This fellow has a bit of a smug Mona Lisa smile. He's happy that he's managed to swipe some swords from a battle camp. Maybe (since he looks well dressed) he'll use them to boast about adventures he never had. In his mind, he can justify the theft by telling himself he only took a few of many. The Danaides show the eternal punishment of forty-nine sisters who killed their husbands on their wedding night as ordered by their father (the fiftieth sister let her husband go). Their father didn't want his properties to be taken by his brother (whose sons were the fifty husbands). Both these cards are warnings about rationalization - trying to make reality fit our desires. Either we justify our actions or make them seem as if they are not so bad. Though we may conceal our motives, the fallout from our actions will eventually uncover them.
The culmination of all those little indiscretions can and does have a lasting influence.
ReplyDeleteLittle drops will eventually fill the cup to overflowing.
DeleteTwitter users would shred the entire Danaus line. Amazing that myths ever made the bestseller lists.
ReplyDeleteOnly a face-to-face oral history could sustain them.
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