Cantatur in Taberna

Dear Listener,

Mevlana tells a story about a wandering sufi who comes to a monastery and stays there. Unbeknown to him, they sell his donkey and use the money to prepare a tremendous feast.The whole community goes wild through the night. The climax of the celebration finds the wanderer dancing with his hosts and everyone is chanting "the donkey has gone, the donkey has gone". When he wakes in the morning he finds out what has happened but they say to him, "we thought you knew what we had done, after all you were singing with us 'the donkey has gone' all night long."

Well, that and many other things were in the back of my mind when I wrote this story. I enjoyed writing it very much and I hope you enjoy listening to it. My apologies to all natives of Yorkshire and Geordieland whose inflections I have ineptly bastardised for the voices of some of the characters.

Here is a direct link to this episode for those who prefer it that way. This week's soundtrack comes from two projects featuring Tim Rayborn's music: his album "Honey from the Thorn" and his work with Canconier in "The Black Dragon". You can get both albums on Magnatune.

Sweet dreams ...