ANST - bards/parasites question

[Decker, Terry D.]

> maybe the reason the celts called the bards parasites was that not all 
> bards served one master. some made their living by going from town to 
> town. they were the one's who carried the news about wars and battles, 
	<snipped>
> km
> 
It was clear from the original quotes, that bards were not considered
parasites.  Also, it was not the Celts who used the term parasite.  It was
Atheneaus, a Greek, who used the term in referring to what he observed of
the Celts.

You are also confusing bards and minstrels.  In Irish culture, a travelling
bard was treated as an honored guest.  Failing to treat a bard with proper
respect was a sure way to blacken your reputation as the weapons of the bard
were words, which have a longer reach than any spear.  A bard would
entertain for the pleasure of his craft, for the delight of people, as a
courtesy, or to teach a lesson, but the entertaining was done by the bard's
will, not the will of the people with whom he sheltered.  A minstrel was a
travelling entertainer of no import other than the hospitality due any
traveller and his ability to entertain.

If you wish to learn more of the nature of bards, I would commend to you a
discussion of the subject with HL Fionnagan, a bard whose ransom is 120
cumal.

Bear
============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.