THE GIFT HORSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 109, 11 May 1927, Page 6

THE GIFT HORSE.

L A wooden horse has become the classic synonym , for an embarrassing gift ever since the day when i the Greeks presented their horse of wood" to the » Trojans. The Trojans might have fared better • if they had looked this gift horse in the mouth. i The gift of Arab horses to Sir James Parr, Sir i Edward Chaytor and General Dodds might have i created an embarrassing situation in "iew of the t difficulty of getting these steeds to the seaport > had it not been for the diplomatic reply of the ; High Commissioner that he intended to return one day and he would ask the donors to keep his steed till he came back. This gave the cue to the other two recipients. Probably the donors . expected their gifts to be returned, as that seems i to be the custom in many parts of the East. j When Lord Jellicoe visited Fiji 'the natives presented him with enough food to last for severa * years. They piled high in front of him everj r description of native food, and then they startec } to present him with mats and other island curios f Lord Jellicoe, however, was not as embarrassec m as he might have been at this mountainous array " because he had been informed beforehand thai r the natives had collected all this for a week's , feasting, and that although out of courtesy the-\ j presented it to the "Great White Chief," yet thej expected he would show a similar courtesy bj returning it to them. They would have gon< very short for their week's feasting had he noi done so. There are some gifts, however, whicl cannot be retiuned without causing offence, anc 1 yet they are apt to prove exceedingly embarrassinj 1 to their recipients. Wedding presents an 1 generally on much the same lines, and a populai " young couple frequently find themselves possessec 3 of twenty teapots, fifteen cruet stands, as mam salt cellars and pepper pots, toast racks sufficient • for a large hotel, and innumerable triplicates anc " duplicates of every kind of table and household i adornments. China teapots would in time reduci 1 themselves owing to their confirmed habit o: 1 parting with their spouts and handles on th« ° least provocation, but plated and silver teapots ' remain intact, unless some enterprising burglai * carries them off. Nobody knows exactly what I eventually becomes of the superfluities given ai \ marriages, but a stroll round the pawnshops am t second-hand dealers' stores suggests that some o: r them at least are turned into hard cash. If th< 3 Eastern custom of returning a gift as soon as ii J is made became universal, presents given a' 1 Christmas time and on birthday occasions might t be more costly and valuable than they often an now. —W.M.