No Strings Attached: Stage Show

enough?"

"That is one meaning of the song," said Inigwa.

"And what if one of us climbs the wall and looks. Surely it would do no harm for one to look?"

"Some have tried," said Inigwa, "All have failed."

Feeling defeated, Yaoul thanked Inigwa, and gave her the obligatory gift, then he walked back to his mother's house.

"Where have you been?" Shamder asked, as he went to the table, "You are late for your meal?"

"Out," said Yaoul, "I have been out and just walking,"

"Where have you walked?"

"To see a friend," said Yaoul, wishing his mother would leave the subject.

"I know where you have been," she said, "You have been to the home of Inigwa the ancient. Was it not she whom you went to enquire from?"

"Inigwa, yes mother."

"Your great, great grandmother. She is a good choice. Her wisdom is greater than any of the others. And will you tell me what you asked?"

Shamder said it kindly, as a mother would.

"I asked her one thing and in reply she sang to me the Song of the Arrival," said Yaoul.

"She sang for you that song?" said Shamder, "I have heard it too. It tells of the tongues of animals and the flying away of gods and men."

"Yes, that's right," said Yaoul. And he said no more.

But in the evening, when the oil lamp cast a red glow across Yaoul's sleeping face, she looked at him with deep concern.

---

And now many days had passed since Inigwa's song had flowed through Yaoul's mind. He had learned it as a shape made of words, from that one hearing, and now he rehearsed it, over and over, as he worked and remembered the parts. And when he thought his mother was not watching him, he looked up at the sheer stone walls and wondered if there was a way to climb them.