RKS French Literature: Quasimodo Generally Hated (Victor Hugo)

We have already shown that Quasimodo was generally hated – for more than one good reason, it is true. There was hardly a spectator among the crowd but either had or thought he had some cause or complaint against the malevolent hunchback of Notre-Dame. The joy at seeing him appear thus in the pillory had been universal; and the harsh punishment he had just undergone, and the piteous plight in which it had left him, far from softening the hearts of the populace, had but rendered their hatred more malicious, by aiming it with the sting of mirth.

Accordingly, “public vengeance” as the legal jargon still styles it once satisfied, a thousand private spites now had their turn.

Victor Hugo, “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”

RKS French Literature: Quasimodo and the Bells of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo)

This was the only speech that he could hear, the only sound that broke for him the universal silence. He expanded in it, like a bird in the sunshine. All at once the frenzy of the bell would seize him, his look became wild – he lay in wait for the great bell as a spider for a fly and then flung himself headlong upon it. Now, suspended over the abyss, borne to and fro by the formidable swinging of the bell, he seized the brazen monster by the ears – gripped it with his knees – spurred it with his heels – and redoubled, with the shock and the weight of his body, the fury of the peal. Meanwhile the tower trembled; he shouted and gnashed his teeth – his red hair bristled – his breast heaved and puffed like the bellows of a forge – his eye flashed fire – the monstrous bell neighed panting beneath him. Then it was no longer either the great bell of Notre Dame or Quasimodo – it was a dream – a whirl – dizziness upon clamour – a strange centaur, half man, half bell – a spirit clinging to a winged monster….

Victor Hugo, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: OUR MEETING WITH THE CHINESE DEPUTY SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND THE CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO CHINA

OUR MEETING WITH THE CHINESE DEPUTY SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND THE CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO CHINA

At 10:00 hours a large black limousine arrived at our hotel, the Chosin Reservoir Memorial Veterans’ Hotel and whisked us to a nondescript building where our meeting with the Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs, his assistants and Mr. Won Ton, the Canadian Ambassador to China.

Best to refer to Bob’s notes on the meeting;

Present:

Ma Jhong (Deputy Secretary Foreign Affairs China)

Mr. Wu (Assistant Bureaucrat)

Mr. Tan (Assistant Bureaucrat)

Mr. Clan (Assistant Bureaucrat)

Bob

Fay

Rory Dylan Stephen

Raffles

Introduction:

Mr. Jhong poured tea for all. Mr. Jhong expressed in a gentle tone irritants to the Chinese people caused by Canadian actions the strongest being the unlawful imprisonment of Meng Wanzhou the CFO of Huawei Technologies in Vancouver in 2013. Time to repair and strengthen Sino Canadian relationship.

China enamoured with Rory Dylan Stephen’s adventures. Like a small once defenceless China surrounded by criminal bullies he survived and with courage and bravery helped expose the tyranny and despotism of US President Orville Grump in US operation Epic Turkey. Our intelligence sources have advised me of Bob and Fay’s adoption of Raffles after his courageous attack on the Sultan of Palumbia in Singapore extorting the workers of the world by hoarding his precious output of Mooky bird droppings. China’s masses will soon hear of this courageous attack and valiant effort to secure this valuable oncological resource.

Proposed 7 city tour of China entirely at expense of the government of China. Tour called China Canadian Friendship Tour. Raffles and Rory centerpiece. High speed rail transport. Best hotels.

Agenda to be finalized but a focus on primary schools, play sessions with Rory and Raffles, meeting with local officials and animal welfare organizations.

Canadian and Chinese politics not to be discussed.

Intended some focus given on the falsity of the Chinese devouring vast quantities of dog meat.

No more than one television appearance each day.

One cuddle session by Rory and Raffles with the President of China to last no longer than 15 minutes

Contribution of 300,000 USD by China to an animal welfare organization in China or Hong Kong as selected by Bob after tour concluded. Licensing deal for Raffles/Rory merchandise may be negotiated after this tour.

Final details to be negotiated through Chinese embassy in Ottawa.

After the meeting all of us went to Chez Bethune for a French-Chinese infusion cuisine lunch with lots of lightly flavoured chicken for Raffles and me.

Tomorrow we will fly on a Chinese government jet bringing families of Chinese diplomats in Ottawa for a visit. There will be a refuelling stop in Hawaii!  

WE ARE ON OUR WAY HOME TO TORONTO!

RKS French Literature: Quasimodo and Notre Dame Cathedral as One (Victor Hugo)

Thus it was that his being, gradually unfolding, took its mould from the cathedral – living there – sleeping there – scarcely ever going out of it – receiving every hour its mysterious impress – he came at length to resemble it, to be fashioned like it, to make an integral part of it. He might almost be said to have taken its form, as the snail takes that of its shell. It was his dwelling place – his hole – his envelope. There existed between the old church himself an instinctive sympathy so profound – so many affinities, magnetic and material – that he in some sort adhered to it, like the tortoise to its shell.

Victor Hugo, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: RAFFLES THE WEST HIGHLAND TERRIER GREETER AND RAT HUNTER AT RAFFLES SINGAPORE DEMOTED TO A RESCUE DOG

RAFFLES THE WEST HIGHLAND TERRIER GREETER AND RAT HUNTER AT RAFFLES SINGAPORE DEMOTED TO A RESCUE DOG

Raffles is a Singaporean West Highland Terrier who acts as a greeter at Raffles Singapore and a rat hunter too! You’d be surprised where you might see a rat at a swanky hotel like Raffles Singapore.

The evening before our departure which was shortly after our walk with Raffles at Fort Canning Park, Raffles Singapore was welcoming a very special guest, the Sultan of Palumbia. The Sultan was from Palumbia an island and rat hole off the coast of Malaysia. Palumbia was the breeding ground for the Mooky bird. An ordinary looking squawker of a bird with the personality of spokesperson for the Orville Grump White House, meaning nasty.

Modern science had discovered that Mooky bird droppings are a powerful cancer fighting drug. Not quite a cure but almost. Palumbia and its Sultan were rolling in dough as shit merchants. Singapore was putting on a big diplomatic show for the Sultan in order to secure an allotment of Mooky bird shit.

The Sultan greeted Raffles with a kick calling him a filthy cur. Then he spat on him with some foul-smelling juice of a red nut he was masticating in his mouth and spilling all over his robes. Raffles, disgusted, offended and bruised nipped at the Sultan’s ankle who was equally disgusted, offended and bruised. He roared, “Get that flea invested infidel to the courtyard where I will remove its head!

Being informed by Raffles Singapore hotel management execution of dogs, a flourishing type of entertainment in Palumbia, was illegal in Singapore  the Sultan demanded Raffles be deported from Singapore if it wanted any of Palumbia’s miracle bird shit.

Bob, hearing about this unfortunate commotion and knowing my friendship with Raffles, quickly consulted with Fay about adopting Raffles and the deal was signed. He would be coming with us to Beijing the following morning. Raffles had no family and slept in a small room by the kitchen. Friends to many but not part of any real family.

As a token of my appreciation, I left a stinking mushy and pungent load near the Sultan’s suitcase which he stepped in dragging all about the hotel lobby creating an awful stink! Shit meets a shit.

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: RORY INVITED TO THE PEOPLES’ REPUBLIC OF CHINA FOR A FRIENDSHIP TOUR

RORY INVITED TO THE PEOPLES’ REPUBLIC OF CHINA FOR A FRIENDSHIP TOUR

We were having a leisurely breakfast in our suite at Raffles Singapore. Bob was planning a walk in some nearby park with plenty of shade. We had invited Raffles the Westie greeter at the hotel to join us.

Over a pot of jasmine tea, a favourite of Bob and mine too, he received a call from the Canadian ambassador to China, Mr. Won Ton. I repeatedly heard Bob emphatically stating, “No way sir. Rory has been through enough. It’s time to click those red sparkly shoes and make a wish to be back in Toronto.”

Fifteen minutes later after this ambassadorial rejection Bob received a call from the Prime Minster of Canada and lo and behold the Canadian embassy in Beijing would be sending a jet to transport us to Beijing to discuss a possible Friendship Tour with the Canadian ambassador to China and the Deputy Premier of China.

 Bob summed up the call with the Prime Minister by saying due to the political and economic extortion attempts against Canadian society and its economy relations between Canada and China must urgently be repaired. Hog farmers and canola producers required unfettered access to the Chinese market. There were numerous thorns in the relationship that required smoothing over and a goodwill visit to select Chinese cities by Rory Dylan Stephen a brave Canadian Westie would be a step in the right direction. Bob cited the United States in 2018 pressuring to detain Meng Wanzhou the CFO of Huawei Technologies which in a spirit of “co-operation” between Canada and the United States was a massive mistake by Canada. Do a favour for an ally and then get shitted on by it.

I am confused about my “bravery” in all this abduction rigmarole. All I reckon is that as cute White Highland Terrier puppy in the midst of a maelstrom I attracted global attention. Attention for being a victim? Was it a bit of a competition between Singapore and China as Singapore awarded a medal of valour to me now China wanted to join the bandwagon and honour me.

A Canadian manufactured Bombardier executive jet would arrive to pick us up at noon the following day.

Lordy smordy it looks like I am going to be used yet again.

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: PRESIDENT ORVILLE GRUMP AND OPERATION EPIC TURKEY: KING OF THE COURT OF MIRACLES PROPPED BY HIS BAND OF TRUANDS AND WORSHIPPED BY THE WRETCHED GAPERS

PRESIDENT ORVILLE GRUMP AND OPERATION EPIC TURKEY: KING OF THE COURT OF MIRACLES PROPPED BY HIS BAND OF TRUANDS AND WORSHIPPED BY THE WRETCHED GAPERS

The Malaysians ripped open the wrapping of Operation Epic Turkey revealing a grisly rotten centre all ordered by the President of the United States, Orville Grump.

It reeked of the Ugly American for the present generation, but it was not too distant from the historical ransacking and manipulation by the good old USA whether it be Panama, the Philippines, Nicaragua or Cuba to name a few. What might have made it repulsively distinct was the central role of fentanyl manufacturing by North Korea with Kim Jong Un a brutal cutthroat who murdered his half brother marking a depravity second to none becoming the cornerstone of an American operation. And the attempt to smear China as the exporter of fentanyl to Canada for “the big smuggle” into the United States to prompt the invasion of Canada by the United States was low and filthy even by lowbrow political standards.

The reward to Grump of building a golf resort in North Korean beach resort area of the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area in North Korea of and having passengers on his Grump Cruise Lines, Proud Boys and “Veterans of the Sixth of January” offered exclusive access to it along with countless Russian oligarchs and their families left a most sour taste in any thinking man’s mind.

Presidents of the United States never had benefitted economically from their Presidency, but Grump and his family were raking in billions.

All supported by his inner cloister of Truands and adored by the wretched gapers, the Maggots a bit too stupid to realize their “supreme one” was swindling and double dealing them.

Being a pup, one might think human logic in the United States would swell to a degree of rationality and surge over the Maggots but Grump took credit for a “brilliant operation” that would have the Chinese on their knees in days and that would bring Canada into the saving graces of the United States. Fortunately none of the stated goals of Epic Turkey were attained and it all just rolled off Grump. It started with Horny Mavis and when would it all end? Why was everything Orville Grump did an abject failure but interpreted by him as a brilliant success.

You humans and your politics make me sick.

But….Grump was headed for a sinking on the international scene. Think of Grump as a brash and overconfident and unsinkable and the best and unstoppable but Titanic Grump had just hit the iceberg of reality and was about to sink. But that is another story to be told another time.

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: THE CEREMONY AWARDING RORY DYLAN STEPHEN THE SINGAPOREAN MEDAL OF VALOUR (Rory thinks Prime Minister Wong’s address may be slightly exaggerated)

THE CEREMONY AWARDING RORY DYLAN STEPHEN THE SINGAPOREAN MEDAL OF VALOUR (Rory thinks Prime Minister Wong’s address may be slightly exaggerated)

Remarks of Prime Minister Wong

Good afternoon all.

We are assembled here to award the Singaporean Medal of Valour to a Canadian West Highland Terrier, Rory Dylan Stephen, abducted and drugged by an international gang of hoodlums starting at an opium den on Spadina Avenue in Toronto and brought to Singapore via North Bergen, New Jersey and Hong Kong.

From Singapore he was forcefully transported in deplorable circumstances to Bangkok, Siem Reap, Cambodia and then back to Singapore. Then most recently smuggled onto the Eastern & Oriental Express travelling through Malaysia where he languished in a humid baggage car scarcely being fed or given water. He was dragged through Georgetown, Malaysia on a narcotic transaction by a criminal Bobby Fong Jr. well known to Singaporean authorities as was his mother Madame Fong. The Fong’s masterminded Rory’s abduction for purposes which are becoming known by us of late. If they would have been successful, the world may have been plummeted into a catastrophe. A prominent Singaporean citizen, Sir Reginald Nicomshire, was murdered on the train prior to its obliteration.

Days ago, held hostage in Singapore in a swanky den of criminals after surviving the train bombing he was liberated in a dangerous and daring mission by the Singaporean Police Force where after such I personally assumed guardianship of the little guy, only 16 pounds, until picked up by Bob and Fay his master and mistress.

Rory exhibited great bravery and fortitude through his abduction and forced travels attendant to that abduction. I assure you the full extent of his bravery will be known in due course. Can you imagine Rory winning the Singaporean Westie of the Year contest under the pressure of abduction! Nerves of steel.

Rory is the sole survivor of that horrible Malaysian terrorist Amira’s planned explosion killing all 144 on board including a team of 3 Singaporean and two Malaysian investigators.

Rory has witnessed a seamy side of Singapore including extortions at Singaporean construction sites, illegal dog fights and money laundering operations at a Singaporean casino. We here at Singapore will clean up crime where we see it and reward the apprehended criminal elements with a stern caning.

Bob, would you bring Rory forward so I may place the Medal of Valour around his neck with my personal gratitude and that of the citizens of Singapore.

Rory Dylan Stephen please return to Singapore under more auspicious conditions where you, Bob and Fay are welcome to stay with me. My grandchildren advise me they look forward to your next visit.

As for members of the press who were questioning me about the American Operation Epic Turkey as I entered this ceremony I say at this time I have no comments and will not until I have conferred with my ministers and the President of the United States Orville Grump.

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: RORY MAKES A HAPPY SPECTACLE OF HIMSELF: BOB AND FAY ARE HERE IN SINGAPORE

RORY MAKES A HAPPY SPECTACLE OF HIMSELF: BOB AND FAY ARE HERE IN SINGAPORE

I have been away from home for two months or so. The two months could have easily be two years. That’s how I feel.

Just before the dinner hour I heard a car drive up to Prime Minster’s Wong’s compound and I race to the front door which is opened by servant. Like a Havanese I go flying into Bob’s arm just before I widdle on the front steps. Puppy excitement. Blushing not required and a puddle of urine excusable given the circumstances.

Happy to be in Bob’s arm I whine and cry and tremble all over. Oh. There’s Fay and a jump up with cuddles and kisses. I bite my tail thinking I might wake up from this dream. Then I run around in circles on the front lawn.

This is all captured by a cameraman from Singapore Mediacorp and the Malaysian TV network RTM. It is later broadcast globally. A West Highland Terrier story of courage in the face of adversity and who may have saved many lives from cessation and ruination.

Bob and Fay have been invited for a cocktail before we head back to Raffles Singapore to our suite.

As we leave I head directly to Wong’s feet and give him a happy snouting. Although I feel a bit used by the Government of Singapore, he has been awfully kind to me.

As we enter Raffles Singapore my good friend Raffles the greeter and ratter for the hotel barks and gives me a jump up. I wonder if I had not met this Singaporean West Highland Terrier I would not have had the strength to carry on.

I had the best sleep of my life snuggling with Bob and Fay. Save and secure but strangely vulnerable.

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: RORY MAKES A HAPPY SPECTACLE OF HIMSELF: BOB AND FAY ARE HERE IN SINGAPORE

RORY MAKES A HAPPY SPECTACLE OF HIMSELF: BOB AND FAY ARE HERE IN SINGAPORE

I have been away from home for two months or so. The two months could have easily be two years. That’s how I feel.

Just before the dinner hour I heard a car drive up to Prime Minster’s Wong’s compound and I race to the front door which is opened by servant. Like a Havanese I go flying into Bob’s arm just before I widdle on the front steps. Puppy excitement. Blushing not required and a puddle of urine excusable given the circumstances.

Happy to be in Bob’s arm I whine and cry and tremble all over. Oh. There’s Fay and a jump up with cuddles and kisses. I bite my tail thinking I might wake up from this dream. Then I run around in circles on the front lawn.

This is all captured by a cameraman from Singapore Mediacorp and the Malaysian TV network RTM. It is later broadcast globally. A West Highland Terrier story of courage in the face of adversity and who may have saved many lives from cessation and ruination.

Bob and Fay have been invited for a cocktail before we head back to Raffles Singapore to our suite.

As we leave I head directly to Wong’s feet and give him a happy snouting. Although I feel a bit used by the Government of Singapore, he has been awfully kind to me.

As we enter Raffles Singapore my good friend Raffles the greeter and ratter for the hotel barks and gives me a jump up. I wonder if I had not met this Singaporean West Highland Terrier I would not have had the strength to carry on.

I had the best sleep of my life snuggling with Bob and Fay. Save and secure but strangely vulnerable.