As she had often done before since the
Falkland Islands were taken from her in 1833, Argentina last week
officially called upon Britain to return the bleak, strategic
archipelago thinly stocked with hardy sheep and hardheaded Scots.
Britain was not expected to reply. The Malvinas, as Argentina calls the Falkland Islands, appear on
Argentine maps and stamps as Argentine territory. A touching Argentine
poem describes the sadness of an emigr penguin which fled to Argentina
after Britain took the Falklands: He was only a penguin
Still very small,
Born in the Malvinas
In the month of April. “Why have you come,
You poor little thing?
With so jew feathers
You really might die.” “Love of my country
Brought me here;
And the faith of my fathers
Which I want to retain.” “But are you an Argentine?”
“I certainly am.
But out there they force me
To be an Englishman.”
