Read up on the Celtic story of "Nera", and maybe there's a tie in? At a feast, King Ailill made a dare of sorts, for anyone who would put a wicker band around

Read up on the Celtic story of "Nera", and maybe there's a tie in? At a feast, King Ailill made a dare of sorts, for anyone who would put a wicker band around the foot of a recently deceased corpse. In their land, the recently deceased were rumored to have great power, so nobody was willing to take the bait, even though the King was offering a vast reward. Until Nera stepped up to do it. So, perhaps analogous to harnessing (tying a band around) the (mostly dead but still powerful) old free/open internet?