mark james
IAP Collection, Curator
Pen Turning Lore, Myths and Fables - V
The Tortoise And The Hare
The Tortoise And The Hare
One day a silly young hare was bragging about how wonderful he could turn a pen. He bragged and bragged and even laughed at an old tortoise, who was admittedly a very slow pen turner. After weeks and weeks of boasting, the old, but wise tortoise stretched out his long neck and challenged the hare to a contest, which, of course, made the hare laugh.
A Contest, what a joke thought the hare. That old tortoise doesn't stand a chance.
"A contest. Oh! what fun! My, my! Yes, Mr. Tortoise, we shall have a contest!" said the hare.
"A contest. Oh! what fun! My, my! Yes, Mr. Tortoise, we shall have a contest!" said the hare.
All the forest animals agreed to meet when both pens were completed, and vote for the best pen in the land. The contest begun, and the hare, being such a swift pen turner, soon had his pen done. The hare waited, and waited and waited for the old Tortoise to finish his pen. After several days, the hare was getting very impatient and in his unbridled confidence began to sign autographs with the forest animals with his pen. After several signatures, the hare's pen stopped writing - alas he used a cheap ink cartridge because he didn't want to take the time to use a better one. And the pen didn't always retract the cartridge as the hare had rushed his assembly because… well, you know how that happens.
The old tortoise finally appeared and presented his pen to the forest animals. It was a beautiful segmented pen using spectacular colors and designs. A true masterpiece. It wrote beautifully, the fit and finish were perfect and it felt good in the hand (well, paws). The hare produced his pen… both halves of it. Deep circular sanding scratches were everywhere, the ends were both proud of the components, the clip spun around like a top. The refill was permanently stuck in an open position and was dry and would not write.
The forest animals proclaimed the Wise Old Tortoise as the winner of the contest.
The moral of the story is that you can be more successful by doing things slowly and steadily than by acting quickly and carelessly.
The Tortoise gave the hare a new high quality refill, showed him how to replace the damaged components and offered the hare some abranet and micro mesh. He then said, very slowly: "All my skills at doing things slowly, steadily and with care and precision I learned by being a Segmented Pen Turner."
Calling all Old Tortoises: The Segmented Pen Contest.
Pen Turning Lore, Myths and Fables I - John Hancock's Signature
Pen Turning Lore, Myths and Fables II - Elon Musk and the Chase for his Roadster
Pen Turning Lore, Myths and Fables III - The Scribe, the Master Segmenter and World Peace.
Pen Turning Lore, Myths and Fables IV - The Path to Pen Turning Enlightenment.
Addendum: The Four Little Penturner's
_