Author: Guy de Maupassant (French, 1850-1893)
Published: 1882
Category: Valour
Text available on: Classic Reader
Summary:
A small group of Prussians occupy a French town, meeting with no resistance from the populace who consider the local priest's daily refusal to ring the church bells sufficient protest to the occupation; until one day, a dandified, brutal Prussian officer, nicknamed Mademoiselle Fifi by his fellow officers, is murdered by Rachel, a Jewish French prostitute imported from a distant town.
Points of interest:
The title character's nickname came from his personal preference of dandified dress and his constant use of a French phrase 'fi, fi donc'; signifying disgust and a general aversion to his situation and everything around him.
The prostitute's name, Rachel, foreshadows she is not all she seems (see bibical story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah).
