Two Friends by Guy de Maupassant | Read Along

Hi! Join me as I read "Two Friends" - a short story written about the Franco-Prussian war. Morrissot and Sauvage are old friends. They meet by chance in Paris during a siege. This chance meeting spurs an idea for a fishing trip. This story explores themes of friendship, human nature, war, and the lives of ordinary people during dangerous times. *About this read-along* I wanted to make this story accessible and enjoyable for anyone. So I chose a clean font with karaoke style captions. You can pause, read ahead, re-read, and lookup words you do not know. ⚠️ Content note: This story takes place during a war and includes themes of violence and death. Two Friends (Deux amis) was first published in 1883 and is in the public domain in the United States. This reading uses a public-domain English translation. *Definitions* besieged — surrounded by an enemy army famine — a severe shortage of food nonce — a particular occasion or period of time chum — a close friend draper — a person who sells cloth ardent — very enthusiastic or passionate angler — a person who fishes cordially — in a warm and friendly manner mournfully — in a sad manner outpost — a small military position away from the main army misgivings — feelings of doubt or worry overawed — made to feel intimidated or overwhelmed ascertain — to find out for certain gudgeon — a small freshwater fish placidly — calmly and peacefully reconnoitre — to explore an area to gather information for military purposes errand — a task or purpose for making a trip betraying — revealing something that someone is trying to hide relent — to become less strict or severe instantaneously — immediately; in an instant Thanks for reading with me. Questions to think about after reading: • What do you think makes Morissot and Sauvage such good friends? • Why did they go fishing, despite the danger? • What did you think of the ending?