THE FISH OF BOUILLABAISSE 



It is really a bread soup soaked in the fish liquor. 

 Only, in our language, we don't say ' make soup ' 

 but ' make bouillon '. The sardine fisherman, when 

 he shows you his pot, says: ' I'm. making a bouillon 

 of sardines '. The fisherman with a spinner will tell 

 you: 'I'm going to make a bouillon of mackerel'. 

 And the ' gangui ' fishermen, whose throw-outs con- 

 sist of several sorts offish mixed up, simply say: ' I'm 

 making a bouillon of fish ', or, in their own speech, 

 ' bouille de peis '. In my opinion that's how we got 

 first ' bouillepeisse ', then * bouillebeise ', and finally 

 ' bouillabaisse '." 



" We Italians," Narcisse agreed, " call it ' bouilla- 

 pesce '." 



" So," Armand concluded, "it is the old soup the 

 4 gangui ' fishermen have known, made at sea in the 

 shelter of a rock, which has become the bouillabaisse 

 we know today. Anyhow, if you would enjoy it 

 properly, you should catch it for yourself." 



" True," said I. " One always appreciates better 

 something one has been obliged to work for. But I 

 congratulate you on the cleverness of your explanation. 

 I'm sure the experts will not be able to suggest anything 

 better." 



" I don't deserve any credit for it," said Armand. 

 " I have been a fisherman ever since I was a tiny child. 

 I live with fishermen and I am one of themselves. I 

 have only had to listen to them, to recall an old memory 

 and profit by it. It's like mending a net. It isn't 

 enough just to stop up the hole, one has to find out 

 where it started and then follow the thread. That's 

 the only way to make a good job of it." 



So was the wisdom of the ancients expressed in a 

 small corner of the Mediterranean, its original home, 

 by the voice of a good sailor, descended from the 

 Greek fishermen and the Phoenician sailors of old, heir 

 to their experience and their knowledge. 



71 



