THE goose,’ mused doctor and scholar Julius Caesar Scaliger, ‘is the most beautiful emblem of prudence.’ He goes on to describe how the birds not only lower their heads when passing under bridges, ‘no matter how high the arches are’, but put a pebble in their beak when crossing a mountain known for its marauding eagles. ‘Because knowing what chatterboxes they are, they ensure they will not emit the sounds which would cause their enemies to discover them.’
Better still, Alexandre Dumas recalls being told of a goose
