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Monkey Business

From Michelle: We are touring Mont Saint-Michel Abbey with Cecile, our very earnest guide who is making sure we learn every nook and cranny of this grand monument.  As her English is school-learned, she is very precise in her pronunciation and long-winded in her explanations using non-traditional English words to describe various activities, historical facts and observations all in an effort to enhance our travels.
As we walked in 90+ heat all around Mont Saint-Michel, which is an engineering and architectural marvel, Cecile explains that monkeys were used to carry the granite stones to the top of the “peak” to construct the cathedral and its surrounds.

My word! Monkeys?!?  All through the morning and into the afternoon, I kept thinking about the monkeys.  Were they brought from Africa in the 10th C. akin to a monkey slave trade?  Were they organized into a monkey battalion that conjured up visions of the Wicked Witch of the West’s monkey army in the Wizard of Oz?  Did the monkeys drag the stones up to the top or push the stones upward? Or did the monks tie the stones on to the monkeys’ backs?  How did they train these chimps?  My god, what effort to build this wonderful place.

At the end of the afternoon as we walked down from the abbey, I brought up the monkey business to Rob.  He considered what I said and then retorted, “What happens when the monkeys get angry? They would throw the stones at you.”

Hmmm, good point.  I brought up the monkey business to Cecile.  She looked at me quizzically and then realized her mispronunciation…. “not monkeys, but donkeys.”