A box of captain's biscuits, nearly full

"Rat," he moaned, "how about your supper, you poor, cold, hungry, weary animal? I've nothing to give you - nothing - not a crumb!"

"What a fellow you are for giving in!" said the Rat reproachfully. "Why, only just now I saw a sardine-opener on the kitchen dresser, quite distinctly; and everybody knows that means there are sardines about somewhere in the neighbourhood. Rouse yourself! Pull yourself together, and come with me and forage."

They went and foraged accordingly, hunting through every cupboard and turning out every drawer. The result was not so very depressing after all, though of course it might have been better; a tin of sardines - a box of captain's biscuits, nearly full - and a German sausage encased in silver paper.

"There's a banquet for you!" observed the rat, as he arranged the table. "I know some animals who would give their ears to be sitting down to supper with us tonight!"                             

  Look, what thy memory cannot contain

  Commit to these waste blanks, and

    thou shalt find

  Those children nursed, deliver'd

    from thy brain,

  To take a new acquaintance

    of thy mind.

  

John Julius Norwich

An English Christmas

  Kenneth Grahame

  The Wind in the Willows

  1908

John Murray, 2017©

Christmas Crackers

  Commonplace Selections

    William Shakespeare

    Sonnet 77

    1609

Allen Lane/Penguin, 1980©

Argia

From up here, nothing of Argia can be
seen; some say, "It's down below there,"
and we can only believe them. The place
is deserted. At night, putting your ear
to the ground, you can sometimes hear a
door slam.

Italo Calvino
Invisible Cities
William Weaver
  translation
Einaudi, 1972©
Harcourt, 1974©

Nino Migliori
People of Emilia
1950

Sunday nibbled sleeve xiii: The stone in our shoe

The plaintiff, giving evidence, said that when he was on the crossing in Chertsey Street, Guildford, he heard a shout. He turned and saw the cow coming pell-mell round a corner. It trampled over him and contin-ued on its way. He did not think it deliberately went for him. 

Mr Patrick O'Connor, for King Bros., submitted that the person in control of a tame animal mansuetae naturae - cow was undoubtedly tame - was not liable for damage done by it which was 'foreign to its species'. He would seek to prove the cow attacked the plaintiff; if that were so, there was no liability.

His Lordship - "Is one to abandon every vestige of common sense in approaching this matter?"

Counsel - "Yes, my Lord."

The hearing was adjourned.

The Times [London]

  Law Reports

  date not available

John Julius Norwich

More Christmas Crackers

  1980 - 1989

Viking, 1990©

Jacob Dooley

Beacon Hill