Wolf-Kin

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, 

"My Son, 

the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One is "Evil" --

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is "Good" --

It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 

"Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, 

"The one you feed."

BILL MOYERS: 

Poor Snake.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

It’s the same story.

BILL MOYERS: 

What do you make of this, that in all of these stories the principal actors are pointing to someone else as the initiator of The Fall?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Yeah, but it turns out to be Snake. 

And Snake in both of these stories is the symbol of life throwing off the past and continuing to live.

BILL MOYERS: 

Why?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

The power of life, because the snake sheds its skin, just as the moon sheds its shadow. The snake in most cultures is positive. 

Even the most poisonous thing, in India, the cobra, is a sacred animal. And the serpent, Naga, the serpent king, Nagaraga, is the next thing to the Buddha, because the serpent represents the power of life in the field of time to throw off death, and the Buddha represents the power of life in the field of eternity to be eternally alive.

Now, I saw a fantastic thing of a Burmese priestess, a snake priestess, who had to bring rain to her people by calling a king cobra from his den and kissing him three times on the nose. There was the cobra, the giver of life, the giver of rain, which is of life, as the divine positive, not negative, figure.

BILL MOYERS: 

The Christian stories turn it around, because the serpent was the seducer.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Well, what that amounts to is a refusal to affirm life. 

Life is evil in this view. 

Every natural impulse is sinful unless you’ve been baptized or circumcised, in this tradition that we’ve inherited. 

For heaven’s sakes!

2 :

Society...

6 :

Yes, sir?

2 :

Society is a place where people exist together.

6 :

Yes, sir.

 
2 :

That is Civilisation.

The Lone Wolf belongs to The Wilderness.

6 :

Yes, sir.

  
2 :

You must not be a Lone Wolf!

6 :

No, sir.

 
2 :

You must conform!

6 :

Yes, sir.

 
2 :

It is my duty to see that you do!

6 :

Yes, sir.

OLIVER :

We were always finding things.
Pens.
Poetry.
Socks.
The Astral Plane was like a magnet for lost dreams.

Minds.

That was the other thing we found.

In The Real World, when people lost their minds, they ended up here.

[COOING.]
And who are we, then? 

[BABY BABBLING.]
Hmm.

 THE WOLF :
What you got today?

OLIVER :

A baby.

 THE WOLF :

 A baby? Wow.
Look at that.
[SNIFFS.]
Can I have him? 

OLIVER :
It's a her, I think, and no.

If you want a baby, you can scavenge one yourself.

THE WOLF :

[SCOFFS.]
"Scavenge." That's – I'm a wolf.

Wolves don't scavenge.
We hunt.

You're lucky I don't hunt you.

OLIVER :
Well, you live just next door.
Wouldn't be hard.

  
THE WOLF :
Have you told her about the Holocaust yet? 

OLIVER :
The? What?

 THE WOLF :

Got to tell her.
Prepare her, Oliver.

You can't grow up too fast.
That's my motto.

Also, herpes.
Make sure you tell her about herpes, like, right away. 

MELANIE :
[SIGHS.]
Get away! Go on!

 [GROWLS.]
Shoo! Get away! Get away! 

THE WOLF :

 Don't forget chlamydia.
[HOWLS.]

OLIVER :
Wife.

MELANIE: 
Husband.
What did we scavenge today? 

OLIVER :
Well, half a sandwich, a very nice sock and, uh, this baby.

 MELANIE:
Oh, baby.
Well, look at that.
[GASPS.]
Oh.
Oh, aren't you adorable.
Let's get you inside.

[BABY COOING.]
[THE WOLF HOWLING.]
[HOWLING CONTINUES.]
[SIREN WAILING.]

MELANIE: 
Mm.
What should we call her? 

OLIVER :
The soup? 

MELANIE: 

No, not the soup; the baby.

OLIVER :
Oh, her name is Sydney.

 MELANIE:
How do you know? 

OLIVER :
She told me.

MELANIE: 
What else did she say? 

OLIVER :
Well, nothing.
She's a baby.

 MELANIE:
She looks familiar somehow.
Syd.
Sydney.
It's okay.
Everything's okay. 

Mama's got you. 

[POUNDING ON WALLS.]
[THE WOLF HOWLING.]
 MELANIE:
Don't.

OLIVER :
I won't.
Although, he did blow the paper house down last time.
This house is straw, though, Mighty Straw.
It should hold.

[WIND WHISTLING.]
- [WIND HOWLING LOUDLY.]
[HOUSE CREAKING, RUMBLING.]

I'll just go and chat with him, shall I? 

THE WOLF :

[PANTING.]
Oh, hey.
[CHUCKLES.]
I was just, uh [EXHALES.]
This is Cynthia.
I found her wandering alone in the woods.
She's lost her innocence, which is a win for this guy.
Plus, hey, she brought all these dirty needles with her, so I was thinking, party? Huh? 

[SNIFFS.]
Is that Soup? 

 MELANIE:

No.


[GROWLS.]
Hello, Melanie.

This is Cynthia.


CYNTHIA: 
Hi.
She's given up all Hope.
[CHUCKLES.]
Isn't that great? 

OLIVER :
Look, we're trying to have a nice life here and raise this baby with Wonder and Magic, so we need to keep The Real World out.



You guys like magic? 
'Cause I can do magic.
[CHUCKLES.]
It was in my sleeve.

OLIVER :
Go away.


[GROWLING.]

 MELANIE:
Not you, hon.
Come in.
Have some soup.
Sorry.
[ROARING.]

OLIVER :
Listen, don't be mad.
[SIGHS.]
We should move.
[THE WOLF HOWLING IN DISTANCE.]
[INDISTINCT WHISPERING.]
[INSECTS TRILLING.]

OLIVER :
There we go.
That's perfect.
Oh, yes, that's perfect for [CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY.]


SYD :
Why does some music make you happy but other music make you sad? 

OLIVER :

That's a good question.
Well, uh, do you know the difference between a major and a minor chord? 


SYD :

I'm five.

OLIVER :
No excuse.
I'll show you when we get home.

SYD :
Why do people use umbrellas in the rain but not the snow? 

OLIVER: 

Quiet now.

SYD :
Whose stuff is this? 

OLIVER :
[SIGHS.]

People in The Real World.
When they forget about something, when it stops being important, it comes here.

SYD :
Oh.


OLIVER :
Oh.


SYD :
I'm gonna call her Heady.

OLIVER :
Little bird.
Not that way.


SYD :
Why not? 
[MACHINERY WHIRRING.]

SYD :
What is it? 

OLIVER :
It-it's called The Ostrich.
Oh, wait, that's not right.
It's the big bird, isn't it? No, The City.
It's called The City.
Also known as The Real World.

SYD :
What makes it Real? 

OLIVER :
I'll explain when you're older.

SYD :
No, now.

OLIVER :
That's not the way it works, little bird.
I'm The Daddy, and you're The Baby, and I'll tell you about The Real World when you're older.
Now, come on.
Mommy's making stuffed animal pie.
Mmm.
We don't want to be late.

SYD :
[FLIES BUZZING.]
People think Death is scary.

It's pretty scary, huh? I mean, look at it.
All oozy, and what are those, maggots? 

SYD :
That's just Nature.


Mm, kids die, too, you know.
Everybody.
Your parents.
Ooh.
That's got to be scary, knowing that, huh? Mm.



SYD :
My mom told me that Death is just part of Life.


[GROANS.]
She did, huh? 

OLIVER: 

Sydney!

[THE WOLF GROWLS.]

SYD :
Got to go.
Bye.
Wait, wait, wait.
Did she tell you about chlamydia? 

Tell me a bedtime story.

MELANIE: 

Hmm. Oh.
Once upon a time, 
There was a girl who had the most extraordinary ability.
She could feel everything the animals felt.

When a donkey stubbed its toe, her toe hurt.
Every time a monkey got sad, she got sad.
It was her special power.

And she called her special power "Empathy." 

And Empathy was her friend.
They did everything together.

But it's a hard thing for a little girl to share the feelings of others.
And she started to wonder, 

"Where do they end and I begin?" 

No.
No.
No.
[DISTANT HOWLING.]
[GASPS.]

Cynthia.
Hey.
Do you ever miss your parents? 

Your Real Parents.
Back in The Real World.
Wasn't your mom a lush? I love that word.
"Lush." 

It sounds so positive.
Which, uh Remember how she used to tuck you in at night with flecks of vomit in her hair? 

I live here now. 

With the rivers and trees. 

Mm And Kenny? 

Do you ever miss Kenny? 

Kenny beat me.

Kenny's real sorry, baby.
He wants you to come home real bad.
He love-love-loves you.
I have to go inside.


Hey.
- [GASPS.]
Look what I found.
Hmm? [CHUCKLES.]
I don't do that anymore.
Aw come on.
Sure, you do.
Don't be scared, gorgeous.
You think the light bulb is afraid of the dark? 

The light bulb loves the dark.
'Cause in the dark it can shine.
- [SIGHS SOFTLY.]
- Shine for me, baby.
[BIRDS CHIRPING.]


MELANIE: 

So, that's where babies come from.
And in a couple years, your body will start to change to be more like Mommy's.
It's the most natural thing in the world.
Any questions? 

SYD :

What's chlamydia? 

MELANIE:

Where'd you hear that word? 

SYD :
From The Wolf.

MELANIE:
Uh, well um, you know how, when someone sneezes on you, you catch a cold? 

Well, that's because the cold is a virus, and the sneeze transfers the virus to you.
And chlamydia is kind of like a cold, except for your vagina.
And, uh, you get it by having unprotected sex with someone who has that virus.
Does that make sense? 

SYD :

Bodies are weird.

- [MELANIE CHUCKLES.]

"Well, a Director is just someone who has a fetish about making The World the way he wants it - Sort of Narcissistic."

That's you....?

"All Directors....

They're vaugely like Emperors."

- George Lucas 

Always Two There are,

No More, No Less —

A Master and an Apprentice.

— The Rule of Two

 "Curious. I have brought The Sith to their ultimate victory. Through study, I will soon learn how to defeat death. While I may choose apprentices, I will never choose a successor."

 — Darth Sidious, marginalia in The Book of The Sith, in the section titled "Selecting an Apprentice"

"The Sith Order is now a lineage....

It must not end with you! 

I will not allow my new Sith Order to expire because you were unworthy or too protective to bequeath your power.

Know this : Your apprentice will kill you. 

If this fact frightens you, then the Sith Order has already suffered a fatal infection.

Or do you believe that you will live forever? 

You are not wrong to covet the secret, for I have sought to prolong my own life. 

But in the extreme, this leads to narcissism and a lack of focus on The Rule of Two.

To be a Sith Lord is to outthink your enemies and to plan for every eventuality. 

A proper apprentice will ensure that The Sith endure, no matter what fate may come upon your head."

— The Book of The Sith

An interval of thirty years elapsed between the foundation of Lavinium and the colonisation of Alba Longa. Such had been the growth of the Latin power, mainly through the defeat of the Etruscans, that neither at the death of Aeneas, nor during the regency of Lavinia, nor during the immature years of the reign of Ascanius, did either Mezentius and the Etruscans or any other of their neighbours venture to attack them. When terms of peace were being arranged, the river Albula, now called the Tiber, had been fixed as the boundary between the Etruscans and the Latins.

Ascanius was succeeded by his son Silvius, who by some chance had been born in the forest. He became the father of Aeneas Silvius, who in his turn had a son, Latinus Silvius. He planted a number of colonies: the colonists were called Prisci Latini. The cognomen of Silvius was common to all the remaining kings of Alba, each of whom succeeded his father. Their names are Alba, Atys, Capys, Capetus, Tiberinus, who was drowned in crossing the Albula, and his name transferred to the river, which became henceforth the famous Tiber. Then came his son Agrippa, after him his son Romulus Silvius. He was struck by lightning and left the crown to his son Aventinus, whose shrine was on the hill which bears his name and is now a part of the city of Rome. 

He was succeeded by Proca, who had two sons, Numitor and Amulius. To Numitor, the elder, he bequeathed the ancient throne of the Silvian house. Violence, however, proved stronger than either the father's will or the respect due to the brother's seniority; for Amulius expelled his brother and seized the crown. Adding crime to crime, he murdered his brother's sons and made the daughter, Rhea Silvia, a Vestal virgin; thus, under the presence of honouring her, depriving her of all hopes of issue.

But the Fates had, I believe, already decreed the origin of this Great City and the foundation of the mightiest empire under heaven. The Vestal was forcibly violated and gave birth to twins. 

She named Mars as their father, either because she really believed it, or because the fault might appear less heinous if a deity were the cause of it. But neither gods nor men sheltered her or her babes from the king's cruelty; the priestess was thrown into prison, the boys were ordered to be thrown into the river. By a heaven-sent chance it happened that the Tiber was then overflowing its banks, and stretches of standing water prevented any approach to the main channel. Those who were carrying the children expected that this stagnant water would be sufficient to drown them, so under the impression that they were carrying out the king's orders they exposed the boys at the nearest point of the overflow, where the Ficus Ruminalis (said to have been formerly called Romularis) now stands. The locality was then a wild solitude. 

The tradition goes on to say that after the floating cradle in which the boys had been exposed had been left by the retreating water on dry land, a thirsty she-wolf from the surrounding hills, attracted by the crying of the children, came to them, gave them her teats to suck and was so gentle towards them that the king's flock-master found her licking the boys with her tongue.

According to the story, his name was Faustulus. He took the children to his hut and gave them to his wife Larentia to bring up. Some writers think that Larentia, from her unchaste life, had got the nickname of "She-wolf" amongst the shepherds, and that this was the origin of the marvellous story. As soon as the boys, thus born and thus brought up, grew to be young men they did not neglect their pastoral duties, but their special delight was roaming through the woods on hunting expeditions. 

As their strength and courage were thus developed, they used not only to lie in wait for fierce beasts of prey, but they even attacked brigands when loaded with plunder. They distributed what they took amongst the shepherds, with whom, surrounded by a continually increasing body of young men, they associated themselves in their serious undertakings and in their sports and pastimes.

Remus accordingly was handed over to Numitor for punishment. Faustulus had from the beginning suspected that it was royal offspring that he was bringing up —

— for he was aware that the boys had been exposed at the king's command and the time at which he had taken them away exactly corresponded with that of their exposure. He had, however, refused to divulge the matter prematurely, until either a fitting opportunity occurred or necessity demanded its disclosure. The necessity came first. Alarmed for the safety of Remus he revealed the state of the case to Romulus. 

It so happened that Numitor also, who had Remus in his custody, on hearing that he and his brother were twins and comparing their ages and the character and bearing so unlike that of one in a servile condition, began to recall the memory of his grandchildren, and further inquiries brought him to the same conclusion as Faustulus; nothing was wanting to the recognition of Remus. 

So the king Amulius was being enmeshed on all sides by hostile purposes. 

Romulus shrunk from a direct attack with his body of shepherds, for he was no match for the king in open fight. 

They were instructed to approach the palace by different routes and meet there at a given time, whilst from Numitor's house Remus lent his assistance with a second band he had collected. The attack succeeded and the king was killed.