LAWS BEFORE LAWS(language before language)
once there were 300 varieties of corn-more of apples
Now you can count varieties with your fingers and toes
Once there were ancestral rules and regulations
Empires import uniformity-laws over laws
Perhaps there were matriachies-none survive
Just female leaders of patriachal war machines
so when olde laws are dug up and translated
they reveal an entirely new mode of mind
Ireland's Brehon Laws only gave noble standing to harpists
Poets who overcharged would be stripped of half his rank in society
February First is the date when husband and wife could walk away from their marriage
A husband who through listlessness does not go to his wife in bed must pay a fine
If a woman makes an assignation with a man to come to her in a bed or behind a bush
the man is not considered guilty even if she screams.If she has not agreed to a meeting
he is guilty as soon as she screams.When you become old,your family must provide you
with one oatcake a day plus a container of sour milk.They must bathe you every 20th night
and wash your head every Saturday.Seventeen sticks of firewood is their allotment to keep them warm.
No fools,drunks or female scolds are allowed in the doctor's house when a patient is healing there
No bad news is to be brought and no talking across the bed
No grunts of pigs or barking of dogs outside If a doctor heals your wound but it breaks out again
because of his carelessness,neglect or gross want of skill-he must return the fee you paid.
He must also pay you damages as if he himself had wounded you
Whoever comes to your door you must feed him and care for him with no questions asked
It is illegal to give somebody food that has been found with a dead mouse or weasel
A layman may drink six pints of ale with his dinner but a monk may drink only three
This is so he will not be intoxicated when prayer time comes.
These laws(like ours)are time limited and defined.Once Upon A Time...
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