fouettard

Updated: May 1, 2025

He remained mischievous and malevolent, but he became childlike and very ingenuous. He became less real and, I dare say, more poetical. He entered in the artless Cycle of childish traditions. He became more like Croquemitaine,* like Père Fouettard, or the sand man who closes the children's eyes when evening comes. *The national "bugaboo" or "bogy man."

Anatole France - Putois: 1907