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Dec 4, 2009
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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—M

MacFarlane's Geese

The proverb is that “MacFarlane's geese like their play better than their meat.” The wild geese of Inch-Tavoe (Loch Lomond) used to be called MacFarlane's Geese because the MacFarlanes had a house and garden on the island. It is said that these geese never returned after the extinction of that house. One day James VI. visited the chieftain, and was highly amused by the gambols of the geese, but the one served at table was so tough that the king exclaimed, “MacFarlane's geese like their play better than their meat.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
MacFlecknoe
MacAlpin
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