-Diaper box quote: "For HIM and HER!"-
Had a surprisingly vivid dream last night, considering that -- as I predicted in yesterday's post -- I got to sleep somewhere around... this morning. Some sort of camping trip, in which I somehow got around to pretending to be a Roman commoner (some other dude played the emperor) in an RV which was rather precariously tipped forward. And also, at the end I dreamt I was recording the dream in my dream journal, and almost smelled a rat. Reason? I was only writing in the ending -- the beginning of the dream was magically already written. I kind of sort of suspected something might be up (probably because "writing in my dream journal" is a popular tricksy false awakening for me) but woke up before I thought to do more detailed reality checking.
Weird thing that happens in the shower, for me. I'll be doing my thing, washing up, singing perhaps, all that, and (usually right after I cease singing to myself) the shower will sing back to me. I know this is likely some sort of cognitive trick brought on by the random noises of the water and the pipes being muscled into coherent music by my rabidly pattern-seeking brain, but it's still kind of interesting to hear a ghostly little girl's voice singing (complete with words, I might add) after me. The most annoying part: the shower is more likely to sing on-key than I.
Listen for it next time you're in the shower. It's fun, in it's own weird way.
Reality check. I wonder how many folktales are spawned by similar cognitive tricks?
6 years ago
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In Welsh mythology there is a tale of a "simple woman" who used to wash under a waterfall. One day a man (the hero of this tale within a tale) rides past and sees this (naked) woman under the waterfall singing to herself. He is so besotted with her beauty (her singing) that he stops and ponders. The woman soon turns and sees the man, causing her to slip and fall on the wet rocks. She bashes her head and dies by the time the man (hero) has reached her in the hope of saving her. After that, the waterfall always seemed to have a sad wilting song mixed in with it's natural sound.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about the story is that, at this point, the hero kinda becomes the anti-hero. And as I recall, the footnotes of the anthology I was reading suggested that the origins of that part of the larger narrative might be seen as an early example of a radical feminist approach - even though the original script was written by a man.
The notes also stressed that it was probably an early example of the appreciation of nature itself - which I'm more inclined to agree with.
Whatever way you look at it, it certainly gives food for thaught the next time you are singing in the shower. ;)