"I spent my money on a barrel of stout" - Worldly vs. Divine Things

January 11, 2008 - Lured by the raucous strains of fiddle and accordion, Tobias carouses with the crowd in the marketplace. In the midst of the drinking and dancing, Tobias encounters a stranger who dances a mysterious dance to a gently glowing accompaniment of flute, vibraphone, and strings. Tobias is puzzled by the stranger's dance as well as by the stranger's cryptic injunction to "Listen for the silence in the song." Bored by the stranger and weary from his revelry, Tobias sleeps in the market while the stranger continues his introspective dance. Dawn breaks over the graveyard, and Tobit is awakened by a flock of sparrows (children's voices accompanied by chirping woodwind and xylophone) who shit in his eyes and blind him. Meanwhile in the distant town of Ecbatana, evil lurks. . . .