TIDBITS 09/09/07

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We encourage you to forward this email to friends and colleagues. ====================================== The Tiger and The Wolf A man walked into a crowded jewelry shop and proceeded to complacently pick up objects of his desire and then walk out without paying for them. He was immediately arrested and then asked why--with so many people around to witness the crime--he had been foolish enough to steal those items in plain sight. His response was that he saw no one there ... he could not see the people ... all he could see was the gold. Hey. If you're going to tell one ... make it a huge one. You might get off the hook for no other reason than just plain gall.

The Warring States Period was a time when regional warlords of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region annexed smaller states around them and consolidated their rule. It was a time when the fascination for gold was so strong that the story above was created in order to demonstrate the draw this magical metal had upon the populace.

The wolf: A symbol of fierceness and cruelty. A bloodthirsty devourer of evil. In Norse mythology there existed a giant wolf whose jaws gaped so widely they stretched from the heavens to the earth. This was not your puny Little Red Riding Hood wolf who

--in his best day--could not do much better than eat a helpless old grandmother. This was the real thing.

The Tiger: Also a tough cookie. Solar and lunar ... creator and destroyer ... cruel of greed and royal in strength ... a male symbol in China ... depicting authority and courage as it guards graves and chases away demons. In China it takes the place of the wolf in their version of Little Red Riding Hood ... for them it is the tiger that eats the little old grandmother.

Which brings us to a gold ornament of the Warring States Period, found in Dongsheng City of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. It is a representation of a wolf and a tiger fighting. What are they fighting about you may well ask. Of course ... this is only conjecture for there is no one around to ascertain the veracity of this statement ... but I suspect they are fighting about that little old gray haired grandmother and who will get to eat her.

The primal urges--it would appear--are the cause of much conflict ... whether between the beasts of the animal kingdom ... or the beasts of the human kingdom ... if such a distinction actually has merit.

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I direct you to my home page at

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 ornament of a Wolf and a Tiger in battle ... cause unknown ... of the Warring States Period.

And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark

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