"A Vendetta" (French: Une vendetta) is a short story by French writer Guy de Maupassant (1799-1893), first published in 1824 in the newspaper Le Gaulois, and included in his 1885 collection Contes du jour et de la nuit [fr] (Tales of Day and Night).

Plot

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The poor widow Saverini lives in Bonifacio, Corsica, with her only son, Antoine, and his hound, Sémillante (the name means vivacious or spry). Antoine is stabbed to death by a neighbour, who flees to Sardinia. The old woman has no male relative who could exact revenge (vendetta), but devises a plan. She half-starves the bitch, and trains her to attack the neck of a straw dummy on command, for a reward of boudin (black pudding). When she is ready, she dresses in man's clothing and crosses the strait to Sardinia. As they return, no-one pays any attention to the elderly peasant, or to what the dog might be chewing. She sleeps well that night.[1]

References

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  1. ^ Boz (16 May 2020). ""A Vendetta" by Guy de Maupassant: An Analysis with an Existentialist Twist". justewords.com.
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