Brendan the Navigator, Brandán el Navegante, Brendan de Clonfert et la moins connue des îles Canaries

 

Jasconius // Aspidochelone // Aspidochélon

- Il existe dans la mer un être nommé tortue à bouclier, semblable au dragon ou à la baleine

-  There exists in the sea a creature known as the shield-turtle, resembling the dragon or the whale.

 

During Inktober of 2024,  when the prompt was "navigator" I made a little picture about Saint Brendan.

And I knew about the legend of phantom island of San Borondon for a good long while. 

Yet somewow, I've never made the connection between the two - the difference in the writing of the name was sufficient to mask it. Up till today, that is.

Now I know it all started with Saint Brendan. It was him and his companions who stopped by what they assumed was an island. They were wrong, the island was not an island, but rather a giant creature called Jasconius. They woke him up by making a campfire at his back.

I prefer to think of him as a dragon rather than a whale. He learned to hide much better since Saint Brendan's time.  Here he is, dreaming happily, undisturbed by campfires.

Of Foxes, Dogs, and French Proverbs

 

Quand le renard se met à prêcher, prends garde à ta poule // When the fox starts preaching, look out for your hen.

Today, due to a not very obvious chain of associations*, I've started to look for some proverbs related to foxes. There were quite a few, as in many cultures they are perceived as sly, clever, deceptive and ruthless at the same time. 

And here is a fox, looking rather pious with his eyes fixed on a book, but with his ears pricked, alert to any opportunity that comes his way. 

_____ 

*  Now, to the chain of assotiations. I saw a set of pics from a dog show of Pastor Garafiano, a breed of dogs from La Palma island. They are very cute looking dogs, and one of the possible coloring is a rich, fox-like orange. So, foxes sprang to mind, and here we are.

Levez-vous!

Levez-vous, Monsieur le Chat, vous avez de grandes choses à faire! // Get up, Mr. Cat, you have great things to do!

Today, for no particular reason, I remembered the phrase "Levez-vous, Monsieur le Comte, vous avez de grandes choses à faire!" linked to Henri de Saint-Simon. Specifically, his servant was instructed to use it to wake him up daily.

I was surprised to discover that the phrase is apparently not as well known by the French themselves, let alone by English speakers, as it is by my generation of Russians. There are historical reasons for this, but I won’t enter into them now.

Sometimes, as in my case, the derivative jokes are better remembered than the original phrase itself. For example, I had to google the historical details, but I remembered this joke by Andrey Knyshev perfectly:

Всем известно, что великий французский мыслитель Сен-Симон просил с вечера своего лакея будить его по утрам словами: "ВСТАВАЙТЕ, ГРАФ! ВАС ЖДУТ ВЕЛИКИЕ ДЕЛА!" Однако, мало кто знает, что ответом лакею утром была обычно площадная брань да башмак в голову.

Everyone knows that the great French thinker Saint-Simon used to ask his footman to wake him up in the morning with the words: 'GET UP, COUNT! GREAT THINGS AWAIT YOU!' However, few people know that the answer the footman usually got was foul language and a shoe to the head.

The cat doesn’t have a footman, and I am not entirely sure who the joker behind the door is. The cat, however, is being polite. No shoe is thrown, and the foul language is staying entirely inside his head.

Le crapaud

This October I definitely won't be able to make a pic per day, not even close. But something the Inktober prompt is just too good to miss, so: meet "le crapaud", ie the toad.

The text is "Assis ou debout, le crapaud est toujours le même".

Which means "Sitting or standing, the toad is always the same", and it is a Tanzanian proverb,  apparently 

 

leçons de karaté

Si quelqu'un te frappe la joue gauche, prends des leçons de karaté // If someone hits you on the left cheek, take karate lessons -- Quino

Here is the cat, practicing his karate moves in front of a mirror. Looking good, no?
 

Un pessimiste

Un pessimiste est un chat qui dit la vérité prématurément // A pessimist is a cat who tells the truth prematurely  -- Edmond Rostand

 

Nuff said, really.

La formule ratée de la critique

La censure est la formule ratée de la critique // Censorship is the failed form of criticism -- Miss.Tic

 Today's quote from Citation Célèbre page seemed so much like a political commentary that I went to read around. And that's how I found out that Miss. Tic died two days ago. RIP.

Comprendre les questions

 

Je ne cherche pas à connaître les réponses, je cherche à comprendre les questions // I don't seek to know the answers, I seek to understand the questions -- Confucius

I don't know about you, but to me the phrase above is about university exams. You know, you get your selection of questions, and then a fog descends on your brain and you can't, for the life of you, understand what are they all about.

I am reasonably sure Confucius meant something else, something less practical, as he was wont to do. But I am no Confucius.

Unless I am badly mistaken, the diagram on the wall is showing the dreaded Krebs cycle. If so, the cat and his classmates must be doing a biochemistry exam.  No wonder he is just sitting there, staring at the questions.

Celui qui trompe

Celui qui trompe trouvera toujours ceux qui se laissent tromper // Those who deceive will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived — Machiavelli

Machiavelli was a clever guy.

Here is kitsune seducing the cat, for the reasons better known to herself. Maybe she just likes him, or maybe not. The mind of kitsune (狐) is unknowable.

The cat looks quite love-stricken already, I think.

la sagesse

Le doute est le commencement de la sagesse // Doubt is the beginning of wisdom

On citation-celebre.leparisien.fr website they ascribe the quote to Aristotle, but once you start looking for the confirmation, you find that it was also said by Pierre Abélard, René Descartes and probably few other wise people. So, a bit of a question mark there. Personally, I have no doubts about the idea expressed by the quote, which, in turn, must be an oxymoron.

The cat, being a simple creature, occasionally has his doubts, too. On this occasion he doubts if he should take red velvet or cherry mousse cake first.

Il n'est pas prudent

Il n'est pas prudent d'écarter de ses calculs un dragon vivant, quand on est près de lui // It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations if you live near him

 

The quote comes from The Hobbit.

You might think the cat is being impertinent, sitting on the top of a sleeping dragon to admire sunset. But he is not. Firstly, they are friends with the dragon. Secondly, nobody, not even dragons, can resist his feline charm. We all suspect that cats rule the world. Cats themselves just know it.

Pics related to dragons, sunsets and cats on shutterstock.

les loisirs

La société de masse ne veut pas la culture mais les loisirs // Mass society does not want culture but entertainment

 

Today's quote from Citation célébre, by Hannah Arendt, is somewhat heavier than their usual fare.

I find it difficult to disagree though.

solar

Beaucoup d'amis sont comme le cadran solaire ; ils ne marquent que les heures où le soleil vous luit // Many friends are like the sundial; they only mark the hours when the sun shines on you.

 

Today I have decided to take my cue from the wordle. I won't publish it till the wordle change, of course. 

So "solar" -- solaire or du soleil in French. 

Found an appropriate quote from Victor Hugo and everything.

Meanwhile, the cat is trying to solve the "sundial in the dark" problem with some help from a torch. I think it is working for him.

Une porte ouverte

La lecture, une porte ouverte sur un monde enchanté // Reading, an open door to an enchanted world -- François Mauriac

The cat is very fond of reading per se, but here, judging from the illustration, he is reading something about central Gran Canaria. In which case I would strongly advise him to forget the book, go and check it out with his own eyes. He won't be disappointed, of that I am sure.

Toute l'obscurité du monde

Toute l'obscurité du monde ne peut pas éteindre la lumière d'une bougie // All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle

There seems to be a confusion as to who said this beautiful phrase. The Citation Célèbre site claims it was Confucius, while most English quotes have Francis of Assisi as the author. Not sure which version, if any, is correct.

Anyway. Here is the cat, peacefully reading his book by the light of a single candle. Is he aware of all the darkness in the world that surrounds him? Sure he is, he is a very aware person. Does it bother him? Well, that's debatable. He can't combat all the darkness in the world. But he can read a couple of chapters, while the candle lasts. And, being a cat, maybe he can continue reading even when it goes out. 

Maybe it doesn't really bother him after all.

people whom one has ceased to love

Les émotions des gens qu'on a cessé d'aimer paraissent toujours un peu ridicules // There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love

 Oscar Wilde said many interesting things. 

Today I suddenly realized that the use of "one" as a pronoun in English  could originate from "on" in French, used there more or less as "we". Wikipedia confirms.

Chaque anniversaire est un cadeau. Et voici le tien !

 

Chaque anniversaire est un cadeau. Chaque jour est un cadeau. // Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift. -- Aretha Franklin   🐱 Et voici le tien ! // And here is yours! -- Sumo Wrestler Cat

Here is the cat, wishing all birthday people out there a happy birthday. And  a happy day to all people out there. 

By coincidence, today's Inktober prompt is "knot" - "nœud" in French. So here you have it, too.

Celui qui ne sait où aller

 

On ne peut montrer le chemin à celui qui ne sait où aller // You cannot show the way to someone who does not know where to go.

 

The quote in the caption, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - btw, did you know he was a French aristocrat? I either didn't, or maybe I did and forgot all about it till right now - reminded me of a small episode from our two-year stay on Fuerteventura. 

We were standing close to a bus stop in Corralejo, waiting for somebody or something, maybe even for a bus. A middle-aged couple appeared, the guy visibly agitated, the woman resignedly trailing behind him. The guy asked us "Can you go anywhere from here?". And when we, reason personified, asked him where he wanted to go, he nearly shouted "Anywhere! I don't care!".

Mind you, I sort of understand him. Fuerteventura in general, and Corralejo in particular, is one of the best beach destinations I know. You can swim, sunbathe, surf or fish. You can take a ride on a boat, or on a dune buggy. You can drink cheap beer and eat in various restaurants, many of them excellent. You can catch live music shows, many of them free, and offered by the restaurants, the previous item on the list. But the list of things you can do is still quite limited. If you didn't realize that before you come, you might be quite disappointed, as the guy obviously was.

The little story had a happy ending, we hope. We convinced him to go and check what the local travel agency, specialized in one-day trips and experiences, had to offer, and he departed, the woman in tow.

Craignez la colère

 

Craignez la colère de l'chat patient // Fear the wrath of the patient cat

Although today's quote comes from Citation Célèbre website, it doesn't really. Partially because the citation doesn't deal with cats, but with men, in a typical anthropocentric manner. Partially because they say it is an Irish proverb, while it is a quote from John Dryden, quoting Publilius Syrus.

The cat, as we all know, is very patient. Look at him there, patiently filing his claw, as all patient cats do, at least according to some memes out there.

Une maman c'est une montagne

 

Une maman c'est une montagne de compréhension // A mother is a mountain of understanding. Jean Gastaldi