0210 Earth's Three

Jul 10, 2012, 02:06 PM

From Mongolia, land of fermented mare’s milk, comes this beguiling morsel of nomadic oral tradition. It’s called yertonciin gorav or Earth’s Three. Earth’s three what? Well, Earth’s three top things in a number of categories. You have categories such as Fast and White. Within each category is a trio of elements, each meant to hand a soundbyte of nomadcentric lore down to the next generation. Under Earth’s Three Fast, for example, you have clouds riding the wind across the sky, the thoughts of a clever person, a horse galloping and under Earth’s Three White, you have an adult’s teeth, an elder’s hair, a corpse’s bones. Call me corny, but I believe every country needs its own Earth’s Three list. What would America’s Three Fast be, I wonder? A meal at McDonald’s, the movie-to-video turnaround time, Postcard from Asia. #ceas #hacker #mongolia