Monday, June 16
They Do Not So Much Fly as Plummet
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGiof8qC9tS-gf1O2SIyZgibZLXZ7LBnjIAyLQ-6_a4oGLvcu0xHvb__-aARUIG52sk0Sm9cMMgakq5E75TxdJzdbfqBPgeTFMLVvdfcSetcq875jU68QIZh86dgRBKX03M2E/s400/french_sheep.jpg)
Now this sounds like a traditional way we can get the youth interested in things ecclesiastical:
By late afternoon, some revellers had begun chanting "Toss the goat! Toss the goat!"Of course, all we'd have to do in the U.S. to get approval is tell people it's multicultural...or possibly a stunt for Jackass.
A group of young people arrived with a goat and were greeted by cheers. But they backed down when nobody responded to their request to help pay their fines if they were punished.
[...]
The origins of the village's tradition are unclear but one legend has it that a priest's goat whose milk fed the poor, fell from the bell tower and was saved by townspeople stretching out a blanket.
Despite a fall of 15 metres, the goat is not always hurt in the hurling ritual as villagers hold a tarpaulin underneath to catch it. [...]Spain's National Association of Animal Welfare and Protection had reported agreement had been reached to use a stuffed goat this year but it never materialised.
And, since we're on the subject of flying farm animals:
First Frenchman: Bonsoir - ici nous avons les diagrammes modernes d'un mouton anglo-français ... maintenant ... baa-aa, baa-aa... nous avons, dans la tête, le cabin. Ici, on se trouve le petit capitaine Anglais, Monsieur Trubshawe.
Second Frenchman: Vive Brian, wherever you are.
First Frenchman: D'accord, d'accord. Maintenant, je vous présente mon collègue, le pour célèbre, Jean-Brian Zatapathique.
(Transfers his moustache to Second Frenchman)
Second Frenchman: Maintenant, le mouton ... le landing ... les wheels, bon.
(Opens diagram to show wheels on sheep's legs.)
First Frenchman: Bon, les wheels, ici.
Second Frenchman: C'est formidable, n'est ce pas ... (unintelligibly indicates motor at rear of sheep)
First Frenchman: Les voyageurs ... les bagages ... ils sont ... ici!
(Triumphantly opens the rest of the diagram to reveal the whole brilliant arrangement. They run round flapping their arms and baa-ing.)