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Shark
The year: 14th -15th Century. The place: Costa Rica. The
length: 9cm. (3.54 inches). Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a
gold shark brooch?
Queen Elizabeth gives him an order. Plunder and pillage. Board
the Spanish galleons of my brother-in-law Philip II. Take the
gold ... all of it. Go to Nombre de Dios on the coast of Panama
and plunder some more. Gold. Gold. More gold. All you can steal.
And so he does. And he returns to England. And the queen bids
him to kneel. And she says--and I paraphrase--I reward you Francis
Drake ... for having done my bidding. I dub thee knight. Rise ... Sir
Francis Drake. Today you have stolen well. Ah yes. All bad deeds go
rewarded and don't let no one tell you otherwise.
This all tickles my memory as being part of a subject I tackled once
before. If so ... consider this a re-tackle.
Did you know the teeth of a Tiger Shark rest on a spring. Mouth shut
.... teeth are pressed back and up against the gums. Mouth open ...
boingggg ... teeth spring forward and into place ... ready for the
next
nibble.
Did you know that the Spanish conquistadors stole gold from the
Aztecs and the Incas for their king who never saw one pennyweight
because they not only stole for him ... they also stole from him.
Clearly ... they were ambi-theftrous.
Did you know that the teeth of the White Shark rank in hardness to
steel. It is the only creature in the sea with no natural enemies and
it can survive brain damage better than any animal in the world.
Did you know that the discovery of America began the great age
of piracy where even Cortez' ****pment of gold to the Emperor
Charles V was captured by a French buccaneer. Ah mes amis. Today
we attack zee ****p. We steal all their gold. We seenk their boat. And
we make passionate love to their women. En avant!
Did you know the White Shark never gets sick. It has as yet unknown
antibodies that protect against every bacterial invader. It is also
completely immune to cancer. It can hear sounds a mile away. It is
always hungry.
Ah Pierre. Look. What ees that in the water weeth the fin steeking up.
Sacré bleu. Eet ees a shark. Off the ****p. Quickly now. And don't
forget the gold. And the women. Nobody touches the redhead. She ees
mine.
Piracy was a lucrative business. But fortunately ... the art is not
lost. For somewhere ... somehow ... deep in the heart of South America
.... Costa Rican jewelers created beautiful pieces. And one of them ...
by sheer coincidence ... related to this tidbit only by accident ...
is a gold shark. Perhaps it is a brooch. What else can it be ... other
than quite striking. You wanna see?
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may
I direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where
you will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area
that says Current Tidbits ... and then click on it in order to
view the only animal in the sea that lives in a state of constant
hunger.
And there ya have it.
That's it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
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