Stroytime: The Spider with the Magic Flute

There is a Cat Stevens album called Buddha and the Chocolate Box.  Matt and I were examining the album art one Saturday back in April 2013 as the record spun on the turntable.  We decided to each draft our own story, or captions, for the comic book style scenes on the back of the album.

[Sidebar: That is one of the things records have going over CDs, if you ask me, a considerably larger art space on the cover.]

I recently came across these Buddha stories--pasted into an old journal--as I swapped out my 2019 journal/datebook for the fresh, new 2020 model.  I can remember how much we laughed as we read the other's story.  It made me happy all over to read them again.

I think it does a body good to be silly and creative for no real reason.   Fortunately, Matt also subscribes to this philosophy.

Below are our Buddha and the Chocolate Box tales.

When Buddha was a boy he set out on a great journey to find his destiny.  Along the way he happen upon a giant black spider playing a magical flute in the path.  The spider played an enchanting melody that captivated the Buddha.  It cleared his mind and he felt great calm and peace.  Suddenly visions came to his mind of a beautiful paper box which had been painted with bright designs.  He opened it and saw small gold objects inside.  Unwrapping one he could smell the delicious scent of fresh, rich chocolate and gasped to realize it was a likeness of himself.  The Buddha's mind cleared again and he was quite dismayed at this vision.  He left the enchanting spider and pondered, as he walked, the meaning of all of this.  [This is my version.]

One day Buddha was hiking across the valley beyond the mountains.  He came upon a piccolo playing spider.  The spider said "I'll play and you should relax and meditate."  So Buddha thought "Great idea" and began to meditate.  His mind became empty and then filled with a box of chocolate.  He open the box, reaching inside, and took out a gold wrapped chocolate.  He unwrapped it, anticipating enjoyment.  And found a chocolate version of himself.  "Eat myself!!  What does it mean?  What should I do?  That spider plays weird meditation piccolo.  I wish he would quit following me."  [Matt's version]

I'm so tickled that the sentence "That spider plays weird meditation piccolo," exists in the world.  It slays me.