Val says this is a VERY rough translation of friend Betrands stories of his " double " life, spent between France and Laos. It shows with humour the difference between cultures, where the cock is more prized than a pet dog.
As you have been giving injunctions I am now obliged to execute them
I am delighted to give you a reason to open your dictionary!
One reads often on these pages the stories of pets for the most part abandoned, but sometimes stories of a charitable act looking after a pet abandoned by his master. Eventually ending up in a British home.
If you talked of a cock it would be in an occitan cooking pot, then sliced finely with a Sheffield steel knife.
In another planet, called Laos each animal has a destiny also tragic ( for them) If you have a pet that is on the loose in town or village one day they will end up in a " Palais Laotien" flavoured with strange but delicious aromatique herbs. The animals are not puced ( marked) and your favourite dalmatian, well you could end up paying to eat him at the local chinese restaurant.
The laotien cock has no such risks, this is a mythical creature which is subject to all the care given by a Laotien male and also his wife. The cock will be well nourished, talked to with respect, caressed like a mistress. His beautiful feathers cared for and tied with beautiful ribbons.. If by chance your cock disappeared, a murder would soon follow in the village, that cock is so prized.
Each full moon, all the villagers organise a combat in a small clearing in the forest, with a small ring of sand, it will be the theatre for the homeric fight. More modest perhaps than the grand arenas in Spain and certainly less bloody.
The two fighting cocks are let loose with cries of bravo and the delight of the spectators. Money changes hands furiously. The two cocks turn and dance for several minutes with the cheers of the experts. They do not have spurs on their feet so no injuries, not a drop of blood. The winner is decided by being the most nimble on its feet and the most pecks achieved against the other cock. Money once again changes hands. The participants celebrate the bravery of the winning cock and that winner will be sainted and glorified in its retirement in a paradise on earth, with no taxes
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