The last cow to attract this much attention was foolishly exchanged at market by a certain Jack for a row of beans, which turned out to be magical and made his fortune after a few adventures with a beanstalk and a giant along the way.
Next month Hadrien Rabouin, the 18-year-old son of organic farmers in Brittany, will return home after a rather longer but less adventurous walk, 1,200 kilometers in all, accompanied by his cow. Camomille, an 18-month-old Carolais heifer, has managed about 20 kilometres a day over the rural route that Rabouin set foot and hoof upon at the beginning of August.
Camomile can live off the land but Hadrien, who deliberately did not take any money, has had to rely on the generosity of people he meets. This has not been exactly plentiful because his obscure itinerary was designed to rediscover and catalogue plants that have long been forgotten.
Hadrien’s mother insisted that he take a telephone credit card and phone home from a roadside public box every now and then. She also put 20 Euros in his shoe but Hadrien has not had to use it yet. Expect Camomile to be on every theatrical agent’s list for the pantomime season.
From our November 2008 e-newsletter
