[A pair of diligent Orkney geese took up guard outside the Emperor's window - July 2017]
Staying in a cottage on my favoured isle of Orkney in July, the imperial household was subjected each day to some rather flagrant rubber-necking.
No one welcomes a nosey neighbour and on a recent campaign the Emperor was subjected to a couple of right busy bodies! The type who just cant help sticking their beaks in.
However, it can't be said that everyone objects to the diligent and inquisitive nature of the humble goose. Reminded as I am by the lore of my great forefathers, I recollect that it was indeed the geese of the Roman Capitol that were hailed as saviours of their nation when they alerted the exhausted defenders of the fortress when in mortal peril from a night Gallic night attack, back in their early history.
The historian Livy tells us it was the clamour of the sacred geese who stirred the defenders and alerted them to the deadly attackers scaling their walls.
"... they [the Gauls] accomplished the climb so quietly that the Romans on guard never heard a sound, and even the dogs - who are normally aroused by the least noise in the night - noticed nothing. It was the geese that saved them - Juno's sacred geese ..."
[Livy, Early History of Rome, V.46]
This was a legendary and revered act of service that saved the nation and secured a special place in Roman folklore for the humble goose.
So it is with reflection on past fidelity, that this Emperor feels privileged indeed to have had such a guard of honour outside his window.
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Postscript: No Gauls breached the walls of my guest cottage that week, though we did meet some random Greeks and Germans in the holiday that followed (but they were friendly).
