Is this another of Raoul's job jokes? This is currently posted over at the Spoon (
http://www.eslcafe.com/joblist/index.cgi?read=20468)
The Cautionary Peruvian Tale of the Last King’s Water Tester
Posted By: L & B Language School <lyb.teachers@gmail.com>
Date: Monday, 9 November 2009, at 4:03 p.m.
In my never ending quest to find the great Guerrilla Ontological Educators (GOErs) of our time, I have been remiss in pointing out the pitfalls of this noble vocation, an oversight that was brought sharply into focus the other night as I descended into the L&B Buttery. It is not uncommon for me to find that the L&B Buttery has grown to accommodate more bottles, another corridor next to the fridge, and a new pantry beside the sink. I have grown used to these things. Though I had never met the fine workers whose midnight labours create such curious corners; until last night. I was sitting by the window in the buttery, staring out at the Quay of Manc only to hear the muffled sounds of a half chant
“Waitng for Devysh KM...Waitng for Devysh KM...Waitng for Devysh KM.”
I found the pesky orators pushing back the east wall half a meter, 42 little invisible hands, fingerprinting the new paint.
“Waitng for Devysh KM...Waitng”
This turned out to be the refrain from the 42 Invisibles’ 10000 canto poetic myth cycle written in four-line ABBA stanzas of iambic tetrameter which traces their origin back a legendary GOEr of old. The cycle tells the tragic story of the Last King’s Water Tester unknowingly impregnating a water nymph in the shallows of the Quay of Manc. It seems that it was the water tester’s destiny to sire a long line of empire building poets, who were to reshape the shores into an edenic paradise. Unfortunately, with his premature withdrawal from the Quay we were left with only 42 barely visible; kneecap height logistic and construction specialists. A tragic loss for them, but a curious and joyous benefit for me and all the Bottle Washers of my lineage as we now have what could be best described as voluntary indentured service.
This being the foundation myth for my rather unorganized mythical teamsters, it also serves as a parable of sorts for BoWas and GOErs, and being of a Korzybskian mindset I find multiple orders of morals to be more useful than the Aesopian/ Aristotelian singular. Thus I present as a conclusion summary of my latest article published in Bottle Washing Quarterly:
• We leave our destinies too early.
• You are already legend, even though you may not know your part in the tale.
• Just because your myth cycle is old and long doesn’t mean that it has any particular aesthetic merit.
• You may well be destined for greatness, but if all you do us rearrange someone else’s rubbish all your life, no one will ever see you, and if they do they will look down on you.
I have been an exponent of the latter of these, as have many of the GOErs that have passed through these shores, feeling that it tends to be the secret ingredient in their secret ingredient soup (which should provide enough double negatives to satisfy those of a blacker mindset). So I continue to wash bottles for the great and the soon to be great, waiting for the next storied arrival to our shores.
Expecting:
• Letters of Marque from Higher Education Gods and Monsters
• A burning desire to rescue the EFL masses from the ankle nipping demons of subject-object confusion and fear of speaking
• Chronological currency to be spent, where things are not pretty, but are definitely good.
And offering:
• A roof overhead that does not leak.
• Fancy pieces of multi-colour paper, handed over promptly.
• An opportunity to fashion enchantments of grammatical battle and hopeful change
For further information to resolve questions, quandaries, quarrels and quests, please respond cordially (if you could) or aggressively (if you must) to:
Brandon Reece
Chief Bottle Washer
L & B Language School
Talara, Perú
lyb.teachers@gmail.com
51-73-385787
......shenme??!!