Ch. 7: Disclaimers and other Trivia

I can't think of one instance wherein a story, fictitious or true, was written about boring people. Let's face it...they're BORING, so why bother?! Most people fit into various categories or 'types' or have an interesting admixture of these two that actually makes them individualistic in their behavior, even when they exhibit characteristics handed down through familial lines for generations; which comes both through the collective gene pool and successive training by parents and grandparents.

Story telling has been the way mankind has communicated ever since the Original Gardeners botched their rather simple assignment and fell out not only with their Maker, but with each other as well, no doubt. I wonder if Mother Eve was forever correcting Father Adam when he was regaling Seth and the progeny with tales of The Garden and the like? I'd wager without much fear of losing my principal that all cultures have men who do not, shall we say, stick to the truth while their women folk either publicly amend the tales in their presence or sort them out at a later time in their own feminine way when Pappy has retired to some other place.

In any event, constructing a tale, whether anyone else reads and/or likes it or not, is a challenge in and of itself; the primary motivation behind What Happened to Ishmael? Of course, there's the always inquisitive five year old who is content to end a story but inevitably asks for more. It appears that The Lord of the Rings was exactly that; Tolkien's way to build Elvish as a whole new language as well as his attempt to tell an engaging story...spot on, Mr. T!!

The illustration for this particular chapter was drawn by Theodor Von Holst for the frontispiece of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It could be seen as the author of any tale running away from his characters once they've gotten out of hand. Or it could have absolutely nothing to do with anything other than it's OK to use it due to its public domain status. So, if illustrations crop up... or are cropped to suit my fancy...that you recognize from other works...like "Kapellmeister Kreisler" in the last chapter to represent Harpooner Tout...accept it graciously and continue on, dear reader...or not, if the spirit so moves you.