Anton jumped out of bed early the next morning, disrupted from sleep by the screechy meows of Napoleon Cat. He went to the attic and opened the door. Nappy scampered out and headed downstairs.
“Cat!” shouted Madame Marcant as she shooed Nappy Cat out the front door. He immediately darted towards the garden…and towards Marcel the Pig, too.
Antron hurried downstairs to fetch his cat…again.
“I let him out,” he told his mother.
“He is not allowed in my kitchen…ever!” said mother.
“He has to use the litter box.”
“Why not put the litter box in the attic?” she asked.
“You can’t keep him locked in the attic day and night,” said Uncle Rupert.
“He will stay there until I say different.”
Anton went out to the garden, only to find Nappy stealing Marcel’s food. Anton grabbed Nappy before the cat could do any more damage.
“Nappy, why can’t you be easy to care for, like Marcel?”
Anton returned the scraps of leftover food to Marcel’s trough at the end of the garden. Afterwards, he took Nappy and the litter box upstairs and dropped them at the foot of the attic stairs.
“I’m sorry, Nappy, but you know how mother feels.”
Anton returned downstairs.
“How was your night?” asked Madame Marchant.
“I couldn’t sleep at all,” said Anton, “Nappy was meowing all night long.”
“I meant story time with Uncle Rupert.”
“It was good. We talked about Napoleon and the history of France.”
“Napoleon was not all of France’s history.”
“He was a big part of it,” said Uncle Rupert.
“Long before Napoleon, there were tribes of men who formed the beginnings of France. They were called the Gauls, a great Celtic tribe that existed over 2000 years ago.”
“Celtic Tribes? I thought Celtic people came from Ireland.”
“They did, but they migrated through most of southern Europe, including France, Italy, and Spain.”
“They why aren’t we part of Ireland?” asked Anton.
“The main reason is the English Channel that separates France from Ireland. As time passed, different groups of Celtics developed different languages and cultures. Some of those Celtics became Gauls.”
“Is that why we don’t speak the same language?”
Madame Marchant nodded, “Not only is there the English channel to divide us from other countries, but there’s the French Alps in the southeast and the Pyranees in the southwest. There are also large bodies of water like the Rhine River, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.”
“Look at this,” added Uncle Rupert.
He showed a two-euro coin to Anton. A hexagon was embossed on one side of the coin.
“The Hexagon! That’s what we lovingly call our country because of it’s six-sided nature.”
Anton tried counting them on his fingers. “Pyrenees, French Alps, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean…”
“English Channel and the Rhine River,” added his mother.
“Oh yeah, I already forgot.”
“Those are the two features that really defined Gaul.”
“I understand the Channel, but why the Rhine?”
“There were other tribes on the other side of the Rhine, like the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. They both lived east of the Rhine, where the Gauls lived to the west.”
“Why did that matter to France?”
“The Gauls expanded east from Ireland, but all of the Goth tribes on the east of the Rhine gave troubles to the Gauls. This is as far east as the Gauls would go. After that, they changed from hunter-gatherers to a more domestic group, living in one place.”
“What do you mean?”
“In the early days, tribes would move from place to place, hunting food. This was the basis for their beliefs. They worshipped natural things, like weather and animals.”
“Like Nappy and Marcel?”
“The Gauls considered wild pigs as sacred.”
“That’s weird,” said Anton.
“It’s not weird. The Gauls formed hunting parties. They’d hunt the wild pigs with bows and arrows, spears and clubs. They worshipped wild pigs because they needed them to survive.”
“I’m ready to worship some pigs right now,” said Uncle Rupert.
“Be patient, Rupert,” said Madame Marchant as she filled Anton and Rupert’s plates with sausage links and fried eggs.”
“We’re eating pig?” asked Anton.
“Of course,” replied mother, what did you think sausage was?”
“I didn’t think about it.”
“Sausage and bacon and ham all come from pigs.”
Anton looked down at his plate and frowned.
“You’ve eaten it many times before. It’s only natural.”
“Why does Marcel look so much different than wild boars?”
“As the tribes learned how to domesticate animals, they no longer needed to be hunters and gatherers. They became farmers.”
“So, we’re farmers,” said Anton.
“Yes, indeed, but not quite in that way. I still go to the market for things like meat, cheese, and bread. It’s just easier.”
Anton reluctantly ate his sausage links, all the time thinking of his dear Marcel.
“Could we eat something else?”
“The eggs come from chickens and hamburger comes from cows. It all has to come from somewhere, Anton.”
“I feel bad.”
“Don’t worry,” replied Uncle Rupert, “Rupert is not for dinner. Farmers also keep pigs for companionship. He’s your pet.”
Anton took comfort in that fact. Now, he felt comfortable eating again.
After dinner, they cleaned the table. Anton took the scraps out to Marcel.
“More for you,” he said to his pig.
Marcel snorted happily as he chomped on the leftovers, including some sausage links. Anton decided that if sausage was good enough for Marcel it must be good enough for him, too.
Some Amazing Pig
