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of Spain. Andalusia. Garden of the Sun. The East Indian (or Malayan) archipelago. Garden of the West. Illinois; Kansas is also so called. Garden of the World. The region of the Mississippi. Gardener (g hard). Get on, gardener! Get on, you slow and clumsy coachman. The allusion is to a
man who is both gardener and coachman. "From you blue sky above us bent, "Thou, old Adam's likeness,Gardening (g hard). (See Adam's Profession.) Father of landscape gardening. Lenotre (1613-1700). Gargamelle (3 syl., g hard) was the wife of Grangousier, and daughter of the king of the Parpaillons
(butterflies). On the day that she gave birth to Gargantua she ate sixteen quarters, two bushels, three
pecks, and a pipkin of dirt, the mere remains left in the tripe which she had for supper; for, as the proverb
says - "Scrape tripe as clean as e'er you can,Gargamelle. Said to be meant for Anne of Brittany. She was the mother of Gargantua, in the satirical romance of Gargantua and Pantagruel', by Rabelais. Motteux, who makes "Pantagruel" to be Anthony de Bourbon, and "Gargantua" to be Henri d'Albret, says "Gargamelle" is designed for Catherine de Foix, Queen of Navarre. (Rabelais, i. 4.) Gargantua (g hard), according to Rabelais, was son of Grangousier and Gargamelle. Immediately he
was born he cried out "Drink, drink!" so lustily that the words were heard in Beauce and Bibarois; whereupon
his royal father exclaimed, "Que grand tu as!" which, being the first words he uttered after the birth of
the child, were accepted as its name; so it was called "Gah-gran'-tu-as," corrupted into Gar-g'an-tu-a. It
needed 17,913 cows to supply the babe with milk. When he went to Paris to finish his education he
rode on a mare as big as six elephants, and took the bells of Notre Dame to hang on his mare's neck
as jingles. At the prayer of the Parisians he restored the bells, and they consented to feed his mare for
nothing. On his way home he was fired at from the castle at Vede Ford, and on reaching home combed
his hair with a comb 900 feet long, when at every "rake" seven bullet-balls fell from his hair. Being desirous
of a salad for dinner, he went to cut some lettuces as big as walnut-trees, and ate up six pilgrims from
Sebastian, who had hidden themselves among them out of fear. Picrochole, having committed certain
offences, was attacked by Gargantua in the rock Clermond, and utterly defeated; and Gargantua, in remembrance
of this victory, founded and endowed the abbey of Theleme [Te-lame]. (Rabelais: Gargantua, i. 7.) Gargantuan Enormous, inordinate, great beyond all limits. It needed 900 ells of Châtelleraut linen to make the body of his shirt, and 200 more for the gussets; for his shoes 406 ells of blue and crimson |
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