The Life Cycle of Myths

My friend, an animal rescuer, sent me this picture in a forward that has probably made it to millions via the internet. A tiger nurtures a porcine brood, dressed up as little tigers. The initial impact of the picture is poignant and endearing. Ostensibly it is a tiger bereft of her own kits, and fostering the piglets. That was the story that accompanied the photo.

I tried to forward it but couldn't, so surfed for a downloadable version of the picture. In the process, I found any number of "Urban Myth Busters" setting the story straight (resulting in even more stories). I, too, could have asked myself why they would need to dress up the little piggers, since I know that felines identify their young mostly by smell. But I didn't.

Like the brooms of Fantasia, the myth busted, alright, and then turned into a whole bunch of other similar myths. This is the life cycle of myths.

There is instant welcome into our psyches for a story of an animal mothering what might have been its dinner; for an animal grieving and needing to nurture; for the story of little piglets (possibly motherless) who are happy for any warm belly in a storm. We all "get it."

So why did the story (myth) need busting? How is the illusion of a busted myth better than the illusion of cross-species mothering? This is not a rhetorical question, but a sincere one. I am asking it of myself, since I was irritated by the need of so many to debunk the picture AND by my own disappointment that the story was just that- a story.

PICK ONE (or add one)
c A lie is as good as the truth if you can get somebody to believe it.
c A myth expresses in concrete terms a radical truth which is discernible experientially, but not necessarily empirically.