Sorry, David, but my Mom pulls rank over a university folklare professor any
day.  The story I was referring to, the one My Mom told me, was the one
about the Little Red Hen. But the ants and the grasshoppers fable is a
pretty good tale also.

Linda Derry ([log in to unmask])
Old Cahawba Archaeological Park
Alabama Historical Commission


>I'll pull rank, since I'm now teaching folklore, of all things, to pay the
>rent and feed the cats.  It's the fable of the ants and the grasshoppers,
>Aesop, I believe.  Recently made into a movie.
>
>
>
>
>At 07:00 PM 4/15/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>I think the story referred to was about the little red hen who baked a
>cake, but
>>I'll leave that for the folklorists to research.  ;)
>>
>>Geoff Carver wrote:
>>
>>[snip]
>>
>>
>>>         the problem was we had a lecture by a prominent historian the
other
>>> week, discussing the founding of the city of dresden, something we have
>been
>>> dealing with in several excavations over the past 100 or so years - and
>he's
>>> still relying wholly and solely on the written sources, which we've
>disproven in
>>> our publications, and... it still goes on, and the investors are trying
>to get
>>> out of having to pay for any excavation whatsoever, and someone else the
>other
>>> day was explaining about how he really found erich von daniken's books
>really
>>> fascinating...
>>
>>Here's a simple, direct solution:  make yourself a pest.  :)  No, really.
>Every
>>time this sort of thing happens make a point of standing up afterward and
>>confronting the speaker with something to the effect of "You may be
>interested in
>>some 'recent' literature by archaeologists that show [blah blah blah] ...,
>and I'd
>>be only to happy to provide any intersted parties with citations."  You
>may end up
>>with a reputation as a 'surly grouch' or a 'trouble-maker,' but you'll be
>getting
>>your point across.  I believe that *most* scholars will be willing to
>explore new
>>subjects and literature if it deals with their topic.
>>
>>There is always the chance that you will meet people who are beyond reach;
>who
>>simply do not trust data from other disciplines.  In that case, one way to
>confront
>>entrenched, unyielding views is to make your own point-of-view as well
>known, if not
>>moreso.  Write books on the archaeology of Dresden for children and lay
>adults as
>>well as fellow archaeologists; visit grade schools; give free talks at
>community
>>centers; get on t.v.; or in other words, do whatever you can to get your
>message
>>'out there.'
>>
>>In other words, don't preach to the choir.  Preach to the unitiated and
>proselytize
>>the uncoverted.
>>
>>
>>I think that's about $0.02 worth of advice.  :)
>>
>>Marty Perdue
>>[log in to unmask]
>>
>