Mana-tida!” the glamrocks cried out. The sound of their voices faded and then again, they cried. “You are our new mana!”
In this instant, the glamrocks fell to their knees wiping their faces across the floor as before. Matilda climbed down from the plinth and began to give orders.
“Stop! Get up! Really, get up, I tell you!”
The glamrocks rose to their feet and surrounded her still keeping a respectful distance. The diva was finally herself again and asked, “So, what are we going to do?”
“…’ead gibb’ish! …’ead gibb’ish!” the gray ones shouted. The dead head did not seem to interest them anymore. They stared in awe at their new mana ready to follow any order she might give them.
Matilda stopped and thought for a moment. She had just escaped a terrible fate, finding a way out of what she had assumed to be a hopeless situation. She had never experienced anything like this ever in her life before, and naturally, could never have imagined herself capable of coping with such a crisis. But events were developing so rapidly, she did not have time to be surprised or celebrate.
As before, Matilda faced a multitude of unresolved questions: what was the head? What was this building, this town? Who built it all and why? What was this world in which she found herself? Whoever the architects were, it definitely was not the glamrocks. Judging from what she had seen, the head was an electrical mechanism that served as a means of shackling these primitive people. Now the head was broken but the source of energy that had fed it was clearly still active as the monolith continued to emit its green glow.
The main thing was to work out what on earth Matilda was going to do next. If these people were primitive, there was no telling what they might come up with. That meant she had to occupy their minds with something resembling a ritual, otherwise they might become disobedient to her. Having considered the circumstances, clever Matilda (and she was undoubtedly very clever) decided to start by establishing some kind of bond with the gray ones.
Letkajenkha
“Listen, why don’t you learn to pronounce the letter?” asked Matilda.
“We ain’t allowed!” the glamrocks answered. “A c’ash will happen if we say it!”
“Well, I’m telling you that there won’t be a crash. I’m your new mana. I decide! Understand?”
The glamrocks were shaken with indecision.
“But we ain’t allowed! It’s aboo!”
“Yes, you can! Repeat after me, ‘we are glamrocks’.”
The glamrocks exchanged glances and whispered to each other for a while, not yet ready to take such a decisive step. Finally, one of them stepped forward and said,
“We glam’o-o-ocks.”
“We glam’o-o-ocks.” The others followed on, no longer swallowing the letter ‘r’ but trying to pronounce it, at first, however, with little success.
“Repeat after me: crocodiles!”
“C’okodiles! C’okodiles!”
“Cheburashkas!”
“Chebuaashkas! Chebuaashkas!
“Brownie!”
“B’ownie! B’ownie!” the glamrocks said, trying hard to get it right.
“Go on, go on, you can do it! Ok, again: Leningrad rock-n-roll!”
The glamrocks were enlivened by these words and tried even harder. It is unlikely that they understood what they were saying but they obviously liked the words. And then a miracle happened. They did it!
“Leningrad! Leningrad!” they cried with enthusiasm. “Leningrad rock-n-roll!”
“You see!” said Matilda pleased with herself. “Well done! Now, repeat after me,
’May the drizzling rain today fall from morrrning,
but you and I are dancing again like yesterrrday.
From Moscow to Leningrad, and returrrning to Moscow,
The lines, rrrailings and bridges dance.’[2]”
The glamrocks were clearly capable students. They easily repeated the unfamiliar words. But it didn’t matter to them that the words were unfamiliar. They just really enjoyed it because now they could say the letter too and there was no crash.
“Aba! Aba!” they shouted in delight. “We are glamrocks! We read gibberish! And we read the letter!”
The savages became excessively excited by the new opportunities now opening up before them and Matilda wondered how to calm them down before went seriously out of control.
“Stop, stop! Listen to me!” Matilda was only just able to make herself heard above the noise they were making. “Why do you read this gibberish?”
The glamrocks calmed down a little and then one of them replied,
“We must read gibberish.” and then they started up again. “Aba! I am reading the letter.”
The exclamation ‘aba’ appeared to be the glamrocks way of expressing delight. But Matilda interrupted the enthusiast.
“Yes, I understand, you read gibberish. But what is the point of it?”
The glamrocks seemed puzzled by the question.
“What is point’?” he asked, and then without waiting for an answer, added, “there does not need to be a point. There needs to be full!”
Matilda was beginning to realize that weaning them off their silly habit was beyond her and that it probably was not worth the effort anyway. After a little thought, she turned to them with the words,
“Right, so you don’t need there to be a point. In that case, I will teach you some new, magical gibberish. If you read it regularly and continuously, you won’t just be full, you’ll be wonderful. That’s more. That’s better.
The glamrocks seemed to be intrigued. Matilda gathered her thoughts and began to recite a chorus not yet wanting to overwhelm them with the song’s melody.
“Listen:
Mamma-mia, here I go again,
My, my, how can I resist you?
Mamma-Mia, does it show again?
My, my, just how much I missed you.
Yes, I’ve been brocken hearted,
Blue since the day you parted.
Why, why, did I ever let you go?[3]
The glamrocks listened spellbound, and after Matilda had finished, they were silent for a few moments more. Then they burst into ecstatic exclamations:
“Mana-mia! Mana-mia! We have new gibberish! Won-der-ful! That’s more. That’s better. Aba! Aba!”
“Yes, it’s Abba,” Matilda said. “Now calm down, all of you! Listen, I’ll repeat it
Song by pop group ’Bravo’ – ’Leningrad Rock-n-Roll’
A free transcription of Abba song, ’Mamma Mia’.
