Rhinestones… strass… diamante… who founded the eponymous
paradigm for all these stones. What? Did I hear anyone say Daniel
Swarovski? The man was a genius from the Austrian Tyrol. But this is
not about him.
Rather it’s about a stork.
I digress as I am often wont to do.
Did you know that Aristotle made killing storks a crime?
Did you know that the stork was sacred to Venus and if one built its
nest on the roof of your house it was considered a promise of love?
Also… did you know that in addition to bringing a promise of love
if it built its nest on your rooftop… it was also a guarantee that
your house would not catch fire.
Did you know that storks are supposedly very much like us and when it
reaches old age its young look after it and care for it till it
dies? Well … perhaps very much like only some of us. Ya think they
have old age stork nursing homes? Only if the stork is covered by
Medicaid or Madicare I would presume.
As an aside… ancient Roman law dictated that children should care
for their aging parents. This was called the “Stork’s Law”.
Arab legend has it that when storks disappear in the fall they live
on as men. This is surely true… for haven’t we all at some time or
another looked at our fellow man and said to ourselves durned if he
don’t look like a stork.
Not only was it believed that the male stork would kill his mate if
he caught her being unfaithful and “shtupping” another stork… but
he was also believed to be the Avenger of Adultery. So here’s how
this last one works. Out of the kindness of your heart… you decide
to allow Mr. Stork to make his nest on your roof. While you’re out
working and toiling to make a living in order to give the missus all
the things she needs… she has opened hearth and home to the local
lothario who has his way with her all day quelling the intense
passions that have been burning in her breast. Our stork from up
above… overtaken with intense feelings of loyalty to you for
having given him a place to rest… promptly approaches the wife and
pokes her eyes out.
Ever notice how most babies are delivered by Mr. Stork carrying such
baby in his bill. Well… this is quite true… if its a naughty baby
boy. Good baby boys ride on the stork’s back. Methinks there ain’t
many good baby boys around.
So how does this all connect to Swarovski and crystals and jewelry
you may well ask? Well… here’s what it is. I have a stork pin with
two huge emerald cut blue crystals, made with gold-plated base metal
and accented with rhinestones. (Swarovski crystals?) It is three
inches high. It dates back to the 1940’s. And–I believe–is now
worth around $100.00. Wanna see?
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://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
jaunty looking stork pin.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark