That reminds me of one of my favorite french idioms. Where we might say "brain-teaser," referring to a puzzle or riddle or something, the French say "casse-tete," i.e. "broken head," or "head-breaker."
Headache is "mal a la tete," where "mal" means sick in context, or bad in general. I can't recall exactly how to say "I'm sick," but the word for sick is "malade," as in malady. (maybe they say I am sick, while maybe they say I have sick[ness].
Actually, I wonder if Thurber probably said "je suis mal" which might come more readily to poor french students, or "je suis malade"
Yeah, I was trying to remember if it was "Je suis mal" or "J'ai malade." It makes sense that he was saying one of these things-- it's what I'd say, and that, long with "Aidez-moi" should get the point across.