Myth or Not?

Just Chillin'

I think I ought to talk about the Golden Fleece. This is from a show on TV (A&E or maybe Discovery or something like that - I forget). They were talking about a very, very remote village up in the hills of the Balkans. The village is virtually inaccessible. The only inhabitants of the region are the villagers and some mountain goats. The village does have one claim to fame, however; it has some really remarkable icons. They keep them in their little church except for one day a year, when they haul the whole bunch out into the sunshine for some reason. Anyhoo, the villagers do have one tiny little source of income - gold. It ain't much, however. There are flecks and bits in some of the caves and streams.

What was absolutely fascinating is how the villagers manage to get the gold. They take sheep skins from the mountain goats and stretch them across the streams in early spring when the snow starts to melt. The streams become torrents and wash all sorts of things down hill. The sheep skins catch plenty of debris, including quite a lot of gold flecks. See? The Golden Fleece! Well, here's the punch line. Everybody has known forever that there's gold in those hills - there is plenty of evidence in the caves that, through the millennia, a lot of effort has been put into trying to squeeze some gold out. It's just that there's not that much, it's not very accessible, and nobody could ever make a good industry out of it (except the villagers).

In many of the caves people have found Greek coins. Very, very old Greek coins. So, all you Doubting Thomases, pay attention. There really is such a thing as the Golden Fleece - and the Greeks knew about it. So the next time you dismiss something as a "myth", think hard before you say that.