Guy de Maupassant's short story "Mother Savage" is set in rural France sometime after the Franco-Prussian War. The narrator, who remains unnamed, goes hunting with his friend Serval, whose chateau was destroyed during the war. Serval is clearly an aristocrat, but the narrator's identity and social class status is unclear. Walking through the countryside of Virelogne, the narrator describes its woods and hills lyrically and with obvious love and affection for the region: "one of those delightful spots which have a sensuous charm for the eyes." The time of year is autumn. Recalling "certain woods, certain pools, certain hills," the narrator remembers much of the Virelogne region as he hikes with Serval. Soon they come upon a cottage that the narrator also recognizes, from having stopped there to share wine with the inhabitants in 1869, before the war broke out. The narrator is shocked to see that the cottage is "in ruins," and asked Serval what happened.

             Serval relates the story of the Sauvage family. The father had been killed by the gendarmes, and the son at age 33 went off to fight in the Franco-Prussian War, leaving his mother behind. Alone in her isolated cottage, the old woman was "hardy" and although she led a "melancholy and gloomy life" hers was not too arduous because the family were not in dire straits and the woman was used to the peasant life. One winter, four Prussian soldiers were sent to monitor the old woman. Although members of the enemy forces, the four men soon take a liking to the old woman, who reminds them of the mothers they left behind at home too. Mere Maupassant also plays the role of mother, and feeds and takes care of the four boys as if they were her sons. As the narrator notes, "the peasantry have no patriotic hatred; that belongs to the upper class alone." Thus, the old woman is the protagonist of "Mother Savage," not the narrator of the tale. Mother Savage, or Mere Sauvage, is stoic; she wears a black headdress that "imprisoned her white hair," and likewise, she keeps her emotions and thoughts well-hidden.