Double Entendre
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0Dryads, the spirit-creatures that animate trees in greek mythology, are proof that no object, no matter how strange or inanimate, is safe from male lust. Dudes throughout history, whether clad in shimmering armor or a simple toga, have always been thinkin’ about the sex. There may be a rock that looks kind of like a breast or a particularly curvacious tree that reminds them of the fairer sex. It’s almost a testament to our imagination, and certainly a testament to the female form. If we can think of trees as housing some kind of sexual creature, what else are we capable of?
Just think of what the world would be like if we occupied our time a little more productively.
But I kid, guys aren’t really that perverse.
Everyone is.
*A note: I’ve used the word Dryad in the comic and the opening paragraph due to the connotations associated with the word “nymph” in modern sexual terminology. Dryads are specifically the spirits of oak trees, where as nymphs are general nature spirits. Just thought I’d let you know!*
Nymphs, the proper name for nature spirits that took on the shape of sexy young females, have long been a potent symbol in art and literature. Alongside the worship of the gods in Ancient Greece, there were small cults and worship rites that occurred throughout the Greek countryside to various nature spirits. This harkens back to the animist religions all people, at one time, practiced, and is reminiscent (though not as widely or powerfully performed) of the Shinto beliefs of Japan. Much like in Shintoism, particular minor deities or nymphs were limited in their worship by their locality. Obviously individuals from northern Greece would not be worshiping the ash nymph on a hill in southern greece! Unlike the gods themselves, these spirits were bound to a single object or place and, though they were mobile, they could never stray far from their home. Some tree nymphs were so inextricably bound to a tree that if it perished, so, too, would they.
The worship of and belief in nymphs and nature spirits is interesting considering the context of the major religion of Ancient Greece. It’s sort of funny that a religion consisting of so many important and diverse deities could still have room for anything else. Alongside the likes of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, Hermes, Athena, Artemis, and all the rest, you’ve got this cadre of local spirits to deal with as well! Talk about a difficult religious world to navigate!
That said, it’s clear that these creatures served a purpose for the Ancient Greeks that the gods themselves could not. First, they were local, and as you can see in Boston on any Red Sox game day, people love the local team, sometimes to levels of irrationality. Where the Gods were remote, powerful, and relatively inaccessible, the nymphs and spirits resided right near by. They were a spiritual outlet with a local flavor, one that was easy to worship and seemed to be directly beneficial to those in the area. Second, they were clearly a complicated sexual concept for society to use in literature and storytelling. Third, they provided an air of legitimacy to various ancient rulers in certain Greek origin myths. The marriage of a man and a nymph (a divine spirit) was viewed as showing the gods’ favor upon that particular ruler and his line.
Nymphs could come in a variety of forms and be connected to a wide array of objects, anything from rocks to rivers to a cool shell you found on the beach. It is clear that no object was too ridiculous, too non-sexual for the Ancient Greeks to fantasize about.
At least they had the decency to make sure the spirits themselves looked like humans. I guess we can all be thankful for that.
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I mean, what normal person WOULDN’T want to meet a sexed up spiritual being? I mean…they can’t get much action, right?
Love the ending. Saw it coming, but I smiled anyways. <3
Can't wait for the next update.
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Nothing like dendrophilia
HAHA this got an extra laugh from me because i JUST created a Dryad character yesterday and was having fun with tree-related pickup lines and puns with my friend. XD
This talk about trees makes me think of tentacle-related matters… :|a
Cool, me too! ^^
Well when you consider the connections between Greek nature worship and Japanese Shintoism, all becomes clear….
I <3 animist/naturist religions. I'm about to go to Iceland, and the fact that they still to a certain extent believe in elves, who similarly to nymphs are tied to particular rocks (though because its their home, but still) makes me so happy.
I can imagine that guy telling the weeping willow off “why don’t you make like a tree and lea- oh…..wait….” .___.
“Trees are a changing landscape of sound – and the sound I grew attached to, possible only near large deciduous forests, was the great hushed roar of thousands and millions of leaves brushing and touching one another. Windy days were like sitting just out of sight of an ocean, the great magnetic ocean of wind. All around me, I watched the trees tossing, their heads bending. At times the movement seemed passionate, as though they were flung together in an eager embrace, caressing each other, branch to branch. If there is a vegetative soul, an animating power that all things share, there must be great rejoicing out there on windy days, ecstacy, for trees move so slowly on calm days. At least it seems that way to us. On days of high wind they move so freely it must give them a cellular pleasure close to terror….There was a white pine I loved…The tree was so big that three people couldn’t reach around it. Standing at the bottom, craning back, fingers clenched in grooves of bark, I held on as the crown of the tree roared and beat the air a hundred feet above. The movement was frantic, the soft-needled branches long and supple. I thought of a woman tossing, anchored in passion: calm one instant, full-throated the next, hair vast and dark, shedding the piercing, fresh oil of broken needles. I went to visit her often.”
-Louise Edrich, “Skunk Dreams”.
P.S. Loved the comic
Sounds like that first guy was barking up the wrong tree. Poor sap, I guess he needs to get to the root of his date-ing problem. He needs to branch out, see different people. Wood it be so hard to do? Well, at least he’s not pine-ing for the poor girl.
this was the best comment ever. hands down.
Scott you outta make some more JP Necromancer strips; miss his rotting humor
All it takes is a quick Google search to show that the sexualization of inanimate objects is still alive and well today, and it goes beyond just objects in nature. Miku and Vocaloid come to mind, or at least the culture that’s sprung up around the original mascot. But if there’s any brand or product online that people are fans of, you can bet that some artist somewhere has created a sexy female personification of it.
Does anyone else think that guy looks like Kurt Cobain?