Latest / Mooney's Mythic Podcast / The Shroud and the Skin

Transcript

The Shroud and the Skin · Mooney's Mythic Podcast

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[music]
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Hello Rosehips,
0:51
SPEAKER_00: welcome Hawthorns,
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SPEAKER_00: hello and blessings to all that is growing and seeding in us and around us,
1:02
SPEAKER_00: all that is falling and dying.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Mooney's Mythic Podcast, this is Sarah Mooney, I'm right here with you.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: And I've got to tell you guys, I'm hanging, haven't slept all night.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: It's been a great night,
1:16
SPEAKER_00: a night of,
1:17
SPEAKER_00: I've had a very inspiring weekend of lots and lots of creativity
1:24
SPEAKER_00: and I've been working at the Sacred Thank you for having me, Danny.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: It was absolutely gorgeous.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: So I created a ceremony with a really good man called Tor and we did
1:37
SPEAKER_00: an opening ceremony for that space.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: And the intention of the festival was for people to experience their own sovereignty.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: And that's been a real journey for me this weekend.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: And there was a point when I felt a bit lost or something and I felt like,
2:03
SPEAKER_00: you know those machines where the coins are just going backwards and forwards,
2:07
SPEAKER_00: backwards and forwards and you just think one more coin,
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SPEAKER_00: one more coin and they're all going to roll down.
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SPEAKER_00: I just felt like that but with tears.
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SPEAKER_00: I just felt like one more coin, one more little nudge and I'm going to fall into tears.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: But I didn't.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: So I knew that there was this bunch of tears in me.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: And I went home and in the morning when I woke up,
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SPEAKER_00: I woke up into this image,
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SPEAKER_00: which was a six-year-old me wrapped up in bubble wrap,
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SPEAKER_00: just completely wrapped up in bubble wrap.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: And She felt very safe in that bubble wrap,
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SPEAKER_00: but I could see that nothing could get in and nothing could get out.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: There was a non-living going on in that bubble wrap.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: So I've unwrapped her and I've wrapped her up with some really warm cloth,
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SPEAKER_00: some beautiful blanket that a friend has given me and it reminded me
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SPEAKER_00: because it came up in my feed that I'd made a shroud for my dad.
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SPEAKER_00: When he died after he died.
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SPEAKER_00: He died,
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SPEAKER_00: I went home and I spent all night up making,
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SPEAKER_00: I had a blanket already and I sewed and embroidered all over it just all through
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SPEAKER_00: the night and I didn't think about a design or anything,
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SPEAKER_00: it was like I just knew,
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SPEAKER_00: my body just knew and all those guilty bits of fabric that I know women tuck away
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SPEAKER_00: for use at some point I can't bear to throw away because I've got a little bit
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SPEAKER_00: of lovely embroidery on or a lovely corner or whatever, I just used all of them
3:43
SPEAKER_00: And that's just reminding me of the threshold work that I'm going to be doing.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: You know,
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SPEAKER_00: this is our time to gather up the summer,
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SPEAKER_00: to let go, to call in the winter, to what are we wrapping ourselves in?
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SPEAKER_00: So that's an online workshop I'm doing this Thursday from half six to half eight.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: And if you book on Eventbrite,
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SPEAKER_00: then you get two for the price of one so you can buy the link and
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SPEAKER_00: then you can send it to someone else.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not got much more in me today.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to put up a story that I recorded a while ago for my Patreons.
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SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening, Patreons.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to tell this story And I hadn't told it for a long time.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just mapping it out.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the bare bones of the story that you're going to hear.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear it like this because then I'll record it for you.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm going to tell it in Glastonbury around Sarwain at the 30th of October.
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SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to be working on it until then and I'd love you to hear the difference.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: And already after the first telling I saw lots of origami birds
4:56
SPEAKER_00: and I saw different soundscapes for the different dresses that the woman wears.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: And then someone got in touch with me and suggested a different ending.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to tell you it now,
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SPEAKER_00: but I'm going to tell you at the end what they thought might be
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SPEAKER_00: a more fruitful ending for the story.
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SPEAKER_00: So it's about 20 minutes long.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: I would recommend you just relax,
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SPEAKER_00: maybe pause it now,
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SPEAKER_00: have a pee, make yourself a cup of tea and sit and listen to the story.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: Also, I don't know what I did.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: I did something with the settings,
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SPEAKER_00: which meant that all the rustly bits were really loud and my voice is quite quiet.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: So you might just have to tune into that.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: But I think you'll enjoy it.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: Some people call it the other world.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: Some people say it's a place where time is not linear.
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SPEAKER_00: Where it may be circular.
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SPEAKER_00: Multidimensional, where you can walk forwards and backwards through time, where place is time.
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SPEAKER_00: But we'll call this place story,
6:20
SPEAKER_00: where it's once upon a time.
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SPEAKER_00: And in this time, there was a queen.
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SPEAKER_00: And she bloomed like a big fat rose.
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SPEAKER_00: And she was strong like an oak tree.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: And she was scented like a lime flower.
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SPEAKER_00: And she cackled like a hen.
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SPEAKER_00: And there was a king.
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SPEAKER_00: And the king, he was ruddy like a chestnut.
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SPEAKER_00: And he was soft like grass.
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SPEAKER_00: And he was regal like a rooster.
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SPEAKER_00: And they married and they were a love.
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SPEAKER_00: It was a genuine love.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: It was a real meeting of passion and honour and dignity.
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SPEAKER_00: But they were rulers.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: And as they aged and took on the mantles of their kingdoms,
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SPEAKER_00: they began to slow down and dry up in some places.
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SPEAKER_00: They began to forget what their own juicy desires were.
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SPEAKER_00: They began to stop listening.
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SPEAKER_00: But they still loved.
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SPEAKER_00: They loved their little girl.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: They loved their daughter.
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SPEAKER_00: And she was growing up
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SPEAKER_00: in a way that entranced and enchanted both of them,
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SPEAKER_00: her little ways and And seeing what was of him and what was of her
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SPEAKER_00: and what was completely and uniquely of herself.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: But this time did not last because the Queen fell ill.
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SPEAKER_00: And she lay on her deathbed and she summoned the King.
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SPEAKER_00: And she said to the King, you have to remarry, you have to find someone else.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't want my girl to be without a woman in her life.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't want my girl to be without a mother.
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SPEAKER_00: And then she called her daughter to her.
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SPEAKER_00: And she gave her this ring, this tiny little ring.
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SPEAKER_00: And the princess's fingers,
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SPEAKER_00: they were broad and they were strong and the ring would only fit
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SPEAKER_00: on her little finger.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: And then the queen died.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: All the air in her body escaped at once.
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SPEAKER_00: And her body lay there, just meat and bones.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: And anyone who'd ever seen a star could see that the heart within that body was not beating.
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SPEAKER_00: And there was a funeral.
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SPEAKER_00: And there was a great keening circle at the funeral.
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SPEAKER_00: And the head of state, the king, he was there in his robes and his finery.
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SPEAKER_00: And some saw how straight his back was.
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SPEAKER_00: And some saw him dabbing his eyes.
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SPEAKER_00: But the ones who really saw could see that his eyes were dry.
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SPEAKER_00: And that he was pushed down somewhere.
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SPEAKER_00: But all his feelings, that all that could open and erupt and rip him open and soften him down.
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SPEAKER_00: Was under lock and key.
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SPEAKER_00: And perhaps he would always have grieved like that,
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SPEAKER_00: but perhaps he'd grieved like that because he was a king,
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SPEAKER_00: not allowing a tear to escape.
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SPEAKER_00: But you see, the thing is, these tears, they clear the way.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: The thing is,
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SPEAKER_00: these tears,
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SPEAKER_00: they wash and wash and wash through until new places,
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SPEAKER_00: new pathways can be formed, until a new time can happen.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: You see,
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SPEAKER_00: the thing is with the wailing and the heart splitting open,
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SPEAKER_00: that it can grow, that it can flourish, that it can empty out, that it can fill up.
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SPEAKER_00: But none of this was happening to the king.
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SPEAKER_00: His heart was stagnant, his tears were dry, and his mind began to get confused.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: It was as though someone had rubbed a biro all over his good thinking.
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SPEAKER_00: It was as though the pathways and the synapses were snapping like fireworks
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SPEAKER_00: and breaking like threads.
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SPEAKER_00: And around and around,
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SPEAKER_00: he kept hearing his mother's voice,
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SPEAKER_00: his wife's voice,
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SPEAKER_00: marry again,
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SPEAKER_00: dear daughter,
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SPEAKER_00: marry again,
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SPEAKER_00: marry again,
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SPEAKER_00: dear daughter, my dear daughter, take care of the daughter, marry again.
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SPEAKER_00: Yes, he said, I will.
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SPEAKER_00: I will marry, I will remarry.
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SPEAKER_00: And when he claimed that he would remarry,
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SPEAKER_00: all of the women of the court preened themselves at once
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SPEAKER_00: and sharpened their claws ready.
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SPEAKER_00: All except for his daughter, for she had nothing to compare herself or try for.
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SPEAKER_00: She did not need to queue up in hopefulness.
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SPEAKER_00: He was her father.
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SPEAKER_00: But when the king looked about the court and saw the longing and the sharpened claws
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SPEAKER_00: of all the women and the innocence and the growth of his girl,
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SPEAKER_00: when he saw how much he was reminded of her mother,
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SPEAKER_00: when he saw her blossoming and blooming,
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SPEAKER_00: curving and ripening,
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SPEAKER_00: it brought up so many feelings within and it Pushed and stretched
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SPEAKER_00: against those stagnant places and he declared to the court,
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SPEAKER_00: it's my daughter that I'll marry.
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SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's my daughter.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: She was horrified.
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SPEAKER_00: She was horrified and she ran.
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SPEAKER_00: She ran all the way to the sea because there was a cave there that her mother took her to.
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SPEAKER_00: And inside that cave, that cave of shell and coral, there was a sea crone.
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SPEAKER_00: Whenever they needed advice or to sit with the aged and the ancient,
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SPEAKER_00: to sit with the memory and the knowing, they would come and see the sea crone.
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SPEAKER_00: And as soon as she entered, she could feel it.
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SPEAKER_00: Her mother's presence was there, her spirit.
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SPEAKER_00: When she sat down with the sea crone and helped her light the fire,
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SPEAKER_00: And summon the spirits of the east,
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SPEAKER_00: of the west, of the north and the south, of below and above.
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SPEAKER_00: She knew that she wasn't just sitting there with the sea crow,
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SPEAKER_00: but that she was sitting there with her mother as well,
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SPEAKER_00: the spirit of her dead mother.
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SPEAKER_00: And she told the women what had happened,
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SPEAKER_00: that the king was declaring that he would marry her and how he'd gone mad
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SPEAKER_00: And how he hadn't cried one tear for her.
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SPEAKER_00: And the women whispered and they nodded.
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SPEAKER_00: And the sea crow looked at her and she said, do not worry.
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SPEAKER_00: Your father will snap out of this.
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SPEAKER_00: This is just his way.
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SPEAKER_00: What you need to do, you need to ask him to make a dress of the firmament itself.
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SPEAKER_00: Of the blue, of the bluest sky.
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SPEAKER_00: He'll not be able to do that.
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SPEAKER_00: And so you can say no to him without saying no to him.
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SPEAKER_00: And so she went back and she did command him to do this.
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SPEAKER_00: But what she didn't know,
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SPEAKER_00: you see,
14:36
SPEAKER_00: was that the donkey, that the king had a donkey and the donkey shat golden coins.
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SPEAKER_00: So the king's wealth was limitless.
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SPEAKER_00: Someone would come downstairs every morning and collect up the golden coin deposits
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SPEAKER_00: from the donkey.
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SPEAKER_00: And so with all this gold and all this power and all this threat,
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SPEAKER_00: he commanded the very best weavers,
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SPEAKER_00: the most experienced dyers,
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SPEAKER_00: the jewelers,
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SPEAKER_00: the seamstresses and the tailors,
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SPEAKER_00: that in one week they should make a dress of the firmament itself,
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SPEAKER_00: the blue of the bluest skies.
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SPEAKER_00: And in one week that dress was ready.
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SPEAKER_00: And when she saw it, the princess, she knew.
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SPEAKER_00: She knew that she couldn't reject it, but it was indeed everything she had asked for.
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SPEAKER_00: And she stood there for a moment, uncertain what to do.
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SPEAKER_00: And the whisper of the mother's voice and the sea crow's voice said, ask for a treasure.
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SPEAKER_00: And so she did.
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SPEAKER_00: She said, yes, this is very nice.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: But if I'm going to marry you, I will need to have a dress made of the very moon itself.
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SPEAKER_00: And I'll need it in a week.
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SPEAKER_00: And so the king again summoned and threatened and paid and cajoled.
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SPEAKER_00: And all the women that had the memory deep in their hearts of being burnt as witches
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SPEAKER_00: and tortured.
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SPEAKER_00: They didn't want that to happen again.
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SPEAKER_00: So they gathered mugwort and motherwort.
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SPEAKER_00: They gathered the tourer and woad.
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SPEAKER_00: They gathered all flowers that bloomed at night.
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SPEAKER_00: They gathered the memory of rhythm and tide.
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SPEAKER_00: They collected pearl and seashell.
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SPEAKER_00: And they made a dress.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh yes, they made a dress.
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SPEAKER_00: And they embroidered it with their own blood.
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SPEAKER_00: And they gave it to the girl.
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SPEAKER_00: And the girl was astounded because she'd been gifted this dress which felt as
16:56
SPEAKER_00: though it had the wisdom of all ages in it, which shone so good and so bright.
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SPEAKER_00: But yet it meant that she would have to marry her father.
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SPEAKER_00: And then she heard them whispering again, the mother and the sea crow.
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SPEAKER_01: Yes, they said.
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SPEAKER_00: Can he make a dress of the sun, of the very sun itself?
17:25
SPEAKER_00: And so she said, yes,
17:26
SPEAKER_00: this dress, yes, but I'll need a dress made of the sun and I'll need it in a week.
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SPEAKER_00: And the king, he growled and he menaced and he paid and he paid and he paid and he paid.
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SPEAKER_00: And that gold, all that gold was turned, was poured, was oiled into a dress.
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SPEAKER_00: And when the week was up, She was presented with a dress which was as dazzling as the sun.
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SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
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SPEAKER_00: But will he be the skin of his donkey?
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SPEAKER_00: That is the very source of his wealth.
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SPEAKER_00: You ask him that you want the hide of that donkey, he won't do it.
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SPEAKER_00: He won't give all his wealth away.
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SPEAKER_00: And so she asked him.
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SPEAKER_00: And when they saw the hide of the donkey, Splayed out on the floor of the castle.
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SPEAKER_00: Together, the women whispered to her, run, run, run.
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SPEAKER_00: And the sea witch,
18:31
SPEAKER_00: she concocted a treasure chest,
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SPEAKER_00: which would follow under the earth wherever the girl went.
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SPEAKER_00: And the mother, she conjured up the donkey skin and she poured it over the girl.
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SPEAKER_00: It made her buckle over and haunch.
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SPEAKER_00: And she stank of the donkey and she walked like a leper.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: And she ran.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: She ran away from that kingdom.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: She ran away from all that she knew.
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SPEAKER_00: She ran through night and she ran through day.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: She ran through autumn and she ran through winter.
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SPEAKER_00: She kept on running until no one knew her.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Until they looked at her with disgust.
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SPEAKER_00: This donkey skin.
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SPEAKER_00: They called her.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: And she asked for work, but they said, no, not in the kitchens, you foul thing.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: And she asked for work and they said, yes, you can scrub the cellars.
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SPEAKER_00: You're filthy and disgusting.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: And so she scrubbed the cellars.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: And so in part of the cellars,
19:34
SPEAKER_00: she made a home, a small little place which had a door which she could lock.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: And that was all she wanted, really, was to feel safe behind the locked door.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: But there was a window in this little cellar and she would watch time pass out of it
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SPEAKER_00: and she wasn't working when she was alone.
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SPEAKER_00: And she remembered her trunk that the sea crown had conjured under the earth for her
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SPEAKER_00: and she remembered the dresses that had been made for her that were underneath And
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SPEAKER_00: as she remembered them,
20:14
SPEAKER_00: it was as though she had unlocked some kind of magic and they began to appear
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SPEAKER_00: in front of her, first of all, the dress of the firmament.
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SPEAKER_00: It was blue,
20:24
SPEAKER_00: so blue,
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SPEAKER_00: sky blue,
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SPEAKER_00: and it wrapped around her with the softness and the gentleness of a cloud,
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SPEAKER_00: and when she wore it, she felt connected to all things.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: She felt that she was everything, everywhere, all at once.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: She felt that she were just a particle of something and also that she was vast.
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SPEAKER_00: And then she tried on the dress of the moon.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: And as she tried on the dress of the moon, she felt herself waxing and waning.
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SPEAKER_00: She felt the cycles of life and death and life.
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SPEAKER_00: She felt the beginnings.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: And the middles and the endings.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: She could hear the sounds of the sea lapping up and around her.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: And she felt as though she had an ear to a seashell.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: And she was listening to far off lands.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: And as she listened with her ear to that seashell,
21:20
SPEAKER_00: she could hear sisters, aunties, mothers, grandmothers, all of them.
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SPEAKER_00: Whispering and laughing and sharing their secrets with her till she felt part
21:36
SPEAKER_00: of something so extraordinary.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: This network of women, this brocade of feminine, this wonderful weave and knit.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: And as she breathed ever deeper and as she danced in her room and moved and allowed
21:54
SPEAKER_00: the shapes of the dresses to Fit her body ever more closely as she moved her arms up
22:00
SPEAKER_00: and around.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: So the dress of the sun touched her shoulders and she felt radiant and bold.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: She felt strong and nourished.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: She felt that she could do and be anything.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And this was the way that she spent her time.
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SPEAKER_00: But to everyone else, she was just donkey skin.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: To everyone else, she was a stinking, horrid creature.
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SPEAKER_00: And that was how she felt around them.
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SPEAKER_00: Bent over and smelly, ashamed and uncertain.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: And then the birds returned.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: Because in this place, there was an aviary.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: And the birds started to come one by one.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: And the song of the birds was a solace to her also.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: The tweeting and the chirping and the shimmering and the noises, all of the noises and the song.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: There were some birds you could hear.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: They have two vocal cords stretching and singing at the same time.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: There were some birds that made the sounds of their name.
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SPEAKER_00: Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo.
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SPEAKER_00: And she would listen to the birds and she got to know every single sound.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: There was a prince you see from this land.
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SPEAKER_00: He loved the birds also.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: But he liked to sing.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: That was his great passion.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: And so he would come to the aviary and he would sing.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: He would add his own song to the sounds of the birds.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't allowed to sing in other times.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: He had to.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Find places where his song could be hidden.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't seemly a prince to be singing.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Not someone who's going to be king one day.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: He should be dry-eyed and dry-throated.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: He would come to Avery and he would sing.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: And that's where she heard him.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: She heard a new sound and she wondered what bird it was.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: And to her surprise, when she saw him outside.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Someone else, she thought.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Who can hear the sounds of the birds.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Who cares for the sounds of the birds.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: He felt watched.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: He felt watched and he looked around for who might be watching him.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: He searched everywhere.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Searched this big place with the cellar where she dwelt and that's where he found himself.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: Drawn, drawn, drawn deeper and deeper and deeper into the cellar.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: He found his eye to a keyhole
25:01
SPEAKER_00: and through that keyhole he saw glimpses of
25:06
SPEAKER_00: the light he had never seen.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: He saw a woman dancing,
25:14
SPEAKER_00: dancing with the life force,
25:17
SPEAKER_00: with earth itself, with the sky and the stars and the moon and the sun itself.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: It was as though he were watching The whole of creation morph and move.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: And after he saw that, he felt everything else was bland and flat and dull.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: And he could only find some comfort in sitting on the bench in the aviary
25:50
SPEAKER_00: and listening to the birds.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Even his song had disappeared and And she noticed,
25:58
SPEAKER_00: and she longed to offer him something,
26:01
SPEAKER_00: but she was restrained by her position
26:09
SPEAKER_00: and the cultural norms
26:13
SPEAKER_00: and what she had available.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: So first of all,
26:17
SPEAKER_00: when she thought she would make him a great and gleaming sword,
26:21
SPEAKER_00: she realised she couldn't And then she thought, I know,
26:26
SPEAKER_00: I'll fashion for him some leather boots, strong and sturdy so he can go walking.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: But no leather was available to her.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: And in the end she realised she could make something.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: She could just get into the pantry at night and take a little butter and an egg and some flour.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: She could bake a cake.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: She wasn't that good at baking.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: She cared and she loved and she wanted.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: And so she did make a tiny cake and just as she was stirring it,
27:07
SPEAKER_00: the ring from her little finger fell off and she thought, what if?
27:14
SPEAKER_00: That just feels right.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: It just felt right.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: It was all she had to give.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: She wanted to give her every and her all, so she did.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: And she left that little cake.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Next to where he sat and he found it and he ate it and when he saw
27:30
SPEAKER_00: the ring he was lost completely.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: He didn't even come to the apiary anymore.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: He stayed in the castle and he swooned and
27:45
SPEAKER_00: sighed and sighed and swooned and they knew.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: They'd all seen it before.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: They knew his age and they knew him and they said he Needs to be married.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what was decided, that the prince would get married.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: And the prince, when he heard this, he agreed.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: But, he said,
28:07
SPEAKER_00: finding his voice for the first time around his father and his mother and the people
28:12
SPEAKER_00: of court, I will marry.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: I will marry whosoever fits this ring.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: And from his pocket he got out the gleaming ring.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: And so they cued,
28:28
SPEAKER_00: slender fingers, women of court, princesses first, but none of their fingers fit.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: And then it was the working girls that came, none of their fingers fit.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: And then it was the scullery maids and the ladies in waiting,
28:51
SPEAKER_00: all the way down until everyone had tried the ring.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: But it had fitted none.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: And all that was left was that pile, that stinking bag of furs in the cellar.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: And at first it was suggested as a joke.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we get donkey skin to try it?
29:16
SPEAKER_00: See if she can put her hooves through that ring.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: And their laughter and their malice Seemed to release the tension of who would marry
29:28
SPEAKER_00: the prince for a little while.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: And when the king heard, he said, yes, it's donkey skin, which should try.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: We tried everybody.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: And so they called her forth.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: And from underneath the donkey skin, her broad, strong hands revealed themselves.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: And there was a mark on the little finger.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Where the sun had scorched the finger, but not the band where the ring had been worn.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: And that was where they put it.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: And that was where it fitted so well and so brilliantly.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: And her donkey skin shook off her,
30:20
SPEAKER_00: became the ground in which her two feet were planted.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: And the dress of the firmament slipped up her and came the sky above her head.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: And she found herself straightening
30:46
SPEAKER_00: and standing firm
30:50
SPEAKER_00: and strong as she looked into
30:53
SPEAKER_00: the eyes of the prince.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: And the dress of the moon wound itself around her like a cape, strong and protected.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: She lifted her arm up with the ring on its finger and extended her hand out to the prince.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: And as she touched the prince's hand,
31:19
SPEAKER_00: the sunlight began to fill her body and pour over to him like a double helix,
31:27
SPEAKER_00: the sun.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: Moved between them, and so it was agreed that they would indeed be married.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: And such an event it had been to find the woman who the ring had found,
31:39
SPEAKER_00: such a story that it had belonged to the one with the skin of the donkey,
31:44
SPEAKER_00: that people were summoned from the east and the west,
31:49
SPEAKER_00: from the north and the south,
31:50
SPEAKER_00: people arrived on elephants and camels,
31:53
SPEAKER_00: kings from far off lands and queens with great retinues.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: And then he arrived, her father,
32:06
SPEAKER_00: and he stopped by a vast lake.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: And she met him on the other side of that lake.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And she said, why are you here?
32:17
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I'm here because I have cried a thousand tears.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: I am here because I have wandered lost.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: In the woods for many years.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: I am here to say sorry, but I see clearly now.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to celebrate your new life.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to honor you, my daughter.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: And she said, yes, but I will share with you how It has been for me.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: I will show you what I've been through.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: And she began to hunch and move and
33:19
SPEAKER_00: wail.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: And as she moved,
33:25
SPEAKER_00: it was as though she were hiding Her body,
33:30
SPEAKER_00: her beautiful ripening body and she moved her head so that her face was hidden too
33:38
SPEAKER_00: and she bent her knees so that she were crouched
33:44
SPEAKER_00: and she whimpered and she cried
33:50
SPEAKER_00: and she walked there for some time and then slowly
33:59
SPEAKER_00: She began to unfurl and unfold.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: She began to stretch her body out to the sun and feel her feet
34:13
SPEAKER_00: back on the ground.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: She opened herself up in all her radiance and all her glory and all her wonder.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: She looked her father in the eye.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: And later that day, the prince and the princess became queen and king.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And so another part came home.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: Another spark was ignited.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: Another dream had a happy ending.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: I'd forgotten I was playing the harp there,
35:09
SPEAKER_00: just playing the lap harp a little bit that Janet North gave me.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: I've really enjoyed it.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: It's been good company this summer.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: Don't want to just end it there.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah,
35:26
SPEAKER_00: I was going to tell you that a woman suggested
35:31
SPEAKER_00: that they both become donkeys together and go off into the sunset together.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: It's all whoring as donkeys, which I quite like.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if it's what I'll do,
35:42
SPEAKER_00: but there's something of bringing the donkey or the wildness they're meeting
35:47
SPEAKER_00: in their wildness together that feels important.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: And just to bring my day in, I've been working in the woods.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: I've been, I really want to tell stories outdoors for as long as I can.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: So I've been mapping out some woodlands for some stories and some rituals.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: And I was going to sing a song to you that we sing in choir because I'm having also
36:12
SPEAKER_00: to start practicing my choir songs again.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: And I went online to find the words and
36:21
SPEAKER_00: And I found this gorgeous recording of Seize the Day.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: It's a Seize the Day song of Seize the Day singing it.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: They're singing live from California and Theo's talking.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: And I've always found Shannon and Theo from Seize the Day to be hugely inspiring.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to leave you with some inspiration from then.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: And I'll see you next week when I'm feeling perkier.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: We're just going to do one now, which is a very quiet song.
37:23
SPEAKER_02: So I'll tell you that.
37:25
SPEAKER_02: And we've come down the west coast and we've seen lorries with giant redwood trees
37:31
SPEAKER_02: on them going down the highway.
37:34
SPEAKER_02: And it's a real surprise to us because where we come from,
37:37
SPEAKER_02: all that old forest that used to be has been destroyed.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: Mainly to make boats and things so that we could sail over here.
37:43
SPEAKER_02: But ironically enough, that's how it happened.
37:46
SPEAKER_02: There's just a few oak trees left, you know.
37:48
SPEAKER_02: A few really old trees.
37:50
SPEAKER_02: And we've been involved in supporting the struggles there
37:52
SPEAKER_02: to defend those little bits of woodland which are left and those little bits
37:55
SPEAKER_02: of open space.
37:56
SPEAKER_02: Because we've got a very small country,
37:57
SPEAKER_02: it's smaller than California,
37:59
SPEAKER_02: and it's full of motorways and it's full of out of town supermarkets
38:02
SPEAKER_02: and big quarries to supply the stone to build the roads so the lorries can drive up
38:06
SPEAKER_02: and down and full of stone.
38:07
SPEAKER_02: And this song is all about how we feel about that.
38:15
SPEAKER_02: How anyone anywhere feels about the loss of that.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: This is about what's happening in England particularly,
38:19
SPEAKER_02: but it could be applied to the west coast I reckon too.
38:22
SPEAKER_02: And it's called High Hills of the Men.
38:34
SPEAKER_03: And I dreamed I was going where tall trees are growing.
38:45
SPEAKER_03: Where nine rivers flowing roll down to the sea.
38:54
SPEAKER_03: When I walk to Iqraim, lamenting
39:03
SPEAKER_03: and sighing,
39:06
SPEAKER_03: men in yellow arriving,
39:11
SPEAKER_03: To fell the love stream.
39:17
SPEAKER_03: High hills of our fathers.
39:23
SPEAKER_03: Round hills of our mothers.
39:29
SPEAKER_03: Green hills
39:31
SPEAKER_03: of my people that used to be free.
39:38
SPEAKER_03: Scraped away till make room for some global
39:48
SPEAKER_03: consumer
39:51
SPEAKER_03: whose growth,
39:52
SPEAKER_03: like a tumor, he leaps to learn than me.
40:02
SPEAKER_03: I'm a lover of England.
40:08
SPEAKER_03: Her wildlife and wisdom I have walked the land o'er And I've seen what's been done
40:23
SPEAKER_03: On those roads
40:26
SPEAKER_01: I have
40:27
SPEAKER_03: followed
40:29
SPEAKER_03: Through a land that's been swallowed
40:35
SPEAKER_03: Land tortured
40:38
SPEAKER_03: And hollowed for three pounds a ton.
40:45
SPEAKER_03: And I'll hear no excuses for those whose abuses have put to such uses the land of their birth.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: Till there's nothing grows a feat,
41:12
SPEAKER_03: But slight heaps of profit, For some high flyer not fit, To live on this earth.
41:28
SPEAKER_03: Let their slaves justify it,
41:39
SPEAKER_03: How nightly they tried and seemed to succeed,
41:46
SPEAKER_03: that our world
41:51
SPEAKER_03: has been wasted, skin skewered and basted.
42:01
SPEAKER_03: For a dream which once tasted, Consumed us with three.
42:13
SPEAKER_03: Are my people at death then, From a lie that's been fed them?
42:22
SPEAKER_03: Those bright
42:32
SPEAKER_03: While our last open spaces,
42:40
SPEAKER_03: all the sweet, special places,
42:46
SPEAKER_03: are forgotten like faces that used to be ours.
42:59
SPEAKER_03: And I dreamed I was going
43:05
SPEAKER_03: Where tall trees are growing
43:13
SPEAKER_03: Where nine rivers flowing Roll down to the sea
43:22
SPEAKER_03: Tis thee I love the blessed then
43:30
SPEAKER_03: But I'll never rest there
43:36
SPEAKER_03: Till there's no life oppressed there And my land is free.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: Remember to come on Thursday if you feel like you want to gather in a circle
44:09
SPEAKER_00: and intend your winter and autumn and yeah,
44:15
SPEAKER_00: just add a bit of juice and mystic magic to your autumn winter time.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: I'll drop the link in and yeah,
44:27
SPEAKER_00: remember I'm doing different things over the Autumn and winter,
44:31
SPEAKER_00: some online and some in person.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: And I'd really love you to be there.
44:35
SPEAKER_00: I'd really love to see all of you.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: And I'd really love for us all to just keep on connecting,
44:41
SPEAKER_00: keep on looking each other in the eyes,
44:44
SPEAKER_00: keep on, yeah, just being together because it's, yeah.
44:51
SPEAKER_00: You know why, I don't need to say because anything.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: You know why.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: It's all we've got really, isn't it?