John Bull, symbol of Great Britain and here a bird-catcher, tries to entice the kingdom of Romania, in 1915 a neutral nation, into his trap. He already has Russia by the nose, and the plucked cock of France and an Italian fowl close at hand. Neutral (and wise) Greece rests out of reach, while Bulgaria sings to the Islamic crescent moon of Turkey. In the background Turkish, German, and Austro-Hungarian soldiers meet at a crossroads. Carved into the tree is a heart dated 1915, and the initials 'F A R', perhaps for 'France aime Russie:' France loves Russia.
L'OiseleurDer Vogelfänger 1915The BirdcatcherGreceBulgarieRoumanieBagdad / HambourgRussie
"Night had fallen once more, a night bringing thaw, the sky livid and heavy with clouds; slabs of snow saturated with water hung dripping from the tall trees like the linen of some giant washing-day, or crashed to the ground with a muffled thud like peaches bursting where they fell; rivulets of water trickled everywhere; the earth seemed to have been taken under some mysterious and mighty wing, bringer of warm air and sounds of stirring, and over everything hung a kind of anguish as if something was being born or dying.At the dark mouth of the pear-tree fork, the little white shirtfront had appeared like a silent snowfall from a higher branch, and picking her way slowly, Fuseline came to the ground."
Extract from De Goupil à Margot, by French writer Louis Pergaud, translated by Siân Reynolds. Fusiline, 'the white shirtfront,' is a beech or stone marten, and has survived through the winter by, in part, raiding a hen house, and slaying all the hens. She has since found a single egg in the same spot each night. On this night, leaping for the egg, one of her forepaws is caught in a steel trap. In pain, fear, and desperation, expecting a man to appear to shoot her, she breaks her leg and bites through the flesh to escape, leaving her paw.Leading an attack in Lorraine on the night of April 7-8, 1915, Pergaud was caught in German barbed wire, shot in the foot, and taken prisoner. On the morning of the 8th he was given medical treatment and held with other French wounded. A French artillery barrage killed him and his wounded comrades.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, page 285, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
1915-04-08, April, 1915, Pergaud, Louis Pergaud, Fuseline, beech marten, stone marten, bird catcher, rat catcher, animal trap
