In Hyun Hyun, the thong of a sandal snapping is bad luck. It
comes from the tale of a nomadic trader – a struggling inventor traveling up
the highway, which was full of the requisite highwaymen. He managed to avoid
them until coming to a sheer precipice. There was no way down except the
highway itself, but here a great robber lay in wait. As the inventor padded
around in admiration at the view of ice floes, his sandal thong snapped. He
stooped to fix it as the great robber sprang, and so flew over his head and
down the precipice. Presumably he died. He never shows up in any other stories.
The inventor fled barefoot into the city beyond the highway,
evading the great robber’s goons. Kindly sages sheltered him and foolishly
cured his frostbite. He even retained enough of his wares to trade for the
unique local materials, from which he crafted his most infamous product:
gunpowder.
But… explosions! A better sandal would have deprived us of so many glorious explosions! Boom!
ReplyDeleteLOL, loved this…
This almost seems like a challenge to write a story about the great robber...
ReplyDeleteNot big on explosions here, but do love small fireworks. Contradictory as always. Thank you for this - you have, as you so often do, got me thinking about alernative points of view.
ReplyDelete