4. Creative Commons
I
T
he HanuHanu Gita has no license.
It is has not license at all!
Not even a Creative Commons License.
The bottom line is this:
OF COURSE you are welcome to share it!
And OBVIOUSLY I hope you will do so respectfully!
*
But I did wonder what Blind Cupid (the Avatar through-whom I wrote the HanuHanu Gita) would have to say on the question of licensing –
and so I let my pen wander,
and my mind wander,
and the story went like this:
I
“Under what License do you feel we should publish the HanuHanu Gita?” I ask. “License?!” Blind Cupid asks-back, confused.
“Yes” I say “you know… like whether people can copy and redistribute the book. “Oh! That would be very kind of them!” Blind Cupid observes – still slightly perplexed… “And whether people can adapt, or rewrite, or transform, or develop the book” I say, beginning to feel this Licensing Business is perhaps more suspicious than I´d suspected… “Oh! That would be very creative of them!” Blind Cupid says, beginning now, I feel, to enjoy this game of questions and answers…
“And what about ´giving appropriate credit´? Do you feel it is essential The Kind & Creative credit you, as the original source of the work?” I say, unsuspectingly: for no-sooner have I voiced this innocent enquiry, than Blind Cupid is hooting and howling in hysterics!
“Me?! Me?! Me ´the original source´?! How could I claim such a thing?!”
And then, in my imagination, Blind Cupid (who I know feels he/she/it is “but an instrument of The Monkey Muse”, whom he/she/it calls ´Fotogon Dawi´, because he/she/it says so, in the book) invokes the presence of The Muse!
II
And then, and then… I hear another voice speak. A voice I have never heard before… It speaks in a rough cosmic growl. It is the voice of Fotogon Dawi – the timeless, placeless Monkey Muse. “Do you realise who I am?! I am Fotogon Dawi!” It declares, offended “I am not Golum! The HanuHanu Gita is not my precious!”
It crosses my mind that Tolkien and Fotogon Dawi probably know each other well… “You insult me!” it growls, proudly “do you realise who I am?! I am The Monkey Muse! Do the Elementals license themselves?! Does The Air keep all rights reserved on breathing?! And although your body is mostly water… does The Water claim, therefore – majority ownership of You?! Does The Fire legislate its own use – or does it leave that up to you?! Does The Earth you walk upon, and lie down upon, charge you rent?!”
“Human Being!” it snarls and snorts, “your species might want me to license myself, but I am unlicensable!”
I´m not sure if I´m being chastised, personally – or whether this is a telling off for the whole Human Species, and its copyrighting services…
After a while, Blind Cupid, as empathic as ever, says softly “it´s OK, Mark. You can relax. Fotogon has gone. I just thought it might be informative for you to hear it straight from the Monkey Muse´s Mouth.”
“Well, I think that covers everything” I mutter, unsure. “I´ll be back soon” Blind Cupid whispers, seductively – and kisses me, invisibly, on the nape of my naked neck.”
And I think that does cover everything – don´t you?! 🙂
