This week we’ve been talking about the Cajun version of Mardi Gras, where the participants disguise themselves in costumes, and make the rounds of their neighbors’ houses, begging for the ingredients for a communal gumbo. Here’s a story about the most valued prize a Mardi Gras could be given – a live chicken, destined to be part of that gumbo. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by Dupont. For most of his life, Vories Moureau has been a participant in Mardi Gras in Basile, Louisiana. “You know you had a song when you’d get there, and you had a song when you was leaving there. You’d sing and thank them for what they was giving you, or you would sing them a bad song for what they didn’t give you.” One of Vories’s favorite stories is how he played a trick on a wealthy neighbor. “We were good, good friends but I knew how tight she was, you know. So we went and she gave us a chicken. I got on my knees at the step and I said give me another chicken ‘No, she said, I gave you all one chicken, that’s all I can give you.’ Okay. So I snuck around, I went to the barn and they had a big old cow pattie, and I stuck it under my bosom, but it was dry.” Okay so Vories has a cow paddy, a dried piece of cow dung, hidden under his shirt, as if he’s stolen a chicken. “I looked at her like that, like I was trying to sneak away you know, and she said,’look at that Mardi Gras he’s stealing something from me!’ So I knelt down on the step again man, and I said please, please give me this, it’s not going to hurt you. ‘No. no, no,’ she said, ‘I’m not going to give it to you!’ So I said okay. So I put it on the steps. When she saw it she said, ‘Vories, I know that’s you!’ ” We’ll hear more about Cajun Mardi Gras in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is presented by Dupont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.