WEBVTT

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In the medieval
mystery plays that

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were put on with the
volunteer labor and donations

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of time and money by the
various guilds all over Europe,

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there were--

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well, I can't generalize beyond
that about all over Europe.

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But in England, there
were some standard--

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you these were
plays put on about

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scenes from the Bible both
the Old Testament and the New.

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And since there was a lot very,
very serious at stake in them,

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they were scams on
comic relief, but there

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were a couple of
standard characters

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who were cast as comic.

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One of the things I
love best and I think

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tells us most about the
really complex social dynamic

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and psychological
dynamic of faith

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is that-- one of the
standard comic figures

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was Joseph, the cuckold, right?

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The sort of guy who
was so clueless.

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He believed his wife's story
about how she got pregnant

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with the Son of God,
and these were in plays

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staged by believers about the
annunciation, and the birth,

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and I love that.

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Anyway one of the
other classic figures

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who was there for the
laughter she would allow

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was Noah's wife, who was always
clueless like Joseph, who

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didn't get it,
and who was-- they

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were trying to hustle
her onto the boat

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and she wouldn't
get on the boat,

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she had other things to do.

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She didn't know if
she wanted to do that.

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And so forth.

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So--

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This poem is called, "Noah's
Wife" and just about her.

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"Noah's wife is doing her
usual for comic relief.

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She doesn't see why she
should get on the boat,

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et cetera, et cetera
while life as we

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know it hangs by a thread.

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Even God has had one or
two great deadpan lines.

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Who told you?

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This was back at the start,
the teeth of the tautology

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had just snapped shut.

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Who told you you were naked?

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The world was so new
that death hadn't

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been till this minute required.

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What makes you think the ground
withers under their feet?

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We were told.

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The woman's disobedience
is good for plot,

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as also for restoring
plot to human scale.

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300 cubits by 50 by what?

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What's that in inches exactly?

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Whereas an obstinate
wife is common coin.

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In the beginning
was nothing and then

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a flaw in the nothing, a sort
of mistake that amplified,

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the nothing mistranscribed.

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It takes such discipline
to keep the prospect clean.

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And now the lion whelps, the
beetle rolls its ball of dung,

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and Noah with no more than a
primitive double-entry audit

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is supposed to make it right.

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We find the Creator
in an awkward bind.

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Washed back to oblivion?

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Think again.

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The housewife at her laundry
tub has got a better grip.

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Which may be why we've
tried to find her laughable,

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she's such an unhappy reminder
of what understanding costs.

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Ask the boy who cannot,
though God knows he's tried,

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he swears each bar of melting
soap will be his last,

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who cannot turn the water off
when once he's turned it on.

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His hands are raw.

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His body seems
like filth to him.

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Who told you?

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The pharmacopeia has changed,
the malady's still the same.

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Who told you you
were food for worms?

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What makes you think
the furrow, the fruit.

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I had to be told."

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