Monday, October 4, 2010

Where it comes from


Who Said It: Aesop
When: c. 570 B.C.
The Story behind the line originates from the Greek slave, Aesop. He wrote a large amount of fables which, usually illustrated a single point.
It was based around the tale about "The Milkmaid and Her Pail." Patty, a farmer's daughter, is daydreaming as she walks to town with a pail of milk balanced on her head. Her thoughts: "The milk in this pail will provide me with cream, which I will make into butter, which I will sell in the market, and buy a dozen eggs, which will hatch into chickens, which will lay more eggs, and soon I shall have a large poultry yard. I'll sell some of the fowls and buy myself a handsome new gown and go to the fair, and when the young fellows try to make love to me, I'll toss my head and pass them by." At that moment, Patty tossed her head and lost the pailful of milk.  Therefore ending all the dreams and possibilities which, could have come from the milk. In theory Aesop is saying if we let our dreams get ahead of ourselves the outcome usually can be disappointing.

Is this always the case? Do we have to constantly be careful and protect ourselves from the pain and negativity or can this saying be challenged. And instead can we live in the moment and embrace what the outcome is with a positive attitude?




7 comments:

  1. Okay. We know about the hen and the chicken. What happened to the rooster?

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  2. Humm could say his job was done so moved on...or is he really the important part of the equation???

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  3. girl chill on tht key board;stop making your posts so damn long!:)

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  4. Like the legend said "Don't plan the world and lose your heart,for wisdom is better then silver and gold." ~ Bob Marley

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  5. "Do we have to constantly be careful and protect ourselves from the pain and negativity or can this saying be challenged. And instead can we live in the moment and embrace what the outcome is with a positive attitude?" - Terri

    I think the story about the three mice who fell into a bucket of milk answers your question. The story goes "There were three mice who fell into a bucket of milk, the two mice gave up swimming and drowned but the third mouse kept swimming until he turned that bucket of milk into cream and climbed out" - I thought this was ironic as the history of where, "Don't count you're chickens before they hatch" originated from; a girl carrying a pail of milk on her head.Always two sides to every story.

    One can never constantly protect oneself from the pain or negativity in the world, by attempting this is fearing life itself - this causes moments and memories to be lost. I think we need to chose which mouse we would want to be. Therefore never give up and take one opportunity or obstacle in life one step at a time!

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  6. From Caitlin Warther(Edinburgh)

    hey te,

    sorry it took me so long to write about the blog but i'll try make it worhwhile.

    if u wanna tell me what they looking for i can write something that sounds good, do u know what i mean? but otherwise i think it's...

    nicely formatted, effective use of colour and images. the format is accessible and easy to follow in a single thread.

    the textual content may be a little long for people that dont know you but the topics are broad enough that most people are curious. much of what you are writing about is relevant to people of our age group and is providing some insight into the questions that we are all beginning to ask ourselves.

    you write clearly and thoughtfully and while a lot of your personality and life stories comes through it does not feel as though i was reading a private, babbling journal.

    i miss you and i love you and i'm so upset that life keeps bringing you these things that you dont deserve.


    ps. if u need another post, a lot of what you're saying is in line with one of Don Miguel Ruiz's Four Agreements, the one to that says, "dont make assumptions"

    "We have the tendency to make assumptions about everything. ... We make assumptions about what others are doing or thinking – we take it personally – then we blame them and react by sending out emotional poison with our word. That’s why whenever we make assumptions, we’re asking for problems. ."

    just google it and u can read the whole text... x

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