This is a story my husband told me.
Two Berbers were sitting a little way from the village. They had taken out the teapot, built a small fire and were exchanging the latest information about the tribe.
Suddenly, one of them calls out to the other:
– Did you see that black роіnt over there?
– Yes, it’s moving
– It’s a goat
– But no, it’s an eagle
– But you’re blind, I tell you it’s a goat!
– I mean, come on, a аіglе
– A goat
– An eagle
[repeated a number of times].
Finally, the black dot takes flight.
– I told you it was an eagle!
-But haven’t you ever seen a flying goat?
Goat in the Todgha Gorge
(This goat almost flew, or at least managed to escape from its shepherd and no one could catch it. It lived for several years, happy and free, taunting the humans below, without ever ending up in the mechoui).
My husband was very proud of this story, as the stubborn and obstinate Sahrawi Berber he was.
Today, it has become a proverb:
If someone says to you: “Look at the goat that flies away”, answer: “Of course, besides, it has a tuft of grass between its teeth”.
Originally, this proverb invited people to keep a low profile in the face of stubbornness. But it can also become a variation on the marmot wrapping chocolate in foil:
“But of course the goat has a tuft of grass” is for connoisseurs only.
“But of course the goat flies” will be understood by everyone… if they imagine you know the saying.
Indeed, in a discussion on this blog, an angry Berber accused me of “baseness” (no less) because I had mentioned the flying goat!
And what is even worse is the stereotyping of ‘Berbers’. How stubborn they are, and the author even makes a comparison to the goat…. It is really a low point and reflects a certain latent racism.
Of course, as a good Amazigh, he did not apologise when I reminded him of the origin of this “stereotype”.
But that’s another story.
In the meantime, here is the Milka ad:
And its wonderfully renewed 2022 version: