Walter Schnaffs’s Adventure

Guy de Maupassant & Giovanni Emilio Cingolani

Walter Schnaffs is a fat Prussian soldier, unhappy since his arrival in France where he has been sent to fight in the Franco-Prussian war. He is a peaceful man who misses his family, has an obsession with food, and hates the war – in particular bayonets and walking. When he is sent on a patrol in Normandy and his troop is attacked by snipers, he jumps into a hole to hide from the French. One day passes, then two, the hunger increases. He is scared of starving to death and dreams of becoming a prisoner. That would be the end of his worries.

He then sees a castle in the distance and decides to leave his hideout and give himself up to the enemy.

When he shows up in the kitchen at lunchtime, everybody runs away as they think the castle is being attacked by the Prussians. Walter Schnaffs sits down, eats up all the food, then quietly falls asleep. During the night he is taken prisoner by fifty French soldiers.

In his cell, he dances with joy: finally he is a prisoner,
saved from the war!

Guy de Maupassant wrote Walter Schnaffs’ Adventure,
originally published as a short story in 1883, as a critique
of human hypocrisy and the stupidity of the war.