[Male vocal] [Instrumental intro: dawn bansuri, birdsong, soft tabla] [Verse 1] When the story found its ending And the kingdom found its peace The one he served stood up before him Offering gifts that would not cease Gold and lands and every honor Every jewel a king could own But he bowed and asked for nothing Nothing that a hand could hold [Verse 2] "Let me stay," he said, "while it's told Every time the tale is spoken Let me be there, in the telling Till the last word's left unspoken" And the one he served said gently "As you ask, so let it be While the story lives among them You will live, and you'll be free" [Chorus] [Low male chorus joins, building] YAA-vut KUH-thaa, TAA-vud UH-see As long as the story, so long you Not in palace, not in temple But wherever it is true YAA-vut KUH-thaa, TAA-vud UH-see Every voice that tells it, he is there Every shore and every fire He is listening somewhere [Verse 3] [Fuller now: dhol, strings] He's the child who reached for sunrise And the wound that gave his name He's the old voice by the water Calling strength back as it came He's the thumb inside the serpent And the shadow seen below He's the ring that went in moonlight And the jewel brought back home [Verse 4] [Fullest arrangement] He's the squirrel's three pale stripes Where the smallest grain was seen He's the mountain through the midnight Carried back to where it'd been He's the tail across the pathway That no strength alone could move He's the stones beneath the ocean So that one story stayed true [Final Chorus] [Full chorus, all instruments, then begin to fall away] YAA-vut KUH-thaa, TAA-vud UH-see As long as the story, so long you Not in palace, not in temple But wherever it is true YAA-vut KUH-thaa, TAA-vud UH-see Every voice that tells it, he is there Every shore and every fire He is listening somewhere [The Prophecy] [Spoken, elder, slow, everything falls away to drone] He did not ask to rule. He did not ask to be remembered. He asked to stay in the telling. So he is not in one place. He is wherever someone sits a newcomer down and says: let me tell you a story. That is how a lesson lives. Not in the one who learned it first, but in every time it is told again. So tell it. And when you have told it, let it stay without you. [Kokopelli Whisper] [Lone tanpura drone, one breath] SMUH-ruh...
