The Colour of Time - Part 6

 

When she first read about the colour of time and its magical powers in that little book of hers she really believed time had the colour Tangerine. Tangerine was the name of her favourite fruit but also the name of a colour as she found out on one of her stays at her grandparents' house in the City of Earth during Holiday season.

Dora herself was born in the hamlet of Wye many, many miles away upstream the River Why on the other side of the High Mountains as the only daughter of a couple of travelling cooks.

But every year she and her parents came home to the City of Earth for the Holiday season to visit her father's parents. Her grandmother - her father's mother - gave her her first tangerine and told her in whispered secret about the Temple of the spring and well of forecast.

'Only the pure at heart can enter the Temple,' Grandma always said. 'It is even unseeable for the most of the commoners. But once you stepped through its indestructible walls of marble blocks you will find all the solidness disappear and yourself standing under a white clouded blue sky in the most wonderful light of a great wide open.'

'Stop telling your fairytales, mother,' Dora's father interrupted. 'There is no such place in this town. And you, little Dora, take Grandma's puppy dog for a walk.'

This was the day Dora of Wye entered the Temple for the first time. Rascal, Grandma's puppy dog, was chasing rabbits down the embankment near the city wall on the riverside of the City of Earth. Dora was in quite a hurry to keep up with him. And just as she was able to grab him around the belly with both of her hands and arms she saw a sparkling white flash in the corner of her eyes together with a faint blurring in the air. It came from the solid city wall not far from the point of the earth embankment she was standing on.

With Rascal at her feet and groping hands in front of her she took careful steps forward and towards the point at the wall where she remembered the light and the flickering, shimmering blur in the air when suddenly she stood on a paved pathway in a little canyon of white stones and grass and flowers. In front of her she could see the cobblestone paved path unfold to a far horizon with misty mountains, all under a bright sun or star at a blue and white-cloud-spangled sky. And still around her there were the majestic columns and arches of an amazing temple.

She fell completely silent in awe with mouth and eyes wide open. Then she heard a deep, thundering bell-like and yet friendly voice coming from a yellow-eyed creature half hiding in the fluffy clouds.

'It is not the time for you, little Dora,' the voice said. 'Not yet. Return to your parents and your parents' parents and return here when you think your time has come.'

'Marmalodies,' the llama sighed thinking of marmalade and the township in South Africa at the same time. 'Does your Ma of Melodies make more mouthwatering marmalade in Mamelodi?'

'What is wrong with you, animal?' asked Bromford, the bard. 'Linguistic confusion in a biblical sense like around the Tower of Babel because we are in the City of Babel?'

'Those are only fairytales in books written by hares,' the llama said. 'And what should we do with that white-bearded old dude in red over there?'

'Rabbits,' Bromford said. 'Fariytales in books written by rabbits. And ignore the red and white dude, just ignore him.'

"Lady Bromford"

Cut to the seagull
The quarryman
The castle
The barnacles
The cliff edge
The joy
Up in the tower that looks out to sea
The pink dressing room bell
Of the lady is ringing
She looks from the shadows
Out through the stained colours of old glass
The sorrows of slate and sugar cane are hers

And where does she go now
And where does it seem to be free
And where does she go now
And where will she carry me


If this is the end
The line in the sand
The blue dressing room bell
Is ringing the lord
He wishes the head of the whale
Who lived under the ice
Until shipping lanes sliced
Open the North Pole
Leaving a great hole

And where do I go now
And where does it seem to be free
Where do I go now now
Where will you carry me

If I'm on the back
I'm on the back
I'm on the back of you
I'm on the back
I'm on the back
I'm on the back of you
I'm on the back
I'm on the back of you
I'm on the back
I'm on the back
I'm on the back of you
I want to be light now

Dwi wrth dy gefn, dwi th dy gefen di
Dwi wrth dy gefn, dwi th dy gefen di
Dwi wrth dy gefn, dwi th dy gefen di

Today is Saturday, the 6th of December 2025.
Saint Nicholas Day