Re: Two birds with one stone
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:33 am
The safest bet would probably be that it was his intuition speaking, his rational self unable to fully comprehend it yet.
This is from Ramayana, a story cited by Lynch in The Big Fish :
Valmiki went alone to the clear Ganga waterside and bathed. He washed away the anthill dust and peeled grey bark from a tree and made new fresh clothes.Then he sat back resting against a stone. He watched two small water birds in a tree nearby. The male bird was singing to his mate when before Valmiki’s eyes an arrow hit him, and the little bird fell from the limb. He thrashed on the ground an instant and then lay dead and blood drops strained his feathers.
In: p. 7.
Heartbroken the dead bird’s mate cried – Your long feathers! Your tuneful songs. A bird hunter came from the forest holding a bow. Valmiki’s heart was pounding and he cursed the killer.