Friday, 15 April 2016

M is for Marie





is for Marie



The reason why the French love bread



Marie Antoinette sat reflecting in a chateau -
deep thoughts on how popularity hits a plateau,
When in ran her aide and said,
“Majestée, the poor get no bread”
“O Foolish One,” she cried, “Let them eat some gateau.”

“No, no” the peasants growled, “we’ll have our bread!
We will NOT be fobbed off with cake instead,
we the French peasants
can get quite unpleasant.”
We all know what happened – the queen lost her head.

Was she just a thoughtless woman, or plain rude?
Or quite out-of-touch with her wider brood?
Her aide lacked for tact
that is a certain fact.
The moral? mess not with ye masses over food.

If you’ve wondered why the French are so passionate,
so finicky about their croissant, and baguette
well, now you clearly know.
It’s that long ago gateau
the French were offered by Marie Antoinette.


M is also for Marionette - very strangely close to a portmanteau of Marie Antoinette, who May or Mayn't have been one of circumstances.  At any rate, there is no historical evidence to support this famous let-them-eat-cake callousness of hers.  She was a very extravagant lady no doubt, but family members of terrible rulers have been known for their dodgy shopping habits in all times, then and now, Imelda Marcos, Suzanne Mubarak, Many examples, only I can't just now think of any More names with M. 

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2016 





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27 comments:

  1. Elephant's Child15 April 2016 at 12:23

    Magnificent. Or perhaps Magnifique is the Mot juste.

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    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 00:59

      Ah, you always get just the mot juste! Thanks EC!

      Delete
  2. shortybear15 April 2016 at 13:24

    wonderful

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  3. Seena15 April 2016 at 13:45

    Le plus beau. J'aime ça.

    Thank God for Google translator. Cant seem to remember any of the French I learned in school.

    Honestly you can history really interesting. :D
    Cheers,
    Seena
    #AtoZChallenge- M is for Mischief

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 01:13

      I had French in school, but never learnt a thing, same with history. Beyond canards about clueless queens..can't claim to know a thing about either French or history. Make is a good M word as in made up story, not history, or her story either :) Thanks for being here.

      PS Antonia Fraser did a biography, and there's a book also by Victoria Holt, the Queen's Confession which is historical fiction not biography. They give the broader picture. Just saying, in case anyone wants to read further..

      Delete
  4. Seena15 April 2016 at 13:45

    make*

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous15 April 2016 at 16:05

    The more I learn about her the more I am sure it was her parents fault. She was brought up to be a living puppy to some King/ruler one day... And then she got married to a King who had no idea himself... A deadly combination this was...

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    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 01:26

      Agree to a certain extent. At the time, many royal/noblewomen were raised to be the wives of kings and princes, completely subservient and mostly without a single independent thought.

      Yet the century that produced Marie, also produced Empress Catherine in Russia.

      Delete
  6. Alex J. Cavanaugh15 April 2016 at 17:15

    I would've taken cake over bread...

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  7. Hilary Melton-Butcher15 April 2016 at 18:16

    Very clever Nila .. wonderful description of life under Marie Antoinette - with per portmanteau or no ...

    Lovely poetic descriptions ... cheers Hilary

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    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 01:29

      Life under Marie must have been harder than we can imagine...thanks for being here Hilary

      Delete
  8. Dahlia15 April 2016 at 19:17

    Enjoyed the read, thank you

    ReplyDelete
  9. Joanne15 April 2016 at 20:07

    excellent rhymes in there....gateau for cake helps a lot. quite clever

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 01:31

      That made me think - is it easier to rhyme in French? :)

      Thanks for visiting

      Delete
  10. Yolanda Renée15 April 2016 at 21:16

    Poor Marie, I'm sure she had no idea what the masses were suffering in her high tower. Almost like today, the 1% may know, they just don't care. Wonder if we'll have a repeat of that frightening revolution?
    Excellent job, Nila, as always!

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    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 01:36

      Frightening observation, Yolanda, and so true! much inequality still centuries after Marie...and a certain section just as blithely unconcerned

      Delete
  11. Unknown15 April 2016 at 21:27

    I am sure Marie Antoinette would have been stunned to know what her people's lives were really like. People lived in entirely different worlds, incomprehensible to each other.

    #AtoZchallenge
    Meet My Imaginary Friends

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 01:37

      True that. Nobility and royalty totally isolated in their ivory towers

      Delete
  12. Anonymous15 April 2016 at 22:14

    haha - love this!

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Silver Fox16 April 2016 at 00:21

    She always seemed to me to be as clueless as most in power when it came to understanding the common folks' problems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nilanjana Bose16 April 2016 at 01:44

      Yup, not aware, not interested in finding out...

      Delete
  14. Anonymous16 April 2016 at 02:34

    M is for marvelous
    thank you for sharing this little piece of you

    ReplyDelete
  15. Vishal Bheeroo17 April 2016 at 18:18

    haha Marie is simply breath taking and sensational..Love the creative wild imagination:)

    ReplyDelete

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