" Once there was a man whose grandmother was a powerful magician. The man often had trouble with his kayak, which kept capsizing, and so when his grandmother died he had the idea of using the powers that were in her to stabilise the kayak. He flayed her corpse and fixed the skin with outspread arms and legs under the boat - and lo, it never capsized again. Unfortunately, however, the skin decayed and wore off and so the pious grandson replaced it by an image that turned out to have the same effect. And so to this very day Kayaks in these regions are adorned with schematic images that keep them in balance. From "Art and Illusion" part two: Function and Form. Pygmalion's Power. H Gombrich