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British, French

clash over frogs

MONTAUBAN, (France): A French man took his British neighbour to court on Thursday for hoarding noisy frogs in his garden pond in south-west France.

The French national complained his sick wife has been kept awake by constant croaking since the British man dug his pond several months ago, in a court hearing in Montauban, in Tarn-et-Garonne region.

The British man's lawyer based his defense on the claim that the village where the rivals live, Reynies, is known as "the land of the frogs" because its name comes from the French word rainette meaning a tree frog.

The Frenchman's lawyer said the village name was actually of German origin and recalled that a few years earlier the British man had forced another neighbour to dispose of a cockerel Ñ a symbol for France Ñ because it was too noisy.ÑAFP