GUARDIAN GOOSE

The story goes that a sentry of the British Army’s Second Battalion Coldstream Guards (they of the towering bearskin hats), on duty in Quebec City circa 1838, saved a goose that was being attacked by a fox. Afterwards, the white goose, similar to the one pictured at left, often marched alongside the men at the same post. The soldiers named the goose Jacob. A few months later, when enemies armed with knives snuck up on a sentry, Jacob honked the alarm and rushed at them. For his service, Jacob was awarded a spiffy golden gorget. (Given that the enemy attackers were likely Patriotes rebelling against British colonial occupation, the story may not sound so heroic to Canadian ears.) When the regiment returned to England in 1842, Jacob came along, only to be run over in the street in 1846. His preserved head and the gorget are still on display at the Guards Museum in London.