55da1c4f   
   From: 222lufable222@gmail.com   
      
   Do you think that computers and cartoons have caused the loss of the   
   old significant anthropomorphic characters? I can sort of imagine that   
   Phoenix was once a flamingo or a Unicorn begun as a rhino or   
   Nahwal..but the mermaid that was said to have been a manatee..was also   
   a 'Selki' in old European myth, shows how neatly any sea mammal will   
   fit the story line that could have distinct characteristics and   
   meaning in a particular place of origin.   
      
   All those many hundreds of years of story telling to story listeners   
   had no pictures and "we went to sea and we encountered" what ever   
   beast it was, may have been "I am bringing back to you now a tale of   
   horrid animals with terrible histories from a place that rid itself   
   of.." etc.   
      
   I love animals stories but has the need for cute furry and   
   terrifyingly pretty obscured some really decent iconography and   
   political references to cultural history geographical trade &   
   religion?   
      
   Perhaps I'm thinking that one day our great grandchildren will say   
   something like.. "And Pikachu came from a country far far away and   
   blushed when someone upset his friends! "   
      
   I thought about that when I was re-reading Aesops fables.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)