The Goban Saor: 'The Silent Valley'
Once, when the Goban was young, he
was training to be a druid.
One day, his teacher took the Goban and a group
of pupils to the Silent Valley, up in the mountains.
They had just come
over the pass and halted, gazing in silence across the valley.
After some
time, the pupil nearest the Goban whispered:
"..Why is it called the
'Silent Valley'?"
"Why ?" whispered the Goban back" ..You see those
standing stones below?"
Two or three others were now listening in and
they all nodded, gazing steadily at the hundreds of tall standing stones - like
giant, regularly-shaped stalagmites - which covered the valley floor and some
way up the sides.
"..Well, some of them", said the Goban in a loud
whisper"..have been standing there for over three thousand years
.."
"..So?" they whispered back.
"..Under every stone" whispered
the Goban"..some sage, or seer, or druid, or wise man is buried
..."
"..Yes, so ?" they whispered.
"..Have you noticed" said the
Goban in an even louder whisper, because more of them were listening now "..that
none of them have very much to say for themselves now ..."
They stared
back at him until one of them, thinking that he knew what the Goban meant,
started to chuckle. Soon the whole Silent Valley resounded with irreverent
laughter.
The druid who was their teacher kept frowning at the Goban the
whole way back down the mountain.
Perhaps this is why the Goban never
became a druid.