The Swallow and the Other Birds

[The_Seeker]

" The Swallow and the Other Birds

It happened that a Countryman was sowing some hemp seeds in a field where a Swallow and some other birds were hopping about picking up their food. 'Beware of that man,' quoth the Swallow. 'Why, what is he doing?' said the others. 'That ishemp seed he is sowing; be careful to pick up every one of the seeds, or else you will repent it.' The birds paid no heed to the Swallow's words, and by and by the hemp grew up and was made into cord, and of the cords nets were made, and many a bird that had despised the Swallow's advice was caught in nets made out of that very hemp. 'What did I tell you?' said the Swallow.

Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin. "


Wondering if anyone here has read the 12th tale from Aesop. Being that I spent a good portion of my seeking life struggling with phasing out cannibus use, I found this tale to be very interesting. Is there possibly a double meaning or warning hidden within this fable in a literal sense? Or was it just that hemp was a staple product of the time?

The_Seeker

 

[beetlemaniac]

I have a feeling that in the golden years of its cultivation hemp was mainly an industrial crop for its strong fibers. Although this seems to depend on where the hemp was grown, as some people in some regions according to an article I read, consider hemp as a herbal remedy (marijuana). So I suppose it depends on where and when that poem was written. Remembering a wiki I read, it seems the identity of Aesop is unknown, and presumably where the tales originated from as well. There's a quote in the article I mentioned previously that distinguishes hemp from marijuana:

Clarke and Pate (1994) succinctly stated the difference
between Type 1 and Type 2 Cannabis:

It is not feasible to 'get high' on hemp, and most
marijuana produces very little low-quality fiber. Hemp should never
be confused with marijuana, as their roles cannot be
reversed.40

Also industrial hemp production was on the decline starting from the 1930s due to advancements in organic chemistry and synthetics were being pushed by presumably greedy industrialists. And also on that note, the PTB was on a rampage to stamp out the growing on hemp based on this misconception that hemp = marijuana:

All research on Cannabis in the US since 1937 has been
predicated on, and has served to reinforce, the misinformation that
all Cannabis is psychoactive and a threat to society requiring
elaborate and expensive eradication and suppression efforts.

It seems pretty interesting, you might want to give that article a look:
_http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/indust/indhmpfr.htm

I think some of this hemp negativity is also part programming though indirectly, as the psychoactive version of it can definitely disrupt normal life as you have experienced. Even then, society being our condition, things that used to be 'herbal remedies' seem to become twisted and exaggerated through horticulture into frankenstein plants that don't resemble their natural counterparts in any way.

 

[SeekinTruth]

beeltemaniac, yup, that's a pretty concise account of the campaign to eradicate hemp by large industrialists so that they don't have any competition for their synthetic fibers. And also the history of the horticulture.