Orpheus on a Bus

[katiefoolery]

Last night, or, more accurately, this morning, I had one of those dreams I actually remember, so I thought I'd write it down.  I call it Orpheus on a Bus, for reasons which will soon become clear...

Yes, I know.  ‘Odd’ doesn’t even come close, but it’s one of my dreams, right?  The only ones I ever remember are the bizarre ones.

So, in this dream, many people lived on enormous buses that traversed the country.  I really don’t know why they had such objections to living in houses that stayed right where they were, but there you go.  In this case, ‘I’ (not actually me) was waiting for my father’s bus.  I’d run away for some reason - I think I was a bit of a rebel - but I really needed my father’s help and I had some sort of loose arrangement with him that he’d be at this particular place at these particular times and if I ever needed to get back on the bus, then that was an option that was open to me.

So there I was, waiting.  I do believe there was someone with me; some sort of bodyguard.  We waited and waited... it was a bus-stop after all.  But there was no sign of my father’s bus.  Oh, did I mention that the bus contained a group of performers who travelled from town to town, putting on shows?  Well, consider it mentioned.

Just when I was about to give up hope of the bus ever arriving, it finally turned up.  I didn’t recognise it at first, because it was decorated in an entirely different fashion from the last time I’d seen it.  But there it was, with Orpheus’s Performing Whatever (yes, Orpheus) written on the side.

Time for a deep breath, me-who-isn't-me.

*deep breath*

And I go on board to stand before my father, in the full knowledge that he Doesn’t Approve of my running away and that I might be in incredibly Deep Trouble.

And that was it.  An entire dream, dedicated to waiting for a bus.

I have to admit, I had only the vaguest idea of who Orpheus actually was in mythology (unlike my subconscious, apparently).  I knew he went into the Underworld for some reason, but that was about it.  So I researched it.

Here were my favourite bits:

• Orpheus's music was so beautiful that it charmed even inanimate objects.


• [his] songs could charm wild beasts and coax even rocks and trees into movement.

I think it's interesting to compare this last quote with a direct quote from the original short story version of Black Fiddle, where Jeannie's grandmother is talking about an ancestor of Jeannie's, who could play the Fiddle: "He could make the hills sing and the rocks dance."

If you change the fact that Orpheus sings, whereas Jeannie (from Black Fiddle) plays a fiddle, you have some uncanny similarities there.  Although I’m the first to admit that Jeannie hasn’t gone around trying to charm wild beasts, I’m sure she could if she put her mind to it.

Essentially, my story of Jeannie is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice (except the bit where Jeannie’s trying to save her sister, rather than her lover).  At least, it had its beginnings there.  It’s changed a lot since I first wrote the original short story.  A lot.  I just wonder what my subconscious is trying to get at here.

Any suggestions?

Comments

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of the bus, although in my mind it's turning out more like the Harry Potter Knight Bus and hence is magical...

I'm amazed you got so many connections and such a detailed dream with Orpheus without actually knowing much about him. I think your subconscious has been staying up late reading under the covers.

Cat

[flippyfrog.livejournal.com]

Gosh, that's such an interesting story idea right there. Everyone living on buses... it's just such an interesting idea :P Were they double decker, i have an image of double decker buses each with marking of clans across their metal exterior. It could be a coming of age. If a man wants to leave his home and get married, he must first go off and assemble his own bus! bus courtship! :P

"Well, Josh was such a nice man, and he's really got some interior decorating talent, but Frank has an LCD TV out the back... i think i'll have to choose Frank," says the contestant on the latest version of The Buschelorette.

I should really not go on, but i have such an urge too... :P

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

I love it 'Buschelorette'!!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Hehe - shouldn't you be studying instead of coming up with concepts like this? But in order to appease your curiosity: yes, they were most definitely double-decker buses. Possibly triple- and quadruple-decker in some cases. They were really quite huge.

I do love the idea of building a bus as part of a courtship. Hehe!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Oh, they were much bigger and better than the Knight Bus, believe me. :)

I guess I must have heard the story ages ago and simply forgotten about it. Either that, or you're right about my brain staying up to read things after I've fallen asleep...

[sarsalot.livejournal.com]

How very Priscilla. Bus gypsies. I love it - you need to develop this into a story of some kind. Or at least work it in to a bigger plot somewhere (aside from the whole Black Fiddle-connection).

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

The neat bit about these dreams I actually remember is that they usually have plot. There was this whole backstory with "me" running away and doing things that deeply shamed "my" father. There was also a reason I absolutely had to get back on the bus, but - alas! - I can't remember what it was.

I wish I had more dreams like this - they're so much fun!

[silverwerecat.livejournal.com]

I've named my three-legged tomcat Orpheus. He can't sing, but has practically returned from the dead. :)

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I love it! And you never know, he might be able to sing. He just might be very shy about doing so when anyone's around.

[morbane.livejournal.com]

If you ever find Laura Gilpin's poem about Orpheus you will enjoy it. Sadly my book is in the wrong city. I once tried to write Orpheus in verse and shelved it after six lines:

Orpheus dreamed in meadowgrass.
He sang the song that swayed the flowers,
Enchanting Eurydice's ear,
So she fell deaf to other sounds.
The serpent in the shaking grass,
She never heard - then, never stirred.


BUT. This dream of yours is lovely. What happens next? I really want to know. I dare you to write up your dream, suitably embellished, as a chapter on fictionpress, and then set yourself the next chapter as an exercise. If you never continue it beyond that, that's okay... But more would be nice!

There's also an Andrew Lang fairytale I used to be very fond of which has a similar theme: a king goes to war and is captured by his enemy, and his queen dresses up as a page-boy and sets off with a lute. She so charms the enemy king that he grants her one of his prisoners in return for her beautiful playing and singing... and the king, unknowing, thanks her while bewailing the apathy of his queen, who has sat at home while this person, a lowly page-boy, should be the one to rescue him...etc.

Cynthia Voigt also wrote a short modern-day version of Orpheus, called 'Orfe'. I didn't like it much, but it was reasonably true to the plot.

[sirgallivant.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful dream! And more than a little SR.

Irrelevantly, I recently watched the 'Storyteller' version of Orpheus and Eurydice.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I love the Storyteller! I'll have to look out for that episode.

Indeed, it was very much a dream with SR-ish overtones.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

What happens next? I wake up, just when it's getting interesting. Mind you, there was a bit more to the waiting for the bus. I'm sure I remember having to hide from someone or something with my bodyguard. And there were lots of brick walls and old warehouses, for some reason or other...

A challenge, hey? That's pretty sneaky. I'll definitely think about it, as I'd rather like to know what happens next, too.

[frohike.livejournal.com]

If you were ever a fan of Jim Henson's The StoryTeller I know they did that story. Maybe you saw it and forgot about it...

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

You know, it's quite possible, because I love that show. I must have heard the story somewhere.

[naelany.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* interesting dream, and interesting similarities. Alas, I'm clueless for ideas