60: "The Adopted Son" By Guy de Maupassant

Morning Short

This short story explores a moral and ethical dilemma, financial hardship, and what it means to do one's best for your child. Learn more at http://listen.morningshort.com It's heartbreaking in some respects, but all-in-all it's just plain thought-provoking. Notes: An odd little story about two families, one of which sells one of its children. The emotions of the piece are what strike me as most unusual. Today's story is a 9 minute read. Invite your friends using Share.morningshort.com: For every 10 friends who sign up, we'll give you a month of Morning Short Daily for free. Or Upgrade to daily for just $3/month. The two cottages stood beside each other at the foot of a hill near a little seashore resort. The two peasants labored hard on the unproductive soil to rear their little ones, and each family had four. Before the adjoining doors a whole troop of urchins played and tumbled about from morning till night. The two eldest were six years old, and the youngest were about fifteen months; the marriages, and afterward the births, having taken place nearly simultaneously in both families. The two mothers could hardly distinguish their own offspring among the lot, and as for the fathers, they were altogether at sea. The eight names danced in their heads; they were always getting them mixed up; and when they wished to call one child, the men often called three names before getting the right one. The first of the two cottages, as you came up from the bathing beach, Rolleport, was occupied by the Tuvaches, who had three girls and one boy; the other house sheltered the Vallins, who had one girl and three boys.

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