Ireland is looking for the next guardian of the ＂stone of words＂. Every year, it will hold about 400,000 travelers to make a wish on the stone.

Travel is inevitably connected with the wish to pray. Somehow, people seem to be more willing to believe that the sincerity of reaching a place across thousands of miles can bring them some kind of blessing, so there are various "wishing places", such as touching the owl sculpture in Dijon, France, which can bring good luck, or hanging a love letter under the balcony of Juliet’s former residence in Italy will help realize love, or hanging a lock on those "love bridges" all over the world can lock love and never part. In Ireland, one of the most famous "travel wish" scenes is kissing the Blarney Stone in the southern Irish town of Blanie.

Who doesn’t want to be eloquent after kissing a stone? Let’s take a look at the skills necessary to kiss this stone first.

Qiaoyan Stone is a stone in Blanie Castle, a famous local tourist attraction. There are several legends about its origin. At present, the officially certified version is: A witch who was rescued unexpectedly in the castle told him that there was a magical and eloquent stone here in order to repay the man who saved her. A few years later, the man became the most beloved Duke of Blanie by virtue of his eloquence, but he lost his trust because of his excessive rhetoric. In disappointment, the Queen said to him, "You are too much. That’s why the English word Blarney means "flattery and cajoling".

At least in Ireland and Britain, many people are convinced of this legend. For example, Discovery Travel Channel once listed "kissing the blarney stone" as one of the 99 wishes that people should achieve in their life. It is even rumored that Churchill, the former British Prime Minister who was stuttering, was elected as the British Prime Minister because of kissing the blarney stone.

Blanie Castle in the southern Irish town of Blanie.

If Churchill really kissed this stone, according to the present position of the stone, he must have made a lot of efforts: the stone is located on a hanging stone wall inside the top of the castle, at a 90-degree angle from the stone gallery walkway where tourists stand, and at a certain distance.

Numerous experiences have proved that it is unrealistic to kiss the stone in a prone position facing the stone because the human cervical vertebra does not support the function of 90 degrees backward elevation. Therefore, the only successful posture is as shown in the previous picture: lie flat with your back to the stone and face up, then grab the iron railing with your backhand, lean out and bend your body with your waist strength, and then lean your head close to the stone wall with your arm strength-the kiss is successful.

Although there is an iron railing between the stone gallery and the stone wall where people lie down, at the moment of kissing, the tourists’ heads are suspended downwards, and they can see the cliff below with their eyes open, and their center of gravity will also tilt downwards. For the sake of safety, the intimate local tourism department still finds an assistant to hold people’s bodies when they kiss the stone upside down, which is equivalent to extra protection and can make people feel safer from the bottom of their hearts.

The "artful stone" on the hanging stone wall

This man is now the guardian of the "stone of words", Denis Cronin. Since he took up this position in 2004, he has worked beside this stone for 13 years, rain or shine, helping millions of tourists successfully "kiss" this magical stone. Now, he is going to retire, and the followers of "Qiaoyan Stone" will soon lose their protectors. Therefore, not only Blanie Castle and the local tourism department, but also the whole of Ireland seems to be looking for the next "Qiaoyan Stone" guardian.

Paul O’Sullivan, the marketing manager of Blanie Castle, praised Dennis for his hard work in the past 13 years. "He has a very lively quality and gets along well with people. He is very talkative, and sometimes he even talks endlessly. We regret that we will not be able to work with him soon, but we wish him all the best in the future. "

At the same time, he also expressed his concern for the next "guardian". "This person is very important for the scenic spot, because most of the tourists who come to Blanie Castle will want to kiss our magic stone. Although it seems that it is not difficult to catch them, there will be many headaches. We need people who are talkative and have a sense of humor, who can effectively appease those who are very nervous or have acrophobia, and also try their best to help children or people with poor physical flexibility achieve their wishes. "

Tourists waiting in line at the top of the castle to kiss the "magic stone"

Paul said that interested applicants can send an email to blarneycastle.ie, the official mailbox of the castle. It is worth noting that. In addition to personal qualities, there are other objective factors that may have an impact on this job: because the workplace is located outdoors for a long time, the continuous rainy season that comes with winter in Ireland may be an unavoidable disadvantage.

In addition, according to statistics, Blanie Castle welcomed about 420,000 tourists last year. Assuming that 80% of them want to kiss the "Qiaoyan Stone", it is equivalent to the guardian’s "hug" of nearly 1,000 people every day-besides the increasing strength, maybe people who have been guarding the "Qiaoyan Stone" for a long time can also practice a good eloquence.

Image source: Blarney Castle