Different skillsets for different people

 

 Ludlow Castle. Shropshire, England

When Will and Bobbie got a letter informing them that they had been accepted to be part of “Life in a Castle” for 6 months to learn and manage the reality of life in a castle, well, they were beyond excited. 

Apparently, they had skills that would prove useful for the care of a huge old castle in Ludlum, England. Will had won Forged in Fire episode where he won $10,000 for making an outstanding sword.

Bobbie’s special skill was not really evident. His dad owned a company that installed septic systems for excrement disposal. On his dad’s advice, Bobbie wrote that he was a manager of “Septic System R Us”.

They found themselves in the bailey with a large crew surrounded by forests leading to bog land, a variation of villages and fields around them.   Will was led to the stables where he would prove his skills making metal objects. No problem, he would do just fine.

Bobbie, on the other hand, was taken to the part of the Castle called the “garderobe”. He thought he would be a guard of a robe, some sort of clothing. He strutted proudly to the area, where his skills could be used.

When the group reached the side where the “garderobe” was, it was explained what it was. Bobbie looked up at the part at the top of the castle where the occupants used the garderobe as a toilet and deposited excrement to fall all at the bottom of the wall. Workers then shoveled the poop into a wagon to take to the fields beyond. 

Bobbie shook his head, sighing heavily, looking at a pile of excrement recently dropped from the toilet “Poop follows me wherever I go. Dad would be so proud.”

 ***What is a garderobe? Look here: https://share.google/2rGf5I3qoK0TRZg1b

Wed Words, 6-5-26 can be found at River, where other bloggers are challenged to use 6-12 words and write for fun. Go there and post your own take on the words:

1.sculpture  2.amendment  3.timeline  4.bog  5.castle

and/or:

1.sword  2.crew  3.buffalo  4.forest  5.variation

 

Lillput's Laws of Life

The 18th century was one of massive changes worldwide, where borders were moved, countries established, and discoveries in sciences abounded. In that period, social boundaries, particularly in England, also became strongly established, dividing rich from poor and poorer.
  

Gulliver's Travels is long, with several sections, and requires a strong attention span to retain Swift's views. His view of society effectively slashes and burns, being a master of satire, to the point where he had to write under pseudonyms.
 

"His skill is comparable to that of putting a pin through two termites on an entomology display board and examining them with a magnifying glass." 

Part one is the only one with which I was familiar. 

Gulliver is a normal sized Englishman, but appears to be a giant, having been washed up on the island of Lilliput, where Lilliputians are six inches high. This arrival disrupts the nation in so many ways.
  
Gulliver is amused the Emperor and his court, amazed and amused. How members of the court chosen was a source of delight for Gulliver.

One way is to watch "rope dancers" compete by jumping on silk threads. The one who jumps the highest wins, which granting him a high position of solving problems for the Emperor. 

Another is in appointing a treasurer by requiring  competitors to juggle items. Winner is one who can keep the most items juggling in the air, without any falling.

YouTube with Ted Danson

Rules and laws of Lilliput are long, its disputes longer.  But perhaps most interesting of all is a war between Lilliput and Blefuscu, which readers accurately interpreted as the King of England and King of France. One is the "big-endians" and the other "small-endians". 

The Big. E. believe that one should eat a soft-boiled egg from the big end.  The Small E. believe that one should eat the egg from the small end. 

Thousands of people of both islands had been killed in these wars. This senseless slaughter over eggs is also a veiled comparison to Catholics to Protestants.

 
Read it instead of watching a movie about Gulliver, I provided students with the  children's version is easier and I shared it with my students. 

The Principal was volunteered to be part of the Gulliver experience. He was about 6 ft. tall and students measured him as he lay on the floor on a strip of butcher paper. To be accurate the students made their own 6" tall character. They used those in the measuring. 

 

This might put any election, and indeed any government, in perspective.

Jonathon Swift.

Perhaps the best movie about Gulliver's Travels is a TV version with Ted Danson.

I provided the work stations for different things done in the book. 

I don't know if you can tell how much I loved teaching, reading and creative writing. At back-to-school night, parents walked around with their children and listening to their telling of the book.

Have you ever read the book or seen a movie of it? 

  Please excuse the length of my post.  It is too good to cut the factors  that make Gulliver's Travels memorable. So I hope you can pick and choose.... .