SC - Cucumber jokes (again - but period this time)

[Lee-Gwen]

I thought that, given the recent fascination with cucumbers on this List,
this excerpt from a posting on another list to which I subscribe might
appeal.

'And as documentation for the periodness of cucumber jokes, there
is a quote from Ottaviano Boy, a Venetian envoy to the Ottoman
court in Constantinople during the mid-16th century, who writes
that for the women of harem of Suleiman the Magnificent, "it is
not lawfull for any one to bring ought in unto them, with which
they may commit deeds of beastly uncleannesse; so that if they
have a will to eate Cucumbers, they are sent in unto them sliced
to deprive them of the meanes of playing the wantons".'

Fancy slicing them and taking away all that harmless (or beastly, depending
on one's point of view, I guess) fun!

Gwynydd