Читать книгу Legend of the Peeing briton - Павел Тюрин - Страница 4
Foreword
ОглавлениеThis past event would be remembered as rather commonplace, since many tourists urinate anywhere they please on the streets of Riga. But it wasn’t due to the singularity of the place where the incident occurred. It happened at the foot of the ‘Fatherland and Freedom Monument’ considered by the locals as an altar of freedom and a visible symbol of Latvia’s independence.
Many expected that this daring act would be followed by the demonstrations of protest near the British Embassy. But instead, after a short vacillation, this Blockhead’s behaviour did not cause protests, but shock and confusion, and even real admiration.[3] A similar event of the 17th century was often recalled, at that time, in connection with Little Julien. He peed on the front porch of the local fairy, angered her and she turned him into rock.[4] Despite such cruel punishment for a child, good people of Brussels never doubted that such an act was the boy’s way to proclaim the strength of the human spirit. He contested the witchcraft and sorcery that engulfed Europe at the time. And then a talented sculptor made a wonderful statue of the petrified Julien that has been set in the centre of the city. Now the historians write that ‘Petit Julien’ symbolises freedom of self and the maverick spirit of the Brussels people. So the contemporary defenders of the human rights demand to erect a statue of not a boy, but a man, a ‘Peeing Briton’, paying a timeless tribute to the ‘Little Julien’.
This monument to the ‘Briton of Riga’ could be erected near the English Club in the historical centre, for instance. Doubtlessly, Anglophiles as well as Anglophobic philanthropists (or the Eurosceptics) would be happy to provide the means for such a monument. Such an undertaking could be at least partially funded by the fines collected from the immodest tourists independent of their age, nationality, gender, religious affiliation, or country of residence.
It is possible that once the ‘Monument to the First Briton Peeing’ is erected in the old part of Riga it will be as popular as the famous ‘Manneken Pis’ in Brussels.
3
As the further history shows this ‘celebratory’ astonishing incident turned into a new English extreme activity. It was later followed by the Irish, Portuguese, and other Caucasian nationalities.
4
According to another legend, simplified but nevertheless heroic, this little boy saved the city from the threat of the imminent fire. By peeing, he extinguished the burning wick beneath the gunpowder that had been laid out by the enemy under the city walls. Hence the boy became famous far beyond Flanders.
