The Cock of Barcelos – Portugal

The Cock of Barcelos  ( galo de Barcelos )

At a banquet given by a rich landowner in Barcelos, the silver was stolen and one guest was accussed of the theft. He was tried by the court and was found guilty. In spite of the overwhelming evidence against him, he still protested his innocence. The magistrate granted the man a final chance to prove his case. Seeing a cock in a basket nearby, he said: “If I am innocent, the cock will crow!”. The cock crowed and the prisoner was allowed to go free.

Portuguese:

Olá! Como estás? ( Hello! How are you?)

Está a chover a cântaros.  ( It’s rainning cats and dogs. )

Poem – Germany

the human wants to be fish and bird,

the snake wants to have wings,

the dog is an errant lion,

the engineer prefers to be a poet,

the fly exercises the flight of the swallow,

the poet strives for the fly …

only the cat wants to be cat.

– Pablo Neruda

DE-288731 from Hiltrud