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SYRIA SHRINERS
(Open Version)
Reworked & Revised by
Noble Barry J. Lipson
The Syria Shriners Desert Scene (Open Version) is an "Unofficial" part of the Syria Shriners Ritual and is from
what The Syria Sojourners Blue Lodge Presentation was developed (see
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34191800/Shrine-Sojourners-Blue-Lodge-Presentation-Ritual-developed-by-Noble-
Barry-J-Lipson ). Deposited here for archival purposes.
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Noble Barry J. Lipson as Oriental Guide
[Drop Desert Fly curtain closed]
[Enter Narrator in front of closed curtain Spot on him]
Narrator: So! You have decided to join our Caravan and act as servants unto us on our
journey to the Sacred Shrine! Welcome! However, as you well know, deciding to join the
Caravan is just the first step. There will be many many steps to follow as you traverse the
hot sands, for now comes the most perilous part of your journey with us -- the deep, desolate
devastated Desert!
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[Cue music, low]
Have you ever before been so immersed in an endless godforsaken ocean of
sand? Far from the comforts of sheltering palms, bubbling springs and your fathers secure
and serene shelter, which fades in your mind to but a distant memory?
It is truly both an unforgettable and frightening experience, with fiery days, frigid
nights, wild winds and stinging storms of sand; a scorched, shadeless, waterless wasteland,
where you are confronted by smothering dust and unbearable heat. You find yourself
walking through a roaring furnace, blinded by the blazing sun, with every dry choking breath
a struggle. You are obsessed by thoughts of water, precious sweet, water. None to be wasted,
none to be squandered -- cool, clear, water.
[Chanters: Cool, clear, water.]
All you can do is shoulder your burdens and keep trudging forward, step by weary
step, trusting that your leader will not falter, will not stumble, but will find the way before it
is too late!
Keep moving forward Nobles. Dont think about your thirst, or the heat, or your
thirst, or how heavy your load, or your thirst ------- Just keep moving forward
[Fade spot on Narrator. Lights up full white and yellow on entire stage. Swell up music]
[As spot fades on Narrator, enter DR Oriental Guide (OG), 1
st
Ceremonial Master (1CM),
2
nd
Ceremonial Master (2CM), leading Seven Sons and Escort. OG carries water skin.
Seven Sons carry heavy crates, boxes, bales and bundles. All cross slowly and fatigued to
DRC. Music to low, and gradual fade out]
1CM: I dont think its ever been this hot.
2CM: I dont think I can stand it if it gets much worse.
OG: This is the desert. We must endure it as best we can, for there is no water or
shade until we reach the Well of Zem Zem at the Sacred Shine.
2CM: I hope we brought enough water with us!
OG: There is some left [hold up water skin], but we must be very careful to make it
last. If we are steadfastly prudent there will be enough.
1CM: Do you think our initiates can make it? After all they are carrying heavy loads?
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2CM: They must if they are to prove themselves.
OG: [Pointing off DL] Look! What is that?
[Enter DL Traveler (Trav) very disheveled and woeful, carrying bag of his fathers bones]
2CM: [Looking] It appears to be a lone traveler.
1CM: If he is trying to make his way through the desert alone, his lot is surely worse
than ours.
2CM: I wonder why he s trying to cross the dessert alone?
Trav: Oh, woe as me! Woe as me!! Is there no help for the weary traveler?
OG: What is the matter, old man?
Trav: It is my child, my little child!
2 CM: What is wrong with the child?
Trav: Oh, Noble Sirs, my son and wife and I were completing Hajj for my dear father
of blessed memory at the request of his widow, my beloved mother. My father had died on
his obligatory pilgrimage to the Sacred Shrine and we were completing his journey for him,
taking this welcomed burden of his revered bones [show bag of bones] to the Kaaba for
sanctification and burial. Only then could he reside forever with Allah in the Kingdom of
Heaven. But, alas, we had been imprudent in bringing an insufficient supply of precious
water. While seeking this life sustaining fluid my wife stumbled and fell, smashing her leg.
By the time we returned to where we left our fellow pilgrims they were long gone, leaving
us all alone lost in an endless sea of sand without camel, caravan or water cool, clear
wwwwater.
[Chanters: Cool, clear, water.]
2 CM: But where are they now, my poor sir?
Trav: Delirious, my wife soon perished from sunstroke and dehydration, and now my
yonder son [pointing generally off stage] is dying too of a raging thirst. I fear we will both
soon suffer her frightful fate, succumbing to the Succubus of delirium and death, before we
can find our way to the sheltering palms, bubbling springs and serene shelter of the Well of
Zem Zem. Please take pity! Leave me behind if you must, but wont you help my little boy
carry my burden to the Sacred Shine? He , he does not drink much!
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OG: Of course we will help both of you.
2CM: Noble Oriental Guide, are you sure we have enough water to spare? We have
barely enough for ourselves.
1CM: If we try, Im sure we could each do with just one less sip of water each day. That
should be enough to provide for them too.
OG: Of course it will. There are many of us and we should hardly notice. Besides we
cannot let a little child suffer. [To Seven Sons and Escort] Wont you all consent to this?
All: [Looking at each other] We will!
2 CM: Of course we will! [Walking up to Traveler and takes and shoulders his bag of
bones and returns to Seven Sons]
Trav: Oh, bless you, bless you all!
OG: [Walks up to Trav] Old man, take us to your offspring, so we can carry him off
for you, to those springs a bubbling you so crave. ---- But first refresh yourself with this
cool, clear, water. [OG raises water skin and squirts the water into the Travelers mouth
until music stops]
[Chanters: Cool, clear, water.]
Trav: Allah be praised, my son is this way! [Trav leads OG off DL]
2 CM: [As they exit, turning to Seven Sons & Escort] Follow me my worthy
companions. We must walk sure-footedly to evade the sandstorms, and pitfalls of the desert,
and reach the safety of the Well of Zem Zem and the Sacred Shrine, where all you who acted
as servants unto us will receive your just desserts.
[2 CM& 1 CM lead Seven Sons and Escort to exit DL following OG]
[Swell up music, close curtain, fade lights as they exit]
[Re-enter Narrator in front of closed curtain Spot on him]
Narrator: You met a traveler and his son who were worse off than you, and passed the Test
of Compassion and Fidelity by saving them. You shared your scarce, your precious water
with them and took them with you.
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You experienced the furies of the dreaded sandstorm and other adventures and
you were sore afraid. Your faith was tried beyond endurance. All hope of survival apparently
gone. But, your fathers words renewed your strength. You trudged on through the desert,
traversing the hot sands undismayed, even though it seemed to get hotter and hotter, and
your meager supply of water continued to diminish. Your load seemed just a little lighter
now that you knew you were helping others.
Finally comes the day you have been praying for. After seemingly endless weeks
of travel, footsore and weary, you somehow sense that the nineteen gates and six minarets of
the outer enclosure surrounding the Sacred Shrine, and the most welcomed Well of Zem
Zem, are within your grasp. Ah, the nurturing Well of Zem Zem, the stopping place for
weary travelers long before the building of the Sacred Shrine. You continue on with a lighter
step and there you are at the Well of Zem Zem with its sheltering palms, bubbling springs,
abundant water and cooling shade, where you refresh yourself.
[If Merchant Scene is to follow, continue here with Merchant Scene narrative at the
point of leaving Well of Zem Zem (deleting any earlier narrative]
The Syria Shriners Desert Scene (Open Version) is an "Unofficial" part of the Syria Shriners Ritual and is from
what The Syria Sojourners Blue Lodge Presentation was developed (see
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34191800/Shrine-Sojourners-Blue-Lodge-Presentation-Ritual-developed-by-Noble-
Barry-J-Lipson ). Deposited here for archival purposes.