Today I would like to talk to you of a very old and popular phrase, in Spain: "Tying the dogs with longaniza".
This is a cartoonish expression of wasteful overabundance, and has a very funny anecdotal origin. It is told that in the village of Candelario (province of Salamanca)..........,
Candelario
............,at the beginning of the last century, there was a manufacturer of sausages --called "El Tio Rico, el choricero"(“The Rich Uncle, the man who makes chorizo”)--, in whose workshop, located in the basement of his house, many women worked. On one occasion, one of them was anxious to put a limit on the outrages of a little dog, who was walking around, and she could think of no better idea than to tie the animal, with a string of Italian sausage, to the leg of a chair.
A string of italian sausage
A dog tied with a string of italian sausage
A little while later, an arrapiezo (a man dressed in rags), the son of another woman operator, entered the workshop, and he barely saw, with stupefaction, the dog tied up in that way, and he stampeded out into the street, shouting that the dogs were tied with italian sausage. The news made a fortune and the phrase became proverbial.
They tell that the King Carlos IV was in the province of Avila, hunting wild boars. Walking after the prey, it was time to eat, far from the place where the food had been prepared. Charles IV, who was a fat and insatiable glutton, began to shout at his servants, calling them useless and saying that he was hungry and that they would soon find him something to eat.
And, by chance, a tall and thin man appeared on the road, with saddlebags on his shoulder –he was Tio Rico--.
- "Good man!, Do you have something to eat?" –The King asked him--
- "Chorizos, sir, I am going from Candelario, to sell them in the market of the city" –Tio Rico answered--.
The spanish King Carlos IV
The king, who heard "chorizos", did not think twice.
- "Come here, I will buy your chorizos, if they are good".
- "Sir, the chorizos of Tio Rico, that is how they call me, are the best in the kingdom. Try it yourself". --And with a knife he cut some slices of the chorizo, that the king engulfed with anxiety and delight--.
In fact, it is said that he ate a whole string of chorizos himself, and some more those of his entourage, who also praised them. They were so satisfied that they not only paid well, but Tío Rico was named supplier of chorizos of the Royal House.
Whether or not this was so, the fact is that Tio Rico was painted by the painter Ramon Bayeu, and today he shows us his saddlebags and chorizos, from the walls of the El Prado and El Escorial Museum, which is no small honor for a manufacturer of chorizos.
Tio Rico by Ramón Bayeu
Well, I hope that you will like this story.
Until my next post, kind regards,
Luis.
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