"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."- Jean de La Fontaine
It gets its name from its mottled and barred "grey" and white plumage. The term "lag" being an old name for a goose which was derived from the call used to move such animals along.
The tradition of pulling a wishbone derives from the tradition of eating a roast goose at Michaelmas (the 29th September: a day for celebrating the archangel St. Michael), where the goose bone was once believed to have the powers of an oracle.
In 390 BC the Gauls had conquered all of the city except for the Capitoline Hill, which the Romans defended vigorously. The Gauls chose a night with a full moon and sent their bravest warriors up the cliff. The ascent was so skillful that neither the Roman sentries nor their dogs noticed anything. According to legend, Gallic troops tried to sneak up the hill during the night, but disturbed a sacred flock of geese that lived in the temple of Juno. Their honking was loud enough to alert the Roman guards, who threw the invaders off the holy hill.
Greylag goose
(Anser anser)
Sony A77ii
Tamron 150-600
f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO320, 400mm
Stamford, (UK)
Jan - 2021
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