At the College of Rodez 



been learnt by heart; and we trooped down to the 

 far end of the valley, so many bands of madcaps. 

 With our trousers turned up to our knees, we ex- 

 ploited, artless fishermen that we were, the peace- 

 ful waters of the river, the Aveyron. What we 

 hoped to catch was the Loach, no bigger than our 

 little finger, but tempting, thanks to his immobility 

 on the sand amid the water-weeds. We fully ex- 

 pected to transfix him with our trident, a fork. 



This miraculous catch, the object of such shouts 

 of triumph when it succeeded, was very rarely 

 vouchsafed to us; the Loach, the rascal, saw the 

 fork coming and with three strokes of his tail dis- 

 appeared ! 



We found compensation in the apple-trees in the 

 neighbouring pastures. The apple has from all 

 time been the urchin's delight, above all when 

 plucked from a tree which does not belong to him. 

 Our pockets were soon crammed with the forbid- 

 den fruit. 



Another distraction awaited us. Flocks of Tur- 

 keys were not rare, roaming at their own sweet 

 will and gobbling up the Locusts around the farms. 

 If no watcher hove in sight, we had great sport. 

 Each of us would seize a Turkey, tuck her head 

 under her wing, rock it in this attitude for a mo- 

 ment and then place her on the ground, lying on 

 her side. The bird no longer budged. The whole 

 flock of Turkeys was subjected to our hypnotic 

 handling; and the meadow assumed the aspect of 

 a battle-field strewn with the dead and dying. 



And now look out for the farmer's wife! The 



67 



