I was
inspired by hearing a 12th century minstrel song while in south
France. It was a song about a donkey (roba in Japanese) titled 'Orientis
partibus' - 'Coming from the East'
Although
donkeys symbolize foolishness or stupidity, they were a very important
transportation tool in the Middle Ages, and contributed a lot to
human communications.
This
song is very long and has 10 verses describing the travels of a
donkey from the east to the west. In the last verse, the story says
"The donkey finished the day's work and began dreaming. In the dream
he was eating as much barley and hay as he wanted. He was so happy
that he started singing a song."
"Your poor song spreads under the night sky, and it covers all
the people gently. You are Mr. Donkey..."
What
is the message from the minstrel? I interpret it like this: "Music
is heart. Our hearts need to be as generous as a rich forest." This
is a song from more than one thousand years ago and it carries a
somewhat paradoxical message: 'A bad singer can heal peoples' hearts.'
Why? It was while I was thinking about this that I made up my mind
to 'travel' with this donkey!
