Eric Darton
Now as all are aware, the famous herb Pantagrulion is none other than the hemp plant by another name. And indeed there are many uses for this wondrous gift of nature. But whatever one’s purpose, it is first necessary to separate the inner fibres from their rough outer covering.
Now according to the estimable F. Rabelais, some modern Pantagruelists, in order to lessen the work of stripping off the woody bark, first pound it with hammers shaped like the fingers of the angry Hera as she attempted to prevent Alkmena’s delivery of the infant Herakles.
But the good doctor also tells us that those who practice this method are unique in that they defy the world’s opinion, and, in a manner considered paradoxical by philosophers, get their livings by walking backwards. Yes, these are the ropemakers, who draw their hempen fibres from a bag and, stepping with one foot behind the other, plait their cords.
So if your travels take you to the Reeperbahn, for example, or to Cable Street, east of Aldgate, you will understand that the folk there, however eccentric they may appear, are simply plying their trade. And often, as they walk backward, they become entangled in a skein of memories, now their own and sometimes those of others’. Go ahead and ask them anything you wish, whether of fact or legend, and they will speak you plain. For though they may prove right or wrong, it is never their intention to deceive.
[Adapted from François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Book III, Ch. 29. J.M. Cohen, trans.]
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