Trust The Wolves| But Do Not Tell Them Where You Are Going

[redbrunja]

 jade_sabre_301  introduced me to a poem that makes me long for my childhood and remember all the fairy tales that raised me:

Instructions - Neil Gaimen

Touch the wooden gate in the wall you never
saw before.
Say "please" before you open the latch,
go through,
walk down the path.
A red metal imp hangs from the green-painted
front door,
as a knocker,
do not touch it; it will bite your fingers.
Walk through the house. Take nothing. Eat
nothing.
However, if any creature tells you that it hungers,
feed it.
If it tells you that it is dirty,
clean it.
If it cries to you that it hurts,
if you can,
ease its pain.

From the back garden you will be able to see the
wild wood.
The deep well you walk past leads to Winter's
realm;
there is another land at the bottom of it.
If you turn around here,
you can walk back, safely;
you will lose no face. I will think no less of you.

Once through the garden you will be in the
wood.
The trees are old. Eyes peer from the under-
growth.
Beneath a twisted oak sits an old woman. She
may ask for something;
give it to her. She
will point the way to the castle.
Inside it are three princesses.
Do not trust the youngest. Walk on.
In the clearing beyond the castle the twelve
months sit about a fire,
warming their feet, exchanging tales.
They may do favors for you, if you are polite.
You may pick strawberries in December's frost.
Trust the wolves, but do not tell them where
you are going.
The river can be crossed by the ferry. The ferry-
man will take you.
(The answer to his question is this:
If he hands the oar to his passenger, he will be free to
leave the boat.
Only tell him this from a safe distance.)

If an eagle gives you a feather, keep it safe.
Remember: that giants sleep too soundly; that
witches are often betrayed by their appetites;
dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always;
hearts can be well-hidden,
and you betray them with your tongue.

Do not be jealous of your sister.
Know that diamonds and roses
are as uncomfortable when they tumble from
one's lips as toads and frogs:
colder, too, and sharper, and they cut.

Remember your name.
Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found.
Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped
to help you in their turn.
Trust dreams.
Trust your heart, and trust your story.
When you come back, return the way you came.
Favors will be returned, debts will be repaid.
Do not forget your manners.
Do not look back.
Ride the wise eagle (you shall not fall).
Ride the silver fish (you will not drown).
Ride the grey wolf (hold tightly to his fur).

There is a worm at the heart of the tower; that is
why it will not stand.

When you reach the little house, the place your
journey started,
you will recognize it, although it will seem
much smaller than you remember.
Walk up the path, and through the garden gate
you never saw before but once.
And then go home. Or make a home.
And rest.

Comments

[zeldabel.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is lovely.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I really think so.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

The picture book based on this, illustrated by Charles Vess, is coming out soon.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

My only concern is nothing could be as epic as it is in my head.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Well, (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6L1zPW0YW7k/S3HvHCVCtoI/AAAAAAAAYUc/D8I1u6Y2b9U/s1600-h/Instructions+jkt+c.JPG) if it has to be illustrated, Charles Vess (http://greenmanpress.com/news/archives/447) is still your best bet. Neil's talked about the book on his blog (http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/08/your-instructions-should-you-choose-to.html), a bit. (http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/01/from-department-of-only-in-fiction.html)

And his reading of it can't be missed. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UnfyoTSZZw)

[afigureofspeech.livejournal.com]

I love listening to him read. He has an excellent voice (reminds me of Alan Rickman's voice a bit, actually).

And I am now much anticipating that book. :)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That artist has an interesting, classic style. Not how I pictured the poem, which in my head was done by the same artist as East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

http://www.amazon.com/East-West-Moon-Mercer-Mayer/dp/0689711131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270187507&sr=8-1

[afigureofspeech.livejournal.com]

Oh Neil Gaiman. He is so awesome. The combination of him and another of my childhood favorites, fairy tales, makes for quite a potent duo, and therefore I knew before I even read it that I would love it.

Thanks for sharing. :)

[ivy-chan.livejournal.com]

That's gorgeous. It makes me want to grab my giant book of fairy tales and start reading.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yes! Or go out questing.

[kalliel]

I love Neil Gaiman. I'm not sure I enjoy his writing especially (though all of this children's lit is fabulous), but I really enjoy his bloggings and his public speaking. This poem, though, I really liked. He's done one other poem (for a personal friend's child, Blueberry Girl) that I enjoyed as well. But Insructions is just so. <3

You know how everyone and their shoe seemed to get Dr. Seuss's Oh The Places You'll Go read to them for various graduations? I recorded this instead, and sent it to my friend when she graduated high school. Because you're right--and I love how you put that--it makes you think of childhood, and the fairy tales that raised you.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I love Neil Gaiman. I'm not sure I enjoy his writing especially (though all of this children's lit is fabulous), but I really enjoy his bloggings and his public speaking.

I feel the exact same way about Gaiman actually. Except that when he hits it, he knocks it out of the part (this isn't the first fairy tale he's written that has made my jaw drop).

I recorded this instead, and sent it to my friend when she graduated high school. Because you're right--and I love how you put that--it makes you think of childhood, and the fairy tales that raised you.

Awwww, that is awesome!

[fikuz.livejournal.com]

There is a worm at the heart of the tower; that is
why it will not stand.

I'm reading King's The Dark Tower series, so I almost chocked on my tea when I read that part.

Loved the poem.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I take it there is cross-over?

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

a poem that makes me long for my childhood and remember all the fairy tales that raised me

that's pretty much exactly how I feel. I wonder what books they were, or if I just thought I was reading lots of fairy tale adaptations but really I just read fairy tales.

as a bonus, have the 17th-century version of this poem, by John Donne (which I believe is the epigraph to Stardust, which I am envious of because it is a newish fairy tale, and I can't seem to write in that style):

Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star
Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.

If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true and fair.

If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That's a cool poem. Very much a product of its time with regards to women, though.