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Kipling put it well: It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are req
by zem 13y ago
Kipling put it well:
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
- omegant 13y agoAwesome!, thank you.
- zem 13y agowelcome. leslie fish has a great musical setting of the poem on her "cold iron" album (highly recommended if you're a kipling fan at all). this one's not up on youtube, sadly, but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYvS8L0nDY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYvS8L0nDY is her (also great) setting of "rimini" from "puck of pook's hill", which should give you some idea of her style.
- rustynails77 13y agoThis is an ideal time to bring up the Mongols. Anyone in Eastern Europe that paid the Mongol tax still exists. The inverse can be said for those that didn't pay, or decided to fight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_under_the_Mongol_Empire#Strategy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_under_the_Mongol_Em... I respect Kipling's quote - but history shows YMMV. If in doubt, just ask why you don't hear of the Khwarezmid Empire - who were one of the biggest empires around at the time of the Mongols.
- zem 13y agofascinating. a definite counterargument to the kipling quote.