Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today we will share this tale from the book Kalila Wa Dimna by Ramsay Wood, where he brings some of the ancient and timeless tales to life once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also as we begin today \u2018let us remember this about \u2018Attention\u2019.<\/strong> <\/em>Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. We feed the hunger blindly. Once the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n THE PET OF A PRINCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018When I was a fawn barely three months from my mother\u2019s womb I already ran precociously well \u2013 even for a gazelle. I adored the clean freedom of flashing my limbs in air over ground rough or smooth. But I knew nothing about traps or snares or the wiliness of men. One day I wandered too far from the herd and, while leaping about with the carefree friskiness of youth \u2013 ignoring warning cries from the older females, including my dear mother \u2013 I tumbled into a netted pit and became hopelessly entangled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hunter who caught me was a retainer to The Royal Household and eventually I was presented to the king, who gave me to his son, a boy of eleven or twelve. The prince delighted in my company in his rather rough, spoiled way. He petted me and stuffed me full of my favourite foods. He also hung his arms around my neck; pulled my ears, nose, lips, eyelashes, and tail; stuck his fingers in any of my body\u2019s orifices whenever; he felt like it; and rubbed disgustingly sweet perfumes into to my coat. His spifflications grew so unbearable that one night during a storm my feelings suddenly erupted. I was hiding under The Prince\u2019s bed watching jagged lightning flash against the dark, swift running clouds. There was shattering, God-Almighty doom \u2013crack, then a violent crash of thunder, and I cried out, \u201cO Fate, when again will I run with the haphazard herd, gazelles driven by the wind and rain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho said that?\u201d called out The Prince.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had forgotten he was sleeping on the mattress above. \u201cWho spoke?\u201d he asked again, lighting a candle and searching all about the room until he found me shivering under his bed. \u201cDapple?\u201d he asked, for it was he who gave me that name. \u201cDapple?\u201d he repeated, his eyes widening behind the flickering flame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something fragile seemed to shift deep inside The Prince. \u201cMy gazelle spoke to me!\u201d he exclaimed, louder this time. Then he flung his arms apart, hurling the lit candle and its holder right across the room, and shrieked, \u201cDapple spoke to me!\u201d<\/em> By the time his servants arrived to grab him he was screaming like an idiot from the open window, ranting and raving into the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They had to bind him with silken sashes to keep him down in bed. He was feverish and hysterical. The King came in the middle of the night and was dreadfully upset. On and on The Prince babbled about his talking gazelle. I was beaten and kicked about the room, for it was assumed I had caused his madness in some unaccountable way. Uproar reigned all night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morning brought doctor after doctor, all impotent to diagnose or treat The Prince\u2019s malady \u2013 despite stupendous rewards promised by The King. Finally an old medicine man appeared, one reputedly able to read signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou stupid people!\u201d he roared as soon as he was admitted to the room. \u201cWhat do you mean by beating this poor gazelle!\u201d He rushed over and gathered me tenderly into his arms. The King raised his palm to halt servants from ejecting such an unruly person. We approached The Prince\u2019s bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou abominable child,\u201d the shaman began fiercely, fixing the boy with a terrible glare, \u201cof course your gazelle spoke to you! Don\u2019t you realize that all animals can speak? But they never do so in the company of pitiful humans! This poor creature of God spoke her heart\u2019s desire, forgetting you were there. The storm stirred yearnings for her own kind, and she truly spoke the words you heard: \u2018O Fate, when again will I run with the haphazard herd, gazelles driven by the wind and rain?\u2019 So there is nothing wrong with you. This illness is all pretence in the mind. I\u2019m going to count to three, untie you, and you will be permanently cured of this psychosomatic nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The old man put me down and counted to three. He loosened The Prince\u2019s bonds and said, \u201cNow get up and get on with it! There is nothing the matter with you!\u201d The boy rose and indeed was cured. A huge smile spread across his young face, and The King leapt forward to clasp him to his bosom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The old medicine man refused any reward. \u201cI don\u2019t want your gold,\u201d he said to The King, \u201cI want your understanding.\u201d He left the palace and I never saw him again. The next day, after I had been pampered by The Prince as never before, I was taken to the spot of my capture and released. Soon I rejoined my herd and lived happily for many years until the calamity which sped me here!\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt from Doctor\u2019s orders:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I must emphasize this last point: my stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, wretched imaginings, or vapid guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing away the effective substance. Thus the urge to tag tidy little rationalizations, persuasive formulas, intellectual summaries, symbolical labels, or any other convenient pigeon-holing device, must be steadfastly resisted. Mental encapsulation perverts the medicine, rendering it impotent. It amounts to a bypass around the story\u2019s true destination; to explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 \u2013 Ramsay Wood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n