Pompignan. Stories of yesterday and today with Clément Bouscarel

The storyteller Clément Bouscarel, black beret on his head and broad gestures, coming from Creysse, in upper Quercy – “the most beautiful village in France”, according to Clément – ​​had a full house on Friday December 6, mixing elected officials (Ms. Nègre, Mr. Belloc, neighboring mayors), members of associations and other members of the public, including Father Passerat. The talented and committed storyteller masterfully led his listeners from ancient times to the present, from the world of imps to that of the situation of peasants from yesteryear to now. As skillful and empathetic as the musician wolf leader in one of his tales, he took his audience from laughter to emotion, from thrill to reflection, in a sometimes poetic, sometimes truculent mixture of French and Occitan. , which he was able to make understandable for non-bilingual spectators. At his side, a beautiful actress, installed on a seat box, also played an important role throughout this evening, her dog “Moon”, pointed muzzle, lively gaze and words whispered into the ear of her human, as Clement so rightly called himself. Throughout the evening, he repeated this refrain: “We have to meet, we have to talk to each other, do things together instead of…”, and there, his fingers were moving over an invisible but very present cell phone. ! His tale about a village which builds a bread oven despite the drac (the imp) was the illustration of this. His numerous digressions on his story-telling grandfather, on his daily life as a peasant (be careful! no agricultural entrepreneur); the return of the wolf to our regions. What to do with this animal? Chase him away? Cope with it? He dreams of “seeing one in real life”, even if he is the enemy of his sheep. His ideas on the arrival of neo-rural people, who are in fact the descendants of those who left the countryside for the city in the past… so many situations which can pose problems but which, for this peasant-storyteller, can be resolved by knowing oneself , by talking to each other and accepting solutions “perhaps coming from abroad”. Almost two hours of stories and philosophy mixed together, which is logical, the tales from here and elsewhere being sources of wisdom, or simply common sense. The audience, won over, could have spent the night there or almost. But tales also have an end and Clément Bouscarel thanked his audience who applauded for a long time, then he concluded the evening with the classic Occitan formula of goodbye: “Adieu-siatz totes et tenetz vos fièrs” (goodbye to all and stay worthy).