A TALE

 

Bring your youth and bring your maidens! Come; let them dance the Dance of Cranes!

Boys and girls – they crowd the market place. Boys and girls, their hands full of orchids. They dance together, the Dance of Cranes.

Swaying and lurching and feathers flying. Crouching and singing and bells chiming. They dance together, the Dance of Cranes, and music blesses the capital with spring.

Bring them, bring them!

The king arranges it.

They dance through the marketplace. They dance in the streets. They dance to the tunnels.

The tomb shudders shut and they are left in darkness.