One day Monkey was bathing in the river. Man and Woman lived nearby, and that day it fell to Woman to fill the water jar. Very soon Woman arrived at the river’s banks, and encountered Monkey in Her nakedness. Woman was so startled that she dropped the jar in the water and immediately ran home, where Man was waiting for her.
“Woman,� he said, “it has fallen to you to fill the water jar, and yet you return neither with water nor the jar.�
“Man,� she replied, “in filling the jar I came upon Monkey bathing, and was so scared that I ran away.�|
Man scoffed at her cowardice. “Then I shall return to the river and retrieve our jar,� he said, “and Monkey may try Her best to stop me.�
Man arrived at the river, and Monkey immediately heard a rustling in the many reeds along the banks.
“Who is there?� she called out, although of course she knew it was Man.
“It is only one reed among a thousand,� he whispered, as he imagined a reed might speak.
“Very well,� said Monkey, “but I do not like to think about what rumors a single reed might spread, among its many fellows.�
“Mistress,� said Man, “I promise you my silence, if only you will send that water jar towards my bank of the river.�
Monkey, who still knew that it was Man, laughed to herself. “No, no , no. I have grown fond of this jar. It is very strong and deep, and I will use it to give water to my many children.�
“But Mistress,� said Man, “if you do not give me the jar, then I shall tell each of my brothers of your nakedness, and they in turn shall spread word of it to all who come to the banks of this river, both near and far!�
At this Monkey became furious.
“You are not a reed, you are Man,� she cried out, “but you might as well be a reed. For I shall make it so that you will be only one in many faceless thousands, easily torn asunder by my long-fingered hands.�
And Man was so frightened that he ran from the banks of the river all the way back home. When Woman asked him about the water jar, he became furious.
“Monkey is angered and will not give it back, and surely it is your fault,� he cried, and set to beating her. He said that he would beat her night and day until she returned with a full water jar, for surely Monkey had by now departed.
Woman gave in and, limping from soreness, returned to the river.
“Who is there in the reeds?� Monkey called out, although of course she knew it was Woman.
“It is only the smallest of the river’s many streams,� she murmured, as she imagined a stream might speak.
“Very well,� said Monkey, “but I do not like to think about what rumors a talkative stream might spread.�|
“Mistress,� said Woman, “it would be foolish of me to spread rumors. For it is here that I become the very river in which you bathe. It is with great happiness that I wash against your skin, and such a confidence I would never think to betray.�
“That is quite true,� said Monkey, who was very pleased with Woman’s cleverness. “In exchange for your loyal service, I shall grant you the gift of this water jar, which you may fill with your bounty.� With that, Monkey sent the water jar lapping at the feet of Woman, who took it and started to return home.
However, the thought of lying to Monkey filled Woman with such guilt that she immediately returned to the river.
“Oh mistress,� said Woman, “I must confess that I am not one of the river’s many streams. I am Woman, and I have tricked you into returning this water jar to me.�
At this Monkey was even more superbly pleased.
“Woman, I know that you are not a stream. But for your cleverness and your loyalty, I shall make it so that you are like one of the many streams, never too long divided from the river which I hold dear.�
And so Woman happily returned home with her water jar filled to the brim.
Note:
don't mistake Monkey
Note:
don't mistake Monkey's behavior for modesty. She's just picky about who gets to see her goods. As it were.
Monkey stories, yay!
This got lost in the database crash before I ever saw it. I like it, and am working on seeing how it relates to being a Monkey Queen. I would definitely be interested in hearing the Ilba in Sonata's head tell it.
In short: Brides, Queens, an
In short: Brides, Queens, and Crones are aspects of Monkey herself. Kings, High Priests, and assorted male Monkeys are servants of Monkey, full stop.
This is one of a whole tradition of stories in which the disposability, childishness, and untrustworthiness of Monkey males is emphasized.
Obviously this tradition is kept from the males (although Ilba2 is privy to it thanks to his sis), who are otherwise allowed to think they are much more important to Monkeyness than they actually are.
The male Monkey powergame is, from the perspective of Queens, Crones, et al, a nifty trick to make the male population keep its own numbers down, and to make sure that only the hardier parts of the local genepool get passed on.
A properly trained Queen will have a delicate understanding of how to direct the actions of the males without directly seeming to, and how to make sure that offspring are kept high-quality and well-treated. Although on the surface it may seem like they're disposable magical conduits who get tossed as soon as they're barren, in reality moving on to being a Crone is more of a calculated, if strictly enforced, career move.
Obviously a lot of Monkey females go straight from Bride to Crone and make a full meal out of it, as I suspect Heshii did (up to Matt, though).
That doesn't mean there aren't bitter ex-Queens who were in the midst of orchestrating great things until they got betrayed by sputtery ovaries, but they have to recognize that it's in the larger interest of the Monkey or face getting turned into bacon. Being a Queen means that you respresent the Mother aspect of Monkey, and that means both leading the boys around AND producing kids.
That makes sense
It fits with my original idea that the monkey crones are the main big deal monkeys.
While I know that it isn't what actually happened, I like to fan-wank the fact that we ended up emphasizing the male monkeys in play to such great extent as being a representation of the degree to which a integrated patriarchal society invading an (also patriarchal) gender segrated society assumes that the male half of the gender segregated society is the important half, so male monkeys must be the important ones.
Also, it seems (from play) like the male monkeys dominate inter-village trouble, while female monkeys dominate trouble within a village, so the unification of the valley in the past 25-odd years has probably been a bonanza for the male monkeys (suddenly, inter-village trouble can be valley-wide trouble, and much of the power within a town also now comes from outside).
Secret?
The only thing I think I'd disagree on is that the tradition that Monkey likes women better is kept secret from the men. I'd see this as being something that monkey Queen's and Crones are quite open about, but that is mocked back at by the male monkeys in some way.
Actually, this story can be stood on its head by Monkey Kings:
"Yes, Monkey likes you better, but look who beats who - power comes from Monkey to you, but never forget that then that power comes from you to me, so I'm the one who ends up with the power!"
That's pretty much dead-on.
That's pretty much dead-on. The unification has been an absolute bitch for Monkey females, because it's given males the notion that they're free to ignore female jurisdiction. Which assumption means that there's been a lot of grade-A chaos, but not the kind the females think is in the ultimate interests of Monkey.
Alright, that makes sense; I
Alright, that makes sense; I do doubt that the entire notion of female supremacy could ever be kept under wraps.
I do think there are probably still a couple of stories that the boys don't get to hear; not necessarily because it's "secret", but to establish a female-only vocab that allows them to talk over the boys' heads now and again.
actually, I've been underestimating gender segregation
I think that if those sorts of stories are part of the religious aspect of monkey priesthood, then they may well only be told in gender segregated settings, and it would be definite bad practice to violate that secrecy.
On the other hand, probably the male monkey's tell their own version of that story, that seems to give them the upper hand.
I just have a hard time thinking in gender segregated terms, but the Gaetani religious practice should definitely be gender segregated.
I think the boys are a little
I think the boys are a little less focused on origins-related oral tradition; their traditions focus more on teaching strategy and hierarchy rather than explaining things. They have to focus on daily survival and internal competition much more than the ladies, who only bother to take each other down if the larger structure is threatened.
Obviously there's some shared tradition, though, or else there'd be a Monkey civil war.
OH WAIT MAYBE THAT WOULD BE COOL