Well… the tales abound… and of course… I have my favorites
based on the ridiculosity of the myth.
Coming in at number 1 we have the Dog Whipper. It was considered --in
many parishes in England–a sacrilege for a dog to enter a church.
And so… as a precautionary measure… a Dog Whipper was hired to
prevent the beast from entering the holy premises during services.
Which brings up the question: How many dogs actually tried to attend
services that the parish felt they had to hire someone–sapling in
hand–to prevent this catastrophe? And if so many dogs wanted to pray
by golly… let them. What’s good for the goose is certainly good
for… Oh well. You get the point.
For number 2 is the belief that if a dog runs between a woman’s legs
her husband will punish her. This may sound frivolous and maybe even
downright unreasonable at first glance. The poor thing was probably
out for an innocent romp and went whither the winds took him.
However … one has here to take into account the incredible
richness of the English language. What if Dog, in this instance, were
more metaphorical than literal? Then perhaps the darn Dog was getting
what he deserved. What was he doing between her legs anyway?
Many dog as well as their varied ancestry guard the entrances to the
underworld. The Jackal-headed Anabus does this as well as the three
headed Cerberus–watchdog to the entrance to Hades. Does your dog
like music. Halli and Lukki of Finn mythology had a weakness for the
music of the harp and would fall asleep upon hearing the string’s
dulcet tones. This bit of knowledge may be of help for those of you
who upon occasion need to tread in forbidden areas guarded by fierce
Dobermans. Bring along a harp… and play for your lives as the
creatures come snarling and salivating in your direction. They will
fall promptly into a deep coma and you will be able to do your
dastardly deeds in peace.
The fox… clever cousin to the dog… is as deceitful as Satan and
is also capable of foretelling the future. This is something good to
know when going out to buy a pet. Of course… there are
werewolves… half man half dog… changing from one to the other at
full moon… despised by others less endowed… probably out of envy.
I ask you… who wouldn’t want to turn into a dog at the dead of
night and howl at the moon undisturbed for hours on end? In
France–as it turns out–they killed werewolves.
And last but not least… we have the flute-playing terriers who
delight one and all by playing their instruments at parties far and
wide. This last animal is truly quite rare… but fortunately… I
have an image of such a creature… captured in gold with a diamond
flute and ruby nose and eyes. Ya wanna see? Go. Go take a look.
Enjoy.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Current Tidbits… and you will see represented on our pages a flute
playing gold terrier brooch worth around $500.00.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark