Wonder Tales, & Maura the Wondrous

 

There. This morning's work: ostrich-feather barbs in dorsal salt-shaker caps, and eye-exam lenses for pectoral fins.
This fish might be complete, but I won't lock everything in place until I'm sure. (I already had to uncurl the hat pins to restick them through the hole in the shaft of the lenses.)

Maybe Fish wants to hold something in its mouth... 
Isn't there a fairy story about that?

How fun! Googling "fish holding something in mouth" I found  a miracle of Jesus that's in classic fairy-tale territory.
It's no insult to call something a fairy (or wonder-) tale--there's truth in fairy tales, whether or not they're factual.

Here's 'The Fish with a Coin in Its Mouth':

When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the [Jerusalem] temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?”
“Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

--Matthew 17:24–27 [See interpretations at Wikipedia]

Fan artists  love to imagine What Happened Next. Here, Italian painter Masaccio shows Peter & the fish, in a detail of a fresco, The Tribute Money, painted in the 1420s in Florence. via Wikipedia

Isn't Masaccio tender with Peter, his little hands reaching into the fish's mouth and the way he bends his legs? He has a cane that he's careful not to let fall on the ground--he is old and stiff, it is hard for him to get up and down.

Here's an article about what  coin Peter would've found in the fish's mouth: a shekel minted in Tyre, "certainly the most commonly circulated silver coin in the ancient Holy Land".

It's beautiful, isn't it? Above, left ^ is the god Melquart, a Tyrian version of Herakles, and on the right, an eagle.

"Because Roman coinage was only 80% silver, the purer (94% or more) Tyrian shekels were required to pay the temple tax in Jerusalem." (I read that they would also be the "thirty pieces of silver" the Romans paid Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus. But wouldn't the Romans pay OUT coins with less silver?)
___________________

Happy Birthday, Maura!

One thing leads to another. I like finding the facts that wonder tales are set in. Tyre was and still is 105 miles north of Jerusalem--in Lebanon.

And Maura's mother's family is from Lebanon, and it's Maura's 60th birthday party today!

Yesterday I went to the apple orchard with bink (left) & Maura--here, striding along like models in an outdoor clothing ad:

I love Maura. She has qualities of her maternal ancestors, the ancient Phoenicians (of Lebanon), including Industrious Fearlessness:
she would totally get in a boat and sail around the edge of the Mediterranean selling purple dye.

Our alphabet comes from the Phoenicians, so it's not surprising she's a calligrapher, with a studio space full of inks and pens and her beautiful hand-lettered work hanging from clothespins.

Libras are supposed to be complicated, and while Maura's personality is pretty straightforward, her interests and activities aren't.

As president of the local calligraphy guild, she revamped its entire online presence at the Colleagues of Calligraphy a few years ago. Elegant stuff.
She's also an auctioneer for nonprofit auctions, and she loved attending Auctioneer School with guys in cowboy hats selling livestock.
(Her father was sparkling Irish, and Maura could charm me into buying a cow for a good cause, I'm sure.)

Maura ran a full 26.2 mile marathon on her fortieth birthday;
and every year she looks forward to SLUG FEST--a get-away with old friends (one from high school--Libras are loyal)--where difficulties do not rise above the eating of rice-krispie treats.

Maura is like an orchid--they may seem tender, but species of orchids are found almost anywhere on Earth. Adaptable! In her twenties, for instance, Maura moved from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Alaska.
She inspires loyalty in others, too: one of the young men she'd met in NOLO told her he'd come visit. He showed up at her workplace in AK--he'd traveled with no money all the way, because he'd said he would.

There are many many more wonder tales to tell about Maura--and ALL TRUE! Because Libras are truth tellers... or, maybe because they do such interesting things, they don't feel the need to fabricate tales.

Happy Birthday, dear friend--and many more!
XO Fresca