King Jesus (Penguin Modern Classics) (42 page)

“I will come gladly.”

M
ARY THE
H
AIRDRESSER
led Jesus out through the gate of the enclosure, and past the entrance of the cave of Machpelah to a rocky place not far away where offal was flung. The pack of pariah dogs that had been nosing there among bones and rotten flesh howled a welcome to her, sitting in a row on their haunches. She ordered them to be silent ; they ceased howling and whimpered softly. She picked her way through the filth to the rock-face and there uttered a prayer of placation in a language strange to Jesus, though he knew well who it was whom she invoked. Mary stood with her ear close to the rock as if waiting for an answer. Presently she pressed with her shoulder against a part of the rock that projected, and a great stone door rolled back in its socket. The moon shone full into a small square chamber from which a curved flight of steps descended into darkness.

They entered together and the stone clashed-to behind them. Mary pulled a lighted lamp from under her cloak and beckoned for Jesus to follow her. The air was sweet, and the shallow well-cut steps led them after a long spiral descent to another blank wall. She uttered the same prayer of placation and, after listening again and waiting and repeating the prayer, pressed against the stone, which rolled back in its socket.

They stood in a cave constructed in beehive shape with great unhewn slabs of limestone, painted in red and yellow ochre with spirals, double spirals, fylfots, reversed fylfots and forked lightning. In the middle rose a phallus-shaped pillar beside which lay a pair of crouched skeletons, one of them lacking its skull, and between them the gilded horns of an antelope-ox. Of the three recesses in the cave, the right-hand one was empty ; in the left-hand recess stood two striped sacrificial basins, an ivory tripod, and the mask of a pale bearded man with sunken cheeks ;
in the central recess stood a small chest, with rings for two carrying poles, plated with gold and surmounted by golden cherubim. Opposite, a long narrow tunnel led away into darkness. Propped against the wall near its entrance were two narrow stone tablets, one of red Edomite sard and one of golden Numidian marble, carved on both sides with numerous small pictures.

Black blood coated the bottom of each of the striped basins. Jesus said to Mary in accusation : “It is bull’s blood.”

She asked him mockingly : “Have you not read how Moses raised a circle of twelve pillars and a thirteenth in the middle for an altar, and sacrificed bulls, and how he caught the gushing blood in these very basins ?”

“I have read what I have read. But this blood is not that. You come here to lap bull’s blood from the basins and to prophesy through the mouth of the death-mask in which Adam’s jawbone is set.”

“Whatever I do is done in obedience to my Mistress.”

“I defy her in her own house !”

“Beware of gangrene in the thigh and leprosy in the lip !”

“Your Mistress has no power over me. I have never companied with any daughter of hers, nor ever called on her name. Therefore again I ask your help against her paramour.”

“I refuse it, rebel. Why do you not abase yourself before the Cherubim? Do you not recognize the Holy Ark of the Covenant which the prophet Jeremiah restored to my Mistress for safe-keeping before he fled to Egypt ?”

“The prophet Jeremiah did well to remove the thing from the sight of the congregation. Holy as it once was, the daughters of Aaron had defiled it with their abominations. It had become a thing of death, and he did well to lay it up in the house of death.”

“Take my lamp and read the pictures on the two tablets, the golden and the red. They were laid up in the Ark together with the round black thunder-stone which your forefathers rolled about in it as a rain charm. Look, there the stone lies, at the foot of the Ark. It is the ancient dripping rock of Miriam, which (as is said) rolled and went along with Israel, and for striking which Moses forfeited his life.”

He took the lamp and studied the tablets as if with indifference. “What are these to me, witch? Have I not read the Scriptures? Here, pictured in a confused order, are the annals of kings and princes and prophets of Israel.”

“In your own heart lies the confusion. Here is one story and one story only. It runs bustrophedon—as one ploughs alternately from right to left and from left to right. When the golden tablet is done, the red begins. It is the story of the ancient covenant from which the Ark takes its name : the covenant sworn between my Mistress and the twin Kings of Hebron ; that she will share her love and her anger equally between them both so long as they obey her will. Here it begins.” She took the lamp from him and pointed with her finger.

A great contest ensued between Mary and Jesus over the interpretation of the pictures, and neither was ever at a loss for the word of contradiction.

Mary said : “
See where my Mistress, the First Eve, is seated on her birth-stool under the palm-tree. The people are awaiting a great event, for the pangs are upon her
.”

Swiftly Jesus answered her : “No, witch, that is not the First Eve : that is Deborah judging the Israelites under the palm-tree of Deborah. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here my Mistress is delivered of twins, begotten of different fathers, namely Adam son of the Terebinth, and Azazel son of the Kerm-oak. She ties a red thread about the wrist of Azazel to distinguish him from his brother Adam.”

“No, but Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, is delivered of her bastards Zarah and Pharez and ties the thread about the wrist of Zarah. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here the infant Azazel is shown to his father the King, and here Adam is laid in the ark of osiers and sedge and committed to the waters of the Brook Eshcol, lest the King should destroy him.”

“No, but the infant Samuel is presented to Eli at the tabernacle of Shiloh, and the infant Moses is committed to the waters of the Nile. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here the shepherd’s wife takes and suckles Adam, while my Mistress, the First Eve, stands apart, watching.”

“No, but Pharaoh’s daughter finds Moses among the bulrushes and consigns him to the care of Jochebed, his own mother. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here my Mistress, the First Eve, restores her virginity by bathing in the fish-pool of Hebron and becomes the King’s daughter, my Mistress, the Second Eve.”

“No, but King David from the roof of his palace at Jerusalem sees the wife of Uriah the Hittite bathing and lusts after her. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here the tale of Adam continues. Adam, now a youth, destroys a lion and a bear which come among his flock, and here he is taken before his uncle the King, who is ignorant of his parentage.”

“No, but the youth is David son of Jesse, and the King is Saul. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for at the King’s desire Adam also strangles a fearful serpent which has destroyed thousands of the King’s people with its fiery breath, and displays it to the people.”

“No, but Moses raises the brazen seraph in the wilderness to stay the pestilence. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here the King has taken Adam into his household ; he and his brother Azazel are for a while united in loving comradeship.”

“No, but David and Jonathan, Saul’s son, become blood-brothers. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam takes up an ox-goad and falls without warning upon the King’s bodyguard.”

“No, but Shamgar the son of Anath wields the goad against the Philistines. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam slays his uncle the King, and strikes off his head with his own sword.”

“No, but David slays Goliath the Philistine. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam mourns for his uncle at the Oaks of Mamre.”

“No, but David mourns there for his enemy Abner. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam is preparing for royalty. See, where he rests under a tree of royal broom to prepare for his vigil.”

“No, but Elijah rests there. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam at his vigil tames the wild beasts that come against him.”

“No, but Adam names them in Eden. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam is anointed King of Hebron.”

“No, but Samuel anoints David King over Israel. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here preparations are made for Adam’s marriage feast to my Mistress, the Second Eve.”

“No, but provisions of wheat and barley and flour and beans and honey and butter and mutton and cheese and beef, together with beds, basins and pots, are brought as a gift to David at Mahanaim. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here other provisions that were lacking are brought to Adam’s marriage feast.”

“No, but Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth brings David bread and raisins and summer fruit and wine. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here the marriage contest is depicted. Adam wrestles all night with his enemies until he is lamed, and at dawn halts upon the right thigh and becomes bull-footed.”

“No, but our Father Jacob wrestles all night with an angel at Penuel and suffers that injury. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here at Beth-Hoglah, the marriage-arbour of the Hobbler, bull-voiced mimes call upon the bridegroom Adam to come rushing with his bull-foot.”

“No, but Baal’s priests upon Carmel dance their hobbling
pesach
and cut themselves with knives and vainly invoke Baal. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam comes rushing to his bride, my Mistress, the Second Eve, who dances by the reeded fish-pool with her fifty daughters.”

“No, but Miriam and her maidens dance in triumph by the Sea of Reeds after the army of Pharaoh has been engulfed ; and Aaron, her brother, joins in the dance. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here the marriage feast of Adam has begun and here he sits at table, his bull’s foot resting on a footstool.”

“No, but lame Mephibosheth is invited to feast at the table of King David. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for when the feast is done Adam companies in public with my Mistress, the Second Eve, and with the fifty daughters of my Mistress.”

“No, but the rebel Absalom companies in public with Abigail of Carmel and with the other wives and concubines of his father David. For so it is written.”

“The golden tablet is done, and the golden King has triumphed. Here begins the red tablet and the triumph of the red King. See, where Adam, inventor of the lyre, plays melodies and sings in his own honour. His twin, Azazel, son of the murdered King, glowers at him, javelin in hand, plotting revenge.”

“No, but David plays and sings psalms to ease Saul’s melancholy. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Azazel dances naked before the Ark of the Covenant, imploring my Mistress to keep faith with him. Wearing her horned moon headdress she smiles at him favourably.”

“No, but David dances before the Ark and his wife Michal, otherwise named Eglah, ‘the heifer’, laughs scornfully at him from a lattice. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here my Mistress, the Second Eve, true to her covenant, invites Azazel to her bed.”

“No, but Amnon forces his sister Tamar. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here my Mistress ties Adam’s hair to his bedpost for Azazel to shear.”

“No, but the deceitful Delilah ties the hair of her husband Samson to a weaver’s beam. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Azazel comes by night into Adam’s chamber with scissors to shear his sacred hair.”

“No, but David finding King Saul asleep in a cave spares his life, and cuts off only the hem of his robe. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam’s hair is cut off, and the sacred hem of his robe with its five blue tassels. And here Azazel with his companions pelt and revile him as he goes up the hill to his death.”

“No, but Shimei and his fellows revile and pelt David at Bahurim. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Adam is blinded by Azazel.”

“No, but Samson is blinded by the Philistines at Gaza. For so it is written.

“Not so : for here Adam, with green bonds cut from the willow of Hebron, is tied by Azazel to the terebinth of Hebron and there unmanned.”

“No, but the King of Ai is hanged on a tree by Joshua at Ai. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here Azazel raises a circle of twelve pillars, with an altar for a thirteenth. He will sacrifice Adam in honour of my Mistress, the Second Eve, and here are the striped basins for the blood.”

“No, but Moses raises the twelve pillars at the foot of Sinai—which
is Horeb—one for each tribe of Israel, and the basins are to catch the blood of slaughtered bullocks. For so it is written.”

“Not so : here comes maimed Adam limping into the circle ; and here he is hacked in pieces.”

“No, but King Agag walks delicately into the Circle of Gilgal, where the prophet Samuel hacks him in pieces. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here twelve men of Hebron feast upon Adam’s flesh, but Adam’s shoulder-joint is reserved for Azazel’s eating.”

“No, but the shoulder-joint of the ox is reserved for King Saul by Samuel at the feast of Mizpeh. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here a messenger comes to my Mistress, the Second Eve, to tell her : ‘It is done.’ She shrouds herself and becomes the Third Eve with dog, owl and camel.”

“No, but Rebeccah dismounts from her camel and veils herself when she sees our father Isaac approach to claim her in marriage. For so it is written.”

“Not so : for here the people of Hebron mourn for Adam. Fool, do you not know where you stand? This is the innermost chamber of the cave of Machpelah. Josiah, that evil king, stopped up its entrance ; but we Kenites have guarded the secret of its other door. See, where my Mistress, the Third Eve, carries away the stripped bones of Adam to this very cave to lay them in a burial ark.”