The river Seine is the jewel in the crown of the City of Paris. It starts somewhere in Burgundy and flows towards English Channel. With all the might of its flow there was a time the river before it reached the sea lost all its force and dribbled into a mist. The tributaries like l’Aube, l’Yonne, l’Essonne, le Loing, la Marne, l’Oise and l’Eure like many strands of jewels lost their luster. Parisians in the time of Charles VI (who was called Bien-Aime) thought there was something serious afoot. River Seine that was their national pride began to smell. There were riots and the king and his queen were perplexed that they could not do a thing.
It was in such a time one night one gargoyle from the Notre Dame took to its head to investigate. What is a gargoyle but a waterspout made to look like a demon with such fanciful air about it? It may be chimerical but had a panoramic view of the city of lights. It also saw the denizens of the city go about wenching, cutting capers and thieving at all hours. These gargoyles had such a jolly time to see them parading their liveliness at all hours. They made bricks and plastered walls with them and left them to scrawl their irreverence for all to see. Even when they were strung up from scaffold they made jokes about their necks or of the weight of their arses, and how gargoyles had laughed!
The gargoyle had no plans but simply took advantage of a moonlit night to see for itself what was the hubbub all about. It took the appearance of a clochard and walked along the river and sampling the wares. It tasted tripe and thought it was delicious and stuffed itself so much that it could not breathe. It started rolling in discomfort. One beggar seeing the stranger took a stick and probed in the mouth. Oh yes there was a piece stuck! With much struggle he managed to get it out. He seemed to have opened something more! The gargoyle regurgitated its innards and it was waterfall.And the waterfall became a flashflood! All that water made it to the river. As a result the river Seine began overflowing.
The gargoyle stood up much relieved and said, ‘Waiit till I get the joker who stuck a spigot in my throat!’ and before the terrified beggar could get a hold of himself he said with a grin,’Never fear, dying with a dry throat! I will be there to help you out!’ And he disappeared.
The term originates from the French gargouille, originally “throat” or “gullet”; Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from the root gar, “to swallow”, which represented the gurgling sound of water (e.g., Spanish garganta, “throat”; Spanish gárgola, “gargoyle”).(ack: http://www.ultrafeel.tv/gargoyle-notre-dame-cathedral-photo