A babbling brook… and babbling villagers in today’s story.

Note: French Word-A-Day will be on break, sort of, through
April 18th. Meanwhile, I will try to send an update on our "Wine/Words" trip. Wish us luck… and speedy recovery… and thanks for your support!
Check our schedule, here.

cane
(kan) noun, feminine
  : female duck

…a male duck, or "drake", is
"un canard".

Ma tête est comme une basse-cour. Quand j’appelle les idées
poules pour leur donner du grain, ce sont les idées canes, oies ou dindes,
qui accourent.

My head is like a farmyard. When I call the hen ideas to
give them seeds, it’s the duck, geese, or turkey ideas that rush up. –Jules
Renard

:: Audio File :: Listen to my son, Max, pronounce today’s word
& quote:
Download cane.wav .Download cane.mp3

.

When a cigogne* flew past his second-story office window,
Jean-Marc reported the exciting event to me. I raced toward the fenêtre* in
time to witness a streak of red, white, and blue smoke. The Patrouille de
France* had just jetted past. I hadn’t realized they went by any other
name….

"Cigogne?" I questioned my husband.
"You know. It’s the bird
that carries babies in its bec.*"
"Oh, a STORK!" I blurted. But, which way
did it go? Which way did it go!

Did it follow the tri-colored cloud of smoke
of those French Acrobatic airplanes? More importantly, to whom was that
heavy-jowled stork delivering? Just which amorous villager was to be the
lucky recipient of the baby?!

Finding out the answer took a bit longer than
maternity-ward labor, but we eventually heard the scoop (not so difficult in
small town, where "tout le monde sait tout sur tout").*

It was David,
another local winemaker,* who blabbed the blushing truth–and in a roundabout
way:

"Monsieur Greenneck* has a missus!"
"You don’t say? I didn’t even
know he was married!"
"Si, si!"* David insisted. "They call her
‘Can’."
"Can…"

Well, Can can all right, or could, I supposed… Turns
out that the stork had been carrying EIGHT of Can’s babies inside its beak! No
wonder I never saw it fly by… By the time I’d arrived at the window, the
heavy-jowled bird had done a tailspin — and landed "pile poil"* in the
middle of the brook!

There, beyond a trio of platane* trees, we watched
rippling water hit the banks of the stream where showy yellow irises "of the
marais"* cluster this time of year.

"We call them canetons,* since the
female duck is a ‘cane’." David explained, correcting my "Can". I studied Mr.
Greenneck (and was that a cigar in his smiling beak?) as he and the missus
swam, heads held high, quietly down the brook, eight little quacking
fluff balls trailing behind. Proud
parents.
.

                                                                     *     *     **
Thanks, Kathy T., for this excellent video: La Cane de Jeanne by Georges Brassens 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
une
cigogne (f) = stork; une fenêtre (f) = window; La Patrouille (f) de France
= French Acrobatic Patrol; le bec (m) = beak; tout le monde sait tout sur tout = everyone knows everything about everthing; winemaker(s) David (and Isabelle) Blanc = (their
wine, "l’Insoumis" ("The Rebellious One") is bottled in Rochegude (Drôme);
"green neck" = "col vert" (mallard duck); si, si = yes, yes; pile poil = smack
(in the middle); le platane (m) = plane tree; le marais (m) = marsh; le caneton
(m) = duckling

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