The voyage of a loving woman
___________________________________________________

tekst & muziek: Theo Nijland
origineel door: Mathilde Santing (1998)

op repertoire GRIP - tour 1998
niet verschenen op lp/cd/single
___________________________________________________

Down in the local village
she saw a wizard who
spoke wisely to the poor woman
‘there’s one thing you must do’

Woman go climb the mountain
and find the crescent moon bear
be brave, defy your fears within
to get one tiny hair

One hair to make a potion
one silver hair to cure
your dearest husband’s agony
and all he has endured

Woman: I’ll brave the rage of
black birds and rattlesnakes
I’ll face the horror of silence
the loneliness
oh I’ll merrily fall in disgrace
with the heavens
that surround me
because I love him

I’ll brave the sun and the snowstorms
and the thunderbolts
I’ll face the burden of silence
the solitude
and when I finally meet this monster
and it won’t give me the hair at once

I’ll be an angry woman and I’ll tell this crescent
moon bear to go stick it!!
because I love him

I can do it
I will face it all
I won’t be afraid
I can beat it
I will devote myself
I won’t keep myself from doing it
I can move the mountain
I will yes I will, because I’m a loving woman

The flowers, the snowflakes, the birds, the grass, the
trees, the clouds,
the waters, the dirt, the mud,
his teeth, his paws, his eyes, his rage,
his curse,
my fears, my sadness, my tears, my hopes,
my dreams, my love,
keep me in motion,

The trees lifted their drapers
and let her pass because
a brave and dedicated and
a loving woman she was

The mountain’s body’s rugged
and thorny were its cheeks
but up she climbed to find the bear
on the mountain’s snowy peaks

And just when she fell down and cried,
exhausted to the core
the mountain shook and trembled
a beast began to roar

She ran to seek a haven
and found a cave from where
she watched the vicious creature
the monstrous, drooling bear

It lumbered through the snowfall
on four gigantic paws
it cried out loud: ‘I’m starving!’
and fiercely smacked its jaws
but she was not alone

She had her courage
her hope her strength,
her devotion her love,
and she’d brought her goodies,
buns and scones, hole in the toad
sheperd’s pie, etcetera etcetera-

She reached into her bundle:
the food she had prepared
still fresh and so delicious
inside her tupperware

And then she had this bright idea
she had enough to feed
the animal for seven days
and to satisfy its greed

And so she neared for seven days
the evil creature’s lair

How she managed we don’t know
but then she got the hair

She got the hair
she had the hair!
she had the hair!!

Off she ran ecstatically
down to the village and
she laid the sacred silver hair
across the wizard’s hand

He took the healing element
and threw it in the flames
the woman cried: you evil quack!
and oh she called him names

But now the wizard spoke to her:
it’s not about the hair
but that you have fulfilled the quest
to steal it from the bear

The courage, the endurance
your love inside so true
now go to your poor husband
he’s waiting there for you

Nothing is for nothing
nothing is in vain
always there is something
something for the pain

Something to go on with
on with your own life
And this is where the story ends
about the loving wife