Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Tug, his chauffeur, the guitar and the breadtree, or how the Blues was born

Tug was a small, very energetic dog, that in spite of his bad manners, had become the mascot of the Gypsies. They called him Tug because he usually tugged behind him his chauffeur, Rick, who reluctantly followed, mind you he had no choice, as when Tug seized your pants and started pulling, you got no option. So Tug's chauffeur, bon gré mal gré, followed, usually dragging his guitar, which also reluctantly followed, but she had no choice either, since when Rick held his guitar, he wouldn't let go. However the guitar always got her revenge when the gypsies gathered for a feast: she had a life of her own, and she played faster than her master could move his fingers along the strings. So whenever Rick grabbed his guitar, she soon started moaning about the tough life her master submitted her to, and that's called the Blues. That's how the Blues was born, don't believe all the other crazy stories you hear. However, the guitar had many things to tell about the sordid life she had to live: First she had no name, have you ever heard of a guitar with no name? Then Rick made her live on a tugboat, which would periodically cause her to catch a cold and therefore she'd be out of tune. The only thing that would then revive her would be the gypsies campfire. Then she would, for a while, be able to sing the blues.
In the meantime, Tug's main activity during gypsy gatherings would be to run around in circles, like a circus horse, but way faster. I think the purpose of that infernal manège was to keep Rick within the circle and make sure he wouldn't try to escape. The other thing Tug loved about gypsy gatherings is that there usually was abundance of food, and especially his favorite, bread. Tug LOVED bread. So he started thinking of how to make sure he had a constant supply of bread, and started thinking he should grow a bread tree. Since a bread tree couldn't grow on a boat, one night as the gypsies were gathered around a campfire on shore, he subreptitiously abducted a big loaf of bread, the biggest he could find, and buried it in the ground on a veggie patch. Therefore, he thought, the future bread tree would get plenty of nutrients. He planted the bread tree in a state of the art fashion: just deep enough to allow roots to spread, but not too deep so it could receive the light of day, and he covered it and surrounded it with a mound. From then on, Tug would have something to care for.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Are you writing while camping? I can't help but hear your accent as I read your stories. I see you smile and look around, as you do at ONM. Hope you are enjoying the end of summer vacation. rrrr