THORNS

How it Began

THORNS ian Dunlop

Part of this story was written several years ago, as an idea that developed into a song and recording with my friend and music co-writer, Uncle Dave Griffin. The recording was included on my CD ‘Some of Us Are Still On The Run’. The recording is available on Bandcamp.com. In 2025 I expanded the story.

I made a ( music)video of Thorns. Some people have considered it to be ‘Fine Art’. On You tube: Ian Dunlop MusArt Thorns. Three-and-a-half dreamy minutes. Have a look.

The Bible tells the story of Adam, in the garden of Eden, full of flowers and laden with luscious fruit. Luckily, he was a Vegetarian. He lay down to rest on a bed of moss in a sweet-scented chamber of roses, honeysuckle and jasmine. He didn’t suffer from hay fever, high pollen levels or allergies, that was the way God had made him so he fit-in with the garden lifestyle. Adam strolled around barefoot and naked because, in the Garden of Eden, there were no thorns, briars or poison ivy. He could sit down or sprawl-out just about anywhere, no problem. Adam seemed to thrive. He was in great shape from the gentle exercise of walking and reaching up to pick a bunch of grapes, cherries or occasionally climbing up a tree for an exceptional ripe pear. He never had bad-breath, dandruff or psoriasis, there weren’t even any mosquitoes.

God had already made the sun to rule the day, the stars for wonderful night-time ambience and each spectacular sunset was sure to be followed by another perfect day. The climate was even better than San Diego or Marbella. With all this on-tap who could possibly ask for anything more and Adam had very little life-experience, so he didn’t.

On morning, after a fine breakfast of papaya dipped in honey, Adam was captivated by the weaving flight patterns of a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird when God called his name. It is written that they communicated on a regular basis, God put a thick Cumulus cloud between them so Adam didn’t get scorched by all the Holy radiance. God suggested that Adam might want a companion to share the joys of the Garden and have an equal to commune with, like the birds and the beasts. Adam was used to being the solitary human in residence but acknowledged God’s unique position as omnipotent creator so he agreed.

‘Now, Adam’ said God, ‘This will be pretty painless. I’m just going to put you to sleep while I carry-out the necessary procedure.’ Adam lay-back on a bed of clover. God had perfected the cloning technique during the seven days of creation and using just one of Adam’s ribs he created Eve, a healthy, beautiful and perfect woman. They were all mighty pleased with His skill and workmanship. Along with luxuriant, flowing hair, velvety, olive skin and a treasure-chest smile, God had also blessed Eve with freewill, enhancing her capacity to enjoy His wonderful creations.

Sometimes it’s funny about exceptionally attractive women and the types that they gravitate toward and, sure enough, Eve started hanging with the wrong crowd. Now that Adam found himself in a relationship, he began to notice Eve’s absences and wondered what was up. One evening Eve introduced Adam to her new acquaintance, Mr. A. Serpent. He was a sharp dresser and flaunted bright, diamond-patterned, skin. He had a slick, quick-witted mind with a laid-back demeanor but he injected venomous cynicism into his glib responses and one-liners.

For some deified reason, God had planted an apple tree, heavy with perfect, tasty fruit over in one corner of the Garden and had named that special variety ‘Knowledge’. He had specifically told Adam not, under any circumstances, to eat any of those apples. Like, don’t even touch ‘em. It seems that it might have been better for everyone, at the time, if God had given that tree a name like ‘Sourful’, ‘Crampy’, ‘Golden Grudge’ or ‘Pink Puke’, that might have worked as a disincentive to keep humans, snakes and blackbirds from pecking or eating the very special apples. The serpent convinced Eve to pluck down one of the ruby apples and sink her perfect, newly-created incisors into the juicy flesh. As soon as she had touched the apple it set-off a security alarm connected right into God’s office where he was busy monitoring the universe.

God came down on them hard, he had an arsenal of vengeance at his disposal, and told Adam and Eve to pack their things and go. He showed them the door and on command it creaked open, revealing the low-rent side of the Earth. After getting a brief glimpse of what lay beyond the walls of Eden, Adam was reluctant to leave their beautiful home but God said, ‘Forget about it Adam, no second-chances in this game.’

Outside the gates Adam beat his way through the strange weeds and brush scratching his thigh and stepping on a thorn. ‘O-w-w!’ Adam wailed, ‘What is all this horrible stuff?’

‘Briars and thorns, buddy.’ Said the serpent who was slinking along behind them. ‘You’re going to have to get a tougher skin, like me.’ Adam’s foot was bleeding, he scanned the surroundings and saw cactus, thorn bushes, thistles, briars and the gleaming, oily leaves of toxic vines. A coal-black raven croaked with a cynical chuckle. Hornets and horseflies buzzed around Adam’s head as he noticed other creatures - scorpions, a bristling porcupine, a skunk and about fifty yards away, a glowering, grey wolf. Adam could feel his lacerated shins and the swelling insect bites on his arms and began to comprehend the potential hostility surrounding him. Adam had never experienced negative emotions in Eden but the thought hit him hard that, from now on, he’d be living in a Garden of Evil, in the world of thorns.

They wandered through the strange world, hoping to find a pleasant grassy meadow or a crystal-clear brook with smooth round stones to sit on and wash their sore feet. The only water they found was a small, tepid pool surrounded by mud. The grasses were tall, hard and irritated their skin.

‘There are no grapes, figs, mangoes or avocados out here! There’s nothing to eat! How long have we been out here in Thorny World? I’m hungry! And, it’s getting cold, now the sun is going down’.

Eve moved closer to Adam and said,

‘OK, Ad, it’s not a great neighborhood but if we talk about it and think for ourselves we might see some potential. Come here, put your arms around me and we’ll both feel a bit warmer.’ The snake slithered-in a bit closer, hoping he could get a touch of that warm flesh, as being cold-blooded, he was nodding-out. Adam looked down and said, ‘Keep away from us! You! You were the one who got us into this mess, with all your forked-tongue, bad advice about apples.’

‘I’m sorry I ever listened to him, Adam.’ and she held Adam tighter.

‘Ouch, Eve! You’re fingernails need a manicure, they’re sharp, you scratched me.’

‘Oh, sorry Ad. No, it wasn’t my nails. It’s this thing God slipped me when he was pointing to Eden’s door. When he gave it to me he whispered, “I sort of liked you Evie, but you know how it works, you’ve got to play by the rules. But, here take this little gizmo, it gets very dark out there at night, there’s no light-pollution yet.” Eve opened her fingers to reveal a Zippo lighter, with ‘Good Luck’ engraved in its brass casing.

‘Huh? Let me see that thing Eve. What is it?’ Adam held it, shook it and smelled the lighter. ‘Ugh! That stinks, I’ve never smelled anything so ugly. We can’t eat that’. Eve took it back and tugged at the case and, spr-r-rong, it popped open. She pointed at a little round thing, then cautiously touched it and it moved slightly. She did it again and saw the blue spark it created. It must be some type of God-machine that He used for some of His creating.

‘Did you see that Adam!’ She did it for a third time and a flame sprouted from the Zippo. It startled Eve and the flame burnt her finger. ‘Ow-w-w’ she squealed and dropped the lighter, that landed on some dead leaves that began to smoke and burn. They starred at the small, crackling fire, bewildered by the light and then they felt the warmth of the flames.

‘Eve! You’re wonderful! Look what you’ve made! We’ll be warm tonight! That yellow, dancing heat likes to eats dead leaves and there are more all around us. I’m going to feed it.’

After a difficult night being roused by unfamiliar noises, owl hoots, distant yelps and roars, Adam awoke and was shocked by the strange surroundings. Where am I, what is this? He remembered the tragedy of yesterday’s breach of God’s rules, he and Eve getting their marching orders and being evicted.

‘This can’t be true’, he moaned as he slowly turned his head to take in their situation. Eve stirred but her eyes weren’t sparkling and she didn’t flash her warm smile. She raised her beautiful body and threw some leaves and twigs on the smoldering remains of their campfire.

‘Adam, let’s walk some more and maybe we’ll find something better. What do you think?’

‘Oh, I don’t know Eve, this world has been awful so far. I’ve got scratches up and down my legs. Look! I don’t like this place, what ever it is.’

‘Well, I’m stiff and need to stretch, I’m going to look beyond those trees. Come on Adam, walk with me.’ Adam needed some convincing to get up and face reality. Beyond the trees, there were just more of them. After a few more steps, beside a fallen tree they saw the serpent lolling on the ground.

‘Don’t speak to him.’ Adam growled. Eve noticed a large bulge in the serpent’s body.

‘What happened to you?’ she asked the devious reptile, ‘What’s that big lump, did you fall out of a tree?’

The serpent snickered, ‘No, no, no Evie, I caught a nice fat rabbit and swallowed it whole. That’s just another of my many talents that you have yet to witness.’

‘You eat rabbits?’ Eve was astonished, remembering them hopping around in their entertaining way and nibbling grass in The Garden.

‘Yeah, no problem,’ the serpent replied and burped. ‘They are a great meal, a real feast, haute cuisine, Honey. The trick is catching them, little devils, they’re quick as greased lightening, you know. I have to be real still and quiet until one comes along, stops, to eat a leaf or to scratch those long ears of theirs and at just the right time, spring-out and grab ‘em. Oh yeah, they are ver-er-ery tasty and fill you up.

‘I just couldn’t do that,’ she replied in disgust, grimacing at the very thought of biting into a furry rabbit.

‘Yes, that makes me feel sick.’ agreed Adam. They left the drowsy serpent to digest his catch.

Beyond the dense trees they found a small clearing, dappled with sunlight. Eve looked around and said, ‘This is a better place than where we had the fire. Look, there are some yellow flowers over there.’ She stepped toward them and noticed the other plants and herbs that grew in the clearing. She squatted and plucked a small leaf from a cluster, it was shaped like a long tongue. Tentatively, considering her growling stomach, she bit-off a small sample, ran her tongue over it and slowly chewed. She rolled her eyes, questioningly, as she munched and deliberated.

‘Adam, this tastes like a lemon’ she approved and put the rest of the leaf in her mouth and plucked a couple more. She offered one to Adam, ‘Here, you try it.’

Adam frowned, the last time Eve offered him something to eat had started the ball rolling toward the disaster that lead to this awful place. He was very reluctant but this invitation was a bit different because that lying serpent wasn’t grinning and whispering in Eve’s ear. Adam sighed and, resigned to follow Eve, he hesitantly took a bite and chewed the mysterious leaf. It was tart but not too sour to eat and he reached for another. Eve smiled at him brightly, she had specks of green on her pearly-white incisors.

By dusk the ex-Eden couple had lit a fire in the clearing and the flames threw flickering light on their faces and knees as they sat close together. ‘I’m glad we can get warm when the sun goes down and God gave me the sparking Creation-Machine. Well, really, he gave it to us, it’s the only thing we have, and those sticks you picked up to knock the bushes and vines aside.’ Even with Eve’s natural dose of optimism, Adam felt pretty glum and remained silent as he starred into the wonders of the fire.

‘Hey, hey, hey! Hope I’m not disturbing your romantic, little tete-a-tete.’

‘Oh, no! What do you want?’ croaked Adam as the serpent weaved into the light of the campfire.

‘Now, hold on, don’t be so hasty to come-down so hard on your old pal, who’s brought you a very, very, top-of-the-range present,’ the serpent said as he dropped a fresh-killed rabbit by Eve’s feet.

‘No! I don’t want that dead thing anywhere near me! Drag that rabbit back where it came from!’

‘Get out of here!’ Yelled Adam.

‘Ok, ok.’ said the serpent, ‘I was just trying to make amends, let bygones be bygones. I’ve heard you accusing me and going-on about how I’m the cause of all of your problems but remember, my sharp, little fangs didn’t sink into to that apple, it was Eve’s perfect, white teeth that took the bite that broke the Tree of Knowledge rule. Right? Ok, I can take a hint, I’ll leave you two alone. Have a good one.’

‘Take that rabbit!’ shouted Eve at the serpent who silently slid into the night then paused in the darkness to have the last word.

‘I’ll leave it with you’, he hissed. ‘You never know, you might change your minds when you wake up at three a.m. and your stomach is growling like an angry grizzly bear. Bon soir.’

‘He is such a snake! I’ll never listen to another word that comes out of that viper’s mouth, or believe anything he says.’ Eve pouted.

‘Yeah, he’s Captain Evil, if there ever was one,’ agreed Adam.

‘Adam, I’m tired. I’m going to try and sleep. Come and lay down next to me.

‘Ok Eve.’

Adam awoke in the deepest part of night. As he gradually became aware, he got upset about their strange new life, struggling in the World of Thorns outside of Eden’s gate. He stood up and threw some sticks on the fire to keep it alive. When he reached for a larger stick he saw the rabbit that the serpent had left. How can that lousy snake eat those, he mused. Adam’s stomach was rumbling. A few handfuls of edible leaves weren’t enough to keep a big guy like him satisfied. The serpent had just opened his jaws and swallowed the rabbit whole. Adam thought that over, then picked up the dead rabbit, sniffed it, closed his eyes and took a bite. As he held the body, the pressure of his grip forced undigested food and juices out of it’s mouth and rabbit-pellet shit out of the anus. He couldn’t bite through the tough skin and his lips, tongue and mouth were covered with itchy rabbit fur. ‘Yuk!!’ he spluttered and threw the carcass on the fire and began spitting out rabbit hairs. ‘Oh, absolutely wonderful’, muttered Adam, pathetically. ‘This is all so AWFUL!’ he coughed again on the rabbit hairs in his throat. He spat a few more times before lying down, feeling defeated.

Eve, who had a better night, was rekindling the fire when she saw the remains of the rabbit, charred in the embers. At first she couldn’t figure out what the odd clump could be. The fur had burned away and the body had been char-grilled overnight. She poked it with a stick and a hind-leg came loose. She began to smell an interesting aroma. She skewered the bar-b-qued leg with the stick and held it closer to her nose. It didn’t smell bad at all. She scraped off some of the burned, blackened skin and tore off a small morsel and cautiously licked it. The meat had a rich, thick taste so she put some in her mouth and chewed. The flesh was tough but satisfying so she raked the rest out of the ash.

She was famished but, like a good mate, she saved some of the rabbit meat for Adam. When he awoke she announced, ‘I’ve got a surprise for you. Try eating this!’ Adam gave her a hard look and said, ‘Eve, as I remember, when you are all bubbly about offering me something great to eat, the next thing I know is that I’m in really bad trouble.’

‘No, Adam, this will be fine, honestly. God isn’t going to punish you with all his pent-up wrath. This is another new discovery that will help us survive in this harsh world. Please, just try it.’ Eve was one of those charming women who you just can’t refuse. Cautiously, Adam took the burned shoulder-joint that Eve offered him, sniffed it and, like with those tart leaves Eve had found, closed his eyes and took a bite. It was strange but, as she had promised, the meat was tasty. They poked in the ashes in case there were any more. They were licking their fingers and Eve said, ‘Adam, if that sneaky, lying snake can catch a rabbit I bet you could. You’re bigger and stronger than him.

Adam had to become a hunter. He threw stones and sharpened sticks at scurrying rabbits and occasionally he got one. The hunt entailed running through the brush, climbing trees, to lay-in-wait for spearing a rabbit from above, digging into rabbit holes and a lot of other exhausting effort.

One night, Adam and Eve had finished eating another burned rabbit and were sucking the bones, licking their fingers and enjoying having full stomachs when Adam started humming and then began to sing:

‘I woke up this morning, there was cuts all over my feet.

Yeah, I woke dis mornin’, there’s cuts all up-a ma knees.

I been out there chasin’ rabbits, just tryin’ get me somethin’ to eat.

Uh-huh, chasin’ dem rabbit, try ‘n’ git me somepin’ to eat.’

And that, contrary to many musicology histories, was......

THE BIRTH OF THE BLUES