Everyday Canvas

A Toast to the Irish

I am not Irish, but I love Irish folklore and have observed that nature has many ways to tell of the future to the Irish.

For example if a bumblebee buzzes at the window, it is a sign of a visitor on the way to your place. A similar warning is that bees will take offense, if they hear you quarreling and they will stop producing honey. Talking about birds and bees, about twenty species of birds and over two hundred species of insects inhabit the oak trees. No wonder, then, that the oak tree is Ireland’s natural and human heritage.

Among a world of attributes to all aspects of nature, there is the old saying that, If it rains on the bride on her wedding day the couple's union will prosper, and the bride will be fruitful until her hair turns silver. Irish blessings on weddings are also given to chase away the blues or evil and bad luck that may come from the realm of the nasty fairies. I am sure those blessings will take care of whichever evil those fairies may have cast upon the couple.

As to couples and marriage, what amuses me the most is the tale of a groom waking up in the morning and finding a changeling in his bed in place of his wife. Well, don’t people shapeshift after the wedding night or sometime soon after the wedding? No wonder some grooms are spotted driving away in a hurry for fear of their lives.

If that may not become the case, despite the fact that boredom sets in, how does true love manage to survive? An Irish ballad answers that as:

But the greatest love -- the love above all loves,
Even greater than that of a mother...
Is the tender, passionate, undying love,
Of one beer drunken slob for another.

Now, aren’t I right in admiring the keen insight and the sharp wit of the Irish?

May Irish Angels rest their wings right beside my door!
Cheers!

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Prompt:
Blue, rain, driving, insect, tree, sign, warning, chase, silver
Use these words in today's prompt anyway you would like.