THE FISH OF BOUILLABAISSE 



makes them accustomed to perpetual danger, and 

 obliges them to mutual sacrifice. In this way they 

 develop independence of character, practical common 

 sense, and qualities of coolness and firmness which 

 one rarely finds in combination elsewhere. Their 

 conversation is often in advance of their appearance 

 and mode of life. 



One day I said to Armand, the skipper: " Have 

 you any idea where the word ' bouillabaisse ' comes 

 from? I have heard and read a great many explana- 

 tions, but they all seem to me to smack too much of 

 the pun. The absurdest is that which attributes its 

 invention, in a time of fasting and penance, to an 

 abbess called Bouille who is supposed to have found 

 fish simply cooked in water too tasteless for her liking. 

 Another alludes to the idea that one lets the fire down 

 (abaisser) when the liquor in the pot begins to boil. 

 Now I have often watched you, and you don't let the 

 fire down in the slightest; you even stoke it up so 

 that the boiling shall not slacken. The word must 

 have had another origin." 



" I am only a fisherman," Armand said. " I can 

 read and write, and just about manage the first four 

 rules, and that's as far as my studies have gone. So 

 it's rather hard for me to talk about it. I'm better at 

 handling the ' gangui ' or the sail than at answering 

 questions of that sort. But, all the same, it looks to 

 me as if the word ' bouillabaisse ' simply means ' fish 

 bouillon '. 



" I remember when I was a little apprentice, -forty 

 years ago and more, I used to hear the old fishermen 

 talk. They didn't say bouillabaisso, as we do today, 

 or bouillabaisse in French; they said bouillebeisso and 

 bouillepeis. We fishermen make our meals of the 

 throw-outs, of the fish for which there is no great 

 demand; we put them in our pot, add water and 

 saffron, and eat them when they are cooked with 

 slices of bread which we have soaked in their liquor. 

 70 



