Read below and tell me if this does not sound almost exactly like the "cheese-shop" sketch...
You may have guessed that this is from Cervantes' "Don Quixote"... I did my best to supress my giggles as i read this on the bus yesterday ...Now when supper time came they retires to their room, and Sancho asked the landlord what he had to give them to eat. The host replied that they could have as much as they could eat of anything they liked to ask for, as the inn was stocked with the birds of the air, the fowls of the woods and the fish of the sea.
“There is no need for that,” replied Sancho. “We shall be satisfied with a couple of chickens roasted for us, for my master is weak in the stomach and eats little, and I’m no enormous glutton.”
The landlord replied that he has no chickens, for the kites (bird of prey) had devoured them.
“Then, Master Host,” said Sancho, “have a hen roasted for us, so long as it’s a tender one.”
“A hen! Good heavens!,” replied the landlord. “Indeed, I sent more than fifty to town only yesterday to be sold. Ask for anything else you like, your worship, but not for hens.”
“Well,” said Sancho, “there’ll be no shortage of veal or goat, surely.”
“We’ve none in the house just now,” replied the landlord, “for they’re all finished up, but next week we shall have plenty.”
“That’ll do us a lot of good!” replied Sancho. “But I’ll bet you can make up for everything with lashings of bacon and eggs.”
“My lord!” exclaimed the landlord. “He’s a fine one, this guest of mine. I’ve just told him I’ve got no hens, and he expects me to have eggs! Discuss some other delicacies, if you like, but stop asking for rarities.”
“Let’s decide on something, for goodness sake,” said Sancho. “Tell me, once and for all, what have you got, Master host, and stop your discussions.”
“What I have actually got,” said the innkeeper, “is two cow heels that might be taken for calves’ feet, or two calves’ feet that are like cow heels. They are stewed in chick-peas, onions and bacon, and at this very minute they’re crying out ‘Eat me! Eat me!’”
