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Old 05-30-2013, 08:15 AM
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Jumble - Houston Chronicle

Wednesday's Word Jumble answers.

Slant.
Toxic.
Stooge.
Afloat.
There is a story involving rabbits which puts a different slant on the Myth of Napoleon and kind of makes him look like one of the Three Stooges rather than a man so toxic to the British Empire that they spent a huge amount of resources fighting him and his ideas. At least, it does not involve any defeats afloat at the hands of Horatio Nelson. Combat Information Center analysis, facts and figures about military conflicts and leaders - Military History

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Napoleon’s Rabbit Hunt

Resting from his labors after rearranging the geography of Europe in the aftermath of the Peace of Tilsit (July 7-9, 1807), Napoleon proposed that the Imperial Court engage in a rabbit hunt, entrusting the arrangements to his brilliant chief-of-staff, Alexandre Berthier.

Using all the energy and attention to detail with which he normally managed the Emperor’s campaigns, Berthier soon had everything in order. The Imperial hunting party – numerous enough to be mistaken for a regiment – would be sustained by a logistical train to provide a lucullan repast under an elaborate tent, while large details of gun bearers, game keepers, and beaters would be available to lend a hand. Leaving nothing to chance, Berthier even arranged to insure the supply of rabbits, procuring some hundreds, lest nature fail to cooperate in providing sufficient targets for the Imperial pleasure.

And so, on the designated day, the Emperor proceeded in his coach to the appointed place, escorted by Guardsmen, Equerries, and various others of his household, and followed by a host of kings, marshals, barons, generals, counts, and lesser folk. But something went wrong. As the Imperial conveyance approached the designated killing fields, the game keepers began releasing the rabbits. When the Emperor dismounted, much to everyone’s surprise, the lepine horde, rather than fleeing in all directions, made straight for him, in all their hundreds.

Confronted by this flood of rabbits, the Emperor’s escort formed a skirmish line to protect him. But, in the words of historian David Chandler, “with a finer understanding of Napoleonic strategy than most of his generals, the rabbit horde divided into two wings and poured around the flanks of the party.” As the Emperor fled to the relative safety of his coach, the rabbits pursued, some allegedly even leaping into it, so that he had to lend a hand in ejecting them even as his coachmen whipped up their horses.

In the aftermath, it transpired that Berthier, despite all his attention to detail, had procured not wild rabbits, but domesticated ones. Thus, when they espied the Emperor and his coach coming towards them, they though he was their keeper bringing good things to eat and acted accordingly.