Date: Sun 16 Jul 89 12:11:50 From: Magenta Griffith (on 1:282/8) Subj: The Origin of Music One of the stories of Creation is that the Goddess and the God turned into different animals, and mated in each form, and that is how all the kinds of creatures came to exist. She turned into a ewe, and He turned into a ram, so there were sheep, and so there still are. She turned into a hen, and He turned into rooster, and so we have chickens. Well, turning into all the animals and mating as each was very tiring, even for the Goddess and the God. Consequently when They were finished, They rested a good long time. After a while, though, the Goddess started feeling frisky again. And as it is, so it was, the God was still tired, and not yet ready to begin the games again. So the Goddess stood up, and started teasing Him. She shook Her hips, and threw back Her head, and waved Her arms. She shouted and wailed, like She was a cat in heat, and She stomped Her feet and thrust Her belly out. Pretty soon, Her movements became a dance, and Her noises became a song. She danced faster and faster, and sang louder and louder. After a while, the God got up, and joined Her in the dance. But He was still very tired, and She danced faster and faster, and so did He, until finally, He danced too fast, even for Him, and dropped down dead at Her feet. She was so entranced by Her own dancing, and so enchanted by Her own singing, that She didn't realized what had happened. She picked up the body of Her consort and danced with it. As She danced, Her hands moved of their own accord. She made the first drum by stretching His skin over His two largest ribs, and the drum began to beat. She put His teeth, and the smallest bones of His body into His skull, and that was the first rattle, and it began to shake. She drilled holes in His thighbone, and wind whistled through it, and that was the first flute. She drew His hair across two of His smaller ribs and that was the first lyre. She turned all of His skin, His bones, His hair and His whole body into music. Last thing, lying on the ground, was His penis. She picked that up, and popped it in Her mouth. And when She did, She stopped singing, and Her feet stopped dancing, and She realised was She had done. She spat out the penis. She took it, and gathered all the rest of the body of Her consort. She lovingly buried Him, and She planted an ash tree on the spot. But, She had created music, and invented the musical instruments, and what She had done She could not undo. When we play music, when we sing, when we dance, we are the Goddess, consorting with the God in yet another way. And since the God became the Tree, so we make our instruments from wood, rather than bone. That is how music came to be loose in the world, and music is with us to this day. *M* --- * Origin: FIRE OPAL - A Gem of an OPUS [Minneapolis, MN (612) 822-4812] (Opus 1:282/8)