November 6, 2004
big fish, small pond / small fish, big pond
On the shores of Lough Neagh . . .
Once upon a time :
Finn McCool gave chase to the Scottish Giant. Scooping up a (giant size) handful of earth, he flung it at his rival. Being possesed of great strength, the flying sod overshot its mark and landed in the Irish Sea, thus creating the Isle of Man. The hole filled with water and became Lough Neagh.
- or -
There stood a well at the centre of what is now the Lough . . . which overflowed.
- or -
Where the Lough now sits was once a city, at the centre of which was a spring. The spring watched while the people of the city turned to robbing and cheating their neaghbours. In an act not disimilar to Gods destruction of the Tower of Babel, the well overflowed, drowning the city.
The Lough is full of legends, stories, songs; a bowl, a focus, into which they flow. It's also full of eels. In the months of September, October and November, in the nights either side of the new moon, "the dark", they start their journey to the Sargasso Sea.
At the other extreme of scale it's a speck in the void of the universe, a small fish in a big pond.
Posted by Jem Finer at November 6, 2004 3:13 PM