Monday, August 27, 2007

The Duck who Couldn't Quack

...and the skinny cow

Where we stayed in France the owner had some fowl: a goose, a duck and several chickens (plus one very self-important cockerel). The duck had been hatched by the goose, so consequently he thought he was a goose. Geese honk, ducks quack. This fellow (a muscovy, for the aficionados) tried very hard to emulate his 'mother' and, being a duck, achieved not a honk, nor a quack, but a 'hhhrrgggssss'. A duck who couldn't quack.

As we drove through the countryside admiring the 'spotty cows' (no, apart from Freisians and Charolet, I cannot identify the bovine of the world), one very, very thin Freisan caught my daughter's eye. "Look how skinny that cow is." she said. I explained, of course. "Probably one that gives low fat milk." And for a change, my children actually laughed.

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