Les grandes personnes envahissent la ville de Toulouse!

     Late Saturday, a collection of gargantuan strangers, along with an assemblage of menacing creatures, invaded Toulouse. It seemed a largely unexpected and surprise raid on this pink city in the southwest of France, as happy families, adoring couples, and hurried individuals traversed about the tiny, curving streets visiting shops, cafes, and markets. Even the local gendarme seemed unaware of any impending assault on their city, as they sat in their cars rendered immovable by the beasts in the streets.

 

       "I have no clue what is happening here," claimed Claire Talham, a temporary resident of Toulouse, as she sat upon her father's shoulders attempting to view the chaos. "All I know is, nothing like this EVER happens in my hometown of Gainesville, Florida, so this is swell!"

Claire Talham sits atop her father's shoulders staring at les geants while her sisters Corinne and Charlotte look on.

     There was speculation last night among some government officials that perhaps some rogue members of the Spanish National Circus, or El Circo, were attempting an escape along the pilgrimage route followed through Toulouse to Santiago de Compostela in the 8th and 9th centuries. However, the rather substantial beasts seemed to be traversing the route backwards.

Some pointed to this suspicious photo as proof that members of El Circo were behind this event.

These figures were reported to be peering inside windows.

     "All I know is I live on the second floor (which in France is really the third floor) and was dressing for a dinner date. The next thing I know, a pair of eyes, each as large as the Grand Rond in Centre Ville, were peering in at me. My heart stopped beating, and I collapsed to the ground. I crawled to a closet and hid inside until two hours later when my date arrived. He described being stuck in traffic that couldn't move around these intruders," explained 24-year-old Celeste, who moved here from Paris last May.

     News reports helped to settle the populace in France's fourth largest city late last night by airing an explanation provided by the Institute for Studies in Occitan. They called the invasion a parade to begin the Festival of the Occitania. The institute has as its mission the preservation and teaching of the language, culture, and literature of the langue d'oc, a literary language written in the 12th century as troubadors began to perform shows in all the royal courts of Europe. Its roots are in southern France, the Basque country of Spain, regions in Italy, and in Monaco. The outsized characters are in fact replicas of important figures in the Occitan history.

A horned creature shocks concerned citizens by spontaneously becoming explosive

   
     The festival will continue until October 27, and Toulousians can expect to see more totem people and animals roaming the streets, at times dancing to accompaniment provided by musicians working on the conservancy of the Occitan culture.
     Et voila! The mystery is solved. "I wasn't concerned,"claimed Corinne Talham, sister of Claire, as she watched the spectacle with boredom. "I was reading my book, and all of this commotion brought me outside. I'm going back to read," she announced as she dipped under the large handkerchief dangling from the wife of Pere II's immense hand. It all seemed perfectly normal to her!

Pere II's wife