Monday, July 2, 2012

the tapir




My niece was married last weekend. They met through their mutual passion for tennis, but it was a conversation she had with him about tapirs that convinced her she had found her life-long partner.

Then, almost by accident, I came across this entry in a travel book called Traveler's Tales Thailand, by Alan Rabinowitz. He quotes an unnamed traveler as saying, "[the tapir is] an enigma... a survivor of a more gentle and legendary time ... wandering in unique isolation in a world not yet mature enough for its wisdom."

Did you know that the tapir is named after a creature in Chinese mythology? In Japanese folklore, the tapir (known as baku) eats people's dreams, especially nightmares. In fact, I grew up believing that the tapir was a dream-eating mythological beast, and only recently realized it was (also) a real live creature.

9 comments:

  1. Nice to read this about tapirs especially when we know the tapir is eating nightmares...

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  2. Love the blue color! Such as an unusual animal. Indeed, so exotic as if belonging to a certain time long ago. I like what you thought of it and finding out it's real!

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  3. What a lovely picture and such a wonderful creature is the tapir...

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  4. How lovely, a creature who eats nightmares...and what then, I wonder?

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  5. I love your ability to identify and paint an enigma!

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  6. Oh, I love tapirs! Some of them look like they're calligraphy projects. And the babies are about the cutest things in the universe. (See http://i.imgur.com/kZJpd.jpg )

    I didn't know that they ate nightmares! I might need to get one for a pet, though I would be dismayed if it ate my good dreams.

    I love the way your tapir's white spot negative space can also read as an enigmatic disappearance, rather Cheshire Cat-like...

    p.s. What a coincidence about Gregor Samsa!

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  7. That's one of the reasons it's harder to find a suitable mate through a dating service. They never ask about anything like tapirs.

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  8. What's really amazing about tapirs is how they befriend children in the Amazon tribes. The kids ride around on their backs and have water fights with them. I saw a documentary about it at one point, which is when I fell in love with them.

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