Almost Daily Cat Haiku

Betcha didn’t know Figgs spoke French, did ya? Well, now you know. And knowing is half the battle. The other half of the battle is croissants and cheese. Because we’re talking about French stuff here.

Why does Mr Figgs speak French? Because Figgs is short for Figaro, and Figaro was Pinocchio’s cat. And while Pinoccio was set in Tuscany Italy, it came out in theaters in February of 1940, which as everyone knows was when the rise of Europen fascism spread into Italy. Figaro started as Geppetto’s cat, and “Geppetto” is short for “Giuseppe” which translates as “Joseph”, which is Hebrew in origin. So once Pinoccio finishes his adventures, and he, Geppetto, Figaro, and Cleo are reunited, they have to flee Italy or face Mussolini’s OVRA. Heading north and west into the Maritime Alps, they find themselves amongst a group of French youths patrolling the mountainous borderlands. By the fall their band of travelers had grown, led now by François de Menthon, they had established a network of observation points across the Alps. When François took a core group of leadership back to Lyons to coordinate with other factions of the resistance, Geppetto and Cleo accompanied him, there they met up with other refugees bound for Spain and eventually the Americas. Pinocchio and Figaro stayed, and fought alongside the Vérité Combat from one end of the Maginot Line to the other.

And that’s why Figaro speaks French.

See you kids tomorrow!

(ps: This was late. It shouldn’t have been late. I scheduled it for the same bat-time I always do. Granted, I only had a minute and a half of leeway, but it still should have posted on time. I’m not taking the hit for this one.  We can blame the universe.)