Pigs in Space......

[Heidi J Torres]

Mistress Mari sends greetings and begs pardon for intruding on the 
fighting talk and arrow testing and how many Warlords can dance on the 
head of a pin, etc........

But let's talk about pigs.

In case you didn't realize it, there is a great tradition of porcine 
folklore in Ansteorra.  Heck, there's a great tradition of folklore 
here.  Period.  In honor of this tradition, 
and to preserve and maintain it, Mistress Gunnora and I have decided to 
collect and catalog as many Ansteorran folktales as we can get our 
ethereal hands on.  In order not to be flooded with a great many types at 
once, we've decided to ask for stories from one category at a time.  Pigs 
seemed like a reasonable subject to begin with.

As I personally know of at least three separate pig fiascos, it stands to 
reason that there are more.  What do I mean by "pig fiascos"?  Usually 
they have to do with a group deciding to do a "real roast pig" for a 
feast, and things go downhill from there.  Or perhaps you're out courting 
your lady-love in the woods when you stumble upon a pack of javelinas and 
when you come panting back to camp, all the drunk Vikings want to go hunt 
them.  Or perhaps one attempted to mate with your Volkswagon bug at a 
really abysmal site.  (This is just a sampling of actual events recounted 
to me in "first person".  And you wonder why we think there might be more 
out there?)

So here's your chance to contribute to the history of our fair Kingdom!  
Think back to your youth in the SCA, flip through your journal, go to a 
hypnotist and have yourself regressed!  It's the lovely month of May and 
WE NEED YOUR PIG STORIES!

When sending your pig stories to us, please post them to both Gunnora 
(gunnora at bga.com) and me (hjt at tenet.edu).  I'm asking you to send them to 
us but if *you* want to flood the mailing list with tales of pork chop 
revenge, heck, I don't care.

Deadline for pig stories is May 30.  Next month -- and hopefully every 
month thereafter -- we will ask for your input on a new and equally 
disturbing topic of folkloric interest to the Kingdom.  

Please include both your SCA and mundane name, the date of the fiasco you 
describe and the event it happened at, if you can remember.  Also the 
group you belong to and the address of the chronicler.  Why?  Because our 
nefarious plan is to publish this stuff, of course!  And the "winners" 
will have each month's collection automatically sent in to their 
chroniclers.  (Everyone else will have to plead and beg.)  We don't 
promise your chroniclers will publish this stuff -- heck, we don't know 
that they won't hunt us down with squirt guns full of mango juice -- but it 
won't be our fault if they don't.

Once again, send those tales of heinous or humble hogs to Mari at 
hjt at tenet.edu and Gunnora at gunnora at bga.com

As if life just wasn't strange enough..........

Later,

Mari

"People who read their poetry in public may have other nasty habits." -- 
Lazarus Long/Heinlein.