Note 80 — FOOLISH FEAR.78

Mr. Douglas translates simply: ... “stick or instrument.” The word in the text, bourdon, signifies literally “a pilgrim’s staff.” It is followed by the word joustouer, “to tilt or joust,” or “a tilter, a jouster,” which Mr. Douglas ignores. The combination, however, seems to keep more faithfully to the spirit of the story. On the other hand, bourdon is a recognised erotic term for penis. Farmer, (Slang and its Analogues: vol. 5, p. 290), quotes Rabelais as employing the word in this sense. Landes, (Glossaire érotique de la langue française: Brussels, 1861), includes it in a list which comprises 212 slang terms for the male organ of generation. Le petit Citateur: Notes érotiques et pornographiques: Paris, 1881: only 300 printed, a curious and valuable little work dealing with the lesser known expressions and metaphors of venery, and intended to serve as a complement to the ordinary erotic dictionary, describes bourdon as “the virile member, the grand chord which gives the note in the amorous duet.” The Memoirs of Miss Fanny are quoted: “ ... enraptured, split open by the enormous size of my ravisher’s bourdon, my thighs all bloodstained, I remained for some time overwhelmed by fatigue and pleasure....” The French text referred to in the foregoing note is that of Garnier Frères, Paris, n.d.