Myths And Legends

[Warpy]

1. Too much of the Irish stuff bored me as a kid

because it was so tied to geographical features I'd never seen. I did love the Salmon of Wisdom and the tricks lLerechauns pulled on greedy people.

Some seeming myths contain an oral history. Now that archaeologists aren't digging up and removing their ancestors, a few local tribes have started to talk a little, their stories covering things like an effusive volcanic eruption near Zuni (8,000 years ago) and what caused Chaco to be abandoned. In eastern Australia, they've uncovered stories that accurately describe the sea rise at the end of the Ice Age and this one, https://www.science.org/content/article/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told Taken at face value, these stories just seem ridiculous to modern ears. Looking a little deeper into them found truth there.

For a long time, oral histories have been discounted as being too flowery or fantastical to be true, but once you cut through the stuff people added to cadge more free drinks at an ale house or wine bar, some of them can be tied to actual events.

Fionn MacCumhaill (prounounced Finn McCool) and the Salmon of Wisdom? I can think of no more perfect time to experience the inductive leap than staring into a deep pool of water and waiting for dinner to arrive in it.