[HPFGU-OTChatter] Poisoned Honey (not OOP)

Sun Apr 13 01:00:22 UTC 2003

Wow! That was fascinating and informative!!  A lot to consider! Thank you! Alex Fox 
Caius Marcius <coriolan at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
Various clippings culled from a Google on the phrase "poisoned honey"

FROM THE MASTER

"... the scholar's mouth that compliments another scholar is a jar of 
poisoned honey." 

-      Viktor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) – Translated into 
English as The Hunchback of Notre Dame 

A MINOR MASTER

But the love wherewith VENUS' son hath injuriously made spoil of 
thousands, is a cruel Tyrant: occasion of sighs, oracle of lies, 
enemy of pity, way of error, shape of inconstancy, temple of treason, 
faith without assurance, monarch of tears, murderer of ease, prison 
of hearts, monster of Nature, poisoned honey, impudent courtezan, 
furious bastard: and in one word, not Love. 
Thus, Reader, take heed thou err not! Esteem Love as thou ought! 

     - Giles Fletcher (contemporary of Shakespeare, introduction to 
his sonnets, Sept. 8 1593

POISONED HONEY AND JIHAD

>From Al-Islam (Kid's section)

http://www.al-islam.org/gallery/kids/Books/companion9/14.htm

The man agreed to Mu'awiyah's plan. He took the poisoned honey. He 
was looking forward to Malik's arrival. 

After only a few days, Malik arrived in al-Qilzim City. The man 
invited the new ruler of Egypt for lunch in his house. Malik al-
Ashtar accepted the invitation thankfully.

The man put the cup of the poisoned honey on the table. The guest 
took one spoon of the poisoned honey. He felt a severe pain in his 
stomach. He realized the plot. So, he put his hand on his belly and 
said:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
We belong to Allah, and we'll come back to Him!

Malik al-Ashtar received death with the bravery of the certain 
believer, who knew that his way was Islam and the Paradise……..

Thus, Malik al-Ashtar ended his life in Jihad. His bright behavior 
will remain as a model for the Muslim young men everywhere!

NOT GOOD FOR CHILDREN

>From Wikipedia:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey

There are stories that poisoned honey was used in warfare in ancient 
times, but they are unverifiable. 

Honey is also potentially extremely dangerous for infants. This is 
because it may contain small quantities of botulinum spores. While 
these spores are harmless to adults, an infant's digestive system is 
not yet developed enough to destroy them, and the spores could 
potentially cause infant botulism. For this reason, it is advised 
that honey should NOT be given to children under the age of 18 
months. This especially applies to unpasturised or 'raw' honey, which 
has not been heat-treated.

NOT GOOD FOR CHILDREN (WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS)
From Brian Turner's medieval-fantasy epic The Chronicles of Empire
http://www.chroniclesofempire.net/library/mythsandtales/curseoferemych
us.htm

Now, Salipides had a brother named Taleminis who had plotted to kill 
the king of the city of Xios, being Emithos, he himself a general and 
a usurper of the previous ruler. King Emithos soon found out about 
the conspiracy and so sent poison, all disguised within a bottle of 
sweetest honey, to the household of every man he then suspected. 
Taleminis himself fed the whole to his family on bread, and they all 
perished for the iniquities of the father. When the same was sent to 
the household of Salipides, it was his wife Alina who took charge of 
the gift, her husband being out hunting, and bearing this seeming 
prize and being unselfish as a mother, she fed the whole of the 
poisoned honey to her new born son Eremychus. Eremychus, being born 
of the Great God Xios, was thus immortal, and the honey affected him 
not. Yet soon the scheme of Emithos came to be known, and when 
Salipides returned and heard that his wife Alina had fed poison to 
their son, he tore at his hair and beat her unconscious out of fear 
and his grief. When, however, he found his son unharmed, he marvelled 
and then demanded the whole story from his wife, asking why he was so 
unaffected when the poisoned honey had killed so many others, not 
least his own brother's family. And so it was that Alina admitted to 
her dream the night before her wedding, and her long suspicion that 
her child was one of Xios' offspring, and now it was proved to her 
without any doubt. Salipides, for his own part, was shocked, and both 
thankful yet mournful, for although the child lived, and was a 
progeny of the gods, alas it was not his own son. Praising Xios for 
the gift, he sacrificed the best hundred of his oxen in the name of 
Xios, and then begged for a son of his own to carry his own families' 
name. And so it was, in time, Alina became pregnant again and soon 
gave birth to a second boy, a wholly human child, whom was named 
Anithimones, and who was two years younger than his brother Eremychus.

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT

An anecdote about Diogenes, fabled seeker of honesty and truth:

http://seraph.rooms.rubberrooms.net/Diogenes.txt

Diogenes stood outside a brothel, shouting, "A beautiful whore
is like poisoned honey!  A beautiful whore is like poisoned
honey!  A beautiful whore . . . ".    Men entering the house
threw him a coin or two to shut him up.  Eventually Diogenes had
collected enough money and he too went into the brothel.

BUMBLEBEES RUMBLE!

>From an essay "WAR AND BEES-- military applications of apiculture" by 
Conrad Berube

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/agriculture/entomology/beekeeping/
general/bees_history/bee_war.txt

Of course, there are plenty of instances when bees have been used
in the more obvious way, as "meat-seeking missiles"... The
Romans, for instance, instead of employing the subterfuge of
poisoned honey simply sent beehives catapulting into the ranks or
fortifications of their enemies.  The unleashed fury of the bees,
enraged when their hives were smashed, is credited with being the
decisive stroke of more than one battle.  Turn-about being fair
play the Dacians, of what is today Romania, defeated the armored
legions of Rome, at least temporarily, with their own salvo of
skeps*.

FUTURE FILK SONG 

from a review of Atomic Mint, a Bay Area band:

WITH A NEWLY POLISHED look and a refined modern-rock sound, local 
trio Atomic Mint (featuring vocalist and guitarist Brianna, 
percussionist Amadeo Donofrio and new bassist Misha Guiffre) has 
really switched gears since its early effort….. Even louder cuts 
include the heavy "Sweet Poisoned Honey" (which was featured recently 
on KSJO's Home Grown show) 

An MP3 is here:

http://www.atomicmint.com/media.html

SORCERY & BLACK ARTS = POISONED HONEY

In his beautiful and haunting book, Magic Prague Angelo Maria 
Ripellino quotes Franz Kafka: "Prague does not let go…..The old crone 
has claws. One has to yield or else." (pp 5-6). Ripellino adds: 
Most of all Prague is a breeding ground for phantoms, an arena of 
sorcery...It is a trap which - once it takes hold with its mists, its 
black arts, its poisoned honey - does not let go, does not forgive 
(p. 6). 

http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/511/projects/steigman/final/pr
agator.htm

NOW EVEN LESS THAN VERY LITTLE BRAIN…..

http://www.park-ridge.il.us/library/may2000prose.html

Today, is a day to go down in history, not as a depressing one. 
Winnie-the-Pooh, a friend of children all ages, has died today, 
November 14, of poisoned honey. He simply ate the honey, and was 
found in his home dead in the afternoon……Children everywhere think 
back on Winnie with fond memories and tears in their eyes.

    - CMC

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