Off the Mark by Mark Parisi for June 07, 2022

Bur horses are so roomy.

The Trojan Sheep

How about a puppy? Everybody loves a puppy.

All different (and none really look like horses) – the one on the left and the one in front look similar, but not the same, and the one in back on the right is definitely different.

If you go off brand, nobody will ever hear about your war.

Is his name IKEA?

I wonder how things would have gone if they’d made a Trojan dog.

Wrap it in a box called Amazon Prime ring the bell and leave it on the porch.

It may be a horse of a different color. It may not have been a horse at all. Scholars have long suggested that it may have been a boat with warriors hidden in the hull because the terms used to describe putting the men in the horse are the same terms used by ancient Greek authors to describe men embarking on a ship. Metaphorically, it fits the Trojan saga, which begins with Paris building ships and then ends with the building of the horse (ship). Recently (2020-ish), this view has gained support from naval archaeology where ancient text and images show that there actually was a class of Phoenician merchant ships decorated with a horse head, which were called hippus (which meant ‘horse’ in the greek language) [see an image of this vessel at https://medium.com/@fsacchi/why-the-trojan-horse-probably-wasnt-a-horse-26e7b13f53df ]. The actual war between the early Greeks and the City of Troy took place sometime between the 12th and 13th centuries BCE and lasted 10 years. Homer pulled together the oral stories into the Iliad and Odyssey in the late 8th century. But it is more dramatic and exciting to build a gigantic horse and smuggle soldiers in its belly than have them hide in a Phoenician trading ship. Possibly the double entendre was intentional.

Never mind! I’ll shop elsewhere.

Trojan piñata!

I was stuck in freshman art when I switched high schools in the middle of a semester. I did not choose it as I know I have zero business in an art class. We were required to make some sort of 3d type art and I chose the headless horseman (Halloween themed.) My art teacher had a hearty guffaw at my attempt at a horse. The legs and head are so difficult! Thankfully he helped me out and gave pointers.

Make it a rabbit. That worked out fairly well.

Greeks would never give up a lamb.

How bout a bear.

All are very cute!

Love it! It looks like a used car lot with the shoppers milling around like that. Thanks for the chuckle. Great way to start a day.

We build a giant wooden badger…

A Trojan Chihuahua might be fairly easy.

“Horses are hard to draw” Far Side” comics

You could always try a piñata.

Try a big condom. It already has the brand name!!

I was kind of thinking, they looked like huge capybaras.