Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (132 page)
Read Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated Online
Authors: Robin Furth
14. What are the
can-toi
? What are the
taheen
? How are they the same and how are they different? King compares the
taheen
to the monstrous figures found in Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych,
The Garden of Earthly Delights,
painted circa AD 1500. Take a look at this painting. (It’s fairly easy to find. Just type
Hieronymus Bosch,
and
Garden of Earthly Delights,
into your search engine.) As you will see, when the triptych is closed, its outer shutters depict the creation of the world. When the triptych is open, the left panel depicts Adam and Eve and the earthly paradise, the center panel illustrates the world engaged in sinful pleasures, and the right panel (where our
taheen
-like creatures appear) represents Hell. How are King’s creations similar to these painted figures? By drawing this comparison, what other, unspoken comments is King making about End-World, the Devar-Toi, and the Crimson King?
15. At the beginning of
The Dark Tower,
Jake reflects upon one of Roland’s sayings. According to our gunslinger, “You needn’t die happy when your day comes, but you must die satisfied, for you have lived your life from beginning to end and
ka
is always served.” What does this statement mean? Do you agree or disagree with the philosophy it expresses? Take a look at each member of Roland’s
ka-tet
: Eddie, Susannah, Jake, Oy, Callahan, and even Roland himself. Do any or all of them remain true to this vision?
16. At the beginning of
Wolves of the Calla,
Stephen King includes a section entitled “The Final Argument.” According to this introductory piece, each of the seven novels of the Dark Tower series has a subtitle. Moving, in order, from
The Gunslinger
to
Song of Susannah,
these subtitles are “Resumption,” “Renewal,” “Redemption,” “Regard,” “Resistance,” and “Reproduction.” In terms of Roland’s quest, what is the meaning of each of these subtitles?
17. Although each of the first six novels of the Dark Tower series has a single-word subtitle,
The Dark Tower
(the final book of the series) has a four-word subtitle. It is “Reproduction, Revelation, Redemption, Resumption.” How does this subtitle reflect the action of the novel? How does it interact with the subtitles of the previous novels? If you sit and contemplate the meaning of each of the words in
The Dark Tower
’s subtitle, does it affect your interpretation of the novel’s ending? How does it affect your interpretation of Roland’s quest?
The Commala Song is probably one of the most important songs found in Mid-World. It is sung in the Calla, but it was also sung in In-World during Roland’s youth. The version which the Calla
folken
sing during their welcoming fiesta (and to which Roland dances at the beginning of
Wolves of the Calla
) is listed below. Following it you will find some of the Commala’s variants, found throughout the rest of the series.
COMMALA
(THE RICE SONG)
CALLA BRYN STURGIS VERSION
Song and Dance in Honor of Lady Oriza, Lady of the Rice.
SINGER/DANCER:
Do I not give you joy from my joy, and the water I carried with the strength of my arm and my heart?
CHORUS:
Give you to eat of the green-crop.
SINGER/DANCER:
Give you joy of the rice.
CHORUS:
Come! . . . Come! . . . Come!
Come-come-commala
Rice come a-falla
I-sisser ’ay-a-bralla
Dey come a-folla
Down come-a rivva
Or-i-za we kivva
Rice be a green-o
See what we seen-o
Seen-o the green-o
Come-come-commala!
Come-come-commala
Rice come a-falla
Deep inna walla
Grass come-commala
Under the sky-o
Grass green n high-o
Girl n her fella
Lie down togetha
They slippy ’ay slide-o
Under ‘ay sky-o
Come-come-commala
Rice come a-falla!
CHORUS:
COMMALA!
CALLA CHILDREN’S VERSION
ROLAND’S TET OVERHEARS THE CALLA’S PREPUBESCENT TWINS SINGING THIS VERSION WHILE THEY MARCH BEHIND ANDY THE MESSENGER ROBOT. (V:587–88)
Commala-come-one!
Mamma had a son!
Dass-a time
’
at Daddy
Had d’mos’ fun!
Commala-come-come!
Daddy had one!
Dass-a time
’
at Mommy
Had d’mos’ fun!
Commala-come-two!
You know what to do!
Plant the rice commala,
Don’t ye be . . . no . . . foo’!
Commala-come-two!
Daddy no foo’!
Mommy plant commala
cause she know jus’ what to do!
Commala-come-t’ree!
You know what t’be
Plant d’rice commala
and d’rice’ll make ya free!
Commala-come-t’ree!
Rice’ll make ya free!
When ya plant the rice commala
You know jus’ what to be!
EAST ROAD BATTLE VERSION
The people of the Calla add this verse to the Commala Song after the battle of the East Road. It honors Lady Oriza for hiding the Calla’s children in her rice. (v:689)
Come-come-commala
Rice come a-falla
I-sissa ’ay a-bralla
Dey come a-folla
We went to a-rivva
’Riza did us kivva.
SONG OF SUSANNAH
VERSION
One stave and response from this version of the Commala Song can be found at the end of each Stanza section in
Song of Susannah.
(VI:18, VI:43–44, VI:58, VI:75, VI:98, VI:154, VI:173, VI:216, VI:261, VI:303, VI:344, VI:384–85, VI:411)
STAVE
Commala-come-come
There’s a young man with a gun.
Young man lost his honey
When she took it on the run.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-come!
She took it on the run!
Left her baby lonely but
Her baby ain’t done.
STAVE
Commala-come-coo
The wind’ll blow ya through.
Ya gotta go where ka’s wind blows ya
Cause there’s nothing else to do.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-two!
Nothin’ else to do!
Gotta go where ka’s wind blows ya
Cause there’s nothing else to do.
STAVE
Commala-come-key
Can ya tell me what ya see?
Is it ghosts or just the mirror
That makes ya want to flee?
RESPONSE
Commala-come-three!
I beg ya, tell me!
Is it ghosts or just your darker self
That makes ya want to flee?
STAVE
Commala-come-ko
Whatcha doin at my do’?
If you doan tell me now, my friend,
I’ll lay ya on de flo’.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-fo’!
I can lay ya low!
The things I done to such as you
You never want to know.
STAVE
Commala-gin-jive
Ain’t it grand to be alive?
To look out on Discordia
When the Demon Moon arrives.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-five!
Even when the shadows rise!
To see the world and walk the world
Makes ya glad to be alive.
STAVE
Commala-mox-nix!
You’re in a nasty fix!
To take the hand in a traitor’s glove
Is to grasp a sheaf of sticks!
RESPONSE
Commala-come-six!
Nothing there but thorns and sticks!
When you find your hand in a traitor’s glove
You’re in a nasty fix.
STAVE
Commala-loaf-leaven!
They go to Hell or up to Heaven!
When the guns are shot and the fire’s hot,
You got to poke em in the oven.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-seven!
Salt and yow’ for leaven!
Heat em up and knock em down
And poke em in the oven.
STAVE
Commala-ka-kate.
You’re in the hands of fate.
No matter if you’re real or not,
The hour groweth late.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-eight!
The hour groweth late!
No matter what the shade ya cast
You’re in the hands of fate.
STAVE
Commala-me-mine
You have to walk the line.
When you finally get the thing you need
It makes you feel so fine.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-nine!
It makes ya feel fine!
But if you’d have the thing you need
You have to walk the line.
STAVE
Commala-come-ken
It’s the other one again.
You may know her name and face
But that don’t make her your friend.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-ten!
She is not your friend!
If you let her get too close
She’ll cut you up again.
STAVE
Commala-come-call
We hail the One who made us all,
Who made the men and made the maids,
Who made the great and small.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-call!
He made the great and small!
And yet how great the hand of fate
That rules us one and all.
STAVE
Commala-come-ki,
There’s a time to live and one to die.
With your back against the final wall
Ya gotta let the bullets fly.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-ki!
Let the bullets fly!
Don’t
’
ee mourn for me, my lads
When it comes my day to die.
STAVE
Sing your song, O sing it well,
The child has come to pass.
RESPONSE
Commala-come-kass,
The worst has come to pass.
The Tower trembles on its ground;
The child has come at last.
FINAL VERSE
Commala-come-come,
The battle’s now begun!
And all the foes of men and rose
Rise with the setting sun.
SUSANNAH’S DREAM VERSION
Susannah Dean hears this version of the Commala Song in her dream version of Central Park. (vii:724)
Rice be a green-o,
Seen what we seen-o,
Seen-o the green-o,
Come-come-commala!
Robin Furth
was born and raised in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania. While enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Maine, she was introduced to Stephen King, who needed a research assistant. Her work with King as he completed the Dark Tower series produced the
Dark Tower Concordance
. Furth has since written the story lines for Marvel’s bestselling comic book spin-off series
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
. She divides her time between Maine, the south of England, and Mid-World.
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COVER ILLUSTRATIONS: (LEFT) PLATINUM FMD REPRESENTED BY RAY BROWN; (RIGHT) MICHAEL WHELAN
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1
. This was a demand of the story, but I’d be less than honest if I didn’t add that it also helps to foil the often troubling questions of copy editors such as those asked by Teddy Rosenbaum, who worked on the later volumes of the cycle.
2
. The stories that made up the volume were issued in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction,
then edited by Ed Ferman.
3
. Believe it or not, the copy of
’Salem’s Lot
that I had as a teenager actually mentioned Thunderclap. I spent years wondering where that place was—it didn’t sound like any city in our world. I read the book several times as an adult and never saw this reference again. Recently I asked Steve whether he had deleted Thunderclap from later editions and he told me it was never there in the first place. But it should have been. How can I explain this weird occurrence? I can’t.
