The Spotted Goat | Ep. 256

Think of a person you’ve known for a long time.

Having a longtime relationship with someone can be wonderful – like a grown-up who's always there for you, or a friend who shows you kindness and trust.

But hanging onto every relationship isn't always the best thing. In this week’s story, we’ll meet a Queen who learns that sometimes, every now and again, the best thing is letting go.

Our tale is called “The Spotted Goat.” This tale comes from Lebanese and Palestinian folklore.

We recorded this episode before a live audience of excited kids and grown-ups at Town Hall Seattle in Seattle, Washington. Joining host Rebecca Sheir on stage was a trio of Seattle-based actors: Zaki Hamid, Alyssa Keene and Diana Opong. And playing live music on the oud (learn more about this pear-shaped stringed instrument below) was Eric Shimelonis.

This episode was adapted for Circle Round by Rebecca Sheir. It was edited by Dean Russell. Original music and sound design is by Eric Shimelonis. Our artist is Sabina Hahn.

GROWN-UPS! PRINT THIS so everyone can color while listening. We’re also keeping an album so please share your picture on Facebook and Instagram, and tag it with #CircleRoundPodcast. To access all the coloring pages for past episodes click HERE. Our resident artist is Sabina Hahn and you can learn more about her HERE.

Now It’s Your Turn

Thinking about all the things we’re grateful for can help us look at the world in a whole new light. So starting tonight, before you go to bed, take time for a gratitude check-in!

Sit down with someone you love, and tell them one thing you’re grateful for. It could be a person, place, or possession; it could be a memory or moment. Then tomorrow night, do another check-in, and share something else you’re grateful for.

After just a few days of gratitude check-ins, you’re bound to have a brighter attitude in your mind… and a bigger smile on your face.

Musical Spotlight: Oud

With 11 or 13 strings running up and down its short, fretless neck and gourd-shaped body, the oud is believed to have originated in Persia more than 3,500 years ago.

The Arabic word “oud” translates to “stick” or “from wood”; appropriately, oud-makers use rounded strips of wood to craft the backside of the instrument, and one flat sheet of wood to create the front. Traditionally, oud players have plucked or strummed the oud’s strings with a ‘plectrum’: a long, flat pick that resembles a nail file.

You can hear Eric Shimelonis playing the oud in many other Circle Round stories, including “The Unwelcome Guest,” “The Fire Within,” “The Sharpest Tack,” “Written in the Stars” and  “The Sultan’s Figs”!

Script:

NARRATOR: There once was a queen.

The queen lived in a palace with snow-white marble gleaming on every floor, and crystal chandeliers twinkling from every ceiling.

The queen’s wine was served in a golden chalice. Her food was served on a silver platter. And SHE was served by a battalion of housekeepers, butlers, maids and stewards, all ready and waiting to answer her beck and call.

It seemed like the queen had everything a person could want. And yet, as she confessed to her chief minister one day… a woman by the name of Zara…

QUEEN: …I can’t help but feel like SOMETHING is MISSING! Do you know what I mean, Zara

ZARA: With all due respect, Your Majesty – I DON’T! After all, you heard what the Narrator said just now. You have everything!

QUEEN: (not convinced) Oh,you mean the marble floors…? The crystal chandeliers…? The silver chalices? The golden platters…?

ZARA: Actually, it was the other way around, Your Majesty. It was golden chalices. And silver platters.

QUEEN: Either way. My life may SEEM rich on the OUTSIDE. But it doesn’t FEEL rich on the INSIDE.

ZARA: I don’t understand!

QUEEN: Look, Zara. You and I grew up in this palace. My mother was the queen, and YOUR mother was her chief minister. So you know that from the time I was a teeny-tiny princess, not once have I had to solve my own problems… or answer my own questions… I’ve never even had to put on my own shoes!

ZARA: But what does that matter when those shoes are as fabulous as yours are? (getting carried away) I mean, look at that leather! It’s so soft and buttery you could spread it on toast!

QUEEN: (sarcastic) Right. And then I could SERVE that toast on another golden platter!

ZARA: (correcting her again) Another SILVER platter! SILVER!

QUEEN: Whatever! (beat) I want to know what REAL life is like, Zara. I want to see, first-hand, how my people live. …No! Not just SEE it, but EXPERIENCE it! (beat) Therefore, I have decided I shall borrow some of my servants’ clothing… disguise myself as an everyday citizen… then spend a week traveling around the kingdom, incognito. (beat) What do you think of my idea?

NARRATOR: Now… unlike the queen.. Zara relished the luxuries of palace life – and had become quite spoiled by them! So the idea of roughing it out in the kingdom made her shudder. But she did her best to smile.

ZARA: (trying to be diplomatic) Your Majesty… since you asked… I think that disguising yourself and living among the common people is… an interesting thought! Intriguing even! But – (gets cut off)

QUEEN: (interrupting) I’m so glad to hear it. Because I’m not doing it alone. You’re coming with me!

ZARA: I’m doing WHAT now?

QUEEN: You’re coming with me! So change your clothes, pack your bags, and meet me outside the palace. I have two mules saddled up and ready to go!

NARRATOR: Zara could hardly believe her ears. But, since a royal order was a royal order, she rummaged through the servants’ quarters for some humble attire, then mounted her mule and took off after the queen.

The pair spent the next days touring villages, towns, and cities. And at every stop, the disguised queen took delight in walking freely among her people. She chatted with them…

QUEEN: How are you this fine day?

NARRATOR: She shared meals with them…

QUEEN: Your homemade stew is the best I’ve ever tasted!

NARRATOR: …and she peppered them with questions about their lives.

QUEEN: What’s it like being a tailor?  (beat) How did you come to be a schoolteacher? (beat) What’s the most challenging thing about being a grocer? (beat) You must tell me everything. EVERYTHING!

NARRATOR: Zara, meanwhile, was nowhere near as enthusiastic.

ZARA: (big SIGH/GROAN)

NARRATOR: But the chief minister stood quietly by, her face plastered into a grin, her foot tapping with impatience.

One summer day, the queen and Zara were riding through the countryside. Rolling green hills billowed around them like waves in a sea of wildflowers. The sun shone high and hot in the blue sky above.

QUEEN: Zara! Would you look at this landscape? It’s so wild! So natural! So unlike life in that stuffy palace. Doesn't it make your spine tingle?

NARRATOR: Zara mopped her brow with her sleeve.

ZARA: Truth be told, it makes my spine TRICKLE! I have never SWEATED this much in my life! (beat) Can we please go back to the palace now?

QUEEN: Not yet! I want to pause here and enjoy the beauty that’s… (falls silent as she hears music)

NARRATOR: The queen fell silent. Because all at once, the air was filled with the sound… of music.

QUEEN: (GASP!) Listen to that melody! It’s positively breathtaking! Have you ever heard a sound so beautiful???

ZARA: Yes! The sound of the dinner bell! At the palace! If I have to choke down one more bite of peasant food on this trip, I am going to scream.

NARRATOR: The queen paid her minister no mind and set off to find where the music was coming from. She rode her mule to the top of a hill. On the other side of the hill, down in the glen below, a herd of sheep and goats was grazing.

Beside them was a silver-haired shepherd, his eyes closed in ecstasy as he strummed the strings of the pear-shaped musical instrument known as… the oud.

The queen motioned to Zara, and together they trotted down the hillside. When the shepherd heard hoofbeats approaching, he opened his eyes, put down his oud, and stashed it away in a beat-up wooden case.

OMAR: Greetings! I didn’t realize there was another living soul about – save for my herd here! I do hope my music wasn’t bothering you…?

QUEEN: On the contrary! Your music was DELIGHTING us! In fact, we were just saying that we’ve never heard anything so beautiful.

ZARA: Well, not ANYTHING…

OMAR: Pardon me?

QUEEN: (laughs) You’ll have to excuse my friend here. (pointed) She’s a little overheated.

OMAR: (not picking up on the tension) Well, it IS a warm day. Would you like some of my water? I always bring plenty when I’m grazing my herd in these hills! I could also share my food if you’re hungry…

NARRATOR: Zara scrunched up her nose at the thought of more peasant food. The queen, however, smiled.

QUEEN: That’s very charitable of you, sir! But did you really bring enough food for three people?

OMAR: Have you not heard the old saying…? “If you are charitable, you are rich”? So please. Be my guests!

NARRATOR: The shepherd removed a helping of breads, spreads and pastries from his leather satchel. As he divided his humble fare into three portions, the queen gazed at him with curiosity.

QUEEN: My good sir. What is your name?

OMAR: My name is Omar, madam.

QUEEN: Omar… If I may ask… How is it you’re so content?

OMAR: Honestly madam – how could I NOT be content? I have the wide open sky above me and the good earth below. I have music to fill my heart. And I have my herd, who bring me endless hours of enjoyment. (beat) MOSTLY, anyway.

QUEEN: What do you mean?

OMAR: Well… Do you see that spotted goat over there?

NARRATOR: Omar gestured toward a nearby hill. Perched at the crest was a spotted goat, its head lifted toward the sky as it let out bleat after bleat.

OMAR: That creature has always been a thorn in my side. She refuses to stay with the herd, and she’s always complaining and causing trouble.

QUEEN: With all due respect… why do you keep her?

OMAR: I guess because she’s been with me forever, and it doesn’t seem right to let her go.

QUEEN: I see…

NARRATOR: The queen gave Omar a thoughtful look.

QUEEN: Omar. I wonder… would you consider giving up your herd… and working at the queen’s palace?

NARRATOR: The shepherd’s eyes opened wide. So did the chief minister's!

ZARA: Hang on, Your Majesty! I thought we were supposed to be in disguise!

NARRATOR: Now the shepherd’s eyes opened even wider.

OMAR: “In disguise”...??!? Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you’re actually the – (too stunned to finish sentence)

QUEEN: (finishing sentence for him) … that I’m actually the queen? Yes. I am. And this here is my minister Zara.

ZARA: (huffy) Her CHIEF minister Zara.

NARRATOR: Omar rose to his feet and made a graceful bow.

OMAR: Your Royal Majesty! And… Your Royal Minister! I am honored to make your acquaintance.

QUEEN: The feeling is mutual! That is why I want you to come to the palace, Omar. I want you to serve as my assistant minister. Zara here could use someone with such a practical, real-world perspective.

ZARA: I could????

QUEEN: Yes! You COULD! (beat) So Omar? Will you come work for me?

NARRATOR: Omar drew a long breath. Then… he smiled.

OMAR: Of course, Your Majesty! It would be my privilege to work as your assistant minister. Thank you.

NARRATOR: From the moment Omar stepped foot on the palace’s gleaming marble floors, he seemed utterly at home in his new position. He advised the queen wisely and well, and she came to appreciate his insights.

But you know who didn’t?

ZARA: Uggggh!

NARRATOR: Zara!

ZARA: I have lived in this palace forever. FOREVER! So I know what’s best for the queen. Yet now she brings on this random old codger to give her advice? A mere peasant who wouldn’t know a golden platter from a silver platter?

NARRATOR: A mischievous gleam came into Zara’s eyes. Her lips curled into a sneer.

ZARA: I shall see to it that this shabby shepherd is but a flash in the queen’s pan. If my plan works, not only will he be put in his place… he’ll be put out to pasture! FOREVER!

NARRATOR: What do you think the chief minister is plotting? Will she succeed in sending the shepherd packing?

We’ll find out, after a quick break.

[BREAK]

NARRATOR: I'm Rebecca Sheir and welcome back to Circle Round, live at Town Hall Seattle in Seattle, Washington! Today our story is called “The Spotted Goat.”

Before the break, the queen hired a humble, music-playing shepherd named Omar to be her assistant minister.

The chief minister, Zara, had been around the palace forever. She envied Omar’s instant favor with the queen… and was determined to discredit him.

So one afternoon, she pulled the queen aside.

ZARA: Your Majesty, you and I must talk about that… that shepherd.

QUEEN: Your assistant minister, you mean? I hope you’re as captivated by Omar’s honesty and integrity as I am!

ZARA: (sarcastic) Oh. Quite. So why not give the fellow a position where honesty and integrity are of paramount importance? Why not promote him… to royal treasurer?

QUEEN: Royal treasurer? The one who keeps tabs on all my gold, silver and jewels? Down in the vault beneath the palace?

ZARA: That’s right! Since the former royal treasurer retired some weeks ago, we’ve been searching for a replacement. And Omar would be perfect, would he not?

QUEEN: Well… given that only two people in the palace possess a key to the treasury – the royal treasurer and you – I do need someone I can trust. And I trusted that fellow from the moment I met him. (beat) So yes! I shall hire him. He’ll start first thing tomorrow!

NARRATOR: Omar was surprised by his change in post. As royal treasurer, he had so little interaction with the queen! Instead, he spent his days locked in the underground vault, keeping careful records of every coin and jewel that flowed in and out.

But whenever he could grab a free moment, he would steal away to his room. He would close the door behind him, then reach into his closet and pull out a beat-up wooden case. And do you remember what was inside that case?

That’s right!

His oud!

He would open the case… cradle the beloved instrument in his hands… and then…

…he would play. 

He would play… and play… and as his music filled the room, his mind flooded with memories. Wonderful, stirring memories of the days when he had the sky above him and the earth below… when he could make music to his heart’s content as he guided his herd up and down the hills.

It wasn’t that Omar didn’t appreciate his new job, or all the privileges he’d been given. But deep in his heart he had to admit: he missed his former life.

Eventually, he would realize the time…

OMAR: Oh no! I must get back to work!

NARRATOR: …then he would stash the oud back in its case, shove the case in the closet, then grab his treasury key and bustle back to the vault.

Now, you may recall that Omar was one of two people with keys to the treasury. Do you remember who the other person was?

[audience calls out]

NARRATOR: That’s right! Zara! The chief minister!

The JEALOUS chief minister.

So one night, after Omar locked up the treasury and returned to his room, Zara crept down to the vault. She took out her key, let herself in, then proceeded to stuff a big sack full of money and jewels, laughing gleefully all the while.

ZARA: (villainous laughter) Ha ha ha ha ha! This is going to be GREAT!

NARRATOR: When she was done, she locked the door behind her and hid all the treasures in her room.

The following morning, Zara rubbed her eyes til they were red and puffy. Then she rushed to the queen’s chambers, as if she’d been crying!

ZARA: Your Majesty! I have terrible news. The royal treasury was ROBBED!

QUEEN: Robbed????? What happened?

ZARA: All I know is the place has been ransacked. Money is missing… jewels are missing…

QUEEN: Did someone break in?

ZARA: That’s the worst part, Your Majesty! There are no signs of a break-in. The door isn’t damaged, the lock hasn’t been tampered with... Whoever stole those treasures… had a key.

QUEEN: But the only two people who possess a key to the treasury are you and Omar! And his honesty is beyond all doubt!

ZARA: IS it, though? Lest you forget, he was but a peasant when you met him. Did you think that by hiring him at the palace he would suddenly become a nobleman?

QUEEN: But he IS noble, in mind and heart!

ZARA: Not if he robbed your treasury, he isn’t! (beat) Have you noticed how he’s always sneaking off to his room and closing the door? I suspect he’s hiding the treasures there.

NARRATOR: The queen was heartbroken. Had her new friend really betrayed her, after she’d given him so much trust?

She hurried to the royal treasury, where she found Omar. The old man was pacing the floor and wringing his hands.

OMAR: Your Majesty! I have no idea what happened! I’m certain I locked the door before I left last night.

QUEEN: Before you left with the treasure, you mean?

OMAR: But Your Majesty! It’s my job to look after the treasure! Why would I leave with it?

QUEEN: Maybe because you have easy access! After all, only two people in this palace hold a key to the vault: you and the chief minister.

NARRATOR: Omar froze. For suddenly, it all became clear. From the day they met, the chief minister had shown him nothing but scorn. Surely Zara had robbed the treasury herself, hoping that he would take the fall.

OMAR: Your Majesty. You trusted me with that key. I take that trust very seriously.

QUEEN: Then what is it you’re hiding in your room? I’ve heard how you sneak away and close the door. Is that where you’re keeping the treasure?

OMAR: The truth, Your Majesty, is that I do keep a treasure in my room. But it’s not what you think. Please. Follow me.

NARRATOR: Omar led the queen to his room, and motioned her to the closet. She flung the door open and spied all of Omar’s fine new clothes and fancy new shoes. Then she caught sight of something else… tucked way, way in the back.

QUEEN: That wooden case! Is the treasure in there?

OMAR: It most certainly IS, Your Majesty. Take a look.

NARRATOR: The queen grabbed the case and undid the clasp. When she peered inside, her face softened, her shoulders relaxed, and her eyes took on a fond and faraway look.

QUEEN: It’s… your oud! The beautiful instrument I heard you playing the first day we met! Now that I think of it, I haven’t heard you play it since. (beat) Is THIS the treasure you were talking about? 

OMAR: It IS, Your Majesty. You see, I long for the melodies I once made on this oud. But I would be ashamed to play it for anyone at the palace, for fear they would mock me or think I'm shirking my duties. (beat) Do you recall what I told you that first day? When I talked about all the things I had?  

QUEEN: I DO. You had the wide open sky above you, and the good earth below. …and you had music to fill your heart.

OMAR: Yes. But in this new life of mine, I so rarely see the sky… or feel the earth… or play my music. And I miss it.

NARRATOR: The queen was deeply moved by Omar’s words, and his longing for his old life. She was certain now that she had been wrong… and he had been wronged. And she knew exactly who it was that had wronged him.

QUEEN: I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, my friend. It is clear to me that my chief minister is the real culprit in this crime. But why would she do such a thing?

OMAR: If I may guess, Your Majesty… it’s because she’s your spotted goat.

QUEEN: My spotted goat?

OMAR: That first day, out in the hills, I showed you a spotted goat. An ornery creature that was always complaining and causing trouble. I didn’t have the heart to let her go, since we’d been together for so long. I believe Zara is your spotted goat.

QUEEN: And she tried making YOU a SCAPE-goat!

OMAR: Exactly, Your Majesty. Exactly.

NARRATOR: The queen smiled, impressed yet again by her silver-headed friend’s wisdom.

And that very day, she made a few changes. First, she sent her chief minister packing… with some special parting gifts.

QUEEN: These are for you, Zara! Your very own golden chalice and silver platter! Just like the Narrator said!

ZARA: (sigh/groan/etc.)

NARRATOR: Second, the queen decided that from now on, she would spend time traveling about the kingdom, meeting with her people and learning about their lives.

And third, she offered Omar yet another job – two jobs, really. She made him the royal shepherd… and the royal musician. So now… at long last… he could have the open sky above him, the good earth below, and plenty of marvelous music in his heart.