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.Â
There is also the Three Billy Goats Gruff story which had me thinking. Here is the summary:
Once upon a time there were three Billy Goats Gruff who decided to go grazing across the stream by crossing a bridge. While crossing the bridge, they came across a Troll who threatened to eat them up. The little goat was able to avoid the Troll’s attack by tempting him to wait for his brother, the young troll. The young troll too was able to avoid the Troll by tempting him to wait for the Big Old goat. Finally, when the Troll threatened to eat up the Big Goat, Big goat defeated him by throwing him off the bridge into the stream. From then, the goats happily grazed the fresh green grass across the stream whenever they liked!
What is the moral? Simply, don’t be greedy, but there is also a powerful message of staying strong and brave in the face of adversity. From a morality stand point, “In the story, the Troll got greedy about the bigger, tastier Goat and that’s why he let the smaller goats get away. Finally, when he met the biggest Goat, he was taken down by his might. The Troll’s greed led to his downfall and in the end he was left with nothing.” Here’s to reading more theories… —Evan Pricco
