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Arabian Nights Double Bill · Mooney's Mythic Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Mooney's Mythic Podcast.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: This is our storytelling podcast.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting by the fire and I've got the Arabian Nights open in front of me.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: um it's just great great to take a break from the snow queen that's what I'm
0:29
SPEAKER_01: working on which I'll be um telling with Sarah Curtis next week hope you're coming
0:35
SPEAKER_01: 19th of December in Glastonbury I was thinking that um
0:39
SPEAKER_00: It sold out last year and it was a much bigger venue.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: So if you're thinking of coming,
0:45
SPEAKER_00: either get your tickets online or rumble up at seven so that you can definitely get in.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's been really good.
0:55
SPEAKER_01: It goes into seven sections, the story.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: So we're just looking at which songs to put in between the seven sections.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: And the themes, they're so magical.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: There's so much magic.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Just any moment you could pluck out a bit and look into it as a kind of portal of transformation,
1:17
SPEAKER_01: as a way to look deeply into your soul.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm loving that aspect of it.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: And I'll tell it on the pod after the 19th at some point, maybe sort of in that
1:30
SPEAKER_01: in between Christmas and New Year I'll tell it did you know that it's the um it's
1:35
SPEAKER_01: the the inspiration for Frozen you probably all do I don't know the story that well
1:42
SPEAKER_01: I've never told the story before so I'm really looking forward to telling it and um
1:46
SPEAKER_01: I could only manage to get halfway through Frozen um yeah I wasn't really doing it
1:52
SPEAKER_00: for me
1:53
SPEAKER_00: But I hope that our rendition can do it for you and that,
1:58
SPEAKER_01: yeah,
1:58
SPEAKER_01: that we can really bring the magic of the story to you.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: But on to today's story,
2:07
SPEAKER_01: because not last week,
2:10
SPEAKER_01: but the week before I started telling a story from Arabian Nights and I've told it.
2:16
SPEAKER_01: almost half of this story you can go back and listen to the first bit not last pod
2:22
SPEAKER_01: but the pod before if you want to um and of course that would be the proper thing
2:29
SPEAKER_01: to do but i'm
2:31
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I would have the discipline to do that.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just going to give you a little, just let you know where we are.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: In the first pod of Arabian Nights,
2:40
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you the whole story around the book and the stories and everything.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to go through that again.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to say that Shaharazad, who's the storyteller, she's telling the story and it's morning.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: So she's become quiet at this point.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: And at this point in the story,
3:02
SPEAKER_01: There is a woman, an old magical woman that has come to the garden gate of a young, beautiful woman.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: The beautiful woman is called Farizad of the Roses Smile.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: Her dad just calls her Roses Smile.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: And she says, you've got a lovely garden.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: She's the daughter of a gardener.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: You've got a lovely garden, but your garden would be much better if it had three things in it.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: And she tells her what those three things are.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: A talking bird, the singing tree and the gold water.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: And that is where we are going to begin.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So here we go.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: You have not told me where I can get these things from.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: Where are they to be found?
3:49
SPEAKER_01: The old woman answered as she rose to depart.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: Dear Mistress,
3:55
SPEAKER_01: these three marvels,
3:57
SPEAKER_01: which are worthy of your eyes alone,
4:01
SPEAKER_01: lie in a place near the frontiers of India,
4:04
SPEAKER_01: and the road to them leads behind this palace.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: If you ever send anyone to look for them,
4:12
SPEAKER_01: tell him to follow the road for twenty days and on the twentieth day to say to the
4:20
SPEAKER_01: first man whom he meets,
4:22
SPEAKER_01: where are the talking bird,
4:24
SPEAKER_01: the singing tree and the gold water?
4:28
SPEAKER_01: The stranger will answer with the necessary directions.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: Now may Allah reward the generosity of your soul with all things which have been created for beauty.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: His blessing be upon you, O blessed one.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: Murmuring further benedictions, the old woman wrapped her draperies about her and retired.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: When she had gone,
4:54
SPEAKER_01: Farizad came out of the dream which her words occasioned and would have run after
4:59
SPEAKER_01: her to ask more precise directions.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: Then,
5:03
SPEAKER_01: seeing that it was too late,
5:05
SPEAKER_01: she repeated over and over again the few instructions which she had obtained so
5:10
SPEAKER_01: that she might not forget them.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: What does he say?
5:16
SPEAKER_01: Rumi, the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: Don't go back to sleep.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: Though she tried not to think of the three marvels she felt an irresistible desire
5:31
SPEAKER_01: rising in her soul to possess them or see them at the least.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: She walked in the alleys of her garden and visited the familiar nooks of it but all
5:42
SPEAKER_01: was without charm for her and full of weariness.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: She found importunate the voices of the birds who gave her greeting as she wandered.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: Farazad became sad
5:56
SPEAKER_01: and wept along the alleys.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Her tears, as they fell, left a trail of pearls behind her on the sands of the paths.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: Soon Farid and Farooz,
6:09
SPEAKER_01: I think they're her brothers,
6:11
SPEAKER_01: returned from hunting and not finding their sister,
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Farizad,
6:16
SPEAKER_01: under the jasmine bower where she usually waited their return,
6:20
SPEAKER_01: were grieved at her negligence and went to look for her
6:24
SPEAKER_01: Almost at once they found the pearls of her tears lying upon the sand of the alleys
6:30
SPEAKER_01: and said to each other,
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Our sister is sad.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: What can have troubled her soul to make her weep?
6:38
SPEAKER_01: They followed the trail of pearls and presently found her crying in a thicket.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm just seeing myself following my own trail of pearls into the sad parts of
6:51
SPEAKER_01: myself to sit by them and see what they want,
6:55
SPEAKER_01: to listen to them.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: And here the brothers petted her saying,
7:01
SPEAKER_01: little Farazad,
7:03
SPEAKER_01: where are the roses of your joy and the gold of your gaiety?
7:06
SPEAKER_01: Answer us, oh sister.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Farizad smiled faintly because she loved them and a very little rose was borne crimson upon her lips.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh my brothers, she said and fell silent.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: She was ashamed of her first desire.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: What is this unknown trouble, oh rose smile, they asked.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: Trust in our love and tell us of your grief.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: So Farizad decided to tell and said,
7:41
SPEAKER_00: I do not love my garden.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: Then she wept and the pearls fell from her eyes upon the grass.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: I do not love my garden anymore, she said again as they waited in anxious silence.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: There is no talking bird, no singing tree and no gold water in it.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Thinking about the red shoes and about how
8:08
SPEAKER_01: She's made to feel ashamed of everything that she's made herself,
8:13
SPEAKER_01: her homemade life,
8:14
SPEAKER_01: and she's made to feel like other things are more special and she feels inferior.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about the times in my life when I've totally bought that.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: Swayed by the intensity of her desire,
8:33
SPEAKER_01: Farazad told her brothers excitedly of the good old woman's visit and of the
8:38
SPEAKER_01: excellence of the talking bird,
8:40
SPEAKER_01: the singing tree and the gold water.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: Her brothers were astonished and said to her, calm your eyes and refresh your dear soul, my sister.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: Even were these things upon the inaccessible peak of the great mountain calf, we would bring them to you.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: Tell us where they are to be found so that our search may be easier.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: blushing again because she had expressed her first desire.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: Farizad told them what the woman had said of the way.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: That is all I know of it, she added.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: But they cried together.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: We will set forth at once, dear sister.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
9:18
SPEAKER_01: if navigating was as easy as,
9:20
SPEAKER_01: you know,
9:20
SPEAKER_01: follow that road for 20 days,
9:22
SPEAKER_01: then I was the first person you see.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: I think I'd go on way more adventures.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: That's not as easy as that.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: for me but may it be as easy as that to map our hearts and may it be as easy as
9:37
SPEAKER_01: that for us to put one foot in front of the other towards our desires but the first
9:43
SPEAKER_01: thing as she teaches us is to express our desire no do not go do not go my brothers
9:56
SPEAKER_01: and then she said to the eldest
10:01
SPEAKER_01: please don't go and she said your desire is upon our head and before our eyes oh
10:08
SPEAKER_01: pharizade but it is for the elder to fulfil it my horse is still saddled and will
10:14
SPEAKER_01: carry me to the frontiers of india without flagging
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Then to his brother Firuzi continued, "'You must stay here to watch over our sister.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: "'She must not be left alone at the house.'
10:26
SPEAKER_01: He leapt into the saddle and bent down to kiss his brother and sister.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: "'Dismount, dear brother,' cried Farizad.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: "'Give up this journey, for it may be full of danger.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: "'Rather than suffer your absence,
10:38
SPEAKER_01: I will never to see...
10:38
SPEAKER_01: "'I wish never to see the talking bird,
10:41
SPEAKER_01: the singing tree,
10:41
SPEAKER_01: and the gold water.'
10:43
SPEAKER_01: But Farid kissed her again, saying, "'Little sister!'
10:47
SPEAKER_01: Have no fear for me, my absence will not be long, and I am sure that Allah means me no harm by the way.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: See, I give you this knife, whose hilt is crusted with the pearls of the first tears you ever shed.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: It will keep you informed of my condition.'
11:05
SPEAKER_01: Examine the blade from time to time.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: As long as it stays clean and bright, you will know that I am well unfortunate.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: But if it shows dull or rusty, I shall have met with some accident or been thrown into captivity.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: If it becomes spotted with blood, you may be certain that I have ceased to live.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: Should that happen, I beg the two of you to call down the compassion of Allah upon me.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: He handed the knife to his sister and galloped off,
11:35
SPEAKER_01: without waiting for a reply,
11:37
SPEAKER_01: along the road which led to India.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: He rode for twenty days and twenty nights,
11:45
SPEAKER_01: through solitudes filled only with green grass and the presence of God,
11:51
SPEAKER_01: and on the twentieth day came to a meadowland at the foot of a mountain.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: In this meadow there was a tree and beneath the tree a very old man was seated.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: His face was hidden entirely by the long hair of his head,
12:10
SPEAKER_01: by the unkept tufts of his eyebrows and by a prodigious beard as white as new
12:16
SPEAKER_01: carded wool.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: His arms and legs were very thin, his hands and feet were tipped with nails of extraordinary length.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: With his left hand he had a chaplet of beads and while he held his right hand
12:30
SPEAKER_01: immovable at the height of his brow with his index finger raised to attest to the
12:36
SPEAKER_01: unity of Allah,
12:38
SPEAKER_01: there can be no doubt that he was an old ascetic who had left the world for unknown
12:45
SPEAKER_01: years and years.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: As this was the first stranger whom Farid had encountered on the twentieth day,
12:55
SPEAKER_01: he dismounted and advanced towards him,
12:57
SPEAKER_01: saying,
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Greetings,
12:58
SPEAKER_01: holy man.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: The Sheikh answered his greeting,
13:02
SPEAKER_01: but his voice was so muffled by the thick moustache and beard that Farid could not
13:06
SPEAKER_01: recognise the words he said.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: I must make him hear, said Farid to himself, for he had but halted to enquire his way.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: Taking a pair of scissors from his haversack,
13:18
SPEAKER_01: he said,
13:19
SPEAKER_01: venerable uncle,
13:20
SPEAKER_01: allow me to give you some few attentions,
13:23
SPEAKER_01: which your ceaseless preoccupation in saintly thought has prevented you from
13:27
SPEAKER_01: accomplishing yourself.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to say that next time someone complains about my hairy legs.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: It is because I have been ceaselessly preoccupied in saintly thought.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: As the old man said neither yes or no,
13:43
SPEAKER_01: the prince set himself to cut and trim the mighty beard,
13:47
SPEAKER_01: the moustaches,
13:48
SPEAKER_01: brows and hair and finally the nails until the snipping and paring had shorn away
13:54
SPEAKER_01: twenty years at least.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: Then, as barbers do, he said, may it be a refreshment and a delight.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: When the old man felt himself lightened from all this encumbrance,
14:07
SPEAKER_01: he was extremely satisfied and said to the traveller with a benign smile and a
14:12
SPEAKER_01: voice as clear as a child's,
14:14
SPEAKER_01: May Allah shower his blessings upon you,
14:18
SPEAKER_01: my son,
14:19
SPEAKER_01: for the courteous attention which you have paid to a very old man.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: And I myself, a traveller of good omen, am ready to...
14:32
SPEAKER_01: to help you with my counsels and experience.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: I have come from far off to find the talking bird, the singing tree and the gold water, answered Farid.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me in what place I must look for them?
14:51
SPEAKER_01: The old man suddenly ceased to tell his beads, but he did not answer, so Fareed asked again.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: Why do you not speak, uncle?
15:00
SPEAKER_01: I do not wish to allow my horse to grow cold, if you do not know.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: I know the place, my son, and the road which leads to it, replied the old man at length.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: the favour which you have done me is so great that I cannot make up my mind to
15:18
SPEAKER_01: expose you to the terrible dangers of such an enterprise.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: Turn back,
15:23
SPEAKER_01: my son,
15:24
SPEAKER_01: and ride to your own place,
15:26
SPEAKER_01: for many and many a young man has passed this way before you,
15:31
SPEAKER_01: and not one has ever returned.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Only show me the way,
15:35
SPEAKER_01: said Fareed proudly,
15:37
SPEAKER_01: and do not trouble yourself about the rest,
15:40
SPEAKER_01: for Allah has given me a strong arm.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: How will a strong arm defend you against the invisible?
15:49
SPEAKER_01: demanded the old man slowly.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Especially when those of the invisible are numbered in thousands upon thousands.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: There is no power or might, save in Allah, O Sheik, exclaimed Farid.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: My destiny is about my neck.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: If I turn from it, it will follow me.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: Only tell me what I must do, and I will be eternally obliged.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: When the old man of the tree saw that he could not dissuade this young adventurer,
16:22
SPEAKER_01: he put his hand in a bag which hung about his waist and drew from it a ball of red granite.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: This he handed to Fareed,
16:31
SPEAKER_01: saying,
16:35
SPEAKER_01: At this point,
16:36
SPEAKER_01: Shaharazad saw the approach of mourning and discreetly fell silent.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: So she stops.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: And the king, who's planning to sentence her to death,
16:54
SPEAKER_01: is so wrapped in the story and has been wrapped in the story for hundreds of nights.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: It allows her to live another day so she can tell the story.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: And then,
17:07
SPEAKER_01: when the seven hundred and seventy-seventh night had come,
17:12
SPEAKER_01: she said,
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Mount your horse and throw this ball in front of you.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: It will roll ahead and guide you.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: When it stops, dismount and fasten your horse's bridle to the ball.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Then the animal will wait your return without moving from that place.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: climb on foot up that mountain whose summit we can see from here you will behold
17:34
SPEAKER_01: great black stones on every side and you will hear voices which are not of the
17:38
SPEAKER_01: torrents not of the winds in the abyss for they belong to those of the invisible
17:45
SPEAKER_01: They will shout terrible words at you, enough to freeze the blood of man.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: But you must not listen,
17:51
SPEAKER_01: for if you look behind you while they call from near and far,
17:55
SPEAKER_01: you will be changed to a black stone like the others.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: If you can resist their calling and come to the top of the mountain,
18:04
SPEAKER_01: you will find a cage there with the talking bird inside it.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: You must say, greeting, O Bulbul Ahadar.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Where is the singing tree?
18:16
SPEAKER_01: Where is the gold water?
18:19
SPEAKER_01: And the talking bird will answer, And Allah have you in his keeping.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: The old man sighed and fell silent.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: As he spoke no more, Fareed leapt into the saddle and threw the ball in front of him with all his force.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: The round red granite rolled and rolled and rolled before,
18:40
SPEAKER_01: and Fareed's horse,
18:41
SPEAKER_01: which was as a stream of light,
18:43
SPEAKER_01: among other horses could hardly follow it through the briars it broke the hollows
18:48
SPEAKER_01: it leapt and the little hills it overcame it did not slacken its pace until it came
18:54
SPEAKER_01: among the first rocks of the mountain but there it stopped suddenly Prince Farid
19:01
SPEAKER_01: dismounted and twisted the bridle of his horse about the granite ball at once the
19:06
SPEAKER_01: creature grew still upon its four legs as if it had been nailed to the ground
19:14
SPEAKER_01: At first Varid heard nothing as he began to climb the mountain,
19:19
SPEAKER_01: and only saw about him as he went masses of black balsals shaped like human bodies.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Though he did not know it,
19:30
SPEAKER_01: these were the bodies of the young lords who had gone before him into that desolate place.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly a cry rose among the rocks,
19:42
SPEAKER_01: such as he had never heard before,
19:45
SPEAKER_00: and two other cries followed it,
19:47
SPEAKER_00: to right,
19:48
SPEAKER_00: to left,
19:48
SPEAKER_00: which could not have been issued from a man's throat,
19:52
SPEAKER_00: or nor were they the howlings of savage winds among the rocks,
19:55
SPEAKER_00: and nor were they the moaning waters of the torrent,
19:58
SPEAKER_00: nor the sound of cataracts hurling themselves into a measureless abyss,
20:03
SPEAKER_01: for they were the voices of those of the invisible.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Some said
20:14
SPEAKER_01: Some said, stop him, kill him, stop him, kill him.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: Some said, throw him down, throw him down.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: And some said, he is charming, he is charming.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Come to us, come to us.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: Prince Farid went on climbing bravely without turning his head.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: But soon the voices became so numerous and terrible,
20:44
SPEAKER_01: sometimes bellowing and touching his face with their breath,
20:48
SPEAKER_01: sometimes far off and far behind,
20:51
SPEAKER_01: sometimes so menacing and sometimes so seductive,
20:56
SPEAKER_01: that at last the poor boy trembled in spite of himself and,
21:02
SPEAKER_01: forgetting the advice of the old man of the tree,
21:05
SPEAKER_01: turned his head in the direction...
21:10
SPEAKER_01: of a more frightful cry which breathed upon his face.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: At once the voices rose to a single laughing yell of triumph and then fell awfully
21:22
SPEAKER_01: silent as Prince Farid changed where he stood into a block of black basalt.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: and his horse also was turned to a formless black rock at the foot of the mountain
21:40
SPEAKER_01: and the ball of red granite rolled back towards the old man's tree.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: When Princess Farizard made her examination of the knife on that day,
21:56
SPEAKER_01: she turned pale and trembled because the bright blade had become dull and rusted
22:03
SPEAKER_01: Farid ran out to help her and she lapsed into his arms, crying, Farid, Farid, where are you?
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh, why did I let you go?
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I am unhappy.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Farid.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: She sobbed as if her heart would break.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: And Prince Verouz, though he was not less afflicted, set himself to console her.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: It was fated to happen, he said.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: Now I will set out to find our brother and also bring you back the three things which you desire.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Do not go for my silly wishes, she begged.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: If misfortune befell you also, I should die.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: But her tears could not turn the second brother from his resolution.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: He mounted his horse and after kissing his sister farewell,
22:52
SPEAKER_01: gave her a chaplet of pearls made from the second tears which she had wept as a child.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: If ever these pearls seem stuck together and will not run through your fingers,
23:02
SPEAKER_01: he said,
23:03
SPEAKER_01: you may know that I have met the same fate as my brother.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: Farizad embraced him sadly, sighing.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: God grant that does not happen.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: And off he set.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: And on the twentieth day of his riding, he found the old man of the tree sitting as Farid had seen him.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: After greeting,
23:26
SPEAKER_01: the sheik informed the prince of his brother's passing and made every effort of
23:31
SPEAKER_01: eloquence to turn him back.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: But seeing he could not shake his resolve,
23:36
SPEAKER_01: he gave him the ball of red granite,
23:38
SPEAKER_01: which led him to the foot of the fatal mountain.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: Prince Varuz climbed courageously.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: The voices rose above his steps, but he would not listen to them.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: Menaces, curses and flattering calls, they had no effect on him.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: But a sudden, desolate cry of, Brother, brother, dear brother, don't pass by me, made him turn his head.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: And he was at once turned into black basalt.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: It's like,
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Prometheus in the underworld, isn't it?
24:12
SPEAKER_01: If you look around then she's turned to stone.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: She turns to dust actually, doesn't she?
24:23
SPEAKER_01: That's not Prometheus, it's Orpheus.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: I was getting confused myself then.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: Sorry to disturb your story listening with my trickle.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm going to read for another page and then I think I'll read the last third a bit later on.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Farazad seized not day and night from telling the pearls and when on the 20th day
24:49
SPEAKER_01: they no longer obeyed her fingers but seemed stuck together
24:53
SPEAKER_01: She cried, oh, poor, devoted brothers, lost through my caprice.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: I come, I come.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: She fought down her sorrow and would waste no moment in lamentation.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: She disguised herself as a man and set out on horseback upon the same road, armed from head to heel.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm quite into it now.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: She's going.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: That's got me back into it.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: On the 20th day, she came upon the old man sitting under his tree.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: "'Have you seen two young and handsome lords pass by,
25:25
SPEAKER_01: "'seeking the talking bird,
25:26
SPEAKER_01: the singing tree,
25:27
SPEAKER_01: and the gold water?'
25:28
SPEAKER_01: "'Sweet Mistress Farizard of the Roses' smile,' answered the old man.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: "'I both saw them and gave them direction.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: "'But I fear that those of the invisible have caught them, "'as they have caught so many others.'
25:44
SPEAKER_01: Hearing the old man call her by her name,
25:47
SPEAKER_01: Farizad stood in perplexed silence while the saint continued,
25:52
SPEAKER_01: Mistress of splendour,
25:54
SPEAKER_01: those who spoke to you of the three incomparable things so often sought upon this
25:59
SPEAKER_01: road by lords and princes told you the truth,
26:03
SPEAKER_01: but they did not say that terrible danger hedges the undertaking with impossibility.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: He told the princess all that she risked in going after her brothers,
26:14
SPEAKER_01: but she replied,
26:15
SPEAKER_01: O holy man,
26:16
SPEAKER_01: my soul is troubled within me,
26:18
SPEAKER_01: for it is a soul easily frightened.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: But I cannot turn back when the safety of my brothers is concerned.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Hearken to a loving sister's prayer and show me a way to deliver them.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: And so he gave her the granite ball.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: And he said you will never free them until you have gained possession of the three marvels.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: Yet as you do not risk your immortal soul from any desire to vanquish the impossible,
26:48
SPEAKER_01: but only from love of your brothers,
26:50
SPEAKER_01: the impossible shall become your slave.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: No human may resist the calling of the invisible,
26:57
SPEAKER_01: but the sons of men may use guile against their strength and come off victorious.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: I think we'll probably find out what that means later on.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm a bit confused by that.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: So off she goes.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: Following the ball as her brothers had done and began hardily to climb the mountain.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: And the voices rose above her feet.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: just looking to see how much we've got left.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: The voices rose above her feet among the rocks of black basalt in a terrible howling,
27:37
SPEAKER_01: but she heard only a vague humming and being unable to distinguish any words felt
27:42
SPEAKER_01: no fright at all.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Though her feet were only used to the fine sands of her garden alleys,
27:49
SPEAKER_01: she went on unwearying and came at last to the top of the mountain.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: There in a flat space,
27:55
SPEAKER_01: she saw a gold cage standing on a gold pedestal,
27:59
SPEAKER_01: holding the talking bird bright within it.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: She ran forward and placed her hand upon the cage crying, I have you bird, you shall never escape me.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: And at the same time she pulled the wisps of cotton from her ears and threw them far from her.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: She had put cotton in her ears, clever girl, for already the voices like Odysseus.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: for already the voices of the invisible were still and a silence slept upon the mountain.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: At this point, Scheherazade saw the approach of morning and discreetly fell silent.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: I think I will leave it there and I'll record another.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: I'll finish it off in another pod.
28:49
SPEAKER_01: I hope that you are learning, remembering how to really rest in this winter.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: I hope if you are listening to this in the winter in which I recorded it in,
29:05
SPEAKER_01: that,
29:05
SPEAKER_01: yeah,
29:06
SPEAKER_01: you're really letting your bones drop and drop and drop.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: And in February, I'm going to be at the Chalicewell Gardens doing a retreat for a week.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to take the story of Tatterhood, which is a wild old story.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to create rituals and ceremony and initiations,
29:29
SPEAKER_01: rites of passage through the story in the gardens together.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: That's what we'll be doing there for a week.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: So I'd love to have you on board.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: If you want to come, it's such a place.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: It really is such a holy place to be.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: And I just can feel and I know that it's from hundreds and hundreds of years,
29:57
SPEAKER_01: these kinds of rites of passage ceremonies and celebrations have been
30:03
SPEAKER_01: created there um yeah and we'll go over to the white spring as well and have a
30:08
SPEAKER_01: sunday service or something at the white spring but for now my darlings um i will
30:16
SPEAKER_01: see you again um at another pod and if you um feel like um buying me
30:24
SPEAKER_01: um a coffee then you can you can sign up to my um patreon page which is mooney's
30:32
SPEAKER_01: mythic podcast on patreon and um until then blessings and peace