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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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I've just returned from a couple of days in the Scottish Highlands.
Yesterday morning, as I was driving along a very quiet road on the south side of Loch ****, I saw what I at first assumed to be a rather closely shorn sheep by the side of the road. As I got closer I realized it was in fact a white deer. It turned, looked at me and ran across the road and off into the woods.
I've been going up to that part of Scotland for many, many years and have seen lots of Red Deer but this is the first time I've ever come across a white one. It was such an unusual event I decided to google 'white red deer' when I got home and it turns out they are extremely rare.
But it was this snippet that caught my eye:
Mythological Beast
White deer are potent figures in the mythology of many cultures. The Celts considered them to be messengers from the otherworld. They are closely identified with unicorns and their appearance is said to herald some profound change in the lives of those that encounter them.
I can't wait to see what fate has in store for me.
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Are you sure you have not been putting too much Wormwood in your Green Fairy?
Seriously... before you reject this as yet another cheap shot from Nem.... Don't forget that Artemis was goddess of the hunt, and protector of the forest.... So there we have it, your whole life was moving towards this, you are chosen.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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| Are you sure, you have not been putting to much Wormwood in your Green Fairy? |
Must admit that thought had crossed my mind, but the only intoxicant I had partaken of the previous evening was a rather pleasant bottle of Moondara Shiraz with my dinner... wait... that's it... I had Pan Fried Local Hill Venison...I was visited by the ghost of yesterday's dinner!
| So there we have it, your whole life was moving towards this, you are chosen. |
Isn't there something in Arthurian legend about a white deer calling knights to quest?
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Hmm.... I associate, white harts with gold chains, as on pub signs. Have not got a clue where that comes from, maybe you are coming into money, or more likely you are a person of great status. I must say, I am going to have to take your posting a lot more seriously....
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Pub signs are divided into three types:
a) those of merely local importance eg The Plough
b) those of 'megalithic' signficance eg The King's Head and
c) those of no significance eg The Slug & Lettuce.
The White Hart is of the second variety.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Sorry, Chad, but this means you almost certainly didn't see a white deer. This is a variant of the Exmoor Beast phenomenon (which we have dealt with at length elsewhere). You will, by the way, swear blind until the end of your days that you saw a white deer.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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| Sorry, Chad, but this means you almost certainly didn't see a white deer. |
No, no... this means I almost certainly did see a white deer.
| This is a variant of the Exmoor Beast phenomenon |
The Exmoor Beast phenomenon is merely a modern manifestation of the Loch Ness Monster phenomenon, where sightings (when genuinely believed by the witness) are of creatures which have no right being where they are sighted... by people who don't know their arse from their elbow and usually at considerable distance.
The Red Deer on the other hand has every right to be found in that part of Scotland and the white specimen, though rare in the wild, is a perfectly natural colour variation caused by the leucistic mutation (not albinism) and when it occurs in deer parks is often specially selected for.
The well documented evidence of such individuals in the wild places this way outside the Exmoor Beast / Loch Ness Monster phenomenon.
This particular sighting was made by somebody who does know his arse from his elbow and at a distance that made it possible to determine that the deer's eyes were dark and not pink (as would be the case with an albino).
Moreover, he is familiar enough with British woodland fauna to be able to distinguish between a white Red Deer and the only other possible candidate... a mutant long necked, smooth coated sheep which had adopted the countenance and gait of a Red Deer.
No...you can rest assured... this was a white deer.
| You will, by the way, swear blind until the end of your days that you saw a white deer |
In the sure and certain knowledge that indeed I did.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Mmm...
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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Pub signs are divided into three types:
a) those of merely local importance eg The Plough
b) those of 'megalithic' signficance eg The King's Head and
c) those of no significance eg The Slug & Lettuce.
The White Hart is of the second variety. |
Why are so many inns called The George? As they're not generally prefixed by 'Saint' they evoke the patriotic George as in flags and football but, since he's the epitome of chivalry, presumably the connection is with horse-riding, inns catering for long-distance travellers. The White Hart is also a chivalric emblem though the tradition is no longer evident in Tottenham.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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| Why are so many inns called The George? |
I wouldn�t mind betting that they were all formerly 'The George and Dragon'.
(In keeping with the 'Mythological Beast' thread.)
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DPCrisp
In: Bedfordshire
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Do we see him any differently if we equate George with Hercules?
{George = "earth worker". Cf. Hercules gouging out the Straits of Gibraltar -- plus his other western Med/European connections: daughter in the Pyrenees, encounter with Atlas... we've seen several over the years.}
George and Hercules must be cognate...
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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On the moorland, just above Ramsbottom, there is an ancient quarry where they used to gorge rock out of Harcles Hill.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I have just seen Woden equated with Mercury without further comment. Is this correct because if so the whole Woden place-name industry will have to be reassessed and placed in the correct time frame?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| I wouldn�t mind betting that they were all formerly 'The George and Dragon'. |
Chad, would you agree that somebody who reported seeing a dragon would indignantly point out a) they know perfectly well what a dragon looks like and b) their actual existence in the part of Britain in which he saw it is fully verified 'by the literature'?
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