A young man named Manawee, came to court two sisters (twins). Their father said the young man couldn't marry them unless he could guess their names. Manawee guessed and guessed. The father shook his head and sent Manawee away time after time.
One day Manawee took his dog with him on a guessing visit. The dog saw that one sister was prettier and one sister was sweeter. They were twins and yet they were different. Manawee again failed to guess their names that day and trudged home with his little dog by his side. After they arrived, his little dog ran back to the hut of the young women and overheard them calling each other by name.
The dog ran fast to tell his master but got sidetracked, once by a large bone left by a lion and once by the smell of nutmeg in the air. The little dog absolutely loved nutmeg. On the third occassion the dog saw that the sisters were being readied for marriage and dressed as brides. Upon hearing them call each other by name he ran to tell his master. This time he was resolutely determind that nothing would stop him from delivering the precious names to Manawee.
The dog spied small fresh fish kill on the trail and at one point even though he smelled nutmeg in the air, he ignored both and ran towards home to tell his master the names of the two women. The little dog did not plan for a stranger to leap out of the bush, grab him by the neck and shake him so hard his tail almost fell off. The stranger shouted, "Tell me those names! What are the names of the young women so I may win them?" The dog thought he would faint, but he fought bravely. He growled, he scratched, he kicked, and finally bit the giant stranger between the fingers. The stranger bellowed like a water buffalo, but the little dog would not let go. The stranger ran off into the brush with the little dog dangling from his hand. The dog snarled and only released the man when he promised to let go of him and never come back again.
When the dog got back to Manawee his coat was bloodied and his jaw ached. However, his mind was clear and he told Manawee what was happening with the sisters and filled him in on their names.
Manawee raced back to the village with the dog riding high on his shoulders. When Manawee reached the father with the daughters names the twin sisters received Manawee, completely dressed to journey with him. They had been waiting for him all along.
The Twin Sisters in this story represent the dual nature of women, her 'without' and her 'within'. Manawee must use his own instinctual self 'the dog self' to accomplish the task of knowing the difference between these two natures.
The power of Two is in acting as one integral entity. A single stick is easily broken. Two or more sticks are stronger. We are stronger when we stand with another soul.
Women have tremendous powers when the individual and dual aspects are conciously recognized and beheld as a unit; held togerther rather than kept apart. Both sides of the duality must be fed.
Manawee has a taste for the wildish woman. Among the cumulative tribe of men in a woman's psyche whose memebers Jungians call Animus, there is also a Manawee like attitude, which finds and claims a woman's duality finding it valuable, courtable, and desirable, instead of devilsh, ugly, and to be distained. It is a fresh but faith-filled love whose central desire is to name and understand the mysterious and numous double in a woman's nature.
Masculine forces can carry Bluebeard-like, murderous Mr. Fox sorts of energy and therefore attempt to demolish the dual structure of women. That sort of suitor cannot tolerate duality and is looking for perfection, for one truth, the one immovable, unchangeable feminine substance embodied in one perfect woman. When you meet one of those. Run!
These characters are also a part of Dark Man dreams, just like the dark (possessing negative energy) stranger who jumps out of the bush, grabs the little dog and takes off with him. Stealing him away from what he loves, from his mission. It isn't until the little dog stands up to this negative force that he is free.
The little dog in the story shows exactly how psychic tenacity works. Dogs are the magicians of the universe. It is not by accident that men and women struggle to find the deeper sides of their natures and yet become distracted for any number of reasons, mostly pleasures of various sorts. Some become addicted to those pleasures and stay forever entangled there and never continue with their work.
If one overlooks a woman's dual nature and takes a woman at face value, one is in for a big surprise, for when the woman's wildish nature rises from her depths and begins to assert itself, she often has interests, feelings, and ideas which are quite different from those she expressed before.
If a woman wants a mate who is responsive she will reveal to him the secret of women's duality and have him ask her two questions that will make her feel seen, heard, and known.
The first question is this: "What do you want?"
The second question is this: "What does your deeper self desire?"
To love a man, the mate must also love her wildish nature. So men as much as women must name their dual natures. The wildish task of the man is to find her true names and not misuse that knowlege to seize power over her, but rather to apprehend and comprehend the numinous substance from which she is made, to let it wash over him, amaze him, shock him, even spook him. And to stay with it and sing out her names over her. It will make her eyes shine. It will make his eyes shine.
The good match is the man who keeps returning to try to understand, who does not let himself be deterred.
Excerpts from Chapter 4
THE MATE: UNION WITH THE OTHER
"Women Who Run with the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinlola Estes, Ph.D
