I bought this little embossed birch bark box when I was in Estonia, and wondered for months what tale it tells. I finally remembered to Google it (fox, crow, cheese, Estonia) before leaving on our weekend trip, and learned that the Crow found a piece of cheese and the fox saw him with it and told the crow he was the most beautiful king of all birds. The crow was so flattered that he opened his beak to reply, dropping the cheese to the waiting mouth of the fox.As we drove, my wife mentioned that she wished we had brought our cheese making supplies on our visit to my mother. Then we passed a dead fox killed on the road. Finally, minutes later and very strangely, a crow dived at our windshield while we were driving 60 miles an hour. My wife's quick foot on the brake prevented an unusual collision. All this took place in a matter of minutes and less that 45 minutes after I discovered the story told by my Estonian box.
There are times when I wonder if the universe is trying to tell me something. Perhaps nothing specific, but describing the interconnectedness of all things. When I have the opportunity to see the marvelous interconnectedness of all things, I feel a sense of delight and inner peace. Do these strange things happen to you?
Doug,
ReplyDeleteStrange I was reading thru " Woodworking in Estonia" This book is a dissertation in Ethnology on traditional woodworking in Estonia by Viires; "Woodworking in Estonia" find it at NTIS(National Technical Information Service) Accession No. TT-68-50342. It has alot of strange woodworking,like cutting your trees down before St. Joseph's Feastday (March)and other Folk stuff.
Joe
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ReplyDeleteThere are reasons to cut before the sap rises in the spring. For one thing, the wood will have a lower moisture content which will reduce splitting. Secondly the possibility of insect infestation is reduced. Thirdly, the damage to neighboring trees is lessened.
ReplyDeleteThroughout Finland and Sweden, in the northern zones, trees are cut and pulled from the forest to the sides of highways so they can be loaded into trucks after the snow and ice clears. Most of the harvesting is done while the ground is frozen solid, so less damage is done to the forest. And because you can get equipment in without sinking in mush.
I suspect that most folk mores are rooted in common sense and based on observation of real things.