~GOLDFISH to DRAGON . . . down with the rats !!
IMAGE: ‘PROSPERITY’ – Pg 81, ‘FIVE-FOLD HAPPINESS’ – ‘Chinese concepts of luck, prosperity, longevity, happiness and wealth’ – by VIVIEN SUNG. CHRONICLE BOOKS, SAN FRANCISCO, 2002.
FILE UNDER: who hasn’t had a pet goldfish swimming around in a little globe of water ?
FILE UNDER: PROSPERITY, and damn all those cheatin’ rats, anyways !!
the San Francisco author VIVIEN SUNG, relates a wonderful Chinese myth.
it’s called: ‘carp leaping over the dragon’s gate’ (!!)
“Each year, according to legend, carp swam the Yellow River upstream to spawn, and those able to leap the waterfall (!!) at the dragon’s gate, . . . were transformed into dragons. Since the Song dynasty (960-1279), the phrase ‘carp leaping over the dragon’s gate turning into a dragon’ . . . has been used as a metaphor for success”.
and, not from cheating, either !! for innate smarts and studying, i.e. scholarship.
leaping the waterfall. as opposed to ‘jumping the shark’, ha.
and yes, a goldfish is !! a small species of carp.
if you grew up on New York’s Lower East Side – there were always plenty in supply. they used to give them away in tiny plastic cups of water – as game prizes at the annual San Gennaro festivals in little Italy !!
I dunno, maybe the politically correct animal rights people – have done away with this ? I mean they did get nice ‘pet’ lives as opposed to being used as fish food – for the larger predator ‘pet’ fish, or even snakes. whatever. I’m just alivin’ to jump that waterfall, myself, it’s a consoling, even radiant, concept – in a world dominated by snakes, sharks and rats.
and aunt piggys. hang out with lawyers to right wrongs ? . . . and you’ll yearn for that waterfall too.
and I can just hear y’all going: ain’t that the truth.