Lies in the Legend - Art Rewriting History
Lies in the Legend - Art Rewriting History
Some small reason made me go to look up exactly who Lady Godiva was. You know how you think you know something, but you're not sure? I knew there was a horse involved, but was she headless or that was another story? So I Googled. The first paragraph of the Wikipedia article was hysterical ! Or at least my first retort was.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Godiva
"Godiva (Old English: Godgifu, "god gift"), often referred to as Lady Godiva (fl. 1040-1080), was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry, in England, in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants."
(First thought: "Hey stubborn hubby, if you don't let up on those cerfs, I swear I'm gonna saddle up stark naked and gallop right by your coworkers!" Hey, if nagging don't work... I guess all you're left with is public embarrassment. Works on sons, too, particularly when they have girlfriends. In fact, just the threat works. And I didn't even have to go so far as to hire a horse - or three.)
Next sentence: "The name "Peeping Tom" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend in which a man named Tom had watched her ride and was struck blind or dead."
Oh, NOW it's hysterical. Have you ever seen statues or paintings of the lovely, svelte, curvy beauty with the long flowing locks of hair, riding on a magnificent steed? This has got to be a gross error in artistic representation ! Never in all of recorded history has any Tom (or Dick or Harry for that matter) ever been struck blind or died from seeing a gorgeous naked young woman, bouncing around, still "perky", on a horse. What with the advent of the internet and convenient pornography 24/7 in the privacy of your basement, while your wife and kids sleep upstairs, we'd surely have heard about another Tom turning toe up. Or at least a harried Harry, or a dead Dick.
Heck, this chick must have been HIDEOUS !!! Size 5X at least, sagging, stretchy, and UGLY to boot. One look at this naked "Bertha", and a man just might kick the bucket, or even claw his own eyes out !