Boasting

Boasting

"As blackbirds are to swans, as ounces to hundredweights,
As shapes of peasant-women are to noble queens....
As drones are to great music, as rushlights are to candles,
So is any sword to my own sword."
   ____ Saying of Colman mac Leinin (trans. CM)


   Most accounts of the early Celts note that boastfulness was virtually an art form among them, often leading to factionalism and argumentative competitiveness. These factors were instrumental time after time in the downfall of soverign Celtic nations, an inability to combine forces proving disatrous when organized foreign armies came against them.

  When boasting is lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek, when everyone else is in on the joke, it can be a pleasant after-supper pastime. Such boasting was often the custom during and after feasts: heroes would boast of their deeds and possessions in a way that now reminds us of the bluster of world-class wrestlers. But when boasting becomes seriously competitive, there can be problems.

  If we boast in the spirit of competition - whether we stretch the truth broadly or just embellish it - sooner or later we will be asked to run the race. One thoughtless boast can outrun our ability to perform it very easily; a lifetime habit of boasting can swathe the boaster in a garment of illusion that will eventually be seen through.

"Check up on your own boast factor and ensure that it will not distrub the peace. Remember times when boasting caused you trouble."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


Riddles

   The bard Taliesin framed his mystical insights in riddling verse that hinted at a reality too big and too slippery for the normal mind to grasp. He could not say directly what he meant -- he needed to stretch the imagination of his listeners to lead them to the truth. Indeed, this was one of the roles of the bard: to convey secret or sacred knowledge in verse.

An Elementary Riddle:

Can you identify the 'strong creature' in this riddle by Taliesin?

Discover thou what is
The strong creature from before
the flood,
Without flesh, without bones,
Without vein, without blood,
Without head, without feet,
It will neither be older nor younger
Than at the beginning.

The Riddle of the Cauldron:

 Now try to answer this question, often asked of apprentice druids:  "What two words are never spoken from the cauldron?" (A clue: the cauldron contains the water of life, which never stop moving....)

Such riddles are like Zen koans (paradoxes) - the key is to think about them, even if you don't get the
'right' answer.

[From: "Celtic Inspirations" by Lyn Webster Wilde]