The Saturn
Presentation of this planet and its moons, including ring and creatures
- Chapter 37 -
The manufacture of woven material. No unnatural utilization of natural products. The clothing order.
We have just perceived these human beings as blacksmiths, and learned how they "sell" their tools or products to a brother when the need arises; now we shall learn about the cloth makers.
2
When we were given the description of the plant and animal kingdoms, we learned that there are plants on Saturn that grow a kind of very long hair from the blossoms and also from the leaves; and that many animals are extraordinarily rich in wool and some of them have a remarkable abundance of long manes of hair; therefore it should make sense to you that the Saturnites make use of all these things.
3
How are these materials used? There is not much difference between you, the inhabitants of earth, and the inhabitants of Saturn. These materials are spun into threads, which are of course somewhat 5tronger than some of the ropes on earth. Nevertheless, they are fine enough in proportion for wearable fabrics to be woven from the yarn for these huge human beings.
4
Who spins and weaves this yarn? This work is done only by the women, though not in the same manner as you weave your fabrics on weaving looms, but similar to your women when they knit stockings with knitting needles. That is how complete articles of clothing or garments are knitted on Saturn, namely with the help of two long sticks, always made from wood. The Saturnian women have such great dexterity that in one day a woman can produce a fabric of more than 250 feet long and 12 ½ to 15 feet wide in accordance with your earth measurements.
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Are these fabrics or materials dyed? On Saturn nobody dyes these materials. Here another domestic law applies, which because of so much vanity in the depths is as follows:
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A human being is an offender if he wants to make something better, more beautiful and more perfect than the Great Spirit created it! Woe to those who want to make something red which the Great Spirit has given us in white! Woe to those who want to straighten out something which the Great Spirit has given us curved! Woe to those who want to make food more tasteful than the Great Spirit prepared it!
7
Whosoever acts contrary to the will of the Great Spirit in this matter will be looked upon by Him with resentment, and He will send one evil after another onto the physical body of that person in the same manner that He does it in the depths, where the human beings pay no attention as to how the Great Spirit has everything extremely well and wisely arranged. Therefore it is not necessary for a person to make changes. Instead he should gracefully accept how the mild hand of the Great Spirit gives it to him. Our only reason for being here is to use what the Great Spirit gives us, not to improve or beautify His gift so that we may use it.
8
There is one exception to this rule, and that is the metal which the Great Spirit placed raw or crude into the ground; that is why we must bake it first before we can use it for our benefit. The reason we are allowed to do so is because the Great Spirit Himself taught us how to do that. In accordance with His will we can also soften some fruits on the fire for easier digestion, and we can hew tree branches for storage buildings, because all these things were taught to us by the Great Spirit.
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But that we should give something another color or another polish, that He never taught us. It is therefore a great offense for the one who changes white into red, green into black and blue into yellow, or who dyes or colors something in the reverse order.
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Amongst each other, we are one kind of brother and sister in the Great Spirit. In this respect there exists no difference all of us were created by Him. Why then should we differ from each other in the color of our garments?
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Why should the loincloth, with the belt that we wear which reaches down to the knees, be any other color but blue, because the wool that is used is blue by nature. The garment we wear on our upper body is red, like the mane of the animal from which it is made; our hats have the color of straw from which they are made, and our legs are covered with a garment that is green like the wool of the trees and plants from which it is made.
12
The women should also remain unchanged as far as their flowing blue shirts are concerned, and should always use as their outer garments the beautiful leaves of the dwelling tree (gliuba); and they can use many other things to adorn themselves with, such as what the Great Spirit grows for them on trees, shrubs and animals. The women in the mountains distance themselves from the excessive love of splendor and luxury more than the women who live at the banks of the great rivers and shores of the lakes, who find great pleasure in adorning their effeminate and tender bodies with all kinds of finery.
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It is our duty on the holy mountains to be steadfast in every-thing and to be faithful to the will of the Great Spirit.
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The manufacture of fabrics and the clothes themselves is one of the longest and most extensive house rules, as is the manner in which these clothes are to be worn.
15
The mountain dwellers are very generous with these fabrics, as they are with everything else. Should an almost naked person come into the vicinity of these mountain dwellers, his nakedness alone serves as indisputable evidence of the Great Spirit that anyone who has available clothing must clothe that naked person. Whoever refuses to do so is committing an offense like no other, and the punishment is banishment for up to three years, so that the person will learn during this isolation how painful it can be to wander about naked.
16
You might think: How can a person tear his clothes in one, two or three years to point of nakedness? Remember that one year on Saturn is almost thirty years on earth. If you consider this fact together with the idea of banishment for up to three years, it should become clear to you that in that length of time a garment will no longer look good or be in one piece when it is worn day and night.