English Wordplay ~ Listen and Enjoy
The Green Lady
dramatized by Shaun MacLoughlin from
Of Water and the Spirit
by Malidoma Patrice Somé
Ritual, Magic and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman
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| Malidoma Patrice Somé |
Among the Dagara of Burkina Faso there is no distinction between the natural and the supernatural: the living converse with ancestral spirits, and those with proper knowledge routinely travel to other worlds.
Malidoma Patrice Somé was born in a Dagara village only to be abducted as a small boy and taken to a Jesuit mission school, where for for fifteen years he was harshly indoctrinated in European ways of thought and worship. When he returned to his people, he had to undergo an initiation so rigorous that it might have killed him. Instead Malidoma's passage between two worlds resulted in an assignment to convey his people's knowledge to the West, leading to this story of rare healing and wisdonm.
Of Water and the Spirit dramatised by Shaun MacLoughlin as The Green Lady is a remarkable sharing of living African traditions, offered in compassion for those struggling with our contempoorary crisis of the spirit.
"Here is a man who has experienced ancient initiation in our time. The spiritual depth of African culture becomes clear." - Robert Bly.
It is planned to record this script
The Beginning of the Dramatisation
| CHANTING AND PERCUSSION AND THE SOUNDS OF THE AFRICAN BUSH (BURKINA FASO) UNDER OPENING ANNOUNCEMENTS. FADE | |||
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| MALIDOMA: |
My name is Malidoma. It means 'Friend to the Stranger'. I was born of the Dagara people in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Burkina Faso means 'Land of the Proud Ancestors'. We Dagara believe that each of us comes into this world with a special destiny. We believe our ancient spiritual knowledge can help to heal Western society before it is too late. When I was four I was kidnapped by Jesuit priests who tried to force me into the priesthood, but at the age of twenty I escaped. I walked a hundred and seventy five miles back to my village. There I risked my life to undergo a young man's initiation and be accepted by my people. But I never lost my Western education. I am a man of two worlds. This is my story. |
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| A WOMAN WALKING AND SINGING TO THE CHILD STRAPPEDTO HER BACK | |||
| MALIDOMA: | My mother used to carry me on her back when she collected wood. She loved music and perceived nature as song. | ||
| SOUND OF BOY RUNNING THROUGH BUSHES AND STOPPING | |||
| MALIDOMA: | When I was three, I chased a rabbit into an earthen hole, but instead of finding it, | ||
| FADE IN POSSIBLE ELECTRONIC MUSIC, SAMPLED FROM INDIGENOUS MUSIC | |||
| MALIDOMA: | I met an old man as small as the rabbit and dressed in Dagara costume. He had a glowing rainbow around him. Behind him I caught a glimpse of an immense world. | ||
| OLD MAN: | Why do you want to hurt the rabbit? He is your little brother. What did he do to you? | ||
| MALIDOMA AS A SMALL BOY: | I .... I ... don't know. | ||
| OLD MAN: | Be friendly to him. He too has a mother who cares for him. What would your mother say if you were hurt? | ||
| FADE MUSIC | |||
| MALIDOMA AS AN ADULT: | Children see many things that adults, especially adults in the West, don't see. But my mother believed.
She told me I had seen a kontomblé, a spirit from the underworld. She was worried that I had seen him too soon.
To save me from danger I should need initiation at a very early age.
In the village he was known as the "upside down shooter". Because if he wished to destroy an enemy, he would retire to the quiet of his chambers, place an arrow upside down on his bow, and magically hit his target. He had done this to many white men. He also regarded food as a necessary evil. He used to rage against adolescents who had no control of their appetite. |
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| GRANDFATHER: | Your initiation will be a bitter experience. You must learn to control the body's urge. Don't let physical satisfaction temper your warriorship. Remember our ancestors are spirits, they feed only their minds. That is why they can do things beyond our comprehension. | ||
| MALIDOMA: | He loved having me next to him. | ||
| GRANDFATHER: | I call you Brother because you are the reincarnation of Birifor my older brother. | ||
| MALAIDOMA AS A SMALL BOY: | If I am Birifor, why do you call me Malidoma? | ||
| GRANDFATHER: | Malidoma, Friend to the Enemy, is your true name. That is what our ancestors call you. Patrice was the name given to you by the Jesuits. Your father is friends with that white bearded man up on the hill. Catholics seem to like his medicine and the God he serves; but a god who sends his people so far from their home must be drinking very strong wine. | ||
| MALIDOMA; | Grandfather's room housed the pharmacy of the entire Birifor clan, an array of roots and talismans,
daily collected and nightly prepared, to face all sorts of illnesses and emergencies both spiritual and physical.
I entered his room for the first time just before he died.
I was only four. (CLOSE AND INTIMATE INTERIOR ACOUSTIC) |
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| GRANDFATHER: | The spirit of this room is using me to speak to you. Very soon you will leave home. You have been chosen to be the ear of your brothers and the mouth of your tribe. You will go to the West to learn the wisdom of the White Man and represent to them the truth we profess. It will be the hardest thing you ever do. Never forget where you come from. You are the reincarnation of Birifor, my brother, former priest of the tribe. You hold the destinies of thousands of your peoples. I salute you. Now I must go. | ||
| MALIDOMA: | Those were his last words to me. MALE AND FEMALE XYLOPHONES IN DIALOGUE, THE FUNERAL DRUM, LAMENTATIONS AND ECSTATIC CHANTS At his funeral millions of tears washed him to the realm of the dead' Unlike Westerners, the Dagara believe it is terrible to suppress oneŐs grief. Only by passionate expression can loss be tamed. Also the dead have the right to collect their share of tears. MIX FUNERAL EFFECTS INO THE SOUND OF THE SLOW BLOWING OF THE WÉLÉ , THE HUNTING WHISTLE, THE GALLOPING HOOVES OF AN APROACHING HERD OF DEER, THE YELLING OF THE ALARMED WOMEN On the third day of the funeral to the north east a cloud of dust darkened the sky. A herd of deer rushed towards us chest down, tossing their branchlike horns. PEOPLE RUN SCREAMING AWAY The most courageous mourners never moved. They knew the illusion of the herd was controlled from Grandfather's room. As the herd ran into the crowd, they melted into thin air. FADE TO SILENCE The elders had created this illusion, because of grandfather's close relationship, as hunter and healer, to the animal world. Just as the devout in the West used to see angels and the Irish saw leprechauns, so next we saw the Kontomblé from the underworld paying homage at grandfather's grave. They were short and red with pointed ears and genitals so long they had to roll them round their necks. Grandfather had told me that they were responsible for much of our joy, teaching us to brew millet beer. Their homes are in caves that serve as portals between our world and theirs. They faded away and then the chief medicine man intoned the closing ritual. |
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| THE BOBURO INTONES IN DAGARA: | We may never hear The thunder come out Of the lion's mouth We may never see his claws The claws that once served The peace of our village How much longer can we survive? Yé Yé Yé THE MALE XYLOPHONE STARTS AND THE MEN BEGIN TO SING: Pélé pélé, pélé pélé (Empty, empty, empty) The leaves of the branches The branches of the tree, All fed on the roots Now leaves without branches Branches without roots How do you stay alive? Ah! This village is lost. Yéééééé A MOURNFUL WAIL BEGUN BY THE MEN IS SUSTAINED BY THE WOMEN. IT DIES AWAY INTO OBLIVION TO THE REFRAIN OF THE XYLOPHONE |
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| MALIDOMA: | The funeral ground slowly emptied. Grandfather had truly died. A new era had begun. After the funeral, Elié my father locked himself in his room and would not speak to anyone. He faced the responsibilities of taking over Grandfather's spiritual duties, yet he didn't wish to give up the new religion that had won his heart. Father Maillot, the Jesuit missionary, visited us. He looked like a ghost. He had an immense nose the size of an anthill that looked down on his thick beard like a giraffe on a small tree. His eyes, like blue mirrors, were so transparent that they seemed to peer at me from the underworld. He talked to my father, but his Dagara was so bad, I could not understand. Father replied. |
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| FATHER: | I don't know. But if that is the will of God, I hope this time it doesn't mean death. | ||
| MALIDOMA: | When father had first abandoned the religion of his ancestors, two daughters,
one son and his first wife had all died.
Father stared at me. He said: |
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| FATHER: | Go outside and play. SOUND OF APPROACHING MOTORBIKE ON ROUGH TRACK. |
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| MALIDOMA: | A few days later, when father and mother had gone to the bush together on father's bicycle,
Father Maillot appeared on his motorbike. I ran and hid behind a huge clay pot. I felt an irresistible need to cough,
ONE SMALL BOY'S FRIGHTENED COUGH He found me, grabbed me and put me before him on the fuel tank of his enormous motorbike. It roared like a lion. THE MOTORBIKE STARTS LIKE "THE ROAR OF A LION" AND DISAPPEARS WHERE IT HAS COME FROM. Never again would I hear my mother's songs at work or join in the dances of the Birifor. Grandfather's prophecy had come true. At the age of five my childhood was coming to an end. MOTORBIKE ROARS AND FADES There were ten other boys at the Mission, most of whom like me, had been kidnapped. There we were beaten into learning French. Even today many of Africa's leaders were educated in this way. Is it surprising there is instability in so many African countries? SOUND EFFECTS OF CHALK ON BLACKBOARD |
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The Dramatization continues, and later in the play we come to:
The Green Lady
In dramatising Of Water and the Spirit
I was so inspired by this part of Malidoma's initiation that I named my dramatisation The Green Lady.
| MALIDOMA: | We were each told to select a tree. We were told to sit, stand or kneel about twenty metres from it and look hard at it. We were supposed to see something but were not told what. I chose a yila tree about ten metres high with a trunk less than a metre in diameter. As the sun got warm end warmer I stared at the tree for the next five hours. It got more and more exasperating. I thought about other things, about my life in the seminary. Sweat fell into my eyes and made them burn. I scratched around for leaves to rub them, when I heard a voice behind me. |
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| ELDER: | Back to work - now! You think cleaning your eyes will help? |
| MALIDOMA: | I noticed some of the other students were strolling around. Why didn't the Elder pick on them? |
| ELDER: | You won't get anywhere if your thoughts are watching one thing and your eyes another. Those boys have finished their assignment. |
| MALIDOMA: | I went on staring. As evening approached I heard the elder talking to another about me. |
| ELDER: | In his belly he is a full-bred White. He can't see. He can't push through the veil. Can the White man's power can only be experienced, if he first buries the truth? |
| MALIDOMA: | He came up to me. |
| ELDER: | That's it for the day. If you cannot see in the light, do you imagine you can see in the dark? |
| ROAR OF FIRE AND SINGING AND DANCING. | |
| MALIDOMA: | That night first we painted each other. Then we sang and danced around the fire. I soon lost my analytical sense and began to experience the other people there through a different sensory apparatus than the usual five senses. I experienced indescribable joy and had a vision of a river flowing golden like lava. I jumped into it and blacked out. |
| FADE SINGING AND DANCING | |
| The next day I was ordered to resume my gazing exercise. I was more relaxed than before, but there were a lot of elders watching me. I was determined to concentrate. | |
| BUZZ OF INSECT, GRUNT OF PAIN AND THEN LAUGHTER OF ELDERS | |
| It got hotter and hotter and then an insect bit me on the back. I scratched where it hurt and the elders started laughing. I decided I was not going to torture myself for the sake of a tree. I decided I would trick them. I called out. | |
| MALIDOMA: | (CALLING) I see an antelope sitting on its hind legs. (NARRATING) I kept my eyes fixed on the tree as if in fascination. |
| ELDER: | (LAUGHING WITH THE OTHER) An antelope sitting on its hind legs? Keep looking. (TO THE OTHER ELDERS) What did I tell you? He has become a liar like the white men. |
| LAUGHTER DIES AWAY | |
| MALIDOMA: | I was crying. I'd failed at my first initiation. What's more I'd been caught out in a lie.
I went on looking at the tree. Then I began speaking to it as if it had a life of its own.
I told her it was not her fault, but mine, I couldn't see. I was empty. It was mid afternoon when I felt a flash in my spirit like mild lightning and a cool breeze ran down my spine and into the ground. The sun, the forest, the elders and I, all began to realize I was in another reality and witnessing a miracle.
MUSIC The trees around my yila were glowing like fire. I felt as if I were at the centre of the universe, weightless, weak and innocent. For a moment I experienced deep fear, as one must feel when death is approaching. I looked at the tree again, I became aware that it was not a tree at all. Out of nowhere where the tree had stood appeared a tall woman dressed in black from head to foot. She wore a veil, but somehow I knew she was extremely beautiful and powerful. I felt intensity emanating from her and was pulled towards her, as one is to water after a day in the desert. She lifted her veil revealing an unearthly face. She was green, light green from the inside out. Her eyes were small and luminescent. She was smiling. Her teeth were violet and there was light emanating from them. It was as if her body were filled with green fluid and that this green was the expression of immeasurable love. 
Never before had I felt so much love, but it was not like a romantic or filial love. I was grateful to heaven for releasing her back to me. We flew into each other's arms. My body became millions of conscious cells all longing to reunite with her. I felt as if I were moving backward in time and forward in space. She embraced me as if I was a small boy in her powerful arms and she spoke softly and tenderly to me. No human could sustain this degree of happiness for even a day. I cannot divulge what she said to me. That is a secret that must be honoured. I lifted my face and read departure in her eyes. In despair I clung hard to her soft body ..... FADE MUSIC But the hardness became rough under my hands and when I opened my eyes, I realised I was clinging to the tree. The elders had moved closer to me. |
| ELDER: | (GENTLY) Go and find something to eat and make your bed for the night. |
The dramatisation continues until, after his initiation, Malidoma is required by the Elders to bring the Dagara's ancient, healing wisdom to the West.
For more information please go to Malidoma Somé's Website. and to Drums of Change, Drums of Spirit for some inspiring you tubes.
I should like to thank John Minshall for introducing me to Of Water and the Spirit.
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