By Arc Convenor of Mythology and Ancient Wisdom, Seamus Neustead
Just how did the tiger get its stripes? As legend tells it, in the beginning of the Jungle and long before Man (and Woman), all of the Jungle walked together as one, having no fear of one another. There was no drought, but instead a cornucopia and that which was eaten was nothing at all except for leaves and flower, and grass, fruit and bark. The Law of the Jungle was Tha, First of the Elephants. He shaped the Jungle with his trunk and tusks and feet.
However, so the story goes, this was not to last. Presently, disputes over food and then laziness emerged, and each wanted to eat where she lay. At this time Tha, First of the Elephants, was off making new Jungles, and lacking omnipresence he made the First of the Tigers the master and judge of the Jungle in his stead. The Tiger was large and beautiful in colour, and at the time when the Jungle was new, bared no stripe. In matters of dispute, all the Jungle People came to the Tiger without fear or favour, and his word was the Law.
One night there was a dispute between two bucks that was brought before the Tiger who lay amongst the flowers. During the proceedings one of the bucks happened to push the First of the Tigers with his horns, raising the ire of the judge, whereupon the latter, forgetting his solemn position, leapt upon the buck, breaking his neck.
Nobody had died in the Jungle prior to that event and the Tiger, seeing what he had done, absconded to the North to hide in the marshes. The Jungle People, left without judge or master, fell to fighting among themselves. Tha returned to find the young buck dead and enquired as to his assassin. Yielding no answer, he ordered that the trees that hang low, as well as the creepers were to mark the killer of the buck so that the Jungle should know him. Death had been brought into the Jungle.
The Grey Ape was to be next master and judge of the Jungle but he brought only senseless words and foolish talk as he mocked others from high in the trees. Once again Tha returned to discover that there was no Law but this time there was Shame. Tha declared it time for there to be Law that none shall break and that the Jungle People would know Fear. The Jungle People, having not known Fear, were of a mind to question its existence. Tha urged them to seek it.
The buffaloes went out looking and returned to announce that they had found Fear and it was in a cave. The Jungle People went to the cave and discovered there a Thing as described by the buffaloes. His cry filled them with Fear and when they returned to the Jungle they did not lay as one people but went off in tribes, pig with pig, deer with deer, horn to horn, hoof to hoof and so on and so forth.
When word had got to the First of the Tigers, still hiding in the marshes, of the Thing in the cave, he proudly declared that he would go to this Thing and break its neck. The Tiger ran all night to get to the cave but the trees and creepers let down their branches and marked him as he ran, along his back, his flank, his forehead and jowl. Wherever they touched him there was a mark and stripe against his yellow hide. When he came to the cave, the Thing, Fear, put out his hand and named him “the Striped One that comes by night” and the Tiger was afraid and ran away howling.
And that is how the tiger came to get his stripes. A similar story is told to explain how the Richmond Tigers came to be the least successful club of the last quarter of a century. Commentator and former Richmond player Brian Taylor, has repeatedly this year sought to explain Richmond’s woes as a result of poor culture. This culture, he claims, somehow became engrained in the club soon after the 1982 Grand Final loss to Carlton, and has been passed on from player to player through the generations. However, Taylor’s claim amounts to nothing more than an unverifiable and unfalsifiable narrative explanation for the poor on-field results of Richmond. Just as the whale has a tiny throat because a swallowed mariner tied a raft in there to block the whale from swallowing others, the once mighty football club has a lack of success because it fosters mediocrity and lacks a winning culture. Try and spot the more fanciful story. It may be harder than you think.
The Arc of Infinity does not think that this kind of explanation is helpful in trying to restore the Richmond Football Club to the great heights that it had once reached. This kind of explanation gets in the way of identifying real opportunities to overcome the lack of on-field success and implementing real plans and practices that will lead to success.
If Brian Taylor is to be taken seriously, the Richmond Tigers may as well simply ask Tha to restore its power as master and judge of the Jungle.
Just how did the tiger get its stripes? As legend tells it, in the beginning of the Jungle and long before Man (and Woman), all of the Jungle walked together as one, having no fear of one another. There was no drought, but instead a cornucopia and that which was eaten was nothing at all except for leaves and flower, and grass, fruit and bark. The Law of the Jungle was Tha, First of the Elephants. He shaped the Jungle with his trunk and tusks and feet.
However, so the story goes, this was not to last. Presently, disputes over food and then laziness emerged, and each wanted to eat where she lay. At this time Tha, First of the Elephants, was off making new Jungles, and lacking omnipresence he made the First of the Tigers the master and judge of the Jungle in his stead. The Tiger was large and beautiful in colour, and at the time when the Jungle was new, bared no stripe. In matters of dispute, all the Jungle People came to the Tiger without fear or favour, and his word was the Law.
One night there was a dispute between two bucks that was brought before the Tiger who lay amongst the flowers. During the proceedings one of the bucks happened to push the First of the Tigers with his horns, raising the ire of the judge, whereupon the latter, forgetting his solemn position, leapt upon the buck, breaking his neck.
Nobody had died in the Jungle prior to that event and the Tiger, seeing what he had done, absconded to the North to hide in the marshes. The Jungle People, left without judge or master, fell to fighting among themselves. Tha returned to find the young buck dead and enquired as to his assassin. Yielding no answer, he ordered that the trees that hang low, as well as the creepers were to mark the killer of the buck so that the Jungle should know him. Death had been brought into the Jungle.
The Grey Ape was to be next master and judge of the Jungle but he brought only senseless words and foolish talk as he mocked others from high in the trees. Once again Tha returned to discover that there was no Law but this time there was Shame. Tha declared it time for there to be Law that none shall break and that the Jungle People would know Fear. The Jungle People, having not known Fear, were of a mind to question its existence. Tha urged them to seek it.
The buffaloes went out looking and returned to announce that they had found Fear and it was in a cave. The Jungle People went to the cave and discovered there a Thing as described by the buffaloes. His cry filled them with Fear and when they returned to the Jungle they did not lay as one people but went off in tribes, pig with pig, deer with deer, horn to horn, hoof to hoof and so on and so forth.
When word had got to the First of the Tigers, still hiding in the marshes, of the Thing in the cave, he proudly declared that he would go to this Thing and break its neck. The Tiger ran all night to get to the cave but the trees and creepers let down their branches and marked him as he ran, along his back, his flank, his forehead and jowl. Wherever they touched him there was a mark and stripe against his yellow hide. When he came to the cave, the Thing, Fear, put out his hand and named him “the Striped One that comes by night” and the Tiger was afraid and ran away howling.
And that is how the tiger came to get his stripes. A similar story is told to explain how the Richmond Tigers came to be the least successful club of the last quarter of a century. Commentator and former Richmond player Brian Taylor, has repeatedly this year sought to explain Richmond’s woes as a result of poor culture. This culture, he claims, somehow became engrained in the club soon after the 1982 Grand Final loss to Carlton, and has been passed on from player to player through the generations. However, Taylor’s claim amounts to nothing more than an unverifiable and unfalsifiable narrative explanation for the poor on-field results of Richmond. Just as the whale has a tiny throat because a swallowed mariner tied a raft in there to block the whale from swallowing others, the once mighty football club has a lack of success because it fosters mediocrity and lacks a winning culture. Try and spot the more fanciful story. It may be harder than you think.
The Arc of Infinity does not think that this kind of explanation is helpful in trying to restore the Richmond Football Club to the great heights that it had once reached. This kind of explanation gets in the way of identifying real opportunities to overcome the lack of on-field success and implementing real plans and practices that will lead to success.
If Brian Taylor is to be taken seriously, the Richmond Tigers may as well simply ask Tha to restore its power as master and judge of the Jungle.
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