"Wealth can also hinder you. I have no objection to being wealthy, but that is not what you should have your eye on. You are at your best when you are working out of the love for your work. Acting out of fear or a desire to gain material wealth will hinder you".
Her words relieved his discomfort. "You're right, so right. Every day I negotiate with creatures from other worlds with no fear or desire to gain. I know my work, and even the king thinks I am better than all the rest".
"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll succeed. The fear will subside as soon as you begin working".
"In that case, I shall begin immediately".
Her quiet voice and complete confidence in him cleared his mind.
CHAPTER 5
It was the first night of healing. At Eo's request, the king's servants prepared a smoldering coal stove, fragrant sandalwood twigs, a basin full of water, a flask of sesame oil and a small bowl of tar. At the king's request, the room was completely soundproofed with wooden beams so that the palace neighbors would not hear the sounds of the demon emanating from Enmerkar, as well as to help the healers concentrate on their task. The only sound in the stillness of the room was the steady dripping of the water clock.
Eo and Rukha began their various preparations for protecting themselves while treating the crowned prince Enmerkar. First, they rubbed each other from head to toe with sesame oil to seal all of their pores and prevent the demons from entering their bodies. The demons were known to be able to penetrate even the tiniest of openings. The sesame oil also served to ease the removal of the tar from their bodies later on. They helped each other don and fasten the complex demon masks. The masks were to deceive the demons or spirits that possessed Enmerkar so that they would believe that they were in the netherworld among familiar faces. Eo's mask was that of a minor demon, which was intended to engage Enmerkar's demon in conversation. Rukha's mask bore the semblance of a terrifying major demon, whose purpose was to weaken the powers of the invading demon.
They put on armor made of elm bark, on top of which were sewn polished copper discs. The sparkling metal would grab the demon's attention as well as deflect any curses he may hurl at them. Finally, they covered all remaining exposed parts of their bodies with black tar in order to conceal themselves from the demon. Rukha moistened the sandalwood twigs in the basin of water and placed them on the stove to smoke.
In accordance with the plan, as soon as the last drop of water fell from the water clock at midnight, the crown prince Enmerkar was led into the room by two loyal servants. Eo specifically requested that Enmerkar wear only a simple woolen tunic, so that his clothing would not serve as unnecessary protection to the powers they must tackle. At his command, the servants left quickly, leaving him standing in the center of the room as they closed the doors on their way out.
Eo and Rukha studied that young heir that stood motionless in the faint light of the oil lamp. The prince was a handsome young man. He was of average height with a strong physique. His smooth skin was the shade of a hazelnut. His black curly hair was slicked onto his head with oil. His honey colored eyes blazed between high cheekbones and sculpted eyebrows. His gaping mouth expressed fear, but his fear was not in reaction to the two healers disguised as demons. Enmerkar did not even notice them.
Suddenly, Enmerkar was overcome with spasms, convulsions that shook his entire body uncontrollably. The intense shaking subsided and were replaced by random twitching. Enmerkar began to spin in place and then stopped. He turned again and then stopped, changed directions and stopped again, this time directly opposite Eo. The prince swiveled his entire body along with his gaze, which alternated its focus between Eo and Rukha.
'He noticed us. We are now inside his world as demons,' thought Eo as he took a small step toward Enmerkar. The prince did not react. Eo took another step and then another, until he was a mere four paces away from the prince. He still did not react. Rukha knew from experience that he was forbidden to move. 'Eo knows what he is doing and will give me instructions as needed.'
Eo felt incredibly peaceful. He felt comfortable in the realm of demons, unafraid of Nergal, king of demons, or Ereshkigal, the queen of the dead, or any other entity from the netherworld. Humans, especially nobility, usually made him anxious; even more so the king or the prince. But the man who stood opposite him did not seem like a prince to him. This was another being, from another world. Eo took care not to draw him into the human world. He concentrated only on the entity that was operating from within the prince's body. Through the mask's eye holes, Eo intently soaked in every detail.
Then they heard the unintelligible voice. Out poured a gushing speech without any pauses or spaces between the syllables. Enmerkar only stopped to gulp in air as the flowing speech continued. It seemed as if the words were controlling the prince, using him as an outlet for escape. The speech was suddenly cut short and then it began flowing again, alternately pulsing. The stammering intensified until Enmerkar fell completely silent, frozen in place. Then the twitching set in. It began in his left eyelid, and then a few seconds later, his right shoulder threw up his arm. The twitching traveled from his left knee to his neck, remaining at a constant intensity, pulsating gently, each pulse in a different part of Enmerkar's body, like lightening flashing in a cloud before a storm.
Suddenly, Enmerkar cried out in pain. He clutched his stomach and collapsed onto his knees on the carpet. The convulsions stopped and it appeared as if the pain had ended as well. The prince remained in the same position. He did not look at Eo again. Eo suspected that, although the prince's eyes were open, he did not focus them on the carpet in front of him. He very much wanted to continue to observe the prince, to try to decipher what he was staring at; but it was possible that their presence was a burden on Enmerkar. The experience had ended, and they must respect that. The being from the realm of the dead was liable to disappear at any moment, and it was best if they finished the session before Enmerkar came to his senses and panicked to find himself surrounded by demons.
Eo signaled to Rukha, who tiptoed toward the door to open it. The kings' servants lifted the prince off the floor and took him to his room.
“We will sleep now. Right here, right now, with the masks and tar and everything,” said Eo to Rukha. “We will not go far from the world of the demons. We will dream inside the demon world. Do not fear,” added Eo, recognizing his apprentice's fear of the world of demons.
They stretched out on wide pillows in the corner of the room.
“Good night, Eo,” said Rukha, still unsettled.
“Good night, Rukha,” replied Eo softly.
“His highness, Meskiagasher, the great and just one, if it be your will, I shall speak.”
“Speak, Eogulades, and may your words heal my son.”
“We do not know what is possessing Enmerkar, but it is clear that the being is a demon spirit, or the soul of a man who was not properly buried. This is not an affliction of the flesh. The spasms and convulsions point to the existence of some sort of presence in his body. When he turned facing all directions, he did so because he was surrounded by beings and each time he faced a different one. Perhaps it was because they turned to him first, or perhaps it was he who approached them with a request. I imagine that he needs their help, and perhaps was pleading with them to spare him pain. It is still unclear. In any event, we have entered his world. In his eyes, we were two of the demons who surrounded him, and this is good: I did not anticipate such quick access.”
Rukha marveled at Eo's masterful skills of analysis and insight. Although Eo was known to be anxious in his dealings with people, when he was among demons or talking about demons, he exuded confidence. His highness, who was known to harden his heart toward his enemies, listened with compassion and fatherly concern. Eo continued.
“The outpouring of speech is the demon's attempt at making himself heard. It is unclear why the demon has specifically chosen the heir to be the one to serve as a medium for his words, and it is not clear what he is trying to say or
to whom; but what is clear is that he definitely wants to be heard. It is likely that the interruptions are cause by opposition from other demons of the netherworld that are intruding and interfering, and possibly because of your son Enmerkar's efforts to overcome them as well. The pain in his stomach is a hint received from the Goddess Ereshkigal, queen of the dead. We must find the next clue in the signs of the liver, in the belly of a black lamb that we shall sacrifice to the queen of the netherworld.”
Like all other important religious events, the liver reading was carried out in the red temple, which was intended only for the king and his heirs. Eo and Rukha purified themselves in the king's pool. They then donned new white tunics and drank liquor mixed with salt water from the sea. They walked barefoot from the palace to the red temple, escorted by the king and his entourage. They then completed their final preparations for the reading of the liver. Eo kneeled and prayed with closed eyes while sharpening the copper knife on the basalt whetstone. Rukha stacked the aromatic frankincense and myrtle branches on the ceramic tray above the glowing coals.
Rukha held the black lamb and pulled its head backwards while Eo slaughtered it. The blood flowed into the drainage basin and from there it was poured through a reed stuck into the earth in order to quench the thirst of the nether-beings while the humans ate from the sacrifice.
Eo opened the lamb's belly and extracted the intact liver, laying it on the raised marble table. He examined it with Rukha. In the past, Eo used to perform this ritual silently, but ever since he had acquired Rukha, he whispered to him throughout the procedure so that Rukha could learn the thought process of a healer. His thought process was like a hunter stalking its prey. “The Gods will speak to you via the liver if you know the right questions to ask. They will guide you to the next question.”
Eo began. “What must I do? Who must I be in order to engage the demon into a conversation with me? What must I do in order to know the answers to these questions?”
In the network of membranes surrounding the liver, he noticed the shape of a tree splitting into branches and twigs.
“What does a tree have to do with the prince?” he asked. “Perhaps I must burn incense from a particular tree on his behalf?”
He found the likeness of a river branching off into streams and rivulets in the capillaries surrounding the liver.
“What does water have to do with knowledge? Perhaps I must bath in the Euphrates?”
Between the capillaries, he discerned the likeness of a human body with a head, arms and legs waving upwards. Eo turned his arms and gaze upwards to the God Shamash, closed his eyes and asked, “Water?”
The answer came to him in his body. His hearing suddenly faded, a chill crept down his neck and he felt that he could have fainted on the spot had he so desired. The face of his deceased mother appeared before his eyes. He received his answer. “Mother of the Universe. Namu, the primeval sea, mother of An, God of the heavens, and Ki, God of the Earth, who created humans to aid the Gods.”
“What else?” he asked the liver.
He watched the folds of the liver membrane and saw markings of a stylus, triangles and lines, scattered between the capillaries as if they were boundaries between countries.
“Writing in a foreign language?”
No answer appeared.
He summoned the scribe from the kings' entourage but the scribe could not decipher the strange markings at all.
“Enough. We shall eat from the lamb, drink liquor and then we shall fast,” he told Rukha and turned toward the king to coordinate the rest of the healing process.
CHAPTER 6
Kishmi tidied the house in anticipation of their arrival. The lentil and chickpea stew, the roasted veal shank with bay leaves and hot peppers—it was all ready. The compacted clay floor was swept but the house remained empty, like her womb. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door.
Khafus stood at the door with tears in his eyes. She remembered him from his previous visit, but at that time he had arrived carried in his parents' arms. Now he stood erect on his own feet. When she opened the door, the tears began to flow like rivers down his cheeks. She tried to calm him down, inquired about his well-being, asked him to have a seat and offered him a cup of water. He refused to sit, recounting in exhilaration how he had woken up the previous night in the middle of the night and had gone to the basin of water in the adjacent room in order to wash his face, when it suddenly dawned on him that he was walking on his own two feet! Since that moment, he had been overcome with waves of emotion and tears of joy. This was his reason for coming to thank Master Rukha. Kishmi did not correct the title he had bestowed upon the apprentice slave, promising that she would relay the message to Rukha as soon as he arrived. Khafus insisted on returning later in person.
Kishmi was disappointed when she learned that they were fasting and would not partake of the meal she had prepared. She did not want to bother her husband with her issues when he was engaged in such important matters, but she could not restrain herself. After Rukha left to go to his hut in the courtyard, she began.
“I had a dream,” she ventured while weaving a basket out of palm fronds to make a carrier for a water pitcher.
“What did you dream?”
“I was in the center of a large cistern and many Goddesses surrounded me, each one represented by her symbol. I remember Ashnan with her grains of barley in her hand, Geshtinanna with her cluster of grapes and the Goddess Gula, who was closest to me, clutching her healing snake in her hand. I wondered, where is Inanna? Where is she? I searched for her. Why did she not come to release me from my barrenness?” Kishmi cried out in a choked voice.
Eo embraced her, feeling her pain. For years he had turned down her pleas that he take a second woman.
“Tell me more,” he asked.
“Afterward, all of the Goddesses disappeared under the water. Only I remained with Gula's charm, the golden snake floating on the water's surface. I stretched out my hand to take it and then the water began to recede. Only the barren land remained and a small puddle that seeped into a hidden crevice in the ground. I reached out my hand to take the healers' charm and then I woke up.”
“What caused you to awaken?”
“I thought that Rukha was calling me, but then I remembered that both of you were at the palace. The cries I heard were from wanderers passing by on the street, taking advantage of the crisp night air to make their journey.”
“All the Goddesses were there??”
“Yes.”
“The Goddess Nammu?” he guided her on.
“I did not see her.”
“You were inside her!” he determined with a smile.
“Yes. The great primeval sea.” Kishmi laughed.
“Did you ask that your womb be opened? Did you ask Inanna?”
“Yes,” she replied, her smile fading.
“So why were you specifically in the middle of Nammu's sea?”
“I don't know.”
“Why don't you ask your request from Nammu?”
She answered him with gentle facetiousness. “Not just anyone may come before the Gods. That is why the simple folk, who do not work for the king, first turn to the minor Gods. They will relay the message forward.”
Eo laughed. He felt relief for the first time since he got caught up in the tension of dealing with the prince's demon. “You did not allow yourself to approach Nammu directly, but you found yourself inside her anyway,” he joked with her.
“That was not the only reason,” she said gravely. “Nammu, mother of all creation, was not fertilized by a man, since men had not yet been created. She did not bear the world from her womb, and I shall not receive the womb spirit from her.”
“So what did you receive from her?”
“Healing. Maybe you as a healer, my loving husband? I do not understand.”
Eo was silent.
After a few moments, her eyes illuminated. “I understand!”
He also understood, but was waiting for h
er to decipher it on her own.
“I turned to Nammu to ask for a child that does not come from a man, and like Nammu, I must bear a child without being fertilized. The healers' snake is Rukha. I was trying to catch Rukha. In the twilight between sleeping and waking, I heard Rukha calling out to me,” she said, tears glistening in her eyes.
“Today, in the red temple, the signs in the liver directed me toward the God Shamash and the Great Mother Goddess Nammu. I also wanted to turn to her and ask for a child, but I stopped myself in order to focus on my task at hand. Now I realize that this is not just a personal request by me or by you. Rukha's release and adoption as our son is part of the prince's healing process. I do not know how, but this is a clear message that came separately to each of us.”
“After such a short amount of time? You haven't even finished paying off his price! Such a bold move is liable to arouse anxiety among the other slave owners. They will fear that their slaves will demand their freedom as well.”
“This is our will, but it is also the will of the Gods. This is what is written on Enlil's tablet of destiny.”
“And the king? You haven't even paid off the loan for buying the slave, and now you are freeing him?”
Eo was decisive and calm. When the signs were this clear, there was no danger of error.
“The king desires the health of his son, and it is incumbent upon me to do what the Gods instruct me to do, for the sake of the prince, for the sake of the king, for the sake of the demon, and for our sakes. Freeing and adopting Rukha is part of Enmerkar's destiny, even if I have yet to fully understand the explanation for this,” he said while twirling a lock of his beard. “The puddle that is receding in your dream is the water clock of fate. The dream tells us that we must act soon. We must decide to release and adopt him, but not to reveal this to him in the meantime. If he were supposed to know this, he would have appeared in your dream in person.”
Mesopotamia - The Healer, the Slave and the Prince Page 7