a new way of looking at...     writings >> alaim guillemin >> my daughter, pomengranate seed - 1

- info -
comments
contact

- navigation -
alain
writings
home
feedback

MUSIC

STORYTELLER: This is what they tell in Kabylia... When God created man and the animals, he gave everyone the food they needed: grass to the animals and all other kinds of food to men, even though some still don't have enough and others eat too much; rats and mice to the cat, who sometimes steals from our plates. But the dog remained without anything.
- Lord, what will you give me to live on?
- You'll have to get it from men.
- And if they forget to give me something?
- He who forgets you, I forget him.
And, we all have always given something to eat to the dog. The dog is a discrete beggar. He asks for nothing. He steals nothing. He only waits for us to give him something.
And the woman I am going to tell you about wasn't asking for anything. She just wished for a child and she didn't have one.

MOTHER: I wish to have a child. And I still don't have one. I wish for a baby, preferably a little girl. It would be better than a little boy. But needs be, I would accept a little boy. To have a child is to worry to death, but to have none is to be afraid of death.

OLD WOMAN: Apples, beautiful apples, apples, here are beautiful apples. Apples with seeds. Apple seeds with which one can have a child. If you bite into my apples, you'll kiss a child soon. If you cut my apples in two, you'll have a daughter coming up. From the apple another fruit will rise.

MOTHER: Old mother, how much your apples?

OLD WOMAN: You'll pay them with the seeds. They cost you nothing. But if you have a boy, you'll raise it yourself and if you have a girl I'll raise it, myself.

MOTHER: Fine with me. This apple. And I'll have a child. A boy. Oh yes, it will be a boy. We will soon see it, the child from the apple, the child who will be another fruit.

MUSIC

OVERVOICE: And she had a girl, The way she had expected from the beginning. She had a girl, the way the strange old woman wanted it. She had a girl though she was hoping for a boy to be able to raise him herself.

POMEGRANATE SEED: I am the daughter of the apple. I am another fruit. I am Pomegranate Seed.

OLD WOMAN: Remind your mother of her promise.

POMEGRANATE SEED: Her promise? My mother? I'm the daughter of the apple, I'm another fruit. I'm Pomegranate Seed.

OLD WOMAN: Pomegranate Seed, daughter of the apple, remind your mother of her promise.

OVERVOICE: Pomegranate Seed goes back to her mother.

POMEGRANATE SEED: She told me, that old woman: "Remind your mother of her promise". What promise, mother? What did you promise, that I must remind you of?

MOTHER: If you meet her again, tell her you forgot to let me know, Pomegranate Seed, my daughter, my good and nice daughter. A daughter is like a long and soft needleful of silk.

MUSIC

OVERVOICE: Pomegranate Seed goes out again and she meets the old woman again.

POMEGRANATE SEED: I am the daughter of the apple. I am another fruit. I am Pomegranate Seed. I am the daughter of the apple. I am another fruit. I am Pomegranate Seed.

OLD WOMAN: The gifts of old will only be forgotten by the ungrateful. Remind your mother of her promise.

POMEGRANATE SEED: I forgot to let her know. It all flies round and around in my head. And promises also fly away.

OLD WOMAN: That's just the point. Remind your mother of her promise.

OVERVOICE: And Pomegranate Seed goes back to her mother one more time.

POMEGRANATE SEED: She told me, that old woman: "Remind your mother of her promise".

MOTHER: If you meet her again, do tell her you forgot, you forgot to tell me, Pomegranate Seed, my daughter. To do right is as heavy as lead. To do wrong is as light as a feather.

POMEGRANATE SEED: To do wrong, yes, but I am the one who must do wrong. What did you promise her, mother, what did you promise?

MOTHER: Go on your way, my daughter, do and tell her you forgot.

MUSIC

POMEGRANATE SEED: I am the daughter of the apple, I am another fruit, I am Pomegranate Seed. I forgot what harm people wish me. I forgot to tell my mother. My mother has also probably forgotten her promise. It would be wise for you to forget too.

OLD WOMAN: Old women like me never forget anything, never forget what they've been told. This red thread I am tying on your finger, this red thread will make you remember to remind your mother of her promise.

OVERVOICE: And Pomegranate Seed goes back to her mother one more other time.

POMEGRANATE SEED: I met her again. She tied this red thread on my finger, and she made it bleed, for me not to forget to tell you that you must think of your promise.

MOTHER: For the good we do, they pay us back with a mess. There are your clothes. When you meet her again, you'll be able to tell her "Do what you have to do, cursed godless woman!" Good bye. Here is your bundle. Take it in your own hands. As for you, you'll be in the hands of that accursed woman.

MUSIC

OLD WOMAN: Tell me now. What did your mother say, little one?

POMEGRANATE SEED: She could have told me: "If you're no wolf take heed of wolves!" But she told me to tell you "Do what you have to do, cursed godless woman!"

OLD WOMAN: Put your feet on my feet and close your eyes

(The earth disappears, they fly away, the old woman becomes an ogress.)

STORYTELLER: They did fly away. We can say "Confidence and running waters have had the upper hand." But who is this old woman? She has transformed. Maybe she is a magician? Or maybe a witch? She is very big. She is a giant. And above all she has a big mouth that can swallow anything. But who is she? She must be an ogress. The ogress has a palace. ( Shift behind the scene and installation of the palace.) The ogress has a palace. She has a palace and a secret. A secret that can be reduced to seven doors and seven keys. Seven doors, you say? Seven keys? Do you know any story about an ogress? Do you? Or don't you? And how about an oger? Do you, by any chance? Or do you not? Once upon a very old time there was an enormous oger and a little Tom Thumb. In Tom Thumb's story, there were seven something or other, not seven keys, but seven brothers. And here are the ogress, her palace and her seven keys.

OGRESS: Here is my palace Pomagranate Seed. Here is my palace where you can roam freely. In this palace there are seven locked rooms. To open their doors, here are seven keys. Go and get them. They are there, just over your head. There. That's right.

POMEGRANATE SEED: So, I will be able to enter everywhere?

OGRESS: The keys open the doors of the rooms of my palace. You can enter the first six but never dare go into the seventh. Some bad mishap may befall you. Goodbye, Pomegranate Seed, my daughter. (Off she flies.)

POMEGRANATE SEED: And here I am, alone.