"ElizabethGaskell-AnAccursedRace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gaskell Elizabeth C)

eat them. Their only privilege arising from this increase was, that
they might choose out the strongest and finest in preference to
keeping the old sheep. At Martinmas the authorities of the commune
came round, and counted over the stock of each Cagot. If he had more
than his appointed number, they were forfeited; half went to the
commune, half to the baillie, or chief magistrate of the commune.
The poor beasts were limited as to the amount of common which they
might stray over in search of grass. While the cattle of the
inhabitants of the commune might wander hither and thither in search
of the sweetest herbage, the deepest shade, or the coolest pool in
which to stand on the hot days, and lazily switch their dappled
sides, the Cagot sheep and pig had to learn imaginary bounds, beyond
which if they strayed, any one might snap them up, and kill them,
reserving a part of the flesh for his own use, but graciously
restoring the inferior parts to their original owner. Any damage
done by the sheep was, however, fairly appraised, and the Cagot paid
no more for it than any other man would have done.

Did a Cagot leave his poor cabin, and venture into the towns, even to
render services required of him in the way of his he was bidden, by
all the municipal laws, to stand by and remember his rude old state.
In all the towns and villages the large districts extending on both
sides of the Pyrenees--in all that part of Spain--they were forbidden
to buy or sell anything eatable, to walk in the middle (esteemed the
better) part of the streets, to come within the gates before sunrise,
or to be found after sunset within the walls of the town. But still,
as the Cagots were good-looking men, and (although they bore certain
natural marks of their caste, of which I shall speak by-and-by) were
not easily distinguished by casual passers-by from other men, they
were compelled to wear some distinctive peculiarity which should
arrest the eye; and, in the greater number of towns, it was decreed
that the outward sign of a Cagot should be a piece of red cloth sewed
conspicuously on the front of his dress. In other towns, the mark of
Cagoterie was the foot of a duck or a goose hung over their left
shoulder, so as to be seen by any one meeting them. After a time,
the more convenient badge of a piece of yellow cloth cut out in the
shape of a duck's foot, was adopted. If any Cagot was found in any
town or village without his badge, he had to pay a fine of five sous,
and to lose his dress. He was expected to shrink away from any
passer-by, for fear that their clothes should touch each other; or
else to stand still in some corner or by-place. If the Cagots were
thirsty during the days which they passed in those towns where their
presence was barely suffered, they had no means of quenching their
thirst, for they were forbidden to enter into the little cabarets or
taverns. Even the water gushing out of the common fountain was
prohibited to them. Far away, in their own squalid village, there
was the Cagot fountain, and they were not allowed to drink of any
other water. A Cagot woman having to make purchases in the town, was
liable to be flogged out of it if she went to buy anything except on
a Monday--a day on which all other people who could, kept their