From: RobStoll@aol.com
Date: Tue 09 Jul 1996 - 17:53:36 EEST
Loren Miller said in Glorantha Digest V3, #17:
<< Peter Michaels writes of Minlistics:
> Requirements:
<snip>
> Successful applicants take an oath never to harm a bee.
Then how would they ever manage to gather honey from the hive to make
mead? Would they hire Eurmali to harvest honey and thus cause untold
damage to the hive? >>
Well, I certainly won't pretend to be an expert on bugs (Sandy, do you want
to contribute to this?), but I'm not sure that I'd interpret collecting honey
as doing harm. Yes, you are taking away honey (and wax, if you keep the
combs) that the bees worked so hard to collect, but it is really "harm?" How
strict an interpretation of "harm" are working with? I don't think that
beekeepers really kill any bees in collecting honey, and what harm that is
done to the hive is not irreperable (if a beekeeper DID harm a hive, wouldn't
all the bees migrate somewhere else?). I even suspect that there are "low
impact" methods of harvesting honey, that don't upset the hive's ecology too
much (and thus would be completely acceptible to Minlister). Someone correct
me if I'm mistaken on any of this, I'm going on films I saw in high school to
comment here. :)
I wouldn't expect them to hire Eurmali to harvest honey - Eurmali are better
suited for providing entertainment once you've already sampled a few drinks
(side note: I created a trickster entertainer whose specialty was using
Swallow to, well, swallow an inflated pig's bladder, then belch out a dirty
limerick in one long, extended burp. A genuine crowd pleaser). I'd expect
more than a few Minlisteri mead brewers to have trade agreements with trolls,
namely, X barrels of Gorakiki-bee honey in exchange for Y kegs of Minlisteri
mead. That certainly seems like an arrangement that would make both sides
happy.
robert
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