Ursula K. Le Guin - April 20, Iyengar II & I

I’ve loved this storyteller now most of my life. She had a gift for drawing out the stories we tell ourselves, asking us check our assumptions, beliefs and how we are in the world.

The Story

It's just part of a story, actually quite a lot of stories,

the part where the third son or the stepdaughter

sent on the impossible errand through the uncanny forest

comes across a fox with its paw caught in a trap

or little sparrows fallen from the nest

or some ants in trouble in a puddle of water.

He frees the fox, she puts the fledglings in the nest, t

hey get the ants safe to their ant-hill.

The little fox will come back later

and lead him to the castle where the princess is imprisoned,

the sparrow will fly before her to where the golden egg is hidden,

the ants will sort out every poppyseed for them

from the heap of sand before the fatal morning,

and I don't think I can add much to this story.

All my life it's been telling me

if I'll only listen who the hero is

and how to live happily ever after.