SMALL AND MOTHER DUCK.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 October 1929, Page 24 (Supplement)

SMALL AND MOTHER DUCK.

Here is a curious story from London:—

Every morning a wild duck and drake fly down the Regent’s Canal, apparently from the Regent’s Park district, and remain for an hour or two amid the noise and bustle of the Canal Dock at Limehouse. The duck selects a barge, on which to bestow her daily offering of an

°At • first little' notice was taken of the visitors, but when, one day, an. egg was discovered on a barge moored in a comparatively quiet corner of the Dock a lively interest was aroused. Since then the cluck has laid her eggs impartially on different barges, and various skippers have received a welcome addition to their breakfast. Usually the eggs are found on the small exposed “deck” in the bow or stern of the barge. Wild ducks are rarely seen at the Dock, and so one of the eggs, blown and inscribed, is be preserved by the. Grand Union Canal Company, the owners of the Dock- as a curiosity. What an importance a small vagabond mother-bird will feel! WHO KNIGHTED OUR ROAST BEEF? Why should a loin of beef be honoured with a title? We talk of an.ordinary loin of mutton, but we speak respectfully of a sirloin of beef. Three kings”! of England aro credited with having knighted this good British dish, but opinions differ as. to who really did it. One story says that on one occasion when Henry Bth dined with the Abbot of Reading, he ate so heartily of a loin of beef that the Abbot sighed and said he would give a thousand marks to have such an .appetite. Thereupon the King sent him to the Tower and kept him prisoner till he thought he was sufficiently hungry: then he invited the Abbot to dinner, and knighted the beef in honour of his appetite! A more famous tradition gives the credit to James Ist. After a great hunting expedition, the King was entertained at a banquet, and enjoyed his dinner so much that he is said to have called out: “Bring hither that loin, sirrah, for ’tis worthy of a more honourable post, being, as I. may say, not surloin but Sir Loin!” And, drawing Ulis sword, the King dubbed the beef “knight” there ami then.

Others a'galn say that Charles "2nd, was responsible for this jest which ennobled the common loin. ,