- Good evening and welcome to the Monroe County Public Library. My name is Sarah Bowman and I work in
- the Adult and Teen Services Department and welcome to both the Monroe County Public Library and this
- evening's Wintertelling program. This is an annual program. We usually do a Friday after hours in February,
- a better time to get out and listen to some stories. What a few kind of
- Details that I want to get through first, if you have cell phones, if you could turn them off or silent
- so they don't interrupt any of our wonderful storytellers as they're telling this evening. Also, immediately
- after the stories, and I think everybody has a blue sheeted program, immediately following the stories,
- we're going to have refreshments on stage.
- like cookies and milk. And decaf coffee for Stephanie, wherever she is. So you're welcome. You're invited
- to come up on stage and talk to your favorite storytellers and tell them what an excellent job they did.
- So that will be immediately following. This is recorded by CATS, so we'd like to thank them for stopping
- by and recording for us. So it's going to be played on the CATS stations. You can check CATSTV.net for
- the schedule in case you want to watch the stories again.
- And it's kind of fun to flip through a year later and see some of the old stories. So again, I'd like
- to welcome you. And right now, I'm going to pass it over to Dana Burton, who's going to tell you a little
- bit about the Friends of the Library, who sponsor programs like this. Thank you. I've come
- with an announcement. And that is that February is Love Your Library Month. Who knew?
- But we want you to know, and it occurs to me that a lot of people in this room probably consider themselves
- friends of libraries, but the Monroe County Public Library Friends of the Library would like to encourage
- you to declare officially your friendship and consider a membership to the Monroe County Public Library
- Friends of the Library.
- We hope that in February this would be a great time to kind of think about doing that. If you're already
- a friend and you don't think you need to join again right now or renew, we also would like you to know
- that they now have a gift membership package. So if you have a friend who's a book lover, somebody who's
- passionate about libraries in your family or in your work space, or a newcomer in your neighborhood
- or workplace,
- we would encourage you to consider this would be the best time to send or take a gift membership package
- to them and encourage them to become officially a friend of the Monroe County Library this February.
- So hope you'll consider it. We'll be out of the hallway with some more information about the gift packages
- and what comes with those as well as the party that's involved. So talk to us later.
- When the days are short and the nights are long and summer is just a distant memory and the cold, dark
- snow of winter seems like an ever-present reality, it is a time to gather
- to listen to stories. The Bloomington Storytellers Guild members tell a number of different kinds of
- stories. You'll be hearing a personal narrative tonight. And some of us, many of us will be telling
- stories that come before our time, stories from the cold, dark,
- sack of memory and will bring those treasures out to listen to them, to look at them, and to learn the
- message again of the stories of our mothers, our fathers, our ancestors. And we hope you'll take away a story
- that you can tell and pass that story along, because there are many, many treasures that we'll be sharing
- with you tonight. First on our program is Lisa Ciampelli, and she'll be telling a story about fire on
- the mountain
- Thank you, Patty. My name is Lisa. And I grew up in the Chicago area, the Windy City, where winters
- would start, unfailingly, on Halloween. I don't think I wore a Halloween costume as a kid where I didn't
- also have my winter coat on. And they would continue right on through April, where you would still have
- the hard, dirty, gray snow pushed along the curb at Easter time. And there was no such thing as snow days
- no school cancellations in the Chicago area. You could have snow hip deep and you're gonna be walking
- there uphill and an uphill home again most likely. So you would think that a girl who grew up in the
- Chicago area would be able to manage the relatively mild winters of southern Indiana. And at first that
- was the case. But after 15 years of living in southern Indiana now,
- I find that I no longer have the mental fortitude to deal with the extreme cold like we have
- been experiencing this unusually cold for southern Indiana winter. So I can manage with an ice storm
- every now and then, but it's supposed to melt after a day or two, not turn your driveway into a permanent
- skating rink. And I just found that I do not have the stamina
- nor the supply of long underwear to deal with these below freezing temperatures on extended basis. And
- I found myself thinking how and feeling grateful when the power went out briefly one night that at least
- I had shelter and a wood stove. And I found myself thinking about those who have no shelter and wondering
- how they have been managing to survive out in the cold, especially on the very bitter below zero nights
- that we've experienced.
- And then I found myself thinking about this folktale from Ethiopia that is called Fire on the Mountain.
- In the high and beautiful mountains of Ethiopia, there lived a boy named Ali Mayu. And every day, Ali
- Mayu would hike up into the mountains to watch over his uncle's sheep. While the sheep were grazing,
- he would seek out a rock to try to shelter himself from the fierce winds
- And he would sit down, and he would take out his flute, and he would play, and he would think of someday.
- Someday, he would say to himself, someday I will have a bag of money, and I will be able to buy warm
- clothes, and I will have enough food to share. And while Ali Mayu dreamed of someday, his real life
- was very hard.
- He went daily into the mountains with the sheep to guide them, enduring the sharp winds and making sure
- that they would make it home again at night. And his life became even more difficult when one year both
- of his parents died when disease swept through the village. After that, he packed up his few belongings,
- a little bit of food, an extra cloak, and his flute, and he went in search of where his sister was working
- in the home of a rich man. She worked as a cook for him.
- And so he walked down the winding paths down from the mountains. And he watched as the paths became
- wider and wider and flatter and smoother, indicating that it was nearing the home of a rich man. And
- when he was still some distance from the home, his sister came running out to greet him. And she kissed
- him on both cheeks. And she cried with him as he shared the sad news of their parents' death. And she
- invited him to stay. Come and live here. And perhaps you can earn a few coins by watching over the rich
- man's cows.
- And so Ali Mayu became a watcher of cows. And he also watched the rich man. For every day, the rich
- man would go by him where he was tending the cows in the fields. The rich man was riding on a mule and
- riding into the village. And behind him, he would have a procession of servants. There was one who was
- holding an umbrella to shade him from the sun and others carrying baskets of food and then a small boy
- at the end who would be swishing the flies away.
- And Ali Mayu watched them and saw how quiet they were. He never heard the rich man say a word, either
- coming or going, until one day, one late afternoon, everyone could hear the rich man returning from
- the village, for he was shouting and bellowing about some injustice that had been done to him that day.
- Am I not the master of my own household? he shouted to anyone who was within a hearing distance.
- Ali Mayu's sister signaled to him and asked him to come in and help her chop onions because the master
- was in such a temper that she needed to prepare his mule quickly. And so they could easily hear as he
- continued bellowing, why, am I not the bravest and strongest man around? You know, there was one night,
- one night when I became lost in the high mountains and I had to get down off of my mule and stand against
- it to keep warm. And that is how I managed to survive the night and live to tell the tale.
- Now is there anyone else here as strong and as brave as that? All of the servants just kept their heads
- down and continued working. But Ali Mayu spoke up and he said, why sir, there was many a night when
- I was tending my uncle's sheep that I had to stay in the high mountains overnight and I endured the
- bitter colds with just a thin cloak to keep me warm. Well the rich man just stared at him. Are you trying
- to make me angrier?
- No, said Alemayo, I just speak the truth. You speak the truth. Well, we'll see about that. If it is,
- if you have done as you say, then you will do it again tonight. You will go up into the high mountains
- and you will take nothing with you but your thin Shema, your cloak, to keep you warm. And if you are
- able to survive the night, if you do not come crawling down in the middle of the night, then I will
- reward you. I will give you a bag of money.
- and four cows for your very own. All right, Ali Mayu agreed. Wait, do not bite unless you are prepared
- to swallow. If you do not survive, if you are not able to last the night in the bitter cold, then when
- you return, you and your sister will lose your jobs and you'll be forced to leave, never come back.
- Now Ali Mayu was not
- meaning to endanger his sister's welfare as well. But he saw no way out, and so he nodded in agreement.
- And that night his sister kissed him goodbye and watched as he set off for the high mountains, bringing
- with him just his thin cloak and his flute. And as he walked up into the hills, the winds became louder,
- whistling through the rocks. And at first,
- He played his flute to try to drown out the sound of the winds and to try to distract himself from how
- cold it was. But the winds were able to sing louder than his flute. And he found that they were biting
- into his cheeks and stinging his eyes until they teared so that he was forced to peer out into the distance
- by squinting only. And when the winds whirled around his feet, he tried crouching smaller, making himself
- as small as possible to see if that thin shema could
- could cover his whole body somehow to keep himself warm, but it could not. And as he clutched the shawl
- about him, his hands grew numb with cold and he was soon shivering so hard that he could barely think.
- Now the rich man was in his home comfortably feasting and drinking and laughing and boasting and listening
- for the sound of Ali Mayu to come crawling back down from the mountain.
- But he did not hear any sound until morning, when Ali Mayu's sister shouted, because there, coming through
- the fog, was Ali Mayu. And the rich man ran out, and Ali Mayu walked toward him and said, it was so
- fiercely bitter cold on the high mountains last night. When all became completely dark, I feared that
- I would die of cold. But then I saw, on a distant mountain across the way, I saw that another,
- Shepherd had built a fire, and so I just focused. I looked at the red glowing embers of that distant
- fire, and I dreamed of what it felt like to be warm. And that is how I was able to survive. That is
- how I had the strength to stay on the mountain last night. The rich man looked at him and scoffed. Well,
- you have cheated.
- You do not get the reward. In the morning, you must leave." Ali Mayu was shocked, and the other servants
- turned and looked at each other in surprise. I don't understand, Ali Mayu said. Well, you have cheated.
- Looking at a fire on another mountain is the same as building a fire to keep yourself warm. Ali Mayu
- was stunned, and he just walked away into his sister's room to try and get warm.
- And the rich man clapped his hands and said, come now, prepare a great feast. I will be going to the
- village and returning with my friends who will celebrate my victory with me. You and your sister, he
- said to Ali Mayu, you may stay and enjoy the feast with me, but by morning you must be gone. And the
- rich man left. And Ali Mayu's sister turned to the other servants and began whispering with them. And
- the whispers ran like water throughout the house that day.
- So when the rich man returned in the late afternoon with his friends, the smells that greeted them were
- almost overwhelming. The aroma of the most delicious foods came wafting from the back of the house where
- the kitchen was, and they were surrounded by the scent of their favorite foods. And the servants greeted
- them and brought them into the dining area, and they gave them water to wash their hands.
- but they did not present them with any food to eat. And so the rich man sat down with his friends and
- waited, and the smells became stronger and stronger. They were so strong that they were like loud music,
- so powerful. And the rich man's stomach began to grumble, and their mouths were watering because the
- scents were so tantalizing.
- And he grew impatient and he saw a servant standing by the wall holding a stringed instrument.
- And he said, you there, play for us so that we might be entertained while we wait for our food to be
- served. And the servant lifted the instrument and he moved his fingers above the strings, but he did
- not actually touch the strings or make any sound. And just then Ali Mayu's sister arrived at their table
- and bowed to the rich man and his friends and said, I hope
- that you have enjoyed this fine meal that we have prepared for you. All of your favorite foods and the
- finest music. And the rich man just looked at her and shouted, what are you talking about? All evening
- I have been tantalized by the most delicious aromas, but we have been served no food to eat. We have
- had nothing and there has been no music playing. And she said, well, you have smelled the foods and, and,
- Certainly you could imagine how beautiful the music would sound. Isn't that enough to satisfy you?"
- And the rich man again shouted at her. Who would possibly think that the smells of food would be able
- to satisfy the hunger in a man's stomach? And Ali Mayi's sister replied, why, I would think that the
- same person who believes that looking at a fire would be enough
- to keep a boy warm. Now the servants tried to hide their smiles, but Ali Mayu's friends laughed and
- they said, she's right. And the rich man said nothing, but he scowled. And in the morning, he presented
- Ali Mayu with a bag of money and four cows. And so Ali Mayu became a herder of cows and his herd grew
- and he became wealthy of his own.
- And soon it was Ali Mayu who was riding on the mule into town, into the village. And he had his servants
- walking and talking with him and laughing as they carried great baskets filled with food that they shared
- with everyone in the market. And Ali Mayu's sister came and lived with him. And as she grew older, she
- grew even wiser. And people from around the surrounding villages would come to her for advice and to
- hear the story of the fire on the mountain.
- What do you say? Is that gonna work? Good. All over the world,
- People love foolishness. And there are stories about fools all over the world, from Baba Yaga to Old
- Man Coyote, from Teal Eulenspiegel to, oh, I don't know, Loro and Hardy. And in the Muslim world, there's
- a wonderful fool called the Mullah Nasruddin.
- And I love the Nasruddin stories, but I have never told them in public before because it's not my culture.
- And I would not hurt anyone's feelings for the world. But this winter, I found a website called The
- Laughing Muslim from an American Muslim named Edward Ott. It's a collection of Muslim humor, and he said,
- How can we live at peace in the world together if we can't even laugh at each other's jokes? So tonight,
- I'm going to take him up on it and tell you five stories of the amazing Mullah Nasruddin. Now, as I
- understand it, a mullah is like the village wise man, and I use the term man intentionally, somebody
- who is educated and knows the great books and can interpret the culture to the people. A fine city like
- Bloomington might have a dozen mullahs, each one wiser than the next. But in the little village that
- the mullah Nasruddin served, there was only him. And there was always some question of just what the
- nature of his wisdom might be.
- One time, the men of the village came to him and they said, we want you to teach us. You're supposed
- to teach us. And they brought him down to the masjid on Friday and they all sat around him and they
- said, teach us something. And he stood and looked at them. He said, do any of you know what I should
- tell you? And they said, no, no.
- And he said, well, you're too ignorant. You wouldn't understand anything I would have to say. And he
- went home. So the next Friday, they came back for him. And they escorted him down to the mosque, to
- the masjid. And they all sat on the floor. And he said, well, do any of you know what I should tell
- you? Now, they knew that question now. And they said, yes, yes, Mullah Nasruddin. And he said,
- Well, if you know it, why should I have to tell you again?" And went home. Oh, you're an easy audience.
- So the next Friday, they came and got him again. And they all sat on the floor and looked up at him,
- and he said, well, do any of you know what I should tell you? And they had planned this carefully. Half
- of them said, yes, yes, we know. And the other half said, no, no, no, we don't know.
- So he told them, the half of you that don't know what I should say, you listen very carefully. And the
- half of you that do know what I should say, you tell them. And he went home. One of the neighbors came
- to him and said, you are so wise, Mullah Nasruddin. These people just want to share your wisdom.
- Why won't you teach us? And the mullah said, wisdom is like a carrot. The best part of it is underground.
- 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
- and chew to get any good out of it. And the minute you start to chew it,
- Every donkey in the village wants to share it with you. The mullah loved his donkey. He had a little
- donkey and he rode it everywhere. If you ever see a picture of him, you'll see he's on his donkey, sometimes
- backwards. He had occasion to go to a neighboring village that was a Christian village. And while he
- was there, they were having a wedding.
- And the mullah watched very carefully. This was interesting. The pictures in the church, the incense,
- the clothes, the music, the food, all very interesting. And when he came back to his own village, he
- went to the teahouse and he told them all about it. They had never seen a Christian wedding. They thought
- it was interesting too. One of them asked him, now mullah,
- Mullah Nasruddin, how many wives may a Christian man have? And the mullah said, 16. Well, that is very
- remarkable. That's a great many wives, a great many wives, 16. And one of them finally said to him,
- how do you know this, Mullah Nasruddin, about the Christian men having 16 wives? He said, did I not?
- hear it from the priest with my own ears. Four richer, four poorer, four better, and four worse. One
- time the Mola's donkey got sick and oh, oh, did he suffer over worth that donkey. He slept out in the
- shed with the donkey. He rubbed its flanks with
- perfumed oil. He fed it with his own hand. He sang to it and soothed it. Oh, he was so worried about
- the donkey. Finally, his neighbors came to him and said, Mullah Nasruddin, a few years ago, your wife
- was sick. And all the women in the village worked together to bring her back from the brink of death.
- And all the while that was happening,
- All you ever said was, it will be as God wills it. So why are you taking on like this about the donkey?
- And the mullah said, when my wife was sick, every day two or three of you would say to me, don't worry,
- Mullah Nasruddin. If your wife dies, we'll find you a fine, strong, beautiful young wife.
- Now has any of you said to me, don't worry Mullah Nasruddin, if your donkey dies, we'll find you a fine,
- strong, beautiful young donkey? One day the mullah was sitting on his little stool under the tree in
- front of his house enjoying a cup of sweet mint tea. When a trader came to town riding on a camel,
- a couple of other camels behind him, heavily laden with goods. And the trader said to him,
- Reverend Sir, what manner of people live in this town? And the mullah answered him, to answer this question,
- I must ask you a question. What manner of people lived in the last town you visited? And the trader
- said, they were fine people. They made me welcome.
- Their homes were beautiful. Their children were well behaved. They were kind and honest. And the mullah
- said, what a coincidence. This is exactly what this village is like. And then a few days later, another
- trader came down the road on a camel with a couple of extra camels for begging.
- He said, Reverend Sir, tell me, what are the people like in this village? And the mullah said, to answer
- your question, sir, I must ask you a question first. What were the people like in the last village you
- saw? And he said, oh, the village was dirty. The children and the animals looked half-starved. The people
- were rude and dishonest. And the mullah said,
- You're going to find the people in this village are exactly the same. Now, the thing about these stories
- is they don't really have any narrative arc. There's nothing that's going to put you on the edge of
- your seat. And I own that. That's true. By the time you figure out what to get excited about, the story's over.
- But Stephanie Holman is the next teller, and I have two pieces of advice for you. The first is to find
- the edge of your seat now, because Stephanie Holman is such a good storyteller, she will put you on
- the edge of your seat instantly. The second advice is if you, through study or work or grief or love
- or sacrifice or prayer,
- Find your own little carrot of wisdom. Watch out for donkeys. Pamela, well done and probably the best
- and most intimidating introduction I've ever had. I love it. Thank you so much. That was brilliant.
- Thank you for making me feel welcome next up on the stage.
- I am Stephanie Holman and I bring the personal narrative that Patty was talking about. I love to tell
- folk tales and occasionally take a literary tale and retell it. But I've told many personal narratives
- over the years and used to be, I was Stephanie Gaston here in Monroe County. I grew up in Bloomington.
- I'm a native of Monroe County. And some of my favorite tales that I like to write and tell are about
- my early years here at Monroe County.
- And maybe in the past at Wintertelling, you got to hear my sleigh full of sisters when father hitched
- up the horse in the blizzard of 78 and we made our way down the road, the only people on the road at
- that time. And I have a tale called Taste of Fall which is available here at your public library on
- a CD called Stories from the Heartland. It's a project of storytelling arts of Indiana which is our
- statewide organization and it supports storytelling in a lot of beautiful ways.
- But I have for you tonight a little tale that is near and dear to my heart. So please, I thank you all
- for putting up with me as I tell you my story of Monroe County folk. When I was in the second grade,
- I was lucky enough to go to Marlin Elementary. Ah, Marlin, let's shout it out. Okay. To each his own.
- And in the second grade, I had a very wise teacher, of course, and she worked with a farmer to arrange
- to have an incubator delivered to the classroom so that the children could watch the chicks hatch from
- the eggs. It was very exciting. And at the same time that the incubator arrived, on the teacher's desk,
- there was a huge mason jar filled with jelly beans.
- remarkably identically shaped to the eggs in the incubator, but very colorful. And the point was that
- the farmer was going to keep all the chicks that he hoped would hatch, but he would let the class have
- three, and we would need to decide who was going to get to take home a chick from the incubator. And
- to decide this, she decided that we would write down our guesses, and the ones closest to guessing the
- number of jelly beans in that jar would get to take it home.
- Well, while all the other kids gathered around the incubator to watch the world turn, I studied that
- mason jar, day in and day out. I wanted a baby chick. I was desperate for one. And I didn't really know
- much about numbers at that time. I was pretty inadequate at it, still am. But I thought I could somewhat
- formulate a plan to figure it out.
- Well, finally the exciting day came and the little chicks began to hatch. And everyone gathered around
- and we watched as their shells broke and their little wet bodies plopped out onto the floor of the incubator.
- And then we watched as the heat began to dry them into little yellow fluff balls. And once the excitement
- was over, over there, we sat in our chairs and wrote on a piece of paper our name and our guests. And
- then the teacher took them to her desk and discovered
- first three winners. My hard work and long efforts of studying the jar almost paid off. I was fourth
- and I was devastated as the three lucky winners got a little box with little holes in the top and got
- to carry their chick home. Two of them were on my school bus and I would hear at every stop the little
- peeping and chipping, very hard. And I got home and I told my family how I hadn't won
- And they did not seem very devastated by the thing. In fact, they seemed somewhat relieved that I had
- not come home with a baby chick. But I was sure that I would never get over this heartbreak. But luckily,
- it was short-lived. Two days later, one of the winners brought back her baby chick in its little peeping
- box, and she declared it too messy. She talked about how at home it was too noisy, peeping and cheeping
- all the time, and how it would scratch on the paper. And that little food and those dropped
- those messy droplings would go everywhere in the room. And so, as fourth place guesser, I got to carry
- that box home on the school bus, peeping and cheaping at every stop. And I took it into my family and
- they seemed to regroup quickly and decided that they would make this work. And they got a box for the
- kitchen and put a single light bulb over it so that it would give the chick warmth and company. And
- I named him
- And I loved him so. And I watched him every day. And I watched as that fluff turned into pin feathers.
- And then over time, he turned into a plump, sleek, orange chicken. And I told my mother, he doesn't
- want to sleep in that box anymore, Mom. He wants to sleep with me in my bedroom. She was horrified,
- as some of you seem to be. But I told her it would work. And I picked him up, scooped him up, ran up
- to my bed. I put him on the foot of my huge four-poster bed. And he did. He just perched right there.
- And I got under the covers real quick. My mother was standing in the doorway, hands on hits.
- And she looked. But then Oliver brought up one leg and tucked his head under his wing. And what could
- she do? She had to leave us there together. And it worked several nights in a row.
- But remarkably, a chicken coop was quickly built in the backyard. I didn't even know we were going to
- get a chicken coop. But all of a sudden, my father went to work on it. And there it was. And we got
- other chickens and other roosters so that Oliver would have plenty of company out there. And it was
- quite the cacophony of roosters and chickens out there. And every day, that's where I was. And I watched
- all their busy work. Have you ever watched a chicken? You should.
- I mean, my favorite part of Oliver's activities was the dust bath that they take every day. And they
- take their feathers and waft that dust up, up into their feathers so that it would soothe their sensitive
- skin. And then the way they drink, they don't have lips, you know, so he would just get a little beakful
- of water and then hold his head back and it would run down his throat. Charming. And then he would peck
- so, peck so readily and everywhere. And I don't know how he got any food in his gizzard because it seemed
- to go everywhere but down his throat.
- But days spent with Oliver were beautiful, and I noticed, as I would say goodnight to him, that he did
- not roost up on the bars with the other chickens. He was a house pet I so know, and he liked to sit
- in the nesting box and get in the straw there. I said, oh, you lazy rooster. But one morning when I
- came out to visit him, he was still in that nesting box. I said, this will not do. You need to get out
- there with the rest of them. And I picked him up, and that's when I saw it.
- underneath Oliver was the most beautiful egg I had ever seen. No, it was not golden. But it was a light
- blue, a pale luminescent blue. And I was shocked and horrified. Oliver, what have you done? I put him
- down and I ran in to tell my family. And they came out to look. And my father told me that not only
- was Oliver not a he and would never be a rooster, that comb was not going to grow any bigger, but that
- Oliver was a special breed of hen.
- an aracana chicken that lays the light green, light blue, and sometimes light pink shells on their eggs.
- Ah, Oliver, you tricky friend, my special pet. You were born in my classroom. You were given to someone
- else, but you found your way back to me. We spent our early youth together there in my room. And now
- you played the best trick ever on me. And I learned a lot from you, Oliver. I learned especially.
- that you should probably wait till the chicks grow up a little before you give them a name. Thank you.
- Thank you.
- of the sort of story that comes from a specific culture and a specific time and a specific part of the
- world. This is the kind of story that everyone in the culture knows. And you probably know some stories
- like that and there's a catch phrase or a saying that goes with each of these stories and if you hear
- the catch phrase,
- Well, you have the whole story right there in your mind. If I say, little pig, little pig, can I come
- in? Why, you know that story. You've got it. It's part of your culture. And when everyone is part of
- the culture and everyone knows the story, you don't even have to tell the whole story. You just say
- the catchphrase and everybody laughs. Oh, yeah. That's right.
- And this is that kind of a story. It was collected by a fascinating man named Harold Corlander. He was
- born in Indianapolis in 1905 and he lived almost the whole century. And you may never have heard of
- him, but I bet you've heard of Folkways Records. Maybe. Okay. Just checking. Just checking.
- He named them. He named Folkways Records. You've heard of Voice of America?
- All right. He was part of that. He was also someone who went and lived with various peoples, learning
- their languages, learning the nuances of their languages, learning their sayings, and learning the stories
- behind their sayings. And at some point, he found himself writing things down. He wrote down
- the stories from Haiti, from Cuba, from the Hopi, from the Pacific Islands, from various parts of Africa,
- and he was particularly taken with the stories from the Ashanti people. And I've always enjoyed those
- stories, and I thought I knew a lot of them. I thought I knew a lot of the Anansi stories, which he
- wrote down, many of the Anansi stories, the stories about that trickster, the Spider-Man,
- trickster character, but this story I had not heard before last year. I heard it from someone who teaches
- myth as a profession. I always thought that was an interesting profession. And I said, oh, that is a
- story to share because you will see at the ending why this story speaks to me and maybe
- Anansi was friends with Nyami, the sky god. And like friends do, they visited each other. And one day
- Anansi was visiting Nyami, and they were sitting and watching the children play. And Nyami said, look
- at my children. How strong they are. How healthy they are. And how they are all the same color. They
- are all dark. Oh, yeah, said Anansi. It's pretty monotonous.
- get you a child of a different color. That is interesting," said Naomi. You make difficulties for yourself,
- Anansi, but I will hold you to it. Now, it happened that Anansi had never really looked seriously at
- children. He had no idea
- When he went back to his village and he looked around for a child of another color, all the children
- were the same color. They were all dark. Ah, well, it was a casual remark, and Naomi will have forgotten
- it. But several days later, the messengers came from Naomi saying, Naomi would inquire about the child
- you promised. What, said Anansi.
- Do you think a child is made instantly? These things take time." And he began to look a little more
- seriously into the matter. He went more than his village to the next village, and all the children were
- the same color. Anansi began to worry, and the messengers came back. Nyami would inquire about the child.
- Whoa, it's only been two months.
- It takes longer than that to make a child," said Anansi. And when they came back after eight months,
- he said, what? Does Naomi want a too soon child? The nine months are not yet up? I think, said Anansi
- to himself, I think I should go on a long hunting trip and maybe not come back for a long time and everyone
- will think I'm dead.
- And so he left on a long hunting trip. It happened at this time in a far distant village that a woman
- gave birth to a child who arrived screaming with hunger. This child wanted to be fed immediately, and
- the woman began to feed the child milk, but the child wanted more. She made mush and fed it to the child.
- For seven days and seven nights, she devoted herself to feeding that child, and every time she stopped
- feeding him, he cried for more. At the end of seven days, she said, this is beyond me. This child is
- never satisfied. Besides, it is the wrong color. It's red. This is a thing impossible to me. So she
- took the child out into the woods and set it in the branches of a tree,
- And she went home to get a good night's sleep for the first time in seven weekdays. Who could blame
- her? And Anansi, as it happened, was walking down that game trail when he heard the squalling of a hungry
- child. And when he saw that child, and he saw that it was a child of a different color, he said, at
- last I can give birth.
- child back to his village, and he sent messengers to Nyami. He said, the child that is promised has
- arrived. And when the messengers came from Nyami, they found a Nancy lying on his sleeping mats as if
- he were exhausted from giving birth. And there was the child, screaming and bright red. Well,
- When Naomi saw the child, he was pleased. It was a different color. And he called for his senior wife
- when he said, raise it as if it's your own. And she, of course, began to feed the thing. She fed the
- child, and then she called for the other wives to come help feed the child. And they began to make mush
- for the child. And for seven days and seven nights, they fed.
- the child and every time they stopped feeding the child, it screamed for more food. So the senior wife
- took the child back to Nyami and said, it is impossible. It cannot be satisfied. It makes such a disturbance.
- Very well, said Nyami, I will feed the child myself. How hard can this be? And he called for people
- to bring him milk and boiled plantains and he began to feed the child.
- It soon became obvious that more was needed. And so he sent to all the people to bring food for this
- child. And they all came and they brought whatever they had, whether it was good food for a child or
- not. They brought pans and pots and baskets and platters of food. And the child was up for anything
- they brought. But after a while, they ran out of food.
- Everybody had stayed now. There was a huge crowd around looking at this child and having watched it
- amazingly eat all this food. And the child looked around and saw that the feeding had ended. And right
- in front, there was a man standing with his mouth open, staring at that child. And the little red child
- jumped in his mouth. And stopped.
- It was the first tongue. And because the child was red, all tongues are red. And because the child was
- never satisfied, the tongue is never satisfied. It does not matter if your belly is full or your belly is empty.
- It's the same to your tongue. The tongue can always take a little more. So when you sit down to a big
- meal and you fill your plate and you eat until your belt is tight and then dessert comes out and you
- say, I could have a little bit of that. This is why. And you can remember the saying that goes with
- this story. It is, no matter how full the belly is, the tongue will take a little more.
- And for this, you may thank Anansi. Now, our trickster, Anansi. You're going to use that one. OK. Comes
- up in many other stories, like the one Josh has for you. My parents are in the audience.
- It's funny, we didn't plan this, but my story comes from a Harold Corlander collection as well. And
- the Treasury of African Folk Tales, I would recommend anybody to go look at this book. I came across
- it five or six years ago, and it changed the way I experience stories, I think. But he was really a
- remarkable collector. And one of the amazing things about these Anansi stories is
- So many of them are so very different, and his character changes, and the nature of the universe shifts,
- it seems, from tale to tale. So in this story, there was a time of great hunger in the kingdom of Naomi,
- the sky god, and the only food that was to be found was in Naomi's storehouses. And he wanted it shared
- out equally, so he put it out that he needed an agent
- to distribute the food. And all the animals came together. Everybody wanted to be the agent. It was
- a great honor, power. But then they found out there was a price that had to be paid, a terrible price
- for animals. The agent would have to have his or her head shaved so that everyone would know who they
- were. And of course, you know, the lion. Are you kidding? My mane? But Anansi wanted the honor and the
- power that may go with it. So he stepped forward, took the oath,
- And Naomi's soldiers took him and they took a long knife and they shaved his head and they did a terrible
- job. They left patches of hair and he really looked awful so that instead of the glory when he went
- out in the street, all the animals laughed. I'm a Nazi. You got the mange. Nancy, don't go out. And
- he had a big ego and so he couldn't take it. And in the middle of the night,
- He snuck into the storehouse where the food was kept. He filled a big bag full of food, and he took
- off straight into the forest, deep, deep into the heart of the forest, until he came to the house of
- Abra Wiwa, the earth goddess. And he held up the food and said, I've got this, and I'll share it with
- you if you'll protect me from the sky god. And she said, come inside. I'll take care of you. Well, Naomi
- found out.
- He was furious. Anansi had broken the oath, and he called together his herd of warrior bulls who had
- the power to find the whereabouts of any animal. Find Anansi and bring him back to me, he said. And
- the bulls took off through the forest in a path straight. They knocked down trees, tore everything out.
- The path was as wide as this is sinking. The path was as wide as three elephants standing shoulder to shoulder.
- I think the bulls are trampling on my microphone stand. And they went right to Abruwiwa's house. She
- looked out the window and there were the bulls. She walked out and they said, we've come from the sky
- god. We're here for Anansi. Well, he's not here. We know he's here and we're taking him. Give him to
- us. But Abruwiwa was not called the earth goddess for nothing.
- She had powerful magic. She went back inside and pulled from beneath her bed a sword. And she brought
- it out. And she held it up and pointed it at the bulls. And she said, fight. And the sword leapt from
- her hand and went in among the bulls and cut them down, cut them to pieces. And when they were all dead,
- she lowered her hand and said, cool down, cool down.
- This is awesome. My whole bunch of bulls just died, didn't they? So she picked up the bloody sword,
- dried it off on the grass, went back into the house, and put it away under the bed. A couple days later,
- she said, Nancy, I got to go take care of some things. You mind the house. And she left. And of course,
- the first thing he did was he went back there, grabbed that sword, strapped it on his back, and took
- off right back to Naomi's kingdom. And he walked in, and he said, I am
- I'm so sorry I betrayed you, but I have powerful magic now from the earth goddess. I couldn't stand
- to have my head shaved, but I've got this magic and if you'll forgive me and take me back, I can use
- this to help you in your time of need. And Naomi forgave him and Anansi kept the sword hidden and years
- went by and nothing happened.
- And one day, Naomi found out that a powerful invading army was coming to conquer the entire kingdom.
- And he had the drums beat and the trumpets blared and everyone, the entire kingdom came with whatever
- weapons they had and they lined themselves up in front of the city. And Naomi looked out and he saw
- that the invading army was far larger. Anansi, now is the time. Bring the powerful magic that you've
- taken from the earth goddess. And Anansi took the sword out.
- and he walked out and he stood in front of the army of Naomi and he saw the invading army coming and
- he held up sword and it gleamed in the sunlight like all the hate of the world focused in a single point
- and he said, fight. And the sword left his hand and it entered the army and it flew back and forth cutting
- and the invading army, many of them threw down their weapons and they ran and tried to get away but
- the sword drove them down into the ground.
- And then when they were all dead, Anansi raised his hand up and he said, stop. But he didn't remember
- the words cool down and the sword did not hear him. And so it turned and it came on to the people of
- Nyami and it began to slaughter them. And Anansi ran behind it shouting, stop, stop, stop. But the sword
- did not hear him.
- until every last member of Naomi's army was slain, and only Anansi stood alone on the battlefield, and
- the sword came to him and killed him too. And then, having no one left to kill, it stuck itself in the
- ground and sprouted sharp thorns and leaves and became the tinne plant. And to this day, if you touch
- the tinne plant, it will cut you and your blood will flow, all because the words,
- Cool down. We're not spoken when they should have been. Thank you. He says we have stability. We'll see.
- It has to stay tall for me. My name is Addie Hirston, and the story I have for you tonight is an Aetherian
- legend called Sir Gawain and the Lothly Lady. Once upon a time, there was a king, not just any king,
- but King Arthur. He was galloping through the forest when all of a sudden, out from the bushes came
- his arch nemesis, the Black Knight, who was clothed in the hardest of metals, jet black. You could not
- see his eyes. He grabbed the sword Excalibur from King Arthur before King Arthur could stop him.
- Black Knight pointed that sword at King Arthur and he said, King Arthur, I have you at last. Your kingdom
- is mine. Excalibur is mine. But there's one thing I would value knowing above your kingdom. If you can
- answer a riddle for me, if you can find
- an answer to a riddle for me before New Year's Day. I will give you back Excalibur and your kingdom.
- If not, England is mine. All right, said King Arthur. He didn't know what else to do. He agreed to this.
- The riddle was this. What is it that every woman wants?
- What is it that every woman wants? Surely, King Arthur could figure it out. By New Year's Day, he agreed.
- The Black Knight went one way, and King Arthur headed back toward Camelot. And as he did, he stopped
- at every house in every village and asked every woman he could find what it was they wanted.
- above anything else. And every woman had a different answer. Oh no. Oh dear. That evening, King Arthur
- sat in front of the fireplace and he just massaged his eyebrows. Oh, he could not figure out the answer
- to this riddle. The fate of England was at stake. When in walked,
- one of his best knights, Sir Gowan. Sir Gowan saw King Arthur and he said, King Arthur, what is wrong?
- What can I do? King Arthur told Sir Gowan of the riddle, what is it that every woman wants, and how
- it must be solved by New Year's Day. I will take up this quest, said Sir Gowan. And he ran out to the
- stables and he jumped on his horse and he started off through the forest.
- He rode all night long, and then in the morning, as the sun was coming up over the horizon, he rounded
- a bend, and in front of him, on a stump, was sitting a lady. But not just any lady. Although she was
- dressed in fine velvets, trimmed with gold, she was loathly. She was
- the ugliest woman he had ever seen. Her skin dripped from her face. It had pock marks, and it was scabby.
- Her lip dangled down just so, and then drool was coming off of that. She had one eye up here and one
- eye down here. Her nose looked like a pig's.
- She only had a few little wisps of hair back at the nape of her neck. And she pointed at Sir Gowan and
- she said, I know who you are, Sir Gowan. I know of your quest and I know the answer to the riddle. What
- is it that every woman wants? You do, said Sir Gowan once amazed. Well, what is it? Tell me.
- out so fast I will tell you what the answer is if you will agree to marry me oh dear thought Sir Cowan
- he was a young man and he hadn't picked a mate for life yet but he was hoping it would be someone his
- own age and nice and fit and healthy and and they could grow old together but then
- He thought of England and of King Arthur and what the kingdom would be like if this dark night was to
- take over. And he decided in that split second to sacrifice himself for the noble cause. And he said,
- all right, I will marry you. What is the answer?
- She leaned over and she whispered in his ear. That's it. He said, all right. He picked her up, put her
- on his horse. They galloped back to Camelot. Sir Gowan told King Arthur, King Arthur a few days later
- on New Year's Day, told the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight
- gave Excalibur back. England was in good hands again. There was much rejoicing. But there was not much
- rejoicing over the marriage of Sir Gawain and the loathly lady. No one in the castle could figure this
- out, why on earth he would agree to such a marriage.
- They were married in the chapel. And then Sir Gowan took the loathly lady up to his bed chambers. He
- closed the heavy wooden door. And then he did not want to turn to face her. Look at me, said the lady,
- for I am much chained.
- Sir Gowin looked at her and she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen now. She was his own age.
- She had long dark hair, ruby red lips, gray eyes, as gray as the sea. And they looked at him and she
- said, Sir Gowin,
- I have been under a spell and you're marrying me. Now the spell has half broken and here's the catch.
- I can be my own beautiful self half of the day. I can only be like this either in the daytime
- or at night. And you have to choose when I will be my young, youthful self. Oh, oh dear, said Circa
- Owen. Well, what's the benefit to both? What's the benefit to each one? Let's make out a pro-con list
- or something. Which should I choose? Well, she said, well,
- If I'm beautiful during the day, we can go riding together. I will have a young, healthy body. People
- in the castle will not think that you are crazy for having married me. I'll have friends. I'll be accepted
- in the community. But if I'm myself at night, when we're alone and you embrace me, you won't be afraid
- to touch me.
- And he looked at her, and he looked in those pretty eyes, and he said to himself, what does she really
- want? What does she really want? Which would she choose? And then he remembered the answer to the riddle.
- What is it that every woman wants? And that is to have her own way.
- I'm not going to choose. You choose. Yes, said the lady. Thank you, Sir Gowan. That was the correct
- answer. Because, yes, what every woman wants is to have her own way. And since you have given that to
- me, I may now be my young, beautiful self all the day and the night, 24 hours a day.
- for the rest of our lives, and we will grow old together. Now, as we come upon Valentine's Day, I think
- it's not just what women want to have their own way. I think everyone wants to have their own way. So
- that's my food for thought, and that is the story of Sir Gowan and the Loathly Lady.
- Hello, everybody. So nice to see you. I see old friends and new friends and really appreciate you guys
- coming out. When I think about the two stories, the two short stories that I'm going to be sharing with
- you today, I am reminded of the beginning of Annie Hall.
- And it's one of my favorite movies. And I don't know if you remember, but at the beginning Woody Allen
- talks about his life being informed by two primary jokes. And the first one is, I'd never belonged to
- a club that would have me for a member. And the second one involves two women eating at a restaurant
- in the Catskills. And one says, the food here is just awful. And the other says, yeah, and the portions
- are so small.
- So I think about that when I think about these two stories, which I have to admit, I didn't really work
- really hard to really prepare tonight because they're two stories that I feel kind of weave in and out
- of my day daily. And the first one, tell me if you've heard it, it's about two months that are traveling
- down the road. They're traveling down a mountain road and they're on their way to visit a nearby monastery
- on the other
- mountain in the valley. So they're traveling down, and they meet the village, and they go through the
- village. And they're just about to cross the river to go up to the other mountain path. When they hear
- this squalling and this cursing beyond belief, just this stream of profanities coming, and they look
- around, and they see this woman, this elderly woman. And she has this elaborate costume on, and she's
- has bags just dripping off of both sides, and she's cursing and cursing and cursing. And the monks say,
- ma'am, what can we do? How can we help you? You seem to be really suffering here. And she says, well,
- I need to get across this stream. The bridge is out. I've got all of these packages to meet my family.
- They're waiting for me. They're going to throw this
- big celebration in honor of me, and it's about time they finally recognize me for who I am. And I can't
- get across this river. I'm going to destroy my outfit. It is a mess. And so the monks say, don't worry.
- Don't worry. We'll be happy to help. We're not carrying anything. So my friend will take your bags,
- and I'll take you on my back. And no problem. And so one monk took her bags, and the other, indeed,
- put the old woman on his back. And he traipsed very gingerly.
- through the stream, and the old woman says, stop jostling me, you're messing up my hair, and watch out
- for those packages, you're getting them wet, you'll ruin them, I can't believe it, I can't believe it.
- So they get a little bit closer, and the water's getting deeper, and she said, watch out, my slipper's
- getting wet, you're gonna ruin, you're gonna ruin. So finally, after much complaining, much cursing,
- They get to the other side of the riverbank and they, you know, carefully put the woman down. They take
- her packages and, you know, carefully put them on, make sure she's on her way. And without a thank you,
- without anything, she said, well, it's about time. And she drapes us off. And so the monks don't say
- anything and they just go on their merry way. And they start walking up the mountain to the next monastery.
- And one of the monks looks to the other one and said, my god, that woman was awful. And the monk looked
- at him and said, I left the woman at the riverbank. Why are you still carrying her? So I think about
- that a lot, because I'm carrying that woman on my back almost every day. The other one I also heard
- in a Buddhist context
- And it's called A Handful of Mustard Seed. And it's about a young mother. And she'd just given birth
- to her first child. And it was a baby boy. And he was round and fat and black, shining, sparkling eyes.
- And that kind of black hair, it's a full head of hair with just a shock going up. And he was
- life and just brought so much joy to she and her husband and one day the shine came out of the baby's
- eyes and then the color and then for some inexplicable reason the baby wouldn't need anymore and one
- morning she woke up and the baby wasn't awake the baby wouldn't rouse
- She knew what had happened, but she didn't want to know what happened. So she took that baby and she
- put it in her sling and she went outside and she started screaming for help. Somebody help me. Somebody
- help me. Can't anyone save my baby?
- And everyone shook their heads and looked at her pitifully. And a man approached her and said, I know
- someone who can help. The Buddha is outside our village now with his disciples. And they set up camp.
- And I think he has what you need. She said, any medicine, anything, I'll take any kind of treatment.
- And he said, yes, exactly. He'll have that. Go.
- Now. And so she did. She ran as fast as she could out to the village, and she found them, and she ran
- right up to him and said, Buddha, Buddha, please, someone tell me that you had the medicine that I need
- to take care of this child to bring my child back to life. And he said, I do. I do. I have just what
- you need. But I'm missing one key ingredient. I need you to find a handful of mustard seed. OK, I'll
- do that immediately. He said, no way.
- It needs to be from a house who has never lost someone they loved. I understand. And so the woman knocked
- on the door of the first house. And she met a woman. And she told the woman what she needed. And the
- woman said, yes, I have it right here. And when she was asked if she lost a loved one, yes.
- my father just last year. And so the woman sat down and talked to her about her loss. And the same thing
- happened at the next house where they lost their child, and the next house where they lost their spouse,
- and the next house where they lost. And as the woman visited each house, she saw the suffering in their eyes.
- was her suffering. She went back to the field where the Buddha was. She buried her child. And she approached
- him and said, thank you for giving me the medicine that I needed and not the medicine that I wanted.
- And that's the story of the mustard seed. Thank you.
- Beautiful. I was reading through a story that maybe some of you have read before, maybe some of you
- haven't. It's an old epic poem from Mali, from the ancient empire of Mali called the Sunjata.
- I was struck by one of the things that it came across, which was that there are many truths in the world.
- There are many truths. And I was thinking about how that related to stories. Because obviously, there
- are many different kinds of stories. There are even lots of different versions of the same story.
- many different Anansi stories, many different stories from the Pali Canon about the Buddha. But there's
- also many different meanings within a story. And I think sometimes, at least this happens to me, I imagine
- it happens to you as well, we get so caught up
- with all of the information coming at us, that it gets hard to really sit with something for a long
- time and to see all of those different truths within it. And this was a lesson that I first learned
- 10 years ago, or first really thought about 10 years ago. I was traveling in Ghana.
- which was the country of Anansi, the country of the Ashanti people. And although I lived in the Ashanti
- land for a while, this story came from the southeast part of Ghana, along the Volta River, where the
- Ewe people live. I lived there for about a month. And while I was there, there's a lot of other stories
- I could tell you, but
- Suffice it to say that I was going through a ceremony there. And as part of that ceremony, I was given
- this set of stories that were to be the stories that shaped my life. My star is what they called it.
- And of course, I was 20 years old at the time, and I was like, well, I want to know all of them. And
- they didn't let me. They told me one. And they said, that's enough for now. And then a few days later,
- they told me another one. And I said, OK, two's good. And then finally, after a week, they told me a
- third. And they said, OK, we better stop there. I said, but how many are there?
- At least 10 or 20. I want to know them all. I need to know myself. No, no, no. Three is enough. And
- I found it frustrating at the time, but I've lived with one of these stories in particular for the past
- 10 years, and I wanted to share that story with you tonight. And I wanted to share just a little bit
- about how I understand it now versus how I understood it 10 years ago.
- The story takes place back in the time of the Kingdom of the Animals. And there was a vacancy on the
- royal stool. In Western Europe they had thrones and enthronements. Well, in West Africa they have royal
- stools and instoolments. And so the stool was vacant and they were going to have
- ceremony to name the next king of the animals. And at the time, all of the fingers were pointing towards
- Gorilla. But there was another contender, which was the deer. But at the moment, at the time, Gorilla
- had the support of the most of the people there. And so the night before his instuling,
- Gorilla had a party. I mean, who wouldn't? Hey, it's a done deal, right? And so Gorilla had his friends
- over, he had his girlfriend over, they had a little bit to drink and then they had a little bit more
- to drink and then even a little more to drink. And the stooling ceremony was in the morning. Well, that
- next morning, everyone was at the ceremony and they were
- They were waiting, but someone had to be named king. They didn't come all this way out just to sit there.
- So finally, they gave it to Deer. And Deer became the king of the animals. And later on that afternoon,
- Gorilla finally woke up. And he realized what had happened. And he sang a song.
- And the song goes like this. And what that song meant was, even though I am not the king,
- Not everything is lost. I'll still have my kingly walk. And to this day, you still see Gorilla with
- his kingly walk. I heard the story when I was 20. And when I tried to understand it then, and I was
- reading through my
- the notes in my journal that I was taking just earlier today. I wrote about how this is talking about
- how, you know, it's about self-control and self-discipline and about how, you know, you really need
- to hold out for those things that you want because you can't, you know, you can't count your chickens
- before they hatch and you have to persevere until the end and all of those folk wisdom that we hear.
- Ten years later, and a lot of missed opportunities later in my own life, I see a different truth in
- that story. And that different truth is that what's really important here? Is it really important who
- gets to be the king of the animals?
- Or is what's really important that Gorilla still has his kingly walk? And I would prefer to think of
- the story as a reassurance rather than a caution, saying that even when you think you've lost that golden
- opportunity, there's always time to keep what's inside.
- was a short woman. There was a farmer who had a son, and the farmer and the son owned a beautiful, wee,
- tidy farm in the valley of Slivnaman.
- They had the sheep up in the mountains, and they had a cow in the buyer, and they had a few chickens
- in the yard. Now, the mother had died many years before, but the two males kept that household running
- pretty good. The father, well, he kept the house and the yard all tidy,
- the sun where he took care of the sheep up in the mountaintops. And he was just as happy as could be
- doing what he did. The old man, oh, he could make a fine grand soda bread, put it on the griddle. There
- was always fresh buttermilk from the churn. And oh, he made sure that he and his son always had some
- lovely brown eggs on Sunday morning. The two lived together and never
- Hard word was spoken between them. But by and by, the young man spotted himself, a Susie little gal
- in the next parish. And before you know it, he brought her home as his blooming bride. Now, you might
- be thinking that she's an evil one.
- into this house that she's going to tear things apart. You're wrong. Oh, now there was, now there was
- current cake on Sunday and there was a nice lamb stew on Thursday. She fit in beautifully and they all
- got together well. And in fact, nine and a half months to the day
- There was a baby born into the household. Oh, what a joyous occasion. But something horrid was about
- to happen. For that young man, now a father, felt the weight of fatherhood and having a family and providing
- for them way in on his shoulders. And he became serious. And he became discontented and grumpy. And
- 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.
- to snuffle your food while you're eating? You sound like you should be at a trough," the son would say
- to his father. Stop spitting on the fire. You want to teach the young Wendell bad manners? The old man
- would try to stay out of the young man's way, but, but you're moving like a sailor on the,
- I'll run the yard, duh.
- You just can't keep up with it, can you? And so at night, the old man, he would eat a little bit less
- and he would try to stay out of the way of the sun. He never said a word. His daughter-in-law Mary,
- she was very sympathetic and she always made sure the old man was taking care
- But after a while, the young man, worried about everything, said, father, you eat too much. You take
- 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
- too. Father, Tamara, I'm taking you to the poor house.
- Now Mary, she interfered. No, no, you can't do that to your dad. I can in his spinal, said the young
- man. Well, the next morning came. The old man, he packed up his bags and he waited. And the young man
- said to his wife, you know that blanket
- that blanket you brought to the wedding marriage. Bring that, we'll give that to Di and he can take
- it to the poor house with him to keep himself warm. So Mary, she went and she pulled out that beautiful
- wool blanket that she'd made that she'd brought with her dowry and back in the day they would make the
- blankets so that they were so that they were doubled, double length. And when the son saw them,
- Blanket, he said, oh my, that's too nice for dad to take to the, to the porthouse. Mary, cut it in two
- and we'll give him half of that blanket. Oh, do no such thing. Your dad will have the whole blanket.
- And Mary and her husband looked at each other. When a small boy said,
- somewhere where I can find it so that when I go to put my daddy at the poor house, I'll know where to
- get a blanket for him. Well, you would have thought that young man had been hit by a brick.
- So from the mouth of our babe, he helped his dad over and sat him close to the fire. Mary, he said,
- put that blanket away and let's get dad a nice cup of tea. And the poor house was never mentioned again.
- Tonight when you're cuddling up in your blanket, we hope you'll dream upon some of the stories that
- you've heard tonight. Take away some of the wisdom and maybe tell them again. I've got to get out of
- the brogue. My husband will kill me if I come home a-talkin' like this. And do join us for refreshments
- here on stage. Thank you so much for coming to The Wintertelling.