Hello Crow and Kanacki
Crow, and here was I thinking and believing that this particular 'free bird' would never become domesticated....
But I still believe that freedom, free will and desire still are the order of the day....
Kanacki, those pictures you have posted above are reason enough to make one try and ensure that any endeavour is successful. Going back to what we were discussing, your reasoning is very sound, and it is good to converse with folk who have the practical know-how as oppose to simple theory. With regards to Hard Luck, I once asked Corporate Investigations why that was his nom de guerre as you chaps had obviously done the business in your chosen fields. She replied that it was your dry sense of humour and sense of irony that gave Hard Luck his moniker as oppose to something like 'Good Luck'.
I meet this fella sometime ago who grandparents had struck it rich. His story was this:
In the 1940s, during the partition of the Indian sub-continent, his family were trying to reach the Indian side amidst all the killing and upheaval. One night (they only travelled during the night and hid out in fields during the day), his extended family espied a large estate which had recently been set alight. His old grandparents decided to investigate and see if they could obtain anything to eat and find shelter for a night or two....
When they tentatively entered the property, they saw that it had been hastily abandoned and ransacked before being setting alight. Even though there was extensive fire damage to the outer walls, the inside was relatively ok apart from the mess that had been made by those searching the place for anything of value. The estate itself was set in large secluded fields amongst what was once a wealthy field of differing crops. That night the family quietly occupied a small room to bed down in. The grandparents spent the night trying to find any food, water or clothing for their family. Whilst doing so, the grandmother espied a small wall which had some damage where somebody had tried to break some plaster on the wall almost as if to try and retrieve something....
The grandmother went and informed the grandfather who came to have a look. This grandfather was aware that sometimes wealthy families would cache their valuables inside false cavities. After a night of quietly trying to remove the plaster and bricks, the grandparents uncovered a small box full of golden jewellery and a pouch of gems. They could not believe their stroke of luck. Well, they safely made it to the border area (with their treasure), sold it in what was then Bombay, took a boat to London, bought land and properties and never looked back.
I have also come across a group that is dredging a particular river in India looking for diamonds from the days of the old kings and queens...
Going back to South America, I have also come across to references that the last free Sapa Inca - Atahualpa - was taken and buried near what is present-day Otavalo in Ecuador. There was a tribe of natives that were tasked with protecting his burial site who were loyal to his maternal relatives the Shyris. Apparently a Spanish priest who was taking the last rites of a native said that the chief had declared on his deathbed that he was the last to know the exact spot where his Lord Inca was buried. When the priest asked for him to identify it, the native replied "I am now a good Catholic but I have been an Indian a lot longer." and he refused to disclose the information
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