The Ugly One With The Jewels (Live)-Laurie Anderson

[ti:The Ugly One With The Jewels(live版)] [ar:Laurie Anderson] [al:The Ugly One With The Jewels And Other Stories] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]The Ugly One With The Jewels (Live) - Laurie Anderson [00:11.34]In 1974 I went to Mexico to visit my brother who [00:17.30]Was working as an anthropologist with Tsutsil Indians [00:21.23] [00:21.98]The last surviving Mayan tribe [00:24.89] [00:26.55]And the Tsutsil speak a lovely birdlike language [00:30.61] [00:31.27]And are quite tiny physically; [00:33.17] [00:33.70]I towered over them [00:35.24] [00:36.78]Mostly I spent my days following the women around [00:40.65] [00:41.56]Since my brother wasn't really allowed to do this [00:44.35] [00:45.61]We got up at 3am and began to [00:48.81]Separate the corn into three colors [00:51.04] [00:52.44]And we boiled it ran to the mill and back [00:55.18]And finally started to make the tortillas [00:58.15] [00:59.26]Now all the other women's tortillas were 360 [01:04.42]Perfectly toasted perfectly round; [01:07.80] [01:08.81]And after a lot of [01:09.75]Practice mine were still lobe-sided and charred [01:14.72] [01:16.51]And when they thought I wasn't looking [01:18.21] [01:20.11]They threw them to the dogs [01:21.74] [01:24.47]After breakfast we spent the rest of the day down [01:27.85]At the river watching the goats and braiding [01:31.46]And unbraiding each other's hair [01:33.43] [01:34.50]So usually there wasn't that much to report [01:37.26] [01:38.55]One day the women decided to braid [01:41.22]My hair Tsutsil-style [01:43.63] [01:44.70]After they did this I saw my reflection in a puddle [01:49.10] [01:50.66]I looked ridiculous but they said [01:54.40] [01:55.96]“Before we did this you were ugly but now [02:02.78]Maybe you will find a husband ” [02:05.89] [02:10.55]I lived within in a yurt a thatched structure [02:15.37]Shaped like a cob cake [02:16.93] [02:17.95]And there's a central fireplace ringed by sleeping [02:21.36]Shelves sort of like a dry beaver down [02:25.24] [02:27.22]Now my Tsutsil name was Lausha [02:29.90] [02:31.23]Which loosely translated means [02:33.22] [02:34.63]The ugly one with the jewels [02:38.52] [02:39.83]Now ugly OK I was awfully tall by local standards [02:45.32] [02:46.69]But what did they mean by the jewels [02:50.03] [02:53.72]I didn't find out what this meant until one night [02:57.30]When I was taking my contact lenses out [02:59.72] [03:00.75]And since I'd lost the case I was carefully [03:03.60]Placing them on the sleeping shelf; [03:06.06] [03:07.29]Suddenly I noticed that everyone was staring at me [03:11.24] [03:12.31]And I realized that none of the [03:14.37]Tsutsil had ever seen glasses [03:16.83]Much less contacts and that these were [03:20.92]The jewels the transparent [03:25.33] [03:25.85]Perfectly round jewels that [03:29.12]I carefully hid on the shelf [03:31.21]At night and then put for safekeeping [03:35.62] [03:36.61]Into my eyes every morning [03:39.56] [03:42.44]So I may have been ugly but so what [03:47.67] [03:52.08]I had the jewels [03:54.72] [04:06.34]Full fathom thy father lies [04:10.77] [04:13.64]Of his bones are coral made [04:17.47] [04:20.63]Those are pearls that were his eyes [04:25.12] [04:27.69]Nothing of him that doth fade [04:31.35] [04:33.85]But that suffers a sea change [04:38.51] [04:41.67]Into something rich and strange [04:46.74] [04:49.43]And I alone am left to tell the tale [04:54.88] [04:57.65]Call me Ishmael