No, these fine younglings are not thieves. As far as I know.
This is a story about France, just after the Revolution. Besides worrying about the guillotine, everyone was short of food. Thieves roamed the countryside, stealing whatever they could eat. In response, vineyard owners started painting their ripening grape clusters with a mixture of copper sulfate and lime sulfur. When thieves tried to eat the grapes, they tasted terrible, and the spray also left a telltale discoloration on their tongues. Some thieves were went to prison and to the guillotine, after the police spotted them by their tongues.
Epitaph: Someone noticed that the grapevines that had been sprayed did not have as much infestation by the typical fungus diseases (Powdery Mildew; Downy Mildew; etc.). Upon a bit of experimentation, the first effective spray for grape fungal diseases was developed, called the "Bordeaux Mixture."
You can't make this stuff up.
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