There was once a gold and ruby Salamander…
The myths of lizards abound… but by way of introduction to the gold
and ruby salamander… I will start with but one. Whether it is a
myth or whether it is factual is for you to decide. Of all the diets
that prevail – Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers – there is but
one that has merit. It is the Lizard diet. As Languedoc tradition
would have it… if a lizard bites a woman’s breast, she will soon
lose weight. Nothing is said of the subsequent effect upon the woman
if a man were to perform the same service… a fact that I find
rather short-sighted on the part of the Languedocians.
Never-the-less … if you want to lose weight…
And so… there once was a treasure found in a sunken ship in the
middle of the deep blue sea in the form of a gold and ruby
salamander…
The ship was called The Girona and it was part of a Spanish Armada
dating back to the late 1500’s which had taken on extra passengers
and baggage from a ship that had run aground in Ireland. The Girona
was headed toward neutral territory in Scotland with its complement
of grandees and excess baggage and weaponry.
Alas… the weather was bad… and the rudder came adrift… and the
ship struck rocks and sank. Of its complement of 1300 people… only
five survived… ultimately intermarrying with the local populace
which inhabited the northern coast line of Lacada Point which was
where the ship met its ill-fated end.
With the sinking of the ship came the sinking of its treasures which
belonged to the elite passengers of the ship and which remained
hidden in the briny depths until 1967 when an enterprising lad by the
name of Robert Stenuit began diving for treasures. He dove for two
years and was rewarded for his efforts by finding many valuables…
among them a ruby inlaid golden salamander pendant.
The pendant contains three rubies… six are missing. I was tempted
to restore the pin in Photoshop but decided to retain the piece in
its original – post ship-sinking – scruffy state.
Did you know that lizards can restore sight to the blind. Yes yes.
It’s all quite true, you know. Does anyone out there remember when
chicken-little went about screeching “The sky is falling; The sky is
falling.” It would appear that chicken-little might have been
right… for it is a well known fact among the educated that the sky
will fall if a lizard has been killed. Perhaps chicken- little had
had the misfortune to come across a dastardly murderous
lizard-killer. There are stranger things dear friends… between
heaven and hell…
And so… as I end this refrain…
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 then click on it in order to view a Gold and
Ruby Salamander Pendant dating back to the late 1500’s.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark