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Avast ye maties. Git yer tuchises on board. (Jewish pirates for them wot needs to know.) Yo ho ho and a bottle of schnapps. But enough of this. Down to serious stuff ... if at all possible now. Pirates were a colorful group they were they were. And with all sorts of interesting dichotomies.
Take the parrot for instance. Take Long John Silver for instance. You know ... the squinty-eyed dude from Treasure Island. Did he have a parrot on his shoulder ... strutting along with the same aplomb as Baretta did with his bird? But here's the question to ponder. It's a nice sunny day. Yer in yer cabin atop the briny seas. Parrot just had his breakfast. Some seeds. A cracker for sure. Polly always ate crackers dontcha know. They waves are high. The ship is tossing. Polly's stomach ain't feelin' too good. His bowels are in an uproar ... you should pardon the upcoming vision. All of a sudden daintiness and etiquette are tossed to the winds. And the rest is tossed on Long John's shoulder ... or vest ... or ... should Polly have taken it into her thinking to use this moment to sit on Silver's head .... Anyway ... you get the picture.
All these pirates ... all these parrots ... how did they handle this situation? Still ... one has to assume certain great compensations. If you're the head pirate on a ship of blood-thirsty buccaneers ... who can you talk to? Who can you trust. Why ... Polly of course. And when you land on that deserted island ... and you need someone to scout ahead to ensure there are no cannibals around the next rock ready to hollow out your gizzards and have you for lunch ... who do you send. Yup ... you got it. Polly.
The parrot and the pirate ... they were one. A union made in Neptune's depths ... blessed by Poseidon himself. Do you Captain Kidd and Captain Blackbeard and Captain Rackam and Captain Spriggs ... do you take this parrot to be your lawful ....
So ... folks ... ya wanna see a Parrot which you can wear on your lapel as close to the shoulder as possible without being gauche. One word of caution. Don't feed it whilst traveling the high seas. Platinum and gold dontcha know. Cabochon emeralds and rubies and diamonds. Value ... about 60,000 French francs in 1998.
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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