Бременские музыканты

Can you guess who I am?

By Dinorah Pérez-Rementería

This essay is envisioned as a work in progress. It will be revised and expanded slowly but surely.

Stories of love, hope and faith occupy a very special place in a person’s heart. In particular, I like fairy tales. As a little girl, I loved to read the Russian folktales and the One Thousand and One Nights or listen to my grandmother improvise stories about my future life. Now, as a woman, I actually love fairy tales more than I did before, for despite what others may argue, I have found them to be surprisingly accurate and real. In a discreet way, fairy tales motivate us to believe we can triumph over the challenging passages of life by expanding our ability to sense (imagine, perceive, distinguish) the existence of a world that is of purer quality than our ordinary worlds. No, I am not suggesting that we rush into assessing our surroundings or the junctures that form our daily living by using “our feelings” and “assumptions” only. Countless misunderstandings and hostilities have arisen among and within countries, states, cities, neighborhoods, families, individuals as a result of it. “Feelings” and “assumptions” are unstable assessment tools which may change over time in response to new situations, practices and experiences.

But, the truth is that we can not avoid impacting people (their practices and experiences) with “our assumptions” and “feelings.” People’s feelings and assumptions are or have been continually coined and transformed into texts, philosophies, categories, governments, treaties, branches of knowledge, occupations, cultural traditions, art, private or public conversations, postures, and other visible, influential expressions. So, when I say “expanding our ability to sense the manifestation of a better world,” I think of the opportunity to willfully and carefully examine ours –that is, our own assumptions and feelings- in relation to past and current circumstances, along with other people’s experiences and opinions, in a more valuable search, to look for a condition of immanent purity that could be revealed to and through us despite discrepancies and insufficiencies. I am talking about seeking out and making room for an unshakable, reliable form of purity that may confront, embrace, and even draw on our ordinary “imperfections” –imperfect physical appearances, imperfect theories, imperfect philosophies and beliefs, imperfect governments, imperfect families- in order to release itself in us, with no reservation and without ceasing to be.

One can affirm that fairy tales like other stories of love, hope and faith emanate unwavering purity. Regardless of the medium through which they are delivered, whether it be a “cartoon,” or a play, or a picture book, fairy tales have a magical, lasting effect on us. Albert Einstein once said with regard to the revealing center of the fairy tale, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” However, sometimes we – mainly grown up people- undervalue the content and/or the structural mechanics of these stories, which rationally may not satisfy our views about what a legitimate fictional work for adult audiences should be. Let us remember that the effect of these stories is intended to be “magical,” not “rational.” So, we can assume that the underlying principle of the fairy tale lies in magic instead of reason. Perhaps, Einstein experienced magic as possibility, an eloquent and useful agent that makes children develop an “enchanted eye” or, to say it differently, an “eye of faith” by believing in as well as meeting their brain powers through unbelievable quests.

Therefore, I believe that if we learn to approach fairy tales from an “enchanted eye,” we will discover how they can magically come true by turning into a sign, an invitation for individuals of all ages to begin learning and teaching and searching and fighting for their purest, albeit devalued, nature –that which we draw emotional, mental, and even bodily nourishment from, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. Fairy tales can be interpreted as accurate spiritual devices that remind us of the power of Love, Hope and Faith in handling suffering and adversity in our everyday worlds. We may think of Love, Hope and Faith as the three main Substances or Subjects of our life curriculum as revealed to and through Jesus, the most faithful student, hopeful teacher, and loving fighter that will ever be. I consider Jesus to be the reason, I mean, the magic why we still possess an unfeigned aspiration of locating, if only a vestige, a fragile residue of the Main Substances within us when we really need to, for only having a factual, spiritual need for purity will cause people to pursue (and to find the treasures in) it. Nonetheless, we must highlight that while fairy tales, like many other artistic sources, serve as valid reminders of the value of Hope, Love and Faith, “the magic” solely takes place in the moment we agree to learn, to teach, to enjoy these Substances as real.

 In the next few paragraphs, we will see how the magical principle of the fairy tale can be perceived as an evocative, spiritual reminder conveying the meaning of Love, Hope and Faith. To illustrate my point, I will use one of the cartoons I dearly cherished as a child, the 1969 Soviet free animated version of The Bremen Town Musicians, a famous animal tale recorded by The Grimm Brothers in the nineteenth century. Created by Inessa Kovalevskaya, Yuri Entin and Vasily Livanov, with music by Gennady Gladkov, the film presents the story of a band of friends who are strongly committed to bringing people together by traveling from town to town with uplifting performances, joy and inspiration. The story line is displayed through very detailed and vivacious visual sequences, infused by melodies that stir us all. As we will see, viewers need not understand the Russian language, or be necessarily familiar with film-making technicalities, or recognize turning points, cinematic metaphors, resemblances, personifications, allusions, digressions concerning the original? source, or any other scholarly categories, features and constructions with regard to the animation, in the process of identifying with what the real Narrative is about.

The power of Love, Hope and Faith appears in the cartoon through feasible articulations and verisimilar expressions the whole time. First, we have the king’s jealous affection for his daughter, suggesting the protective and watchful embodiment of a Fatherly Love. The king does not immediately give his daughter’s hand in marriage to the musician. Only after the player has shown a sample of what he could do for her, the king accepts him. We see another representation of Love in the devoted friendship among the players -four personified animals and a man- who support, fight and deeply care for one another. Notice they all engage in battle together, with the purpose to make the king award his daughter’s hand in marriage to the master of the band and seem very pleased when the wedding is finally approved. As expected, the animals look brokenhearted as they leave the castle, thinking that their leader would have abandoned them. Next, we shall mention the visually explicit and implicit bond between the princess and the master of the band, a symbolic and lively depiction of a veritable, fulfilling, and undying spiritual Love. The audience literally sees the princess and the player blush the moment they meet and how he imagines her singing and dancing on the moon. Thanks to the character of the player, we can also distinguish the ways Love successfully endures both rejection and challenges while strengthening, developing and enriching the frame through which it is released. One last important element must be mentioned: a viewer persuaded by faith in the magic and inspirational nature of fairy-tales will know that apart from any current struggles, temporal afflictions, and future inconveniences, the princess and the master of the band will live happily ever after.

  The Bremen Town Musicians unaffectedly builds upon the value of Faith. For instance, we can recognize Faith reflected throughout the moving picture in the musician’s determination to be united with his bride. Recall that although he is violently thrown out of the king’s domain for disturbance and commotion, the player manages to return for her, after taking on a fairly risky expedition and assuming a fictitious identity that unexpectedly allows the audience to better empathize with his core being.  By learning to develop an “enchanted eye,” viewers may become accomplices of the groom-to-be, in spirit and truth. As a result of trusting in the immanent purity of his actions, we too can have a taste, a more certain estimation of the magnitude of his love. There is also an earnest, and at the same time, very delicate manifestation of Faith in the princess’s attitude with respect to the master of the band. Note she waits on him, and right after they get married, the princess leaves the castle, without hesitation, to join the band. It looks as if the princess herself had developed an “enchanted eye” through which she sees that even though she may not fully understand all things in her new life, she will certainly be in good hands.

What if the princess always hoped for a loving, committed, inspiring journey? If we watch her first reaction toward the ensemble, we will notice beyond doubt that she delights in the magic they bring to town. Not only can we find Hope intangibly communicated by means of the princess’s expressions of enjoyment but in each and every action carried out by the music group. We must remark the band’s ultimate goal consists in using melodies, the performing arts and other imaginative tools to link people of different backgrounds together, to bridge the gaps that separate the rich from the poor, the adult thinking scheme from the child-like faith, the fruit seller from the scientist, the extrovert from the timid, and even the magical Russian spirit from any other types of language in the world. But, most importantly, the band itself represents Hope as it brings joyfulness, freshness and a little, favorable disruption into lethargic communities. We should pay attention to sequences where social disparities seem blurred, transgressed, in the animation such as the scenes in which a desperate king asks the master of the band for help after being “kidnapped” by the supposed bandits. The character of the king, languid, apathetic and lazy, may be thought as symbolizing the general feeling of the city on an ordinary day. So, for all practical purposes here, the musicians offer their extra-ordinary performances -including dance, circus, singing, instrument playing, and masquerade- in the streets rather than inside the king’s castle or any other private setting, in a hopeful attempt to restore all inhabitants to life.

As we have briefly seen, The Bremen Town Musicians becomes a reliable spiritual means that releases -through accessible and veracious signs- the unlimited power of Love, Hope and Faith. Fairy tales are needed as are the people who believe in fairy tales. At the end of the day, we must surely have a persistent, enchanting Force operating in our lives in the face of all the harmful energies that each of us has been trained to familiarize with; a Force we can learn (and invite others) to see bit by bit by simply cultivating an enchanted eye. If we did, we would also take pleasure in recognizing the magical principle of the fairy tale in a good poem, or a real marriage, an inspiring sermon, an enlightening paper, a help-giving project, or an enduring friendship. Needless to say, for adult people, the fairy tale may come true in the very act of believing again in the value of Love, Hope and Faith. As for me, I do believe in magic. I believe in fairy tales and happy endings. I believe the Word can unexpectedly become Flesh. I believe I will learn to ride a horse someday and that I will see Jesus face to face. This is who I am…I am a believer. Will you care to do the math?

To Whom It May Concern:

(One very special reader with enchanted eyes)

Thank you… for teaching and learning me little by little, for creating time and space to venture through my world, my soul, for bringing magic and delight back into my life, for becoming a living reminder of Faith and Hope and Love. I find you in every fairy tale.