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Friday 31 August 2012

Pigeon stuffer


Another social vignette from Emile Zola's Le Ventre de Paris - fattening pigeons.

Cadine had a saucepan near her; she filled her mouth with the water and tares which it contained, and then, taking up the pigeons one by one, shot the food down their throats with amazing rapidity. The poor creatures struggled and nearly choked, and finally fell down in the boxes with swimming eyes, intoxicated, as it were, by all the food which they were thus forced to swallow.

4 comments:

Sam Vega said...

It's a nasty job, but someone's got to do it...

A K Haart said...

Sam - not an unqualified person though, surely?

James Higham said...

I bought a few cards with that design once.

A K Haart said...

James - it's my sense of humour too.