In old Slavic folk tales the hero Ivan, weary from travel and beset by the tricks of the witch Baba Yaga, is often sheltered for a night by the spell-bound maiden he must rescue. He will soon be tasked with staring down three magical hounds of increasing size, or sitting watch at a ghostly table laden with wine and meat that he must neither drink nor eat, but first he is given this moment of comfort. “Rest now,” she says. “The morning is wiser than the evening.” And the hero sleeps, knowing that he will face the day when it comes and not before.
I love this, even as I reflect that not all sleep "knits up the raveled sleeve of care" as Macbeth says while reflecting that he has "murdered sleep" - I speak from experience of sleep that is often filled with strange and sometimes disturbing dreams. One doesn't have to murder one's guest in his sleep to have one's own sleep disturbed. Still, I believe in the idea, of the ideal sleep, and in the spell-bound maiden who speaks of, and is, Ivan's rest.
How true - the morning is most always wiser than the evening. A programmer sure gets that!
I love this, even as I reflect that not all sleep "knits up the raveled sleeve of care" as Macbeth says while reflecting that he has "murdered sleep" - I speak from experience of sleep that is often filled with strange and sometimes disturbing dreams. One doesn't have to murder one's guest in his sleep to have one's own sleep disturbed. Still, I believe in the idea, of the ideal sleep, and in the spell-bound maiden who speaks of, and is, Ivan's rest.