After Banksy confirmed a new piece in London today, what appears to be a mountain goat standing precariously on a ledge with falling rocks down a wall and cleverly moved CCTV camera aimed at the falling rocks and not quite at the goat, everyone is asking “what is going on here?” I’ve heard comments about it being about environmentalism, about it being an animal known as the Palestine mountain gazelle or just the general feeling that the citizens of the world are just in a situation where every decision amounts to being left on the ledge and looking at an abyss. Nowhere left to go, so to speak, and the authorities are just watching it all happen. And, of course, the GOAT, falling off. Lots to unpack.
There is also the Three Billy Goats Gruff story which had me thinking. Here is the summary:
Three billy goats live in a valley, all named “Gruff.” There is very little grass in the valley, so they must cross a river to get to “sæter” (a mountain pasture) to graze and fatten themselves up. But under the bridge lives a fearsome and hideous troll who kills and eats everyone who tries to cross. The smallest billy goat goes first. The troll stops him and threatens to “gobble him up!” The little goat tells the troll he should wait for his big brother to cross, because he is larger and would make for a more gratifying feast. The greedy troll agrees and lets the smallest goat pass. Then the medium-sized billy goat approaches the bridge. He is more cautious than his brother, but the troll stops him too. The second goat convinces the troll to wait for their eldest brother, the largest of the three, and the troll lets him pass as well. Then the largest billy goat steps on to the bridge and meets the troll waiting to devour him. The largest goat challenges him to fight and then throws him into the water with his horns. The troll drowns in the stream, and from then on the bridge is safe. The three billy goats go to eat in the rich fields around the summer farm in the hills, and live happily ever after.
What is the moral? Don’t be greedy, sure, but there is also a powerful message of staying strong and brave in the face of adversity, of outsmarting a ravenous opponent. There is also the Brothers Grimm’s “The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats” that speaks of a wolf who disguises himself as the goat’s mother and eats 6 of the goat children and one escapes and hides. “Later that day, the mother goat returns home from the forest. She is distraught to find the door wide open and all but one of her children missing. She looks around and sees the wolf, fast asleep under a tree. He has eaten so much, he cannot move. The mother goat calls to her youngest child to quickly get her a pair of scissors, a needle and some thread. She cuts open the wolf’s belly and the six children spring out miraculously unharmed. They fill the wolf’s belly with rocks, and the mother sews it back up again. When the wolf wakes up, he is very thirsty. He goes to the river to drink, but being so heavy he falls in and drowns under the weight of the rocks. All the children feel great to find themselves safe. The family lives happily ever after.”
Perhaps this is again, about the earth, about the recent street and racist violence in the UK, but there is another morality tale here where “the wicked ones should always be punished for their deeds. It also explains that if one does bad to others, bad will happen to him, too.”
Or maybe its just a goat on a ledge. Here’s to reading more theories… —Evan Pricco
