Good evening and thank you for joining me for another boring books for bedtime.

I hope tonight selection provides all the boredom your busy brain needs to quiet down and let you

get some sleep.

Before we begin, I'd like to give a special shout out of thanks to two new members of our Patreon family, Jennifer and Donna.

Thank you both so much for supporting this podcast.

By becoming members of our Patreon, you help us cover the costs of production and distribution

while helping us remain 100% listener supported and ad free, and it's very much appreciated.

And as a special gift, everyone who supports us on Patreon or drops us a one-time tip via buy me a coffee.com in the month of September.

We'll be receiving a complete uninterrupted recording of the Book of Tea, the Book we're finishing tonight.

I really love this work, so it's a pleasure to be able to gift it to you in its entirety. Now let's read and relax. Find a comfortable spot. Adjust your

volume. Take a nice deep breath in. Let it out slowly. And off we go.

Tonight let's return to the Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura, first published in 1906.

Let's pick up where we left off.

Chapter 5. Art Appreciation

Have you heard the Taoist tale of the taming of the harp?

Once in the hoary ages in the ravine of lung men stood a Kiri tree, a veritable

king of the forest. It reared its head to talk to the stars. Its roots struck deep into the earth, mingling their

bronzed coils with those of the silver dragon that slept beneath.

And it came to pass that a mighty wizard made of this tree a wondrous harp, whose stubborn spirit should be tamed but by the greatest

of musicians.

For long the instrument was treasured by the Emperor of China, but all in vain were the efforts of those

who in turn tried to draw melody from its strings.

...