Comments on: Co-Opting a Mormon Story for General Commerce

By: Kent Larsen

Kent Larsen — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:29:13 +0000

FWIW Mark B (5), the Portuguese have a story about a rooster called the “Galo de Barcelos,” but I’m not sure that there is a statue to the Rooster — there may be.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:20:25 +0000

Time to clean my glasses. I was certain (before I opened the post) that the last word in the title was CONFERENCE, not COMMERCE. Failed expectation…

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:30:26 +0000

It’s just a sort of a policy I have, Grant — you’re in trouble whether you say anything or not, and regardless of whether Monty Python is involved. Just MP (my policy).

By: Grant

Grant — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:19:25 +0000

Mark B. I wonder if it wasn’t a migratory, African “sparrow” carrying that twig. Probably could have handled the beam, too.

(I am unaware of any Ardis bans on MP – but I’m probably in trouble anyway).

By: David Y.

David Y. — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 06:13:04 +0000

Great find! Oddly, the illustration is both lovely and disturbing at the same time.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:55:22 +0000

I knew that, Matt — but the best way to deal with silliness is either to treat it seriously, or to out-silly it!

By: Matt W.

Matt W. — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:44:21 +0000

Ardis- I was just being silly. I think the idea of someone complaining that the crickets and seagulls, which is one of the most widely known LDS stories in the universe, is obscure and unimportant is funny.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:09:10 +0000

And it seems that a sparrow flew off with an “e” from “cathedral.”

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:06:21 +0000

Having gone nearly blind trying to read the ad copy, I hope you’ll forgive any errors.

But, the ad says that the seagull monument is the only one ever erected in honor of a bird–and my dim memory suggests that they’re wrong. (Of course, maybe during wartime you just don’t acknowledge anything good that might have happened in an enemy country.) Somewhere in the Cathedral in Ulm, in southern Germany, is a statue of a sparrow. The reason the sparrow is honored, while not as heroic as our seagull story, is nonetheless a nice tale:

According to legend, construction of the spire of the Ulm Munster was halted while only halfway completed when a wagon carrying a large wooden beam – loaded sideways – arrived at the narrow city gate. After contemplating how best to proceed, the mayor of Ulm gave the order to tear down part of the city wall, but before the order was carried out, a sparrow-like bird was observed maneuvering a long twig into its nest – lengthwise! Following the lead of the sparrow, the beam was turned, the wagon passed through the narrow gate, work was resumed, the cathedral was completed, and the legend of the Ulmer Spätze was born.

The only problem with this story is the idea that someone drove a cart any distance at all with a long beam tied crossways. Or that birds are smarter than people. Or even if some people are dumber than birds, it’s a bit hard to believe that a whole city full of people were outwitted by a sparrow. (Another apparent difficulty–the story seems to have first appeared in the 18th or 19th century, long after the cathdral was built. Obviously, there’s a problem with provenance.)

I’ve found some descriptions of the sparrow sculpture (monument), but, alas, no photographs. Yet.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:50:06 +0000

Mina, I bought (but haven’t yet framed) three ads from the 40s featuring my grandmother’s silver(plate) pattern. Some of those old ads have spectacular graphics!

That’s a bag of dead crickets, I think, J. She’s pulled them off her crops and is now going to drown them in the ditch. I think.

Was there a Mormon aboard the Lusitania, Matt? Maybe we could adopt it as the church equivalent of a state ship sinking and put up that absent monument. (You remind me of a post I want to right about a Mormon connection to a passenger aboard the Lusitania, too.)