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Las Vegas Showgirls V
by Georgia Albert
with Jan Newton
Godel Chess...Global Chess - Part 3
Come and experience!
Godel Chess - Global Chess Part 1
Godel Chess - Global Chess Part 2
The Girls pull up to Isis' get-away, nestled in the mountains to the northwest of Las Vegas. As the Girls pull into the car-park, they wave to a departing gardener. He walks over to the car and tells the Girls to go straight back to the garden, where they will find Isis watering her newly planted Buttonwood Tree that arrived from the Isle of Kandy just the other day. The Girls pass through an artfully hand-wrought bronze gate featuring a Stag on one side and a Doe on the other. In an instant they are surrounded by the chirping of sparrows, the coo of doves, and the scent of jasmine and roses as they begin their walk through Isis' pleasure garden. The ambient temperature is notedly cooler. The Girls carry their lap-top computer, notes, and the mysterious package. Isis greets them bare-footed and dressed in a deep murex purple sari...she guides them to a lounging area under a splendid specimen Crack Willow Tree, where a repast of sweet poppy seed cakes, unsalted butter, a bowl of fresh oranges, tea, and coffee, are laid out for them. The Girls and Isis exchange hugs. As Isis puts her favorite Bach recording on the DVD player and starts her lap-top computer, the Girls set up their lap-top and lay out their research. As the women settle in around the table, Isis selects an orange from an exquisitely carved rock-crystal bowl and cuts it in half, carefully removing the pith. She holds up the orange rind for the Girls to see and says
Isis: ..."throughout the ages...the Orange Bowl..."
Candi: The Orange Bowl! Bambi and I went to a fabulous Orange Bowl party here in Las Vegas. The USC Trojan college football team beat Oklahoma easily this year...
Isis: Thank you, the tea is just as I like it...The story of the tea plant...the camillia...that story is to be told at another time. Now where was I....The Orange Bowl....The orange has its origins in Eastern Asia and has been associated with the poppy throughout the ages. Tiny bowls just like this one - the rinds of oranges and lemons - were used a shades for opium lamps...but, enough of that for now. This is where the connection to our mysterious package comes in, for you see "Naranj" is Arabic for "orange;" it is derived from a Sanskrit word that means "fruit approved by elephants."
The elephant has held a prominent role in both the theologies and military histories of numerous cultures throughout the ages. There are volumes written about elephants, so for the sake of time we will focus our efforts on the little white elephant photograph from your package.
Isis: Hold that thought, Candi. Bambi, will you please pass me that book on Faberge'....[ Isis flips through the pages].
Bambi: Fabrege'...they used to make one of my favorite perfumes,Tigress. I wonder if they still sell it?
Isis: Here it is...our little White Elephant. And Bambi, that's "Faberge'", not "Fabrege", the maker of inexpensive perfumes.
Renaissance Style jeweled and enameled gold with diamonds, rubies, and an emerald, 1 7/16 inches, date unknown, signed Faberge'. Private Collection. Despite its small size, this elephant is finely detailed, from its "Mahout" (elephant driver) seated on its head to the diamond-set turret on its back, which rests on a diamond and ruby studded saddle cloth. The elephant itself stands on an emerald, with an enameled runner between its feet. The elephant, an emblem of the Danish Royal House, is so consummately crafted and lavishly adorned that it appears to have had a royal connection, particularly since Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Alexander III, had been born Princess Dagmar of Denmark. The suggestion is given further credence by the observation that this article, like others made for the Tsarist Imperial Family by the House of Faberge', lacks an inventory number. It seems logical to argue that the elephant was a surprise for an early Imperial Easter Egg. It cannot , however, be associated with the elephant surprise of the Diamond Trellis Egg since that article is described as a clockwork.
From the "Faberge's Exhibition Album" By R. S. Bianchi Booth-Clibborn Editions, ISBN1 86154 204 6, Page 60 Image # 69.
We know that Faberge' created other items for the Czarina Maria, for instance, the "Danish Palaces Egg" in 1891, that depicted miniatures of various Palaces in which the Czarina had lived during her childhood in Denmark.
Candi: "...elephant, an emblem of the Danish Royal House." Well, this explains why the elephant is white, it can hide in the snow.
Bambi: Candi, what are you talking about? Elephants in the snow??
Candi: The little white elephant is an emblem of the Danish Royal House in Denmark, and Denmark get lots of snow in the winter, so the wild white elephants can blend into the snow covered landscape...but, I didn't know that Denmark had elephants! I learn something new every day...
Isis: Candi, Denmark doesn't have white elephants wandering around in the snow. This little white elephant is of the Indian species and was an icon of the Danish Royal Family.
Candi: Well, I never! Then why does the Danish Royal House use an elephant for its emblem? I would think they would use an animal native to Denmark, like a walrus maybe?
Bambi: Good question! Very interesting...
Isis: I've been working on the same mystery, Candi. I read an explanation for the Danish Royal White Elephant emblem. Evidently the ancient kingdom of Siam, which we know today asThailand, allied itself with Denmark to avoid colonization - and the Royal House of Denmark at some time adopted the lucky White Elephant as its emblem. Somehow, that doesn't seem a very satisfactory explanation, but that's all I've been able to find out...
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Bambi
Thinks: The White Elephant is associated with "The Lord Buddha". His mother, Queen Mahamaya, dreamed that a young white elephant entered her womb, and later she gave birth to Prince Siddhartha, who became Buddha.
The Danish Royal House is descended from the Vikings, so is there a connection between Buddha and the Vikings? ...and why is the the White Elephant and the Jade Tortoise used as the emblem of the Danish Royal House, when one would think a god or goddess from the Viking pantheon a logical emblem of Denmark?? |
Candi: The White Elephant and Siam! "The King and I" ... and Denmark's Royalty??? But what about the Jade Tortoise that the White Elephant is standing on?
Isis: The Siamese believe that the earth rides on the back of a Great Tortoise, so we have another connection with Siam. Many cultures revered the tortoise. The tortoise has also been used to tell the future. The ancient Chinese used tortoise carapaces cracked over fire for divination, for instance.
And then there is the connection between the tortoise and the Houses of Devon in England, and there is a connection with Denmark and England. I have been working on a theory to explain this mystery.
Bambi: What is your theory?
Isis: I think, Girls, that our little White Elephant is no less than a representation of an allegorical chess piece from the Global Game of Chess...I have discovered over the years that chess is played on different levels, the microcosm, and the macrocosm, and this piece is from the macrocosmic came that is currently taking place!
Candi: Micro-ovens! One of the greatest inventions ever, I think the person who invented the micro-oven should get an award...maybe a Nobel Good Housekeeping Award.
Bambi: Candi, what are you talking about?
Candi: Microwave ovens and Macaroni...Isis just mentioned them. Although they seem to be a little bit off the subject of chess...
Bambi: Isis said Microcosm and Macrocosm, NOT Microwave ovens and Macaroni!!
Isis: Let me explain...Candi, Chess played by two people represents the microcosm, the small scale. But Chess is also played on a much larger scale, the Macrocosmic Game is played globally, where different countries represent different pieces, manurvered by the Forces of Black and White. Take a look at this grid/chessboard superimposed over a map of Europe, for instance:
"The Mahabhashya" (2nd Century AD) defines Ashtapada as a 'board in which each line has eight squares', and the word Ashtapada was used to describe the grid used in land survey. The French writer Bernouf, in "La Lotus de la Bonne Loi," an obscure work published in Paris in 1854, cites a passage from a northern Indian Buddhist text where the planet herself is described as 'The Earth on which Ashtapadas were fashioned with cords of gold'. " - from Nigel Pennick Secret Games of the Gods (Samuel Weiser Inc, 1992)
I believe it is perfectly logical to conclude that our little White Elephant may just be a metaphor for a piece in the global chess game. Notice how it links two seemingly disparate countries through its symbolism - Denmark and Siam. And, Girls, I have discovered another possible piece to the global chess game, in fact I am very sure of it; my correspondence from Ken Whyld and Georgia has pointed me in the "Ploper" direction ;-)
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From:
KEN WHYLD Hello Isis, Thanks for the 7 pics. I will make a single reply, even if it is not singular.
When you first asked about Faberge I thought it was because one of his sets represents Egyptians v. Assyrians (Oh, Isis and Osiris). The only photograph I can find show the Assyrians. Now for the pompous bit. I am not much interested in ornamental chess sets, although I have a fair amount of literature about them. To me they have little to do with chess. Of course, they have to be judged as works of art (or even fun, as e.g. The Simpsons sets), rather than as games accessories. But your quest has brought home to me that I have mislaid an excellent book on decorative Russian chessmen.
Yes, I do remember Ming the Merciless, and as a boy found him more fascinating than Flash Gordon (perhaps that explains something!) Ming has also another distant echo in my memory. Before the war (viz WW II) my father bought a tin of Ming Chinese lacquer, from Woolworth's. The instructions printed on the tin were written in a form of pidgin English that would be quite unacceptable today. Part of it, 'Ming ploper lacquer, Ming ploper colours', became a catch phrase in our household... |
Isis: Ken and Ricardo are missed by many, but not forgotten...Let's take a break, and play the new "Goddess Chess Game".
Candi: I'll get it! Where is it?
Isis: Over there, on the Satranji carpet. Please bring the instructions too, they're next to the board...
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Goddess Chess Game One pawn is added to each side and an additional piece is added to the back row, between the King and Queen pieces. This new piece, called The Sacred Child, can move up to 3 spaces at a time, in any direction, and can jump over any piece in its path. The Sacred Child takes a piece by landing in its square, thus removing the piece from the board. The Sacred Child can take any piece on the board. The King and Queen pieces move as the modern-day Queen moves: they can move any number of spaces, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally but they cannot jump over a piece. All the other pieces retain their modern day western chess movement. The object of the game is to block - stymie - The Sacred Child, so that it does not have a legal move, similar to checkmating the King in western chess. |
The
game is played on a 9x9 chess board, with 18 pieces on each
side of the board. The pieces retain the same moves
as a regular chess game.
Back to Showgirls
Godel Chess - Global Chess Part 1
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Showgirls Godel Chess - Global Chess
Part 2