Hi- the story I’m trying to locate has a traveler eating supper with a farm family. Over their table hangs a sword; as they try to eat everyone fusses and worries about what will happen when the sword falls. After listening a bit the traveler jumps up on the table, cuts down the sword and goes back to eating. Sound familiar? I read it as a kid- 40+ years ago.
Not reallly sure but it sounds a lot like a version of the Sword of Damocles.
This is one of the stories in an English folk tale called “The Three Sillies.” In this retelling, the sword is a mallet.
Yep, that it. As I read it the story came back- I’ll have to order a copy of English Fairy Tales for my library.
It’s sort of a cross between the sword of Damoclese and the Gorgons knot- as an engineer I’ve always kept it in the back of my head when looking for solutions to a problem; it’s easy to accept the status quo as a fixed thing. Thanks for your help!
? Gordian knot? The Gorgons had snakes for hair and other personal appearance issues, but I never heard of their being associated with any particular knot.
You should see the way snakes get tangled up.
No problem. I had a picture book of this story growing up, and it’s always stayed with me.
CalMeacham will probably be in with more details, but the original classical gorgons did not have snakes for hair: At most, they had snakes in or around their hair, but the hair itself was normal.