with immobility. At first it was hoped that he would be able to move his big legs again; but this hope vanished in a very short time; and 'Toine-Ma-Fine passed his days as well as his nights in bed -- the bed that was only made up once a week, with the assistance of four neighbours, who lifted out the tavern-keeper by his four limbs, while the mattress was being turned.
He kept his good humour still; but it was a different jollity from that of the old times -- more humble, more timid -- and he was childishly afraid of his wife, who kept yelping all day long: