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When these distinctions
are established in words, the knowledge is shared and
passed along. Through language, people can order their
thoughts about the world and create a common bond. The
words are a means of preserving collective wisdom. When
a generation no longer finds them useful, these distinctions
are lost and the words change meaning. If the wisdom changes,
then so must the system that represents it.
Language is thus ever in a state of flux, constantly being
pulled and stretched to accommodate current ways of thinking.
If people do not need to know the difference between sand
for making pots, sand for planting seeds, and sand to
sweep away, there will cease to be a linguistic distinction.
In
fables, the dynamic character of this naming process is
most evident. These tales are given a fresh meaning with
each teller, in each generation. They are the means by
which a person can articulate for himself and others the
values they share. A storyteller must reshape a story
to renew its relevance and give it life. Like the words
for sand, the fable must articulate something that needs
to be articulated. Therefore, it must be an accurate reflection
of the world its speakers live in, as well as an accurate
account of the way the speakers think of that world.
Each
storytelling situation is an act of reestablishing this
bond between story and the social realm that informs it.
If successful, a storytellers’ words seem to resonate
with the words of the stories told before him. His version
of the tale is a solitary moment in a tradition ceaselessly
dynamic. He tells the story so that others will tell the
story. Collective meaning is paramount to individual meaning.
“A
Louse’s Blessing” is read widely in Rajasthan. It is read,
and, what’s more, it is repeated. The story does not sound
artificial or superfluous because the storyteller maintains
the same bond to the social order that countless storytellers
before him have endeavored to preserve. In this manner,
Vijay Dan Detha’s tale is very much part of tradition.
— C.A.M.
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