Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

bradaltf4 t1_jaocy4x wrote

Reply to comment by Sleep-system in Sea creatures in Greek manuscript and Norse mythology may have been whales with mouths agape — Fish instinctively swim toward apparent shelter of creature’s mouth, a phenomenon depicted in ancient texts as early as 2,000 years ago by marketrent

We believe in monsters because fish we are idiots FTFY.

48

Kilmire t1_jaojiz6 wrote

It's less because we're idiots but more the fact they aren't real beasts or whatever doesn't matter at all for the stories they help tell and that make them so gripping. Like who literally believes in monsters these days anyways? I'd say it'd be far dumber to forget them outright because they tell important metaphorical stories.

Dragons are real, in that desire to burn society down, steal the wealth and sleep on resulting pile of stolen gold can be seen lots in people throughout history. Doesn't matter if they're actually a flying, fire breathing dinosaur or not if that's what they're acting like.

48

Xirdus t1_jaol3gy wrote

> desire to burn society down

> steal the wealth and sleep on resulting pile of stolen gold

> flying

> fire breathing

> dinosaur

A crow is the closest we have to a real life dragon. It's all of the above except breathing fire.

36

LateInTheAfternoon t1_jap35h4 wrote

Do crows steal stuff, though? Magpies do, but I'm not so sure about crows...

7

CinnamonSniffer t1_jat28su wrote

Crows are infamous for stealing things. They like small shiny trinkets so they’ll steal hella coins

1

I-Make-Maps91 t1_jaoolb1 wrote

How many stories do we tell kids where the fish gets bigger and bigger every time, or the bear scarier and scarier. I doubt that's new behavior, and story telling was probably a lot more common before we had radios and TV.

18

BenjaminHamnett t1_japkafb wrote

Merchants are also incentivized to exaggerate their adventures to explain why whatever they have is priced so high

Also, the world was scary af back then. There weren’t hospitals and first aide everywhere and there is just snakes and predators everywhere. Bandits etc

11