Welcome to Documentaryland
And the Rest of the Story
Sam Aurelius Milam III
An
episode of The Aviators, on the Quest channel, dealt with
World War I aviation. During the discussion of air-to-air combat,
the program included several views of B-17 bombers, and a vintage photo
of Winston Churchill.
Now
for the rest of the story. B-17 bomber's weren't used during WWI.
They weren't developed until the 1930's. The photo of Winston Churchill
that was shown, in a World War I documentary, was a World War II era photo.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
The Pursuit of Justice
Sam Aurelius Milam III
I'm
not convinced that trial in a court is in any way superior to trial by
combat. I believe that lawyers are just as fallible as are champions.
Furthermore, it doesn't seem to me to be any more likely that God will
guide and strengthen the mind of a lawyer, in the defense of a worthy cause,
than it is that He will guide and strengthen the arm of a champion.
Finally, a champion will probably be a lot less expensive than a lawyer
because the result is final. No appeals.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
The Fable of Benny
As Retold by Sam Aurelius Milam III
In
ancient times, in a faraway and exotic land, there lived a mage's apprentice
called Benny. Actually, his name was much longer and more complicated
than that but, for now, I'll call him Benny. Besides that, while
it is generally known and acknowledged that the use of a man's true name
can give one power over him, it is less generally known and acknowledged,
but just as true, that the use of a man's true name might also give him
power over the user. So, for convenience and for my own protection,
I'll call him Benny.
As
I noted, Benny was a mage's apprentice and, at the time of this incident,
had been apprenticed to that particular mage for several hundred years.
Much time is needed to learn the Mage's Arts and, necessarily, mages lend
to their apprentices the years of longevity that are necessary for such
study. Once an apprentice becomes a mage, he is entirely capable
of seeing to his own longevity but, while an apprentice, he gets it from
his master.
Benny
thoroughly studied all that was assigned to him by his mage, and did all
that was required of him. Even so, he never told his master of his
real agenda, but he did have one. His real agenda was to be endlessly
and immensely wealthy. So, while he did as instructed by his master,
he also secretly studied certain arts, potions, incantations, and powerful
spells which were, shall we say, extracurricular. After several centuries,
he was ready. However, he needed first to dispose of his master,
who would certainly have prevented any such scheme as Benny had in mind.
Several decades of preparation were required for that but a mage must be
patient above all else, and that's one of the first things that an apprentice
learns. So, eventually, in the fullness of time, Benny succeeded
in disposing of his master. After that, it was a simple matter to
evoke the fearsome phantom that would be capable of granting Bunny's wishes.
The phantom appeared when called and was happy to grant the wish.
However, the phantom imposed one condition, as was its right.
The
phantom granted Benny unending and immense wealth, provided only that Benny
never cut his beard. He was warned to never cut it, however long
it grew. Not only, warned the phantom, would Bunny's wealth immediately
disappear, if ever he cut his beard but, as an additional consequence,
Benny would be instantly changed into a fancy, ornamental funeral vase.
Benny
happily agreed to the condition and instantly became endlessly and immensely
wealthy. He lived in unimaginable luxury for many years, during which
his beard grew to such a length that he needed servants to follow him around,
carrying it behind him.
There
was, however, an unexpected side effect of being endlessly and immensely
wealthy, which is what Benny had demanded of the phantom, word for word.
The unexpected side effect resided in the "endlessly" part. In order
to be endlessly wealthy, Benny had to live forever. A beard can grow
quite long in several millennia and, eventually, it became impossible to
manage. There eventually came a time when Benny began to suspect,
or at least to hope, that, after so long, the phantom had probably forgotten
all about him anyway, and maybe it wouldn't hurt anything, after all, to
just shave the beard completely. After all, he could become wealthy
all over again and the beard would probably be long again before the phantom
even noticed, if it ever did. Just to be on the safe side, Benny
hid a large quantity of funds where even the tax collectors wouldn't be
able to find it. If it was safe from them then it would certainly
be safe from the phantom. Then, Benny shaved off his beard.
As the last whisker was severed, the phantom poofed into existence and
changed Benny into an urn.
Moral:
A Benny shaved is a Benny urned
August 2020 |
Frontiersman,0c/o
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http://frontiersman.org.uk/ |
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