Every year in August, the constellation Cygnus the Swan comes to its highest place overhead, flying along the Milky Way River of stars. Cygnus holds a key to the mystery of storytelling in this season.
The further back we go in human history, the more we find evidence of how human beings sought to live in harmony with the natural world around them, so much so that they took their cues from nature about how to conduct their lives.
This was true even in the realm of storytelling. The storytellers were not at liberty to tell any tale they wanted whenever they wanted. To be a true storyteller, one had to read the signs of nature, which included the starry worlds, and to use this to determine what tales should be told when.
This hales from the time when human beings didn't speak about the stars. Instead, they listened to what they believed the stars were speaking to them.
This brings us to the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Cygnus looks like a cross and appears high up overhead right now, winging from northeast to southwest along the Milky Way.
It used to be that when Cygnus first appeared in the Spring that meant it was the time for merrymaking and sing song and whimsy and rhyme. Then, when Cygnus came highest up, the time for sacred silence arrived.
One of the fairy tales connected with the observance of this season's silence is "The Six Swans". In the tale, six of the King's seven children are transformed into swans by a wicked witch. In order to free them back to their human form, the youngest and seventh member of the family, the only daughter, must take a vow of silence for six years while she makes six shirts out of star flowers for her brothers. She can neither speak, nor laugh, nor cry during the entire process.
The tale is a wonderful read on August evenings, as the constellation of the swan flies overhead. Find a link to it on the Interlochen Public Radio website, and find the starry swan overhead about 10 pm this week.
The full text of the Six Swans from Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book can be found here: http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/146/the-yellow-fairy-book/4802/the-six-swans/