WEBVTT 00:00:10.434 --> 00:00:17.161 - Good evening and welcome to the Monroe County Public Library. My name is Sarah Bowman and I work in 00:00:17.161 --> 00:00:23.954 - the Adult and Teen Services Department and welcome to both the Monroe County Public Library and this 00:00:23.954 --> 00:00:31.219 - evening's Wintertelling program. This is an annual program. We usually do a Friday after hours in February, 00:00:31.219 --> 00:00:36.062 - a better time to get out and listen to some stories. What a few kind of 00:00:36.226 --> 00:00:42.576 - Details that I want to get through first, if you have cell phones, if you could turn them off or silent 00:00:42.576 --> 00:00:49.231 - so they don't interrupt any of our wonderful storytellers as they're telling this evening. Also, immediately 00:00:49.231 --> 00:00:55.581 - after the stories, and I think everybody has a blue sheeted program, immediately following the stories, 00:00:55.581 --> 00:00:58.206 - we're going to have refreshments on stage. 00:00:58.402 --> 00:01:05.506 - like cookies and milk. And decaf coffee for Stephanie, wherever she is. So you're welcome. You're invited 00:01:05.506 --> 00:01:12.542 - to come up on stage and talk to your favorite storytellers and tell them what an excellent job they did. 00:01:13.218 --> 00:01:20.606 - So that will be immediately following. This is recorded by CATS, so we'd like to thank them for stopping 00:01:20.606 --> 00:01:27.853 - by and recording for us. So it's going to be played on the CATS stations. You can check CATSTV.net for 00:01:27.853 --> 00:01:31.934 - the schedule in case you want to watch the stories again. 00:01:32.610 --> 00:01:38.705 - And it's kind of fun to flip through a year later and see some of the old stories. So again, I'd like 00:01:38.705 --> 00:01:45.038 - to welcome you. And right now, I'm going to pass it over to Dana Burton, who's going to tell you a little 00:01:45.038 --> 00:01:50.475 - bit about the Friends of the Library, who sponsor programs like this. Thank you. I've come 00:01:50.475 --> 00:01:55.614 - with an announcement. And that is that February is Love Your Library Month. Who knew? 00:01:56.354 --> 00:02:03.507 - But we want you to know, and it occurs to me that a lot of people in this room probably consider themselves 00:02:03.507 --> 00:02:10.528 - friends of libraries, but the Monroe County Public Library Friends of the Library would like to encourage 00:02:10.528 --> 00:02:17.416 - you to declare officially your friendship and consider a membership to the Monroe County Public Library 00:02:17.416 --> 00:02:19.006 - Friends of the Library. 00:02:19.330 --> 00:02:26.230 - We hope that in February this would be a great time to kind of think about doing that. If you're already 00:02:26.230 --> 00:02:32.999 - a friend and you don't think you need to join again right now or renew, we also would like you to know 00:02:32.999 --> 00:02:39.899 - that they now have a gift membership package. So if you have a friend who's a book lover, somebody who's 00:02:39.899 --> 00:02:46.470 - passionate about libraries in your family or in your work space, or a newcomer in your neighborhood 00:02:46.470 --> 00:02:47.390 - or workplace, 00:02:47.522 --> 00:02:53.219 - we would encourage you to consider this would be the best time to send or take a gift membership package 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:58.700 - to them and encourage them to become officially a friend of the Monroe County Library this February. 00:02:58.700 --> 00:03:04.506 - So hope you'll consider it. We'll be out of the hallway with some more information about the gift packages 00:03:04.506 --> 00:03:09.118 - and what comes with those as well as the party that's involved. So talk to us later. 00:03:20.578 --> 00:03:37.130 - When the days are short and the nights are long and summer is just a distant memory and the cold, dark 00:03:37.130 --> 00:03:49.022 - snow of winter seems like an ever-present reality, it is a time to gather 00:03:50.338 --> 00:04:01.679 - to listen to stories. The Bloomington Storytellers Guild members tell a number of different kinds of 00:04:01.679 --> 00:04:12.908 - stories. You'll be hearing a personal narrative tonight. And some of us, many of us will be telling 00:04:12.908 --> 00:04:20.094 - stories that come before our time, stories from the cold, dark, 00:04:20.194 --> 00:04:33.500 - sack of memory and will bring those treasures out to listen to them, to look at them, and to learn the 00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:47.710 - message again of the stories of our mothers, our fathers, our ancestors. And we hope you'll take away a story 00:04:49.058 --> 00:04:59.693 - that you can tell and pass that story along, because there are many, many treasures that we'll be sharing 00:04:59.693 --> 00:05:09.926 - with you tonight. First on our program is Lisa Ciampelli, and she'll be telling a story about fire on 00:05:09.926 --> 00:05:11.230 - the mountain 00:05:20.386 --> 00:05:27.417 - Thank you, Patty. My name is Lisa. And I grew up in the Chicago area, the Windy City, where winters 00:05:27.417 --> 00:05:34.800 - would start, unfailingly, on Halloween. I don't think I wore a Halloween costume as a kid where I didn't 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:42.113 - also have my winter coat on. And they would continue right on through April, where you would still have 00:05:42.113 --> 00:05:49.566 - the hard, dirty, gray snow pushed along the curb at Easter time. And there was no such thing as snow days 00:05:49.698 --> 00:05:57.374 - no school cancellations in the Chicago area. You could have snow hip deep and you're gonna be walking 00:05:57.374 --> 00:06:04.974 - there uphill and an uphill home again most likely. So you would think that a girl who grew up in the 00:06:04.974 --> 00:06:12.801 - Chicago area would be able to manage the relatively mild winters of southern Indiana. And at first that 00:06:12.801 --> 00:06:17.918 - was the case. But after 15 years of living in southern Indiana now, 00:06:18.146 --> 00:06:25.478 - I find that I no longer have the mental fortitude to deal with the extreme cold like we have 00:06:25.478 --> 00:06:33.441 - been experiencing this unusually cold for southern Indiana winter. So I can manage with an ice storm 00:06:33.441 --> 00:06:41.798 - every now and then, but it's supposed to melt after a day or two, not turn your driveway into a permanent 00:06:41.798 --> 00:06:46.686 - skating rink. And I just found that I do not have the stamina 00:06:46.978 --> 00:06:53.621 - nor the supply of long underwear to deal with these below freezing temperatures on extended basis. And 00:06:53.621 --> 00:07:00.394 - I found myself thinking how and feeling grateful when the power went out briefly one night that at least 00:07:00.394 --> 00:07:07.230 - I had shelter and a wood stove. And I found myself thinking about those who have no shelter and wondering 00:07:07.230 --> 00:07:13.938 - how they have been managing to survive out in the cold, especially on the very bitter below zero nights 00:07:13.938 --> 00:07:15.486 - that we've experienced. 00:07:16.482 --> 00:07:23.645 - And then I found myself thinking about this folktale from Ethiopia that is called Fire on the Mountain. 00:07:23.645 --> 00:07:30.670 - In the high and beautiful mountains of Ethiopia, there lived a boy named Ali Mayu. And every day, Ali 00:07:30.670 --> 00:07:37.626 - Mayu would hike up into the mountains to watch over his uncle's sheep. While the sheep were grazing, 00:07:37.626 --> 00:07:42.654 - he would seek out a rock to try to shelter himself from the fierce winds 00:07:42.914 --> 00:07:50.234 - And he would sit down, and he would take out his flute, and he would play, and he would think of someday. 00:07:50.234 --> 00:07:57.209 - Someday, he would say to himself, someday I will have a bag of money, and I will be able to buy warm 00:07:57.209 --> 00:08:04.114 - clothes, and I will have enough food to share. And while Ali Mayu dreamed of someday, his real life 00:08:04.114 --> 00:08:05.150 - was very hard. 00:08:05.858 --> 00:08:12.185 - He went daily into the mountains with the sheep to guide them, enduring the sharp winds and making sure 00:08:12.185 --> 00:08:18.512 - that they would make it home again at night. And his life became even more difficult when one year both 00:08:18.512 --> 00:08:24.900 - of his parents died when disease swept through the village. After that, he packed up his few belongings, 00:08:24.900 --> 00:08:31.410 - a little bit of food, an extra cloak, and his flute, and he went in search of where his sister was working 00:08:31.410 --> 00:08:34.878 - in the home of a rich man. She worked as a cook for him. 00:08:35.746 --> 00:08:41.221 - And so he walked down the winding paths down from the mountains. And he watched as the paths became 00:08:41.221 --> 00:08:46.751 - wider and wider and flatter and smoother, indicating that it was nearing the home of a rich man. And 00:08:46.751 --> 00:08:52.446 - when he was still some distance from the home, his sister came running out to greet him. And she kissed 00:08:52.446 --> 00:08:58.031 - him on both cheeks. And she cried with him as he shared the sad news of their parents' death. And she 00:08:58.031 --> 00:09:03.725 - invited him to stay. Come and live here. And perhaps you can earn a few coins by watching over the rich 00:09:03.725 --> 00:09:04.382 - man's cows. 00:09:05.602 --> 00:09:11.631 - And so Ali Mayu became a watcher of cows. And he also watched the rich man. For every day, the rich 00:09:11.631 --> 00:09:17.841 - man would go by him where he was tending the cows in the fields. The rich man was riding on a mule and 00:09:17.841 --> 00:09:24.050 - riding into the village. And behind him, he would have a procession of servants. There was one who was 00:09:24.050 --> 00:09:30.260 - holding an umbrella to shade him from the sun and others carrying baskets of food and then a small boy 00:09:30.260 --> 00:09:33.214 - at the end who would be swishing the flies away. 00:09:33.794 --> 00:09:39.665 - And Ali Mayu watched them and saw how quiet they were. He never heard the rich man say a word, either 00:09:39.665 --> 00:09:45.421 - coming or going, until one day, one late afternoon, everyone could hear the rich man returning from 00:09:45.421 --> 00:09:51.407 - the village, for he was shouting and bellowing about some injustice that had been done to him that day. 00:09:51.407 --> 00:09:56.990 - Am I not the master of my own household? he shouted to anyone who was within a hearing distance. 00:09:58.082 --> 00:10:03.598 - Ali Mayu's sister signaled to him and asked him to come in and help her chop onions because the master 00:10:03.598 --> 00:10:09.061 - was in such a temper that she needed to prepare his mule quickly. And so they could easily hear as he 00:10:09.061 --> 00:10:14.631 - continued bellowing, why, am I not the bravest and strongest man around? You know, there was one night, 00:10:14.631 --> 00:10:20.308 - one night when I became lost in the high mountains and I had to get down off of my mule and stand against 00:10:20.308 --> 00:10:25.182 - it to keep warm. And that is how I managed to survive the night and live to tell the tale. 00:10:25.506 --> 00:10:32.502 - Now is there anyone else here as strong and as brave as that? All of the servants just kept their heads 00:10:32.502 --> 00:10:39.228 - down and continued working. But Ali Mayu spoke up and he said, why sir, there was many a night when 00:10:39.228 --> 00:10:45.955 - I was tending my uncle's sheep that I had to stay in the high mountains overnight and I endured the 00:10:45.955 --> 00:10:53.085 - bitter colds with just a thin cloak to keep me warm. Well the rich man just stared at him. Are you trying 00:10:53.085 --> 00:10:54.430 - to make me angrier? 00:10:56.194 --> 00:11:02.628 - No, said Alemayo, I just speak the truth. You speak the truth. Well, we'll see about that. If it is, 00:11:02.628 --> 00:11:09.190 - if you have done as you say, then you will do it again tonight. You will go up into the high mountains 00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:15.624 - and you will take nothing with you but your thin Shema, your cloak, to keep you warm. And if you are 00:11:15.624 --> 00:11:21.995 - able to survive the night, if you do not come crawling down in the middle of the night, then I will 00:11:21.995 --> 00:11:24.798 - reward you. I will give you a bag of money. 00:11:25.058 --> 00:11:33.292 - and four cows for your very own. All right, Ali Mayu agreed. Wait, do not bite unless you are prepared 00:11:33.292 --> 00:11:41.525 - to swallow. If you do not survive, if you are not able to last the night in the bitter cold, then when 00:11:41.525 --> 00:11:49.519 - you return, you and your sister will lose your jobs and you'll be forced to leave, never come back. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:51.198 - Now Ali Mayu was not 00:11:51.810 --> 00:11:59.652 - meaning to endanger his sister's welfare as well. But he saw no way out, and so he nodded in agreement. 00:11:59.652 --> 00:12:07.494 - And that night his sister kissed him goodbye and watched as he set off for the high mountains, bringing 00:12:07.494 --> 00:12:15.412 - with him just his thin cloak and his flute. And as he walked up into the hills, the winds became louder, 00:12:15.412 --> 00:12:18.654 - whistling through the rocks. And at first, 00:12:18.946 --> 00:12:25.467 - He played his flute to try to drown out the sound of the winds and to try to distract himself from how 00:12:25.467 --> 00:12:31.989 - cold it was. But the winds were able to sing louder than his flute. And he found that they were biting 00:12:31.989 --> 00:12:38.827 - into his cheeks and stinging his eyes until they teared so that he was forced to peer out into the distance 00:12:38.827 --> 00:12:45.538 - by squinting only. And when the winds whirled around his feet, he tried crouching smaller, making himself 00:12:45.538 --> 00:12:48.894 - as small as possible to see if that thin shema could 00:12:49.090 --> 00:12:56.874 - could cover his whole body somehow to keep himself warm, but it could not. And as he clutched the shawl 00:12:56.874 --> 00:13:04.584 - about him, his hands grew numb with cold and he was soon shivering so hard that he could barely think. 00:13:04.584 --> 00:13:12.593 - Now the rich man was in his home comfortably feasting and drinking and laughing and boasting and listening 00:13:12.593 --> 00:13:17.982 - for the sound of Ali Mayu to come crawling back down from the mountain. 00:13:19.106 --> 00:13:27.021 - But he did not hear any sound until morning, when Ali Mayu's sister shouted, because there, coming through 00:13:27.021 --> 00:13:34.418 - the fog, was Ali Mayu. And the rich man ran out, and Ali Mayu walked toward him and said, it was so 00:13:34.418 --> 00:13:41.963 - fiercely bitter cold on the high mountains last night. When all became completely dark, I feared that 00:13:41.963 --> 00:13:48.990 - I would die of cold. But then I saw, on a distant mountain across the way, I saw that another, 00:13:49.154 --> 00:13:57.781 - Shepherd had built a fire, and so I just focused. I looked at the red glowing embers of that distant 00:13:57.781 --> 00:14:06.323 - fire, and I dreamed of what it felt like to be warm. And that is how I was able to survive. That is 00:14:06.323 --> 00:14:15.292 - how I had the strength to stay on the mountain last night. The rich man looked at him and scoffed. Well, 00:14:15.292 --> 00:14:16.830 - you have cheated. 00:14:18.210 --> 00:14:26.141 - You do not get the reward. In the morning, you must leave." Ali Mayu was shocked, and the other servants 00:14:26.141 --> 00:14:33.996 - turned and looked at each other in surprise. I don't understand, Ali Mayu said. Well, you have cheated. 00:14:33.996 --> 00:14:41.624 - Looking at a fire on another mountain is the same as building a fire to keep yourself warm. Ali Mayu 00:14:41.624 --> 00:14:47.742 - was stunned, and he just walked away into his sister's room to try and get warm. 00:14:48.226 --> 00:14:54.327 - And the rich man clapped his hands and said, come now, prepare a great feast. I will be going to the 00:14:54.327 --> 00:15:00.428 - village and returning with my friends who will celebrate my victory with me. You and your sister, he 00:15:00.428 --> 00:15:06.529 - said to Ali Mayu, you may stay and enjoy the feast with me, but by morning you must be gone. And the 00:15:06.529 --> 00:15:12.690 - rich man left. And Ali Mayu's sister turned to the other servants and began whispering with them. And 00:15:12.690 --> 00:15:16.254 - the whispers ran like water throughout the house that day. 00:15:17.122 --> 00:15:24.279 - So when the rich man returned in the late afternoon with his friends, the smells that greeted them were 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:31.506 - almost overwhelming. The aroma of the most delicious foods came wafting from the back of the house where 00:15:31.506 --> 00:15:38.732 - the kitchen was, and they were surrounded by the scent of their favorite foods. And the servants greeted 00:15:38.732 --> 00:15:44.926 - them and brought them into the dining area, and they gave them water to wash their hands. 00:15:45.378 --> 00:15:52.303 - but they did not present them with any food to eat. And so the rich man sat down with his friends and 00:15:52.303 --> 00:15:59.432 - waited, and the smells became stronger and stronger. They were so strong that they were like loud music, 00:15:59.432 --> 00:16:06.289 - so powerful. And the rich man's stomach began to grumble, and their mouths were watering because the 00:16:06.289 --> 00:16:08.190 - scents were so tantalizing. 00:16:08.322 --> 00:16:13.722 - And he grew impatient and he saw a servant standing by the wall holding a stringed instrument. 00:16:13.722 --> 00:16:19.463 - And he said, you there, play for us so that we might be entertained while we wait for our food to be 00:16:19.463 --> 00:16:25.204 - served. And the servant lifted the instrument and he moved his fingers above the strings, but he did 00:16:25.204 --> 00:16:31.172 - not actually touch the strings or make any sound. And just then Ali Mayu's sister arrived at their table 00:16:31.172 --> 00:16:34.526 - and bowed to the rich man and his friends and said, I hope 00:16:34.722 --> 00:16:41.800 - that you have enjoyed this fine meal that we have prepared for you. All of your favorite foods and the 00:16:41.800 --> 00:16:48.878 - finest music. And the rich man just looked at her and shouted, what are you talking about? All evening 00:16:48.878 --> 00:16:55.818 - I have been tantalized by the most delicious aromas, but we have been served no food to eat. We have 00:16:55.818 --> 00:17:03.102 - had nothing and there has been no music playing. And she said, well, you have smelled the foods and, and, 00:17:03.298 --> 00:17:11.240 - Certainly you could imagine how beautiful the music would sound. Isn't that enough to satisfy you?" 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:19.341 - And the rich man again shouted at her. Who would possibly think that the smells of food would be able 00:17:19.341 --> 00:17:27.363 - to satisfy the hunger in a man's stomach? And Ali Mayi's sister replied, why, I would think that the 00:17:27.363 --> 00:17:32.446 - same person who believes that looking at a fire would be enough 00:17:32.802 --> 00:17:41.318 - to keep a boy warm. Now the servants tried to hide their smiles, but Ali Mayu's friends laughed and 00:17:41.318 --> 00:17:50.176 - they said, she's right. And the rich man said nothing, but he scowled. And in the morning, he presented 00:17:50.176 --> 00:17:58.862 - Ali Mayu with a bag of money and four cows. And so Ali Mayu became a herder of cows and his herd grew 00:17:58.862 --> 00:18:01.758 - and he became wealthy of his own. 00:18:01.890 --> 00:18:08.638 - And soon it was Ali Mayu who was riding on the mule into town, into the village. And he had his servants 00:18:08.638 --> 00:18:15.451 - walking and talking with him and laughing as they carried great baskets filled with food that they shared 00:18:15.451 --> 00:18:22.071 - with everyone in the market. And Ali Mayu's sister came and lived with him. And as she grew older, she 00:18:22.071 --> 00:18:28.562 - grew even wiser. And people from around the surrounding villages would come to her for advice and to 00:18:28.562 --> 00:18:31.390 - hear the story of the fire on the mountain. 00:18:52.354 --> 00:19:20.510 - What do you say? Is that gonna work? Good. All over the world, 00:19:22.402 --> 00:19:33.080 - People love foolishness. And there are stories about fools all over the world, from Baba Yaga to Old 00:19:33.080 --> 00:19:44.287 - Man Coyote, from Teal Eulenspiegel to, oh, I don't know, Loro and Hardy. And in the Muslim world, there's 00:19:44.287 --> 00:19:49.150 - a wonderful fool called the Mullah Nasruddin. 00:19:50.242 --> 00:19:59.255 - And I love the Nasruddin stories, but I have never told them in public before because it's not my culture. 00:19:59.255 --> 00:20:07.678 - And I would not hurt anyone's feelings for the world. But this winter, I found a website called The 00:20:07.678 --> 00:20:16.606 - Laughing Muslim from an American Muslim named Edward Ott. It's a collection of Muslim humor, and he said, 00:20:17.218 --> 00:20:27.066 - How can we live at peace in the world together if we can't even laugh at each other's jokes? So tonight, 00:20:27.066 --> 00:20:36.445 - I'm going to take him up on it and tell you five stories of the amazing Mullah Nasruddin. Now, as I 00:20:36.445 --> 00:20:45.918 - understand it, a mullah is like the village wise man, and I use the term man intentionally, somebody 00:20:46.050 --> 00:20:54.630 - who is educated and knows the great books and can interpret the culture to the people. A fine city like 00:20:54.630 --> 00:21:02.963 - Bloomington might have a dozen mullahs, each one wiser than the next. But in the little village that 00:21:02.963 --> 00:21:11.296 - the mullah Nasruddin served, there was only him. And there was always some question of just what the 00:21:11.296 --> 00:21:13.854 - nature of his wisdom might be. 00:21:15.874 --> 00:21:24.807 - One time, the men of the village came to him and they said, we want you to teach us. You're supposed 00:21:24.807 --> 00:21:33.651 - to teach us. And they brought him down to the masjid on Friday and they all sat around him and they 00:21:33.651 --> 00:21:42.583 - said, teach us something. And he stood and looked at them. He said, do any of you know what I should 00:21:42.583 --> 00:21:45.502 - tell you? And they said, no, no. 00:21:45.698 --> 00:21:53.132 - And he said, well, you're too ignorant. You wouldn't understand anything I would have to say. And he 00:21:53.132 --> 00:22:00.493 - went home. So the next Friday, they came back for him. And they escorted him down to the mosque, to 00:22:00.493 --> 00:22:07.853 - the masjid. And they all sat on the floor. And he said, well, do any of you know what I should tell 00:22:07.853 --> 00:22:14.846 - you? Now, they knew that question now. And they said, yes, yes, Mullah Nasruddin. And he said, 00:22:15.170 --> 00:22:22.931 - Well, if you know it, why should I have to tell you again?" And went home. Oh, you're an easy audience. 00:22:22.931 --> 00:22:30.469 - So the next Friday, they came and got him again. And they all sat on the floor and looked up at him, 00:22:30.469 --> 00:22:38.230 - and he said, well, do any of you know what I should tell you? And they had planned this carefully. Half 00:22:38.230 --> 00:22:44.574 - of them said, yes, yes, we know. And the other half said, no, no, no, we don't know. 00:22:45.218 --> 00:22:54.757 - So he told them, the half of you that don't know what I should say, you listen very carefully. And the 00:22:54.757 --> 00:23:04.295 - half of you that do know what I should say, you tell them. And he went home. One of the neighbors came 00:23:04.295 --> 00:23:13.278 - to him and said, you are so wise, Mullah Nasruddin. These people just want to share your wisdom. 00:23:13.986 --> 00:23:23.955 - Why won't you teach us? And the mullah said, wisdom is like a carrot. The best part of it is underground. 00:23:23.955 --> 00:23:33.548 - And you have to dig and dig and dig to get it up. And then once you get it up, you still have to chew 00:23:33.548 --> 00:23:40.414 - and chew to get any good out of it. And the minute you start to chew it, 00:23:40.642 --> 00:23:48.942 - Every donkey in the village wants to share it with you. The mullah loved his donkey. He had a little 00:23:48.942 --> 00:23:57.900 - donkey and he rode it everywhere. If you ever see a picture of him, you'll see he's on his donkey, sometimes 00:23:57.900 --> 00:24:06.201 - backwards. He had occasion to go to a neighboring village that was a Christian village. And while he 00:24:06.201 --> 00:24:09.406 - was there, they were having a wedding. 00:24:10.146 --> 00:24:18.092 - And the mullah watched very carefully. This was interesting. The pictures in the church, the incense, 00:24:18.092 --> 00:24:25.960 - the clothes, the music, the food, all very interesting. And when he came back to his own village, he 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:34.218 - went to the teahouse and he told them all about it. They had never seen a Christian wedding. They thought 00:24:34.218 --> 00:24:38.814 - it was interesting too. One of them asked him, now mullah, 00:24:39.010 --> 00:24:48.886 - Mullah Nasruddin, how many wives may a Christian man have? And the mullah said, 16. Well, that is very 00:24:48.886 --> 00:24:58.474 - remarkable. That's a great many wives, a great many wives, 16. And one of them finally said to him, 00:24:58.474 --> 00:25:08.158 - how do you know this, Mullah Nasruddin, about the Christian men having 16 wives? He said, did I not? 00:25:08.418 --> 00:25:19.117 - hear it from the priest with my own ears. Four richer, four poorer, four better, and four worse. One 00:25:19.117 --> 00:25:29.921 - time the Mola's donkey got sick and oh, oh, did he suffer over worth that donkey. He slept out in the 00:25:29.921 --> 00:25:35.006 - shed with the donkey. He rubbed its flanks with 00:25:35.138 --> 00:25:43.825 - perfumed oil. He fed it with his own hand. He sang to it and soothed it. Oh, he was so worried about 00:25:43.825 --> 00:25:52.597 - the donkey. Finally, his neighbors came to him and said, Mullah Nasruddin, a few years ago, your wife 00:25:52.597 --> 00:26:01.370 - was sick. And all the women in the village worked together to bring her back from the brink of death. 00:26:01.370 --> 00:26:04.638 - And all the while that was happening, 00:26:05.794 --> 00:26:15.609 - All you ever said was, it will be as God wills it. So why are you taking on like this about the donkey? 00:26:15.609 --> 00:26:25.424 - And the mullah said, when my wife was sick, every day two or three of you would say to me, don't worry, 00:26:25.424 --> 00:26:33.918 - Mullah Nasruddin. If your wife dies, we'll find you a fine, strong, beautiful young wife. 00:26:35.906 --> 00:26:45.335 - Now has any of you said to me, don't worry Mullah Nasruddin, if your donkey dies, we'll find you a fine, 00:26:45.335 --> 00:26:54.404 - strong, beautiful young donkey? One day the mullah was sitting on his little stool under the tree in 00:26:54.404 --> 00:27:03.294 - front of his house enjoying a cup of sweet mint tea. When a trader came to town riding on a camel, 00:27:03.970 --> 00:27:10.656 - a couple of other camels behind him, heavily laden with goods. And the trader said to him, 00:27:10.656 --> 00:27:18.664 - Reverend Sir, what manner of people live in this town? And the mullah answered him, to answer this question, 00:27:18.664 --> 00:27:26.011 - I must ask you a question. What manner of people lived in the last town you visited? And the trader 00:27:26.011 --> 00:27:29.758 - said, they were fine people. They made me welcome. 00:27:30.402 --> 00:27:39.841 - Their homes were beautiful. Their children were well behaved. They were kind and honest. And the mullah 00:27:39.841 --> 00:27:49.281 - said, what a coincidence. This is exactly what this village is like. And then a few days later, another 00:27:49.281 --> 00:27:56.542 - trader came down the road on a camel with a couple of extra camels for begging. 00:27:57.602 --> 00:28:05.525 - He said, Reverend Sir, tell me, what are the people like in this village? And the mullah said, to answer 00:28:05.525 --> 00:28:13.297 - your question, sir, I must ask you a question first. What were the people like in the last village you 00:28:13.297 --> 00:28:21.295 - saw? And he said, oh, the village was dirty. The children and the animals looked half-starved. The people 00:28:21.295 --> 00:28:24.766 - were rude and dishonest. And the mullah said, 00:28:27.682 --> 00:28:37.496 - You're going to find the people in this village are exactly the same. Now, the thing about these stories 00:28:37.496 --> 00:28:46.842 - is they don't really have any narrative arc. There's nothing that's going to put you on the edge of 00:28:46.842 --> 00:28:57.310 - your seat. And I own that. That's true. By the time you figure out what to get excited about, the story's over. 00:28:59.394 --> 00:29:08.467 - But Stephanie Holman is the next teller, and I have two pieces of advice for you. The first is to find 00:29:08.467 --> 00:29:17.275 - the edge of your seat now, because Stephanie Holman is such a good storyteller, she will put you on 00:29:17.275 --> 00:29:26.172 - the edge of your seat instantly. The second advice is if you, through study or work or grief or love 00:29:26.172 --> 00:29:28.286 - or sacrifice or prayer, 00:29:29.250 --> 00:29:40.391 - Find your own little carrot of wisdom. Watch out for donkeys. Pamela, well done and probably the best 00:29:40.391 --> 00:29:51.314 - and most intimidating introduction I've ever had. I love it. Thank you so much. That was brilliant. 00:29:51.314 --> 00:29:57.758 - Thank you for making me feel welcome next up on the stage. 00:29:57.922 --> 00:30:04.573 - I am Stephanie Holman and I bring the personal narrative that Patty was talking about. I love to tell 00:30:04.573 --> 00:30:11.290 - folk tales and occasionally take a literary tale and retell it. But I've told many personal narratives 00:30:11.290 --> 00:30:18.006 - over the years and used to be, I was Stephanie Gaston here in Monroe County. I grew up in Bloomington. 00:30:18.006 --> 00:30:24.592 - I'm a native of Monroe County. And some of my favorite tales that I like to write and tell are about 00:30:24.592 --> 00:30:27.070 - my early years here at Monroe County. 00:30:27.234 --> 00:30:33.444 - And maybe in the past at Wintertelling, you got to hear my sleigh full of sisters when father hitched 00:30:33.444 --> 00:30:39.592 - up the horse in the blizzard of 78 and we made our way down the road, the only people on the road at 00:30:39.592 --> 00:30:45.680 - that time. And I have a tale called Taste of Fall which is available here at your public library on 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:51.768 - a CD called Stories from the Heartland. It's a project of storytelling arts of Indiana which is our 00:30:51.768 --> 00:30:56.638 - statewide organization and it supports storytelling in a lot of beautiful ways. 00:30:57.250 --> 00:31:05.543 - But I have for you tonight a little tale that is near and dear to my heart. So please, I thank you all 00:31:05.543 --> 00:31:13.674 - for putting up with me as I tell you my story of Monroe County folk. When I was in the second grade, 00:31:13.674 --> 00:31:21.886 - I was lucky enough to go to Marlin Elementary. Ah, Marlin, let's shout it out. Okay. To each his own. 00:31:23.202 --> 00:31:29.674 - And in the second grade, I had a very wise teacher, of course, and she worked with a farmer to arrange 00:31:29.674 --> 00:31:36.147 - to have an incubator delivered to the classroom so that the children could watch the chicks hatch from 00:31:36.147 --> 00:31:42.682 - the eggs. It was very exciting. And at the same time that the incubator arrived, on the teacher's desk, 00:31:42.682 --> 00:31:45.950 - there was a huge mason jar filled with jelly beans. 00:31:46.402 --> 00:31:52.353 - remarkably identically shaped to the eggs in the incubator, but very colorful. And the point was that 00:31:52.353 --> 00:31:58.362 - the farmer was going to keep all the chicks that he hoped would hatch, but he would let the class have 00:31:58.362 --> 00:32:04.254 - three, and we would need to decide who was going to get to take home a chick from the incubator. And 00:32:04.254 --> 00:32:10.263 - to decide this, she decided that we would write down our guesses, and the ones closest to guessing the 00:32:10.263 --> 00:32:13.822 - number of jelly beans in that jar would get to take it home. 00:32:14.402 --> 00:32:21.502 - Well, while all the other kids gathered around the incubator to watch the world turn, I studied that 00:32:21.502 --> 00:32:28.813 - mason jar, day in and day out. I wanted a baby chick. I was desperate for one. And I didn't really know 00:32:28.813 --> 00:32:36.194 - much about numbers at that time. I was pretty inadequate at it, still am. But I thought I could somewhat 00:32:36.194 --> 00:32:38.654 - formulate a plan to figure it out. 00:32:39.426 --> 00:32:45.774 - Well, finally the exciting day came and the little chicks began to hatch. And everyone gathered around 00:32:45.774 --> 00:32:52.554 - and we watched as their shells broke and their little wet bodies plopped out onto the floor of the incubator. 00:32:52.554 --> 00:32:59.087 - And then we watched as the heat began to dry them into little yellow fluff balls. And once the excitement 00:32:59.087 --> 00:33:05.374 - was over, over there, we sat in our chairs and wrote on a piece of paper our name and our guests. And 00:33:05.374 --> 00:33:08.702 - then the teacher took them to her desk and discovered 00:33:08.930 --> 00:33:16.382 - first three winners. My hard work and long efforts of studying the jar almost paid off. I was fourth 00:33:16.382 --> 00:33:23.909 - and I was devastated as the three lucky winners got a little box with little holes in the top and got 00:33:23.909 --> 00:33:31.508 - to carry their chick home. Two of them were on my school bus and I would hear at every stop the little 00:33:31.508 --> 00:33:37.854 - peeping and chipping, very hard. And I got home and I told my family how I hadn't won 00:33:38.338 --> 00:33:43.807 - And they did not seem very devastated by the thing. In fact, they seemed somewhat relieved that I had 00:33:43.807 --> 00:33:49.491 - not come home with a baby chick. But I was sure that I would never get over this heartbreak. But luckily, 00:33:49.491 --> 00:33:55.121 - it was short-lived. Two days later, one of the winners brought back her baby chick in its little peeping 00:33:55.121 --> 00:34:00.697 - box, and she declared it too messy. She talked about how at home it was too noisy, peeping and cheeping 00:34:00.697 --> 00:34:05.630 - all the time, and how it would scratch on the paper. And that little food and those dropped 00:34:05.762 --> 00:34:12.479 - those messy droplings would go everywhere in the room. And so, as fourth place guesser, I got to carry 00:34:12.479 --> 00:34:19.131 - that box home on the school bus, peeping and cheaping at every stop. And I took it into my family and 00:34:19.131 --> 00:34:25.782 - they seemed to regroup quickly and decided that they would make this work. And they got a box for the 00:34:25.782 --> 00:34:32.303 - kitchen and put a single light bulb over it so that it would give the chick warmth and company. And 00:34:32.303 --> 00:34:33.086 - I named him 00:34:35.170 --> 00:34:41.273 - And I loved him so. And I watched him every day. And I watched as that fluff turned into pin feathers. 00:34:41.273 --> 00:34:47.198 - And then over time, he turned into a plump, sleek, orange chicken. And I told my mother, he doesn't 00:34:47.198 --> 00:34:53.122 - want to sleep in that box anymore, Mom. He wants to sleep with me in my bedroom. She was horrified, 00:34:53.122 --> 00:34:59.107 - as some of you seem to be. But I told her it would work. And I picked him up, scooped him up, ran up 00:34:59.107 --> 00:35:05.150 - to my bed. I put him on the foot of my huge four-poster bed. And he did. He just perched right there. 00:35:05.954 --> 00:35:11.808 - And I got under the covers real quick. My mother was standing in the doorway, hands on hits. 00:35:11.808 --> 00:35:18.229 - And she looked. But then Oliver brought up one leg and tucked his head under his wing. And what could 00:35:18.229 --> 00:35:23.454 - she do? She had to leave us there together. And it worked several nights in a row. 00:35:24.034 --> 00:35:29.478 - But remarkably, a chicken coop was quickly built in the backyard. I didn't even know we were going to 00:35:29.478 --> 00:35:34.815 - get a chicken coop. But all of a sudden, my father went to work on it. And there it was. And we got 00:35:34.815 --> 00:35:40.152 - other chickens and other roosters so that Oliver would have plenty of company out there. And it was 00:35:40.152 --> 00:35:45.756 - quite the cacophony of roosters and chickens out there. And every day, that's where I was. And I watched 00:35:45.756 --> 00:35:49.278 - all their busy work. Have you ever watched a chicken? You should. 00:35:49.474 --> 00:35:54.558 - I mean, my favorite part of Oliver's activities was the dust bath that they take every day. And they 00:35:54.558 --> 00:35:59.893 - take their feathers and waft that dust up, up into their feathers so that it would soothe their sensitive 00:35:59.893 --> 00:36:05.179 - skin. And then the way they drink, they don't have lips, you know, so he would just get a little beakful 00:36:05.179 --> 00:36:10.414 - of water and then hold his head back and it would run down his throat. Charming. And then he would peck 00:36:10.414 --> 00:36:15.749 - so, peck so readily and everywhere. And I don't know how he got any food in his gizzard because it seemed 00:36:15.749 --> 00:36:17.662 - to go everywhere but down his throat. 00:36:18.498 --> 00:36:24.870 - But days spent with Oliver were beautiful, and I noticed, as I would say goodnight to him, that he did 00:36:24.870 --> 00:36:31.057 - not roost up on the bars with the other chickens. He was a house pet I so know, and he liked to sit 00:36:31.057 --> 00:36:37.244 - in the nesting box and get in the straw there. I said, oh, you lazy rooster. But one morning when I 00:36:37.244 --> 00:36:43.616 - came out to visit him, he was still in that nesting box. I said, this will not do. You need to get out 00:36:43.616 --> 00:36:48.318 - there with the rest of them. And I picked him up, and that's when I saw it. 00:36:49.314 --> 00:36:56.059 - underneath Oliver was the most beautiful egg I had ever seen. No, it was not golden. But it was a light 00:36:56.059 --> 00:37:02.674 - blue, a pale luminescent blue. And I was shocked and horrified. Oliver, what have you done? I put him 00:37:02.674 --> 00:37:09.160 - down and I ran in to tell my family. And they came out to look. And my father told me that not only 00:37:09.160 --> 00:37:15.840 - was Oliver not a he and would never be a rooster, that comb was not going to grow any bigger, but that 00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:18.110 - Oliver was a special breed of hen. 00:37:18.434 --> 00:37:26.051 - an aracana chicken that lays the light green, light blue, and sometimes light pink shells on their eggs. 00:37:26.051 --> 00:37:33.595 - Ah, Oliver, you tricky friend, my special pet. You were born in my classroom. You were given to someone 00:37:33.595 --> 00:37:40.921 - else, but you found your way back to me. We spent our early youth together there in my room. And now 00:37:40.921 --> 00:37:48.030 - you played the best trick ever on me. And I learned a lot from you, Oliver. I learned especially. 00:37:48.546 --> 00:37:56.031 - that you should probably wait till the chicks grow up a little before you give them a name. Thank you. 00:37:56.031 --> 00:37:56.830 - Thank you. 00:38:19.586 --> 00:38:27.064 - of the sort of story that comes from a specific culture and a specific time and a specific part of the 00:38:27.064 --> 00:38:34.614 - world. This is the kind of story that everyone in the culture knows. And you probably know some stories 00:38:34.614 --> 00:38:42.019 - like that and there's a catch phrase or a saying that goes with each of these stories and if you hear 00:38:42.019 --> 00:38:43.326 - the catch phrase, 00:38:43.426 --> 00:38:51.062 - Well, you have the whole story right there in your mind. If I say, little pig, little pig, can I come 00:38:51.062 --> 00:38:58.623 - in? Why, you know that story. You've got it. It's part of your culture. And when everyone is part of 00:38:58.623 --> 00:39:06.109 - the culture and everyone knows the story, you don't even have to tell the whole story. You just say 00:39:06.109 --> 00:39:10.750 - the catchphrase and everybody laughs. Oh, yeah. That's right. 00:39:11.746 --> 00:39:19.883 - And this is that kind of a story. It was collected by a fascinating man named Harold Corlander. He was 00:39:19.883 --> 00:39:27.782 - born in Indianapolis in 1905 and he lived almost the whole century. And you may never have heard of 00:39:27.782 --> 00:39:35.050 - him, but I bet you've heard of Folkways Records. Maybe. Okay. Just checking. Just checking. 00:39:35.050 --> 00:39:41.054 - He named them. He named Folkways Records. You've heard of Voice of America? 00:39:42.178 --> 00:39:48.996 - All right. He was part of that. He was also someone who went and lived with various peoples, learning 00:39:48.996 --> 00:39:56.149 - their languages, learning the nuances of their languages, learning their sayings, and learning the stories 00:39:56.149 --> 00:40:02.366 - behind their sayings. And at some point, he found himself writing things down. He wrote down 00:40:02.722 --> 00:40:10.545 - the stories from Haiti, from Cuba, from the Hopi, from the Pacific Islands, from various parts of Africa, 00:40:10.545 --> 00:40:18.072 - and he was particularly taken with the stories from the Ashanti people. And I've always enjoyed those 00:40:18.072 --> 00:40:25.452 - stories, and I thought I knew a lot of them. I thought I knew a lot of the Anansi stories, which he 00:40:25.452 --> 00:40:32.094 - wrote down, many of the Anansi stories, the stories about that trickster, the Spider-Man, 00:40:32.322 --> 00:40:42.462 - trickster character, but this story I had not heard before last year. I heard it from someone who teaches 00:40:42.462 --> 00:40:52.124 - myth as a profession. I always thought that was an interesting profession. And I said, oh, that is a 00:40:52.124 --> 00:41:00.542 - story to share because you will see at the ending why this story speaks to me and maybe 00:41:05.698 --> 00:41:13.536 - Anansi was friends with Nyami, the sky god. And like friends do, they visited each other. And one day 00:41:13.536 --> 00:41:21.374 - Anansi was visiting Nyami, and they were sitting and watching the children play. And Nyami said, look 00:41:21.374 --> 00:41:29.135 - at my children. How strong they are. How healthy they are. And how they are all the same color. They 00:41:29.135 --> 00:41:33.822 - are all dark. Oh, yeah, said Anansi. It's pretty monotonous. 00:41:36.034 --> 00:41:47.449 - get you a child of a different color. That is interesting," said Naomi. You make difficulties for yourself, 00:41:47.449 --> 00:41:58.124 - Anansi, but I will hold you to it. Now, it happened that Anansi had never really looked seriously at 00:41:58.124 --> 00:42:00.766 - children. He had no idea 00:42:02.882 --> 00:42:11.301 - When he went back to his village and he looked around for a child of another color, all the children 00:42:11.301 --> 00:42:20.053 - were the same color. They were all dark. Ah, well, it was a casual remark, and Naomi will have forgotten 00:42:20.053 --> 00:42:28.639 - it. But several days later, the messengers came from Naomi saying, Naomi would inquire about the child 00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:31.390 - you promised. What, said Anansi. 00:42:32.450 --> 00:42:41.191 - Do you think a child is made instantly? These things take time." And he began to look a little more 00:42:41.191 --> 00:42:50.281 - seriously into the matter. He went more than his village to the next village, and all the children were 00:42:50.281 --> 00:42:59.546 - the same color. Anansi began to worry, and the messengers came back. Nyami would inquire about the child. 00:42:59.546 --> 00:43:02.430 - Whoa, it's only been two months. 00:43:03.714 --> 00:43:12.795 - It takes longer than that to make a child," said Anansi. And when they came back after eight months, 00:43:12.795 --> 00:43:21.967 - he said, what? Does Naomi want a too soon child? The nine months are not yet up? I think, said Anansi 00:43:21.967 --> 00:43:31.678 - to himself, I think I should go on a long hunting trip and maybe not come back for a long time and everyone 00:43:31.678 --> 00:43:33.566 - will think I'm dead. 00:43:34.114 --> 00:43:43.641 - And so he left on a long hunting trip. It happened at this time in a far distant village that a woman 00:43:43.641 --> 00:43:53.169 - gave birth to a child who arrived screaming with hunger. This child wanted to be fed immediately, and 00:43:53.169 --> 00:44:03.070 - the woman began to feed the child milk, but the child wanted more. She made mush and fed it to the child. 00:44:03.970 --> 00:44:11.937 - For seven days and seven nights, she devoted herself to feeding that child, and every time she stopped 00:44:11.937 --> 00:44:19.750 - feeding him, he cried for more. At the end of seven days, she said, this is beyond me. This child is 00:44:19.750 --> 00:44:27.485 - never satisfied. Besides, it is the wrong color. It's red. This is a thing impossible to me. So she 00:44:27.485 --> 00:44:33.054 - took the child out into the woods and set it in the branches of a tree, 00:44:33.314 --> 00:44:41.619 - And she went home to get a good night's sleep for the first time in seven weekdays. Who could blame 00:44:41.619 --> 00:44:50.423 - her? And Anansi, as it happened, was walking down that game trail when he heard the squalling of a hungry 00:44:50.423 --> 00:44:58.728 - child. And when he saw that child, and he saw that it was a child of a different color, he said, at 00:44:58.728 --> 00:45:00.638 - last I can give birth. 00:45:03.714 --> 00:45:12.350 - child back to his village, and he sent messengers to Nyami. He said, the child that is promised has 00:45:12.350 --> 00:45:21.160 - arrived. And when the messengers came from Nyami, they found a Nancy lying on his sleeping mats as if 00:45:21.160 --> 00:45:29.278 - he were exhausted from giving birth. And there was the child, screaming and bright red. Well, 00:45:29.762 --> 00:45:37.386 - When Naomi saw the child, he was pleased. It was a different color. And he called for his senior wife 00:45:37.386 --> 00:45:44.935 - when he said, raise it as if it's your own. And she, of course, began to feed the thing. She fed the 00:45:44.935 --> 00:45:52.708 - child, and then she called for the other wives to come help feed the child. And they began to make mush 00:45:52.708 --> 00:45:57.342 - for the child. And for seven days and seven nights, they fed. 00:45:57.666 --> 00:46:05.562 - the child and every time they stopped feeding the child, it screamed for more food. So the senior wife 00:46:05.562 --> 00:46:13.994 - took the child back to Nyami and said, it is impossible. It cannot be satisfied. It makes such a disturbance. 00:46:13.994 --> 00:46:21.659 - Very well, said Nyami, I will feed the child myself. How hard can this be? And he called for people 00:46:21.659 --> 00:46:27.102 - to bring him milk and boiled plantains and he began to feed the child. 00:46:28.354 --> 00:46:35.478 - It soon became obvious that more was needed. And so he sent to all the people to bring food for this 00:46:35.478 --> 00:46:42.602 - child. And they all came and they brought whatever they had, whether it was good food for a child or 00:46:42.602 --> 00:46:49.655 - not. They brought pans and pots and baskets and platters of food. And the child was up for anything 00:46:49.655 --> 00:46:53.534 - they brought. But after a while, they ran out of food. 00:46:56.642 --> 00:47:04.908 - Everybody had stayed now. There was a huge crowd around looking at this child and having watched it 00:47:04.908 --> 00:47:13.423 - amazingly eat all this food. And the child looked around and saw that the feeding had ended. And right 00:47:13.423 --> 00:47:22.019 - in front, there was a man standing with his mouth open, staring at that child. And the little red child 00:47:22.019 --> 00:47:24.830 - jumped in his mouth. And stopped. 00:47:25.506 --> 00:47:38.734 - It was the first tongue. And because the child was red, all tongues are red. And because the child was 00:47:38.734 --> 00:47:53.246 - never satisfied, the tongue is never satisfied. It does not matter if your belly is full or your belly is empty. 00:47:55.074 --> 00:48:02.636 - It's the same to your tongue. The tongue can always take a little more. So when you sit down to a big 00:48:02.636 --> 00:48:10.124 - meal and you fill your plate and you eat until your belt is tight and then dessert comes out and you 00:48:10.124 --> 00:48:17.538 - say, I could have a little bit of that. This is why. And you can remember the saying that goes with 00:48:17.538 --> 00:48:24.062 - this story. It is, no matter how full the belly is, the tongue will take a little more. 00:48:26.370 --> 00:48:40.990 - And for this, you may thank Anansi. Now, our trickster, Anansi. You're going to use that one. OK. Comes 00:48:40.990 --> 00:48:53.502 - up in many other stories, like the one Josh has for you. My parents are in the audience. 00:48:56.322 --> 00:49:04.125 - It's funny, we didn't plan this, but my story comes from a Harold Corlander collection as well. And 00:49:04.125 --> 00:49:12.005 - the Treasury of African Folk Tales, I would recommend anybody to go look at this book. I came across 00:49:12.005 --> 00:49:19.808 - it five or six years ago, and it changed the way I experience stories, I think. But he was really a 00:49:19.808 --> 00:49:26.206 - remarkable collector. And one of the amazing things about these Anansi stories is 00:49:27.426 --> 00:49:35.861 - So many of them are so very different, and his character changes, and the nature of the universe shifts, 00:49:35.861 --> 00:49:44.297 - it seems, from tale to tale. So in this story, there was a time of great hunger in the kingdom of Naomi, 00:49:44.297 --> 00:49:52.652 - the sky god, and the only food that was to be found was in Naomi's storehouses. And he wanted it shared 00:49:52.652 --> 00:49:56.990 - out equally, so he put it out that he needed an agent 00:49:57.090 --> 00:50:03.218 - to distribute the food. And all the animals came together. Everybody wanted to be the agent. It was 00:50:03.218 --> 00:50:09.468 - a great honor, power. But then they found out there was a price that had to be paid, a terrible price 00:50:09.468 --> 00:50:15.719 - for animals. The agent would have to have his or her head shaved so that everyone would know who they 00:50:15.719 --> 00:50:22.031 - were. And of course, you know, the lion. Are you kidding? My mane? But Anansi wanted the honor and the 00:50:22.031 --> 00:50:26.014 - power that may go with it. So he stepped forward, took the oath, 00:50:26.434 --> 00:50:34.421 - And Naomi's soldiers took him and they took a long knife and they shaved his head and they did a terrible 00:50:34.421 --> 00:50:41.957 - job. They left patches of hair and he really looked awful so that instead of the glory when he went 00:50:41.957 --> 00:50:49.492 - out in the street, all the animals laughed. I'm a Nazi. You got the mange. Nancy, don't go out. And 00:50:49.492 --> 00:50:55.294 - he had a big ego and so he couldn't take it. And in the middle of the night, 00:50:55.746 --> 00:51:02.710 - He snuck into the storehouse where the food was kept. He filled a big bag full of food, and he took 00:51:02.710 --> 00:51:09.744 - off straight into the forest, deep, deep into the heart of the forest, until he came to the house of 00:51:09.744 --> 00:51:16.848 - Abra Wiwa, the earth goddess. And he held up the food and said, I've got this, and I'll share it with 00:51:16.848 --> 00:51:24.160 - you if you'll protect me from the sky god. And she said, come inside. I'll take care of you. Well, Naomi 00:51:24.160 --> 00:51:24.926 - found out. 00:51:25.154 --> 00:51:31.679 - He was furious. Anansi had broken the oath, and he called together his herd of warrior bulls who had 00:51:31.679 --> 00:51:38.139 - the power to find the whereabouts of any animal. Find Anansi and bring him back to me, he said. And 00:51:38.139 --> 00:51:44.858 - the bulls took off through the forest in a path straight. They knocked down trees, tore everything out. 00:51:44.858 --> 00:51:52.094 - The path was as wide as this is sinking. The path was as wide as three elephants standing shoulder to shoulder. 00:51:53.026 --> 00:52:00.070 - I think the bulls are trampling on my microphone stand. And they went right to Abruwiwa's house. She 00:52:00.070 --> 00:52:07.184 - looked out the window and there were the bulls. She walked out and they said, we've come from the sky 00:52:07.184 --> 00:52:14.228 - god. We're here for Anansi. Well, he's not here. We know he's here and we're taking him. Give him to 00:52:14.228 --> 00:52:18.622 - us. But Abruwiwa was not called the earth goddess for nothing. 00:52:19.330 --> 00:52:26.903 - She had powerful magic. She went back inside and pulled from beneath her bed a sword. And she brought 00:52:26.903 --> 00:52:34.476 - it out. And she held it up and pointed it at the bulls. And she said, fight. And the sword leapt from 00:52:34.476 --> 00:52:42.271 - her hand and went in among the bulls and cut them down, cut them to pieces. And when they were all dead, 00:52:42.271 --> 00:52:46.206 - she lowered her hand and said, cool down, cool down. 00:52:50.178 --> 00:52:56.271 - This is awesome. My whole bunch of bulls just died, didn't they? So she picked up the bloody sword, 00:52:56.271 --> 00:53:02.669 - dried it off on the grass, went back into the house, and put it away under the bed. A couple days later, 00:53:02.669 --> 00:53:09.006 - she said, Nancy, I got to go take care of some things. You mind the house. And she left. And of course, 00:53:09.006 --> 00:53:15.160 - the first thing he did was he went back there, grabbed that sword, strapped it on his back, and took 00:53:15.160 --> 00:53:19.486 - off right back to Naomi's kingdom. And he walked in, and he said, I am 00:53:19.746 --> 00:53:26.861 - I'm so sorry I betrayed you, but I have powerful magic now from the earth goddess. I couldn't stand 00:53:26.861 --> 00:53:34.048 - to have my head shaved, but I've got this magic and if you'll forgive me and take me back, I can use 00:53:34.048 --> 00:53:41.447 - this to help you in your time of need. And Naomi forgave him and Anansi kept the sword hidden and years 00:53:41.447 --> 00:53:43.582 - went by and nothing happened. 00:53:44.290 --> 00:53:50.482 - And one day, Naomi found out that a powerful invading army was coming to conquer the entire kingdom. 00:53:50.482 --> 00:53:56.735 - And he had the drums beat and the trumpets blared and everyone, the entire kingdom came with whatever 00:53:56.735 --> 00:54:02.866 - weapons they had and they lined themselves up in front of the city. And Naomi looked out and he saw 00:54:02.866 --> 00:54:09.058 - that the invading army was far larger. Anansi, now is the time. Bring the powerful magic that you've 00:54:09.058 --> 00:54:12.798 - taken from the earth goddess. And Anansi took the sword out. 00:54:13.282 --> 00:54:19.618 - and he walked out and he stood in front of the army of Naomi and he saw the invading army coming and 00:54:19.618 --> 00:54:26.204 - he held up sword and it gleamed in the sunlight like all the hate of the world focused in a single point 00:54:26.204 --> 00:54:32.916 - and he said, fight. And the sword left his hand and it entered the army and it flew back and forth cutting 00:54:32.916 --> 00:54:39.189 - and the invading army, many of them threw down their weapons and they ran and tried to get away but 00:54:39.189 --> 00:54:41.886 - the sword drove them down into the ground. 00:54:42.818 --> 00:54:51.397 - And then when they were all dead, Anansi raised his hand up and he said, stop. But he didn't remember 00:54:51.397 --> 00:54:59.892 - the words cool down and the sword did not hear him. And so it turned and it came on to the people of 00:54:59.892 --> 00:55:08.724 - Nyami and it began to slaughter them. And Anansi ran behind it shouting, stop, stop, stop. But the sword 00:55:08.724 --> 00:55:10.238 - did not hear him. 00:55:10.754 --> 00:55:18.410 - until every last member of Naomi's army was slain, and only Anansi stood alone on the battlefield, and 00:55:18.410 --> 00:55:26.066 - the sword came to him and killed him too. And then, having no one left to kill, it stuck itself in the 00:55:26.066 --> 00:55:33.647 - ground and sprouted sharp thorns and leaves and became the tinne plant. And to this day, if you touch 00:55:33.647 --> 00:55:39.742 - the tinne plant, it will cut you and your blood will flow, all because the words, 00:55:40.066 --> 00:56:08.030 - Cool down. We're not spoken when they should have been. Thank you. He says we have stability. We'll see. 00:56:09.378 --> 00:56:19.715 - It has to stay tall for me. My name is Addie Hirston, and the story I have for you tonight is an Aetherian 00:56:19.715 --> 00:56:29.473 - legend called Sir Gawain and the Lothly Lady. Once upon a time, there was a king, not just any king, 00:56:29.473 --> 00:56:39.134 - but King Arthur. He was galloping through the forest when all of a sudden, out from the bushes came 00:56:39.650 --> 00:56:53.293 - his arch nemesis, the Black Knight, who was clothed in the hardest of metals, jet black. You could not 00:56:53.293 --> 00:57:06.142 - see his eyes. He grabbed the sword Excalibur from King Arthur before King Arthur could stop him. 00:57:10.018 --> 00:57:21.650 - Black Knight pointed that sword at King Arthur and he said, King Arthur, I have you at last. Your kingdom 00:57:21.650 --> 00:57:32.953 - is mine. Excalibur is mine. But there's one thing I would value knowing above your kingdom. If you can 00:57:32.953 --> 00:57:37.342 - answer a riddle for me, if you can find 00:57:37.730 --> 00:57:47.770 - an answer to a riddle for me before New Year's Day. I will give you back Excalibur and your kingdom. 00:57:47.770 --> 00:57:58.207 - If not, England is mine. All right, said King Arthur. He didn't know what else to do. He agreed to this. 00:57:58.207 --> 00:58:03.774 - The riddle was this. What is it that every woman wants? 00:58:09.506 --> 00:58:18.991 - What is it that every woman wants? Surely, King Arthur could figure it out. By New Year's Day, he agreed. 00:58:18.991 --> 00:58:28.028 - The Black Knight went one way, and King Arthur headed back toward Camelot. And as he did, he stopped 00:58:28.028 --> 00:58:36.350 - at every house in every village and asked every woman he could find what it was they wanted. 00:58:38.178 --> 00:58:48.994 - above anything else. And every woman had a different answer. Oh no. Oh dear. That evening, King Arthur 00:58:48.994 --> 00:58:59.915 - sat in front of the fireplace and he just massaged his eyebrows. Oh, he could not figure out the answer 00:58:59.915 --> 00:59:06.846 - to this riddle. The fate of England was at stake. When in walked, 00:59:07.138 --> 00:59:14.486 - one of his best knights, Sir Gowan. Sir Gowan saw King Arthur and he said, King Arthur, what is wrong? 00:59:14.486 --> 00:59:21.619 - What can I do? King Arthur told Sir Gowan of the riddle, what is it that every woman wants, and how 00:59:21.619 --> 00:59:28.895 - it must be solved by New Year's Day. I will take up this quest, said Sir Gowan. And he ran out to the 00:59:28.895 --> 00:59:34.174 - stables and he jumped on his horse and he started off through the forest. 00:59:36.034 --> 00:59:46.452 - He rode all night long, and then in the morning, as the sun was coming up over the horizon, he rounded 00:59:46.452 --> 00:59:56.667 - a bend, and in front of him, on a stump, was sitting a lady. But not just any lady. Although she was 00:59:56.667 --> 01:00:03.646 - dressed in fine velvets, trimmed with gold, she was loathly. She was 01:00:03.778 --> 01:00:15.648 - the ugliest woman he had ever seen. Her skin dripped from her face. It had pock marks, and it was scabby. 01:00:15.648 --> 01:00:26.959 - Her lip dangled down just so, and then drool was coming off of that. She had one eye up here and one 01:00:26.959 --> 01:00:31.998 - eye down here. Her nose looked like a pig's. 01:00:33.570 --> 01:00:43.149 - She only had a few little wisps of hair back at the nape of her neck. And she pointed at Sir Gowan and 01:00:43.149 --> 01:00:52.821 - she said, I know who you are, Sir Gowan. I know of your quest and I know the answer to the riddle. What 01:00:52.821 --> 01:01:01.470 - is it that every woman wants? You do, said Sir Gowan once amazed. Well, what is it? Tell me. 01:01:04.322 --> 01:01:14.758 - out so fast I will tell you what the answer is if you will agree to marry me oh dear thought Sir Cowan 01:01:14.758 --> 01:01:25.092 - he was a young man and he hadn't picked a mate for life yet but he was hoping it would be someone his 01:01:25.092 --> 01:01:33.502 - own age and nice and fit and healthy and and they could grow old together but then 01:01:33.922 --> 01:01:45.493 - He thought of England and of King Arthur and what the kingdom would be like if this dark night was to 01:01:45.493 --> 01:01:57.064 - take over. And he decided in that split second to sacrifice himself for the noble cause. And he said, 01:01:57.064 --> 01:02:02.622 - all right, I will marry you. What is the answer? 01:02:06.946 --> 01:02:17.479 - She leaned over and she whispered in his ear. That's it. He said, all right. He picked her up, put her 01:02:17.479 --> 01:02:27.910 - on his horse. They galloped back to Camelot. Sir Gowan told King Arthur, King Arthur a few days later 01:02:27.910 --> 01:02:34.046 - on New Year's Day, told the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight 01:02:35.714 --> 01:02:47.217 - gave Excalibur back. England was in good hands again. There was much rejoicing. But there was not much 01:02:47.217 --> 01:02:58.719 - rejoicing over the marriage of Sir Gawain and the loathly lady. No one in the castle could figure this 01:02:58.719 --> 01:03:04.638 - out, why on earth he would agree to such a marriage. 01:03:05.538 --> 01:03:17.667 - They were married in the chapel. And then Sir Gowan took the loathly lady up to his bed chambers. He 01:03:17.667 --> 01:03:30.036 - closed the heavy wooden door. And then he did not want to turn to face her. Look at me, said the lady, 01:03:30.036 --> 01:03:32.798 - for I am much chained. 01:03:34.402 --> 01:03:47.592 - Sir Gowin looked at her and she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen now. She was his own age. 01:03:47.592 --> 01:04:00.402 - She had long dark hair, ruby red lips, gray eyes, as gray as the sea. And they looked at him and she 01:04:00.402 --> 01:04:02.558 - said, Sir Gowin, 01:04:04.066 --> 01:04:19.085 - I have been under a spell and you're marrying me. Now the spell has half broken and here's the catch. 01:04:19.085 --> 01:04:32.926 - I can be my own beautiful self half of the day. I can only be like this either in the daytime 01:04:33.442 --> 01:04:44.144 - or at night. And you have to choose when I will be my young, youthful self. Oh, oh dear, said Circa 01:04:44.144 --> 01:04:55.060 - Owen. Well, what's the benefit to both? What's the benefit to each one? Let's make out a pro-con list 01:04:55.060 --> 01:05:01.374 - or something. Which should I choose? Well, she said, well, 01:05:01.858 --> 01:05:10.926 - If I'm beautiful during the day, we can go riding together. I will have a young, healthy body. People 01:05:10.926 --> 01:05:20.438 - in the castle will not think that you are crazy for having married me. I'll have friends. I'll be accepted 01:05:20.438 --> 01:05:29.594 - in the community. But if I'm myself at night, when we're alone and you embrace me, you won't be afraid 01:05:29.594 --> 01:05:30.750 - to touch me. 01:05:42.466 --> 01:05:52.983 - And he looked at her, and he looked in those pretty eyes, and he said to himself, what does she really 01:05:52.983 --> 01:06:03.807 - want? What does she really want? Which would she choose? And then he remembered the answer to the riddle. 01:06:03.807 --> 01:06:10.750 - What is it that every woman wants? And that is to have her own way. 01:06:20.514 --> 01:06:30.403 - I'm not going to choose. You choose. Yes, said the lady. Thank you, Sir Gowan. That was the correct 01:06:30.403 --> 01:06:40.489 - answer. Because, yes, what every woman wants is to have her own way. And since you have given that to 01:06:40.489 --> 01:06:48.894 - me, I may now be my young, beautiful self all the day and the night, 24 hours a day. 01:06:49.730 --> 01:06:59.621 - for the rest of our lives, and we will grow old together. Now, as we come upon Valentine's Day, I think 01:06:59.621 --> 01:07:09.322 - it's not just what women want to have their own way. I think everyone wants to have their own way. So 01:07:09.322 --> 01:07:17.406 - that's my food for thought, and that is the story of Sir Gowan and the Loathly Lady. 01:07:29.090 --> 01:07:36.055 - Hello, everybody. So nice to see you. I see old friends and new friends and really appreciate you guys 01:07:36.055 --> 01:07:43.088 - coming out. When I think about the two stories, the two short stories that I'm going to be sharing with 01:07:43.088 --> 01:07:46.942 - you today, I am reminded of the beginning of Annie Hall. 01:07:47.234 --> 01:07:54.152 - And it's one of my favorite movies. And I don't know if you remember, but at the beginning Woody Allen 01:07:54.152 --> 01:08:01.002 - talks about his life being informed by two primary jokes. And the first one is, I'd never belonged to 01:08:01.002 --> 01:08:07.785 - a club that would have me for a member. And the second one involves two women eating at a restaurant 01:08:07.785 --> 01:08:14.770 - in the Catskills. And one says, the food here is just awful. And the other says, yeah, and the portions 01:08:14.770 --> 01:08:15.710 - are so small. 01:08:15.970 --> 01:08:23.064 - So I think about that when I think about these two stories, which I have to admit, I didn't really work 01:08:23.064 --> 01:08:30.090 - really hard to really prepare tonight because they're two stories that I feel kind of weave in and out 01:08:30.090 --> 01:08:37.252 - of my day daily. And the first one, tell me if you've heard it, it's about two months that are traveling 01:08:37.252 --> 01:08:44.551 - down the road. They're traveling down a mountain road and they're on their way to visit a nearby monastery 01:08:44.551 --> 01:08:45.438 - on the other 01:08:45.698 --> 01:08:53.049 - mountain in the valley. So they're traveling down, and they meet the village, and they go through the 01:08:53.049 --> 01:09:00.472 - village. And they're just about to cross the river to go up to the other mountain path. When they hear 01:09:00.472 --> 01:09:07.751 - this squalling and this cursing beyond belief, just this stream of profanities coming, and they look 01:09:07.751 --> 01:09:15.102 - around, and they see this woman, this elderly woman. And she has this elaborate costume on, and she's 01:09:15.554 --> 01:09:21.646 - has bags just dripping off of both sides, and she's cursing and cursing and cursing. And the monks say, 01:09:21.646 --> 01:09:27.622 - ma'am, what can we do? How can we help you? You seem to be really suffering here. And she says, well, 01:09:27.622 --> 01:09:33.656 - I need to get across this stream. The bridge is out. I've got all of these packages to meet my family. 01:09:33.656 --> 01:09:36.702 - They're waiting for me. They're going to throw this 01:09:36.802 --> 01:09:43.231 - big celebration in honor of me, and it's about time they finally recognize me for who I am. And I can't 01:09:43.231 --> 01:09:49.659 - get across this river. I'm going to destroy my outfit. It is a mess. And so the monks say, don't worry. 01:09:49.659 --> 01:09:55.840 - Don't worry. We'll be happy to help. We're not carrying anything. So my friend will take your bags, 01:09:55.840 --> 01:10:02.022 - and I'll take you on my back. And no problem. And so one monk took her bags, and the other, indeed, 01:10:02.022 --> 01:10:05.854 - put the old woman on his back. And he traipsed very gingerly. 01:10:06.146 --> 01:10:11.202 - through the stream, and the old woman says, stop jostling me, you're messing up my hair, and watch out 01:10:11.202 --> 01:10:16.257 - for those packages, you're getting them wet, you'll ruin them, I can't believe it, I can't believe it. 01:10:16.257 --> 01:10:21.313 - So they get a little bit closer, and the water's getting deeper, and she said, watch out, my slipper's 01:10:21.313 --> 01:10:26.270 - getting wet, you're gonna ruin, you're gonna ruin. So finally, after much complaining, much cursing, 01:10:26.882 --> 01:10:33.457 - They get to the other side of the riverbank and they, you know, carefully put the woman down. They take 01:10:33.457 --> 01:10:40.032 - her packages and, you know, carefully put them on, make sure she's on her way. And without a thank you, 01:10:40.032 --> 01:10:46.418 - without anything, she said, well, it's about time. And she drapes us off. And so the monks don't say 01:10:46.418 --> 01:10:53.246 - anything and they just go on their merry way. And they start walking up the mountain to the next monastery. 01:10:54.050 --> 01:11:03.351 - And one of the monks looks to the other one and said, my god, that woman was awful. And the monk looked 01:11:03.351 --> 01:11:12.383 - at him and said, I left the woman at the riverbank. Why are you still carrying her? So I think about 01:11:12.383 --> 01:11:21.327 - that a lot, because I'm carrying that woman on my back almost every day. The other one I also heard 01:11:21.327 --> 01:11:23.294 - in a Buddhist context 01:11:23.394 --> 01:11:32.828 - And it's called A Handful of Mustard Seed. And it's about a young mother. And she'd just given birth 01:11:32.828 --> 01:11:42.543 - to her first child. And it was a baby boy. And he was round and fat and black, shining, sparkling eyes. 01:11:42.543 --> 01:11:51.230 - And that kind of black hair, it's a full head of hair with just a shock going up. And he was 01:11:51.714 --> 01:12:02.820 - life and just brought so much joy to she and her husband and one day the shine came out of the baby's 01:12:02.820 --> 01:12:13.816 - eyes and then the color and then for some inexplicable reason the baby wouldn't need anymore and one 01:12:13.816 --> 01:12:21.438 - morning she woke up and the baby wasn't awake the baby wouldn't rouse 01:12:25.666 --> 01:12:36.447 - She knew what had happened, but she didn't want to know what happened. So she took that baby and she 01:12:36.447 --> 01:12:47.547 - put it in her sling and she went outside and she started screaming for help. Somebody help me. Somebody 01:12:47.547 --> 01:12:51.390 - help me. Can't anyone save my baby? 01:12:53.378 --> 01:13:01.958 - And everyone shook their heads and looked at her pitifully. And a man approached her and said, I know 01:13:01.958 --> 01:13:10.537 - someone who can help. The Buddha is outside our village now with his disciples. And they set up camp. 01:13:10.537 --> 01:13:19.033 - And I think he has what you need. She said, any medicine, anything, I'll take any kind of treatment. 01:13:19.033 --> 01:13:23.070 - And he said, yes, exactly. He'll have that. Go. 01:13:23.522 --> 01:13:29.961 - Now. And so she did. She ran as fast as she could out to the village, and she found them, and she ran 01:13:29.961 --> 01:13:36.527 - right up to him and said, Buddha, Buddha, please, someone tell me that you had the medicine that I need 01:13:36.527 --> 01:13:42.903 - to take care of this child to bring my child back to life. And he said, I do. I do. I have just what 01:13:42.903 --> 01:13:49.279 - you need. But I'm missing one key ingredient. I need you to find a handful of mustard seed. OK, I'll 01:13:49.279 --> 01:13:51.678 - do that immediately. He said, no way. 01:13:52.866 --> 01:14:03.358 - It needs to be from a house who has never lost someone they loved. I understand. And so the woman knocked 01:14:03.358 --> 01:14:13.356 - on the door of the first house. And she met a woman. And she told the woman what she needed. And the 01:14:13.356 --> 01:14:22.462 - woman said, yes, I have it right here. And when she was asked if she lost a loved one, yes. 01:14:23.586 --> 01:14:32.919 - my father just last year. And so the woman sat down and talked to her about her loss. And the same thing 01:14:32.919 --> 01:14:42.252 - happened at the next house where they lost their child, and the next house where they lost their spouse, 01:14:42.252 --> 01:14:52.030 - and the next house where they lost. And as the woman visited each house, she saw the suffering in their eyes. 01:14:53.666 --> 01:15:05.481 - was her suffering. She went back to the field where the Buddha was. She buried her child. And she approached 01:15:05.481 --> 01:15:16.429 - him and said, thank you for giving me the medicine that I needed and not the medicine that I wanted. 01:15:16.429 --> 01:15:22.174 - And that's the story of the mustard seed. Thank you. 01:15:43.842 --> 01:15:58.091 - Beautiful. I was reading through a story that maybe some of you have read before, maybe some of you 01:15:58.091 --> 01:16:11.486 - haven't. It's an old epic poem from Mali, from the ancient empire of Mali called the Sunjata. 01:16:12.450 --> 01:16:22.059 - I was struck by one of the things that it came across, which was that there are many truths in the world. 01:16:22.059 --> 01:16:31.306 - There are many truths. And I was thinking about how that related to stories. Because obviously, there 01:16:31.306 --> 01:16:40.190 - are many different kinds of stories. There are even lots of different versions of the same story. 01:16:41.346 --> 01:16:52.786 - many different Anansi stories, many different stories from the Pali Canon about the Buddha. But there's 01:16:52.786 --> 01:17:04.556 - also many different meanings within a story. And I think sometimes, at least this happens to me, I imagine 01:17:04.556 --> 01:17:09.726 - it happens to you as well, we get so caught up 01:17:09.922 --> 01:17:20.467 - with all of the information coming at us, that it gets hard to really sit with something for a long 01:17:20.467 --> 01:17:31.012 - time and to see all of those different truths within it. And this was a lesson that I first learned 01:17:31.012 --> 01:17:39.870 - 10 years ago, or first really thought about 10 years ago. I was traveling in Ghana. 01:17:40.130 --> 01:17:49.278 - which was the country of Anansi, the country of the Ashanti people. And although I lived in the Ashanti 01:17:49.278 --> 01:17:58.163 - land for a while, this story came from the southeast part of Ghana, along the Volta River, where the 01:17:58.163 --> 01:18:07.311 - Ewe people live. I lived there for about a month. And while I was there, there's a lot of other stories 01:18:07.311 --> 01:18:09.246 - I could tell you, but 01:18:09.474 --> 01:18:23.415 - Suffice it to say that I was going through a ceremony there. And as part of that ceremony, I was given 01:18:23.415 --> 01:18:37.086 - this set of stories that were to be the stories that shaped my life. My star is what they called it. 01:18:37.282 --> 01:18:45.021 - And of course, I was 20 years old at the time, and I was like, well, I want to know all of them. And 01:18:45.021 --> 01:18:52.913 - they didn't let me. They told me one. And they said, that's enough for now. And then a few days later, 01:18:52.913 --> 01:19:00.652 - they told me another one. And I said, OK, two's good. And then finally, after a week, they told me a 01:19:00.652 --> 01:19:06.782 - third. And they said, OK, we better stop there. I said, but how many are there? 01:19:07.874 --> 01:19:15.694 - At least 10 or 20. I want to know them all. I need to know myself. No, no, no. Three is enough. And 01:19:15.694 --> 01:19:23.827 - I found it frustrating at the time, but I've lived with one of these stories in particular for the past 01:19:23.827 --> 01:19:31.726 - 10 years, and I wanted to share that story with you tonight. And I wanted to share just a little bit 01:19:31.726 --> 01:19:37.278 - about how I understand it now versus how I understood it 10 years ago. 01:19:41.378 --> 01:19:51.027 - The story takes place back in the time of the Kingdom of the Animals. And there was a vacancy on the 01:19:51.027 --> 01:20:00.963 - royal stool. In Western Europe they had thrones and enthronements. Well, in West Africa they have royal 01:20:00.963 --> 01:20:08.702 - stools and instoolments. And so the stool was vacant and they were going to have 01:20:09.378 --> 01:20:19.741 - ceremony to name the next king of the animals. And at the time, all of the fingers were pointing towards 01:20:19.741 --> 01:20:29.809 - Gorilla. But there was another contender, which was the deer. But at the moment, at the time, Gorilla 01:20:29.809 --> 01:20:38.494 - had the support of the most of the people there. And so the night before his instuling, 01:20:39.330 --> 01:20:47.676 - Gorilla had a party. I mean, who wouldn't? Hey, it's a done deal, right? And so Gorilla had his friends 01:20:47.676 --> 01:20:55.782 - over, he had his girlfriend over, they had a little bit to drink and then they had a little bit more 01:20:55.782 --> 01:21:04.128 - to drink and then even a little more to drink. And the stooling ceremony was in the morning. Well, that 01:21:04.128 --> 01:21:08.702 - next morning, everyone was at the ceremony and they were 01:21:11.170 --> 01:21:21.953 - They were waiting, but someone had to be named king. They didn't come all this way out just to sit there. 01:21:21.953 --> 01:21:32.532 - So finally, they gave it to Deer. And Deer became the king of the animals. And later on that afternoon, 01:21:32.532 --> 01:21:40.670 - Gorilla finally woke up. And he realized what had happened. And he sang a song. 01:21:42.626 --> 01:22:11.646 - And the song goes like this. And what that song meant was, even though I am not the king, 01:22:13.186 --> 01:22:26.846 - Not everything is lost. I'll still have my kingly walk. And to this day, you still see Gorilla with 01:22:26.846 --> 01:22:40.507 - his kingly walk. I heard the story when I was 20. And when I tried to understand it then, and I was 01:22:40.507 --> 01:22:43.102 - reading through my 01:22:43.490 --> 01:22:50.726 - the notes in my journal that I was taking just earlier today. I wrote about how this is talking about 01:22:50.726 --> 01:22:57.821 - how, you know, it's about self-control and self-discipline and about how, you know, you really need 01:22:57.821 --> 01:23:05.057 - to hold out for those things that you want because you can't, you know, you can't count your chickens 01:23:05.057 --> 01:23:12.222 - before they hatch and you have to persevere until the end and all of those folk wisdom that we hear. 01:23:15.778 --> 01:23:26.775 - Ten years later, and a lot of missed opportunities later in my own life, I see a different truth in 01:23:26.775 --> 01:23:37.991 - that story. And that different truth is that what's really important here? Is it really important who 01:23:37.991 --> 01:23:41.950 - gets to be the king of the animals? 01:23:44.002 --> 01:23:54.028 - Or is what's really important that Gorilla still has his kingly walk? And I would prefer to think of 01:23:54.028 --> 01:24:04.551 - the story as a reassurance rather than a caution, saying that even when you think you've lost that golden 01:24:04.551 --> 01:24:10.110 - opportunity, there's always time to keep what's inside. 01:24:22.658 --> 01:24:43.537 - was a short woman. There was a farmer who had a son, and the farmer and the son owned a beautiful, wee, 01:24:43.537 --> 01:24:51.166 - tidy farm in the valley of Slivnaman. 01:24:52.738 --> 01:25:03.077 - They had the sheep up in the mountains, and they had a cow in the buyer, and they had a few chickens 01:25:03.077 --> 01:25:13.620 - in the yard. Now, the mother had died many years before, but the two males kept that household running 01:25:13.620 --> 01:25:20.990 - pretty good. The father, well, he kept the house and the yard all tidy, 01:25:21.154 --> 01:25:29.078 - the sun where he took care of the sheep up in the mountaintops. And he was just as happy as could be 01:25:29.078 --> 01:25:37.238 - doing what he did. The old man, oh, he could make a fine grand soda bread, put it on the griddle. There 01:25:37.238 --> 01:25:45.162 - was always fresh buttermilk from the churn. And oh, he made sure that he and his son always had some 01:25:45.162 --> 01:25:50.654 - lovely brown eggs on Sunday morning. The two lived together and never 01:25:51.362 --> 01:26:02.386 - Hard word was spoken between them. But by and by, the young man spotted himself, a Susie little gal 01:26:02.386 --> 01:26:13.630 - in the next parish. And before you know it, he brought her home as his blooming bride. Now, you might 01:26:13.630 --> 01:26:17.598 - be thinking that she's an evil one. 01:26:18.338 --> 01:26:28.177 - into this house that she's going to tear things apart. You're wrong. Oh, now there was, now there was 01:26:28.177 --> 01:26:38.112 - current cake on Sunday and there was a nice lamb stew on Thursday. She fit in beautifully and they all 01:26:38.112 --> 01:26:44.478 - got together well. And in fact, nine and a half months to the day 01:26:47.714 --> 01:27:00.856 - There was a baby born into the household. Oh, what a joyous occasion. But something horrid was about 01:27:00.856 --> 01:27:15.038 - to happen. For that young man, now a father, felt the weight of fatherhood and having a family and providing 01:27:15.170 --> 01:27:27.424 - for them way in on his shoulders. And he became serious. And he became discontented and grumpy. And 01:27:27.424 --> 01:27:39.678 - I didn't take it out on his wife, no, or on the wee one. No, he took it out on his poor old father. 01:27:44.898 --> 01:27:54.487 - to snuffle your food while you're eating? You sound like you should be at a trough," the son would say 01:27:54.487 --> 01:28:04.076 - to his father. Stop spitting on the fire. You want to teach the young Wendell bad manners? The old man 01:28:04.076 --> 01:28:12.548 - would try to stay out of the young man's way, but, but you're moving like a sailor on the, 01:28:12.548 --> 01:28:14.782 - I'll run the yard, duh. 01:28:15.010 --> 01:28:25.815 - You just can't keep up with it, can you? And so at night, the old man, he would eat a little bit less 01:28:25.815 --> 01:28:36.408 - and he would try to stay out of the way of the sun. He never said a word. His daughter-in-law Mary, 01:28:36.408 --> 01:28:44.670 - she was very sympathetic and she always made sure the old man was taking care 01:28:46.658 --> 01:28:56.053 - But after a while, the young man, worried about everything, said, father, you eat too much. You take 01:28:56.053 --> 01:29:05.634 - up too much room. We're grown. I've got my family here. I can't take care of you and take care of them 01:29:05.634 --> 01:29:10.750 - too. Father, Tamara, I'm taking you to the poor house. 01:29:15.522 --> 01:29:27.145 - Now Mary, she interfered. No, no, you can't do that to your dad. I can in his spinal, said the young 01:29:27.145 --> 01:29:38.883 - man. Well, the next morning came. The old man, he packed up his bags and he waited. And the young man 01:29:38.883 --> 01:29:43.486 - said to his wife, you know that blanket 01:29:44.034 --> 01:29:51.346 - that blanket you brought to the wedding marriage. Bring that, we'll give that to Di and he can take 01:29:51.346 --> 01:29:58.951 - it to the poor house with him to keep himself warm. So Mary, she went and she pulled out that beautiful 01:29:58.951 --> 01:30:06.482 - wool blanket that she'd made that she'd brought with her dowry and back in the day they would make the 01:30:06.482 --> 01:30:13.502 - blankets so that they were so that they were doubled, double length. And when the son saw them, 01:30:13.602 --> 01:30:24.379 - Blanket, he said, oh my, that's too nice for dad to take to the, to the porthouse. Mary, cut it in two 01:30:24.379 --> 01:30:34.946 - and we'll give him half of that blanket. Oh, do no such thing. Your dad will have the whole blanket. 01:30:34.946 --> 01:30:42.270 - And Mary and her husband looked at each other. When a small boy said, 01:30:57.250 --> 01:31:09.951 - somewhere where I can find it so that when I go to put my daddy at the poor house, I'll know where to 01:31:09.951 --> 01:31:21.406 - get a blanket for him. Well, you would have thought that young man had been hit by a brick. 01:31:26.114 --> 01:31:40.301 - So from the mouth of our babe, he helped his dad over and sat him close to the fire. Mary, he said, 01:31:40.301 --> 01:31:55.198 - put that blanket away and let's get dad a nice cup of tea. And the poor house was never mentioned again. 01:32:02.274 --> 01:32:09.768 - Tonight when you're cuddling up in your blanket, we hope you'll dream upon some of the stories that 01:32:09.768 --> 01:32:17.338 - you've heard tonight. Take away some of the wisdom and maybe tell them again. I've got to get out of 01:32:17.338 --> 01:32:25.132 - the brogue. My husband will kill me if I come home a-talkin' like this. And do join us for refreshments 01:32:25.132 --> 01:32:30.078 - here on stage. Thank you so much for coming to The Wintertelling.