![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mniA text-based icon in a variety of fonts (Franklin Gothic Heavy, Franklin Gothic Book, and Monotype Corsiva) with pastel "rainbow stripes" along the top and left-hand edge, that reads:
"If you want to be a Hero, be Good to the Storyteller."
The inspiration for this one has been rattling around in my head for a while. Several years ago, I found an Irish Proverb site, which gave the original proverbs in Gaelic, translations to English, and a paragraph about what the proverb reveals about Gaelic grammar, and/or Irish culture.
And one proverb in particular tickled my fancy: "Whoever will bring a story to you will take two stories away from you." It tickled me because I've read many Irish folktales where travelers are required to tell stories, as good manners, when they visit someone's house. And here was evidence that that story trope had a real, muddy-boots, practical, basis in reality.
But the interpretation that someone wrote up for the proverb completely missed the point -- saying this is more a statement of Irish protocol than a true proverb.
And I'm sorry, but no. This is not the equivalent of: "When you sit down at the table, you will chew with your mouth closed."
Every person who tells you one story (which is, potentially, anyone you meet) will come away with two stories -- whether or not you followed "proper protocol:" They'll leave with the same story they came with, and they'll have a new story all about you... And it's up to you to shape the kind of story they'll tell. Will it be a story about a noble human being, or a first-class jerk?
That, my friends, is a proper proverb.
(also, this icon replaces one I used for Script Frenzy, years ago: "Be careful, or I'll put you in my script!" [if I recall correctly])
*Does a bit of Google-digging* Ah, here's the proverb's page!
Daltai.com: Proverbs -- the Bigger World: "Whoever will bring a story to you..."
"If you want to be a Hero, be Good to the Storyteller."
The inspiration for this one has been rattling around in my head for a while. Several years ago, I found an Irish Proverb site, which gave the original proverbs in Gaelic, translations to English, and a paragraph about what the proverb reveals about Gaelic grammar, and/or Irish culture.
And one proverb in particular tickled my fancy: "Whoever will bring a story to you will take two stories away from you." It tickled me because I've read many Irish folktales where travelers are required to tell stories, as good manners, when they visit someone's house. And here was evidence that that story trope had a real, muddy-boots, practical, basis in reality.
But the interpretation that someone wrote up for the proverb completely missed the point -- saying this is more a statement of Irish protocol than a true proverb.
And I'm sorry, but no. This is not the equivalent of: "When you sit down at the table, you will chew with your mouth closed."
Every person who tells you one story (which is, potentially, anyone you meet) will come away with two stories -- whether or not you followed "proper protocol:" They'll leave with the same story they came with, and they'll have a new story all about you... And it's up to you to shape the kind of story they'll tell. Will it be a story about a noble human being, or a first-class jerk?
That, my friends, is a proper proverb.
(also, this icon replaces one I used for Script Frenzy, years ago: "Be careful, or I'll put you in my script!" [if I recall correctly])
*Does a bit of Google-digging* Ah, here's the proverb's page!
Daltai.com: Proverbs -- the Bigger World: "Whoever will bring a story to you..."
no subject
Date: 2012-07-29 01:04 pm (UTC)P.S. NEARLY NAARMAMO!! ::EXCITED::
no subject
Date: 2012-07-29 03:27 pm (UTC)Thank you. It was also inspired, in part, by real life experience (as these things are, you know) --
Going in for regular cerebral palsy checks (which, I suspect, were as much for a chance to offer me up as a study specimen for interns than to actually monitor my growth and mobility): a nurse taking me from the waiting room to the exam room (where mother and I would wait for another forty-five minutes), would, in making small talk (always in a talk-to-baby sing-song voice): "Do you have hobbies?"
Me: "Well, I write stories..."
Nurse: "Ooh! Are you going put me in a story? And make me famous?
Me (Through gritted teeth): Maybe... (Thinking): :::But you might not like it.:::
^^^And the paragraphs above get all meta- and recursion-loopy^^^
Also, I have back-up from Irish tales, too, where a poet who's been insulted by a king throws a magic curse over the offending monarch.
So, yes: It is Irish protocol to give more than has been given to you. But this proverb doesn't just repeat that, it tells you why.
I've been thinking about these sorts of human interactions for the last several days, too.
It's a Zeitgeist! \o/
\o/ NaArMaMo!