SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - CAROLINE E. KENNEDY - CAROLINA KENNEDIA
THE DIVINE COUPLE
SOPHIA OF WISDOM III
Through the centuries the image
of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been shining brighter and brighter and now she is even considered as a co-redeemer with Christ.
In the Litany of the Blessed Virgin there are fifty beautiful characteristics of Our Lady which are not only a sign of praise,
love and devotion, but have deep cosmological significance as well. Let us quote some of them: Mirror of Justice, Seat of
Wisdom, Cause of our Joy, Spiritual Vessel, Mystical Rose, Tower of David, Tower of Ivory, House of Gold, Ark of the Covenant,
Gate of Heaven, Morning Star, Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Queen of Angels, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Queen
of Peace.
Truly, Our Lady personifies the
universal characteristics and the celestial virtues of the Divine Mother. If Jesus Christ was an incarnation of Divinity into
flesh, we can imagine the extraordinary mission of Our Lady as a manifestation of the Divine Mother giving birth to God the
Son.
For centuries the mystery
of God the Son has been the subject of inspired reflections, contemplation and revelations, but now the time is coming to
appreciate more and more the mystery of Our Lady giving birth to Jesus Christ and manifesting the cosmological significance
of the Divine Mother. In a similar way as Jesus Christ has a very
special function in the incarnation of God the Son as a human being, Our Lady has to be appreciated as a manifestation of
the Divine Mother, co-creating with God the Son.
SEE LINK FOR THE DIVINE MOTHERhttp://www.secondcomingmission.com/s6_divinefeminine/6_2_index.htm
SOPHIA OF WISDOM III
As a messenger of the new cosmic-spiritual
Spring, the Master Beinsa Douno emanates from the Eastern Universal Gate of the Holy City. One of the key ideas in his Teaching
is the coming of the New Eve, a collective personification of the Divine feminine principle, who will transform the whole
earthly life of humankind. Brothers and sisters from the Universal Brotherhood in Bulgaria had visions of the Master sending
off into the world a most beautiful young woman, the New Eve, in shining white clothes and adorned with a garland of flowers.
We could consider her as a spiritual daughter of the Master, who personifies the celestial qualities and virtues of the coming
New Eve.
The deep esoteric meaning of the
prophecy of the coming New Eve is that the transformed feminine energy will raise the vibrations on all levels of human life
on Earth. In the past the archetypal feminine energies were associated with the life-supporting material earthly consciousness,
as opposed to the celestial states of consciousness, and with the Moon-light reflecting the Sun-light. This is why Eve was
the one who gave Adam the apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which signified the descent into the world
of polarities and the material earthly state of consciousness.
Now, with the coming cosmic-spiritual
Spring, the whole earthly life has to be transformed, spiritualised and illuminated. The keys to this process lie in the archetype
of the feminine energy which has to be activated in order to penetrate, with the vibrations of the Holy Spirit, into the smallest
details of our daily life on Earth. The characteristics of the feminine archetype, such as giving and sustaining life on earth,
mother care and unconditional love, help and support, beauty and tenderness, organic relationship with Nature and the Earth,
implementation of the spiritual ideas in the material world and others, are the main qualities which will help contemporary
humankind to ascend to the higher levels of Being. In the epoch of the cosmic-spiritual Spring the spiritual blossoming of
the human soul becomes the most essential, crucial process. This is why the Master predicted that the archetypal feminine
energies, manifested by the New Eve, will save the world.
So, by meditating on the New
Eve emerging from the Eastern Gate of the Mandala of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Gate of the cosmic-spiritual Spring, we could
contemplate the great renewal of the earthly life through the Divine Feminine and the return of humankind to the Garden of
Paradise. Therefore, if Eve from the Bible instigated the Fall,
now the New Eve will initiate the return of humankind to the Kingdom of God.
In the approaching cosmic-spiritual
Summer, the epoch of the New Golden Age, the southern Universal Gate of the Holy City will be opened widely for humankind
to return to the Kingdom of God. As a celestial image emerging from this Universal Gate, we could choose Zventa Sventana –
the vision of the great Russian mystic D.Andreev.
Zventa Sventana is a Divine monad,
born of God, who will express the eternal femininity. She is the Bride of the Planetary Logos, Christ, and came from
the cosmic-spiritual heights down to the celestial realms above the Earth some one hundred and fifty years ago. She
will be incarnated in one of the celestial cultures of humankind and this metahistorical event will result in the initiation of
the Rose of the World.
According to D. Andreev, Zventa
Sventana (which means the Holiest of the Holy) is going to be 'incarnated' in the Russian celestial culture. As a result of
this great metahistorical event, the Russian people will be given the mission of the Rose of the World which inaugurates the
New World Religion. We could summarise that Zventa Sventana, as the manifestation of the universal feminine principle, will
influence all levels of Being – from the reality of the soul within every human being, through the reality of the National
Soul of each nation, to the reality of the Universal Soul. The activated soul-reality on all levels will enter into Divine
marriage with the universal masculine principle on the corresponding level – that is, with the Divine Spirit within
the human being, with the National Spirit-Guide (leading the destiny of the nation), and with the Universal Spirit. This Divine
marriage will open the gates of the Kingdom of God and will introduce us to the epoch of the New Golden Age (the epoch of
Aquarius, the epoch of the approaching cosmic-spiritual Summer, the epoch of the Holy Spirit). So, we could link and meditate on the celestial image of Zventa Sventana
who holds the exquisite Rose of the World in her hand and is ready to become the Bride of the Planetary Logos – the
Cosmic Christ.
SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - CAROLINE E. KENNEDY - CAROLINA KENNEDIA
THE DIVINE COUPLE
SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - PICS - BAT - KOL KENNEDY
SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - CONSTANTINE I & JFK,JR.
SUPREME
GOD
OF
BABYLONIA
PICTURE BELOW
LIBRARY OF SOPHIA OF WISDOM III SOPHIA OF ALL SOPHIA OF WISDOMS AKA CAROLINE E. KENNEDY_______________________
NOVEMBER 17, 2006
THE SUPREME GOD OF BABYLONIA ENKI AND NINHURSAG How Enki surrendered to the Earth
Mother and Queen
‘Enki and Ninhursag’ is perhaps one of the most difficult Mesopotamian myth for
Judeo-Christian Westerners to understand, because it stands as the opposite of the myth of Adam and Eve in Paradise found
in the Old Testament Bible. Indeed, ‘ the literature created by the Sumerians left its deep imprint on the Hebrews,
and one of the thrilling aspects of reconstructing and translating Sumerian belles-lettres consists in tracing resemblances
and parallels between Sumerian and Biblical motifs. To be sure, Sumerians could not have influenced the Hebrews directly,
for they had ceased to exist long before the Hebrew people came into existence. But there is little doubt that the Sumerians
deeply influenced the Canaanites, who preceded the Hebrews in the land later known as Palestine’ (Kramer, 1981:142).
Some comparisons with the Bible paradise story: 1) the idea of a divine paradise, the garden of gods, is of Sumerian origin,
and it was Dilmun, the land of immortals situated in southwestern Persia. It is the same Dilmun that, later, the Babylonians,
the Semitic people who conquered the Sumerians, located their home of the immortals. There is a good indication that the Biblical
paradise, which is described as a garden planted eastward in Eden, from whose waters flow the four world rivers including
the Tigris and the Euphrates, may have been originally identical with Dilmun; 2) the watering of Dilmun by Enki and the Sun
god Utu with fresh water brought up from the earth is suggestive of the Biblical ‘ But there went up a mist from the
earth and watered the whole face of the ground’ (Genesis 2:6); 3) the birth of goddesses without pain or travail illuminates
the background of the curse against Eve that it shall be her lot to conceive and bear children in sorrow; 4) Enki’s
greed to eat the eight sacred plants which gave birth to the Vegetal World resonates the eating of the Forbidden Fruit by
Adam and Eve, and 6) most remarkably, this myth provides na explanation for one of the most puzzling motifs in the Biblical
paradise story - the famous passage describing the fashioning of Eve, the mother of all living, from the rib of Adam. Why
a rib instead of another organ to fashion the woman whose name Eve means according to the Bible, ‘she who makes live’?
If we look at the Sumerian myth, we see that when Enki gets ill, cursed by Ninhursag, one of his body parts that start dying
is the rib. The Sumerian word for rib is ‘ti’ . To heal each o Enki’s dying body parts, Ninhursag gives
birth to eight goddesses. The goddess created for the healing of Enki’s rib is called ‘Nin-ti’, ‘the
lady of the rib’. But the Sumerian word ‘ti’ also means ‘to make live’. The name ‘Nin-ti’
may therefore mean ‘the lady who makes live’ as well as ‘the lady of the rib’. Thus, a very ancient
literary pun was carried over and perpetuated in the Bible, but without its original meaning, because the Hebrew word for
‘rib’ and that for ‘who makes live’ have nothing in common. Moreover, it is Ninhursag who gives her
life essence to heal Enki, who is then reborn from her (Kramer, 1981:143-144).
Stone Tablet
For Adapa, my
favorite experience of Enki, in deepest appreciation and respect
After Time had come into being and the holy seasons
for growth and rest were finally known, Dilmun, the pure clean and bright land of the living, the garden of the Great Gods
and Earthly paradise, located eastward in Eden, was the place where Ninhursag-Ki, the Earth Mother, Most Exalted Lady and
Supreme Queen, could be found. There she lived for a season during the Wheel of the Year, when the Earth lay deep in slumber
before the onset of Spring, in the land that knew neither sickness nor death or old age, where the raven uttered no cry, where
lions and wolves killed not, and unknown were the sorrows of widowhood or the wailing of the sick. And it was in Dilmun, at
that time that Enki, the wise god of Magic and the Sweet Waters, the Patron of Crafts and Skills, met, fell in love and lied
with the Lady of the Stony Earth, Ninhursag-Ki.
The Earth Mother’s kiss did change the carefree and sexy Sweet
Waters Lord: Ninhursag had wholly captivated him through the most profound of all bonds, the thread of enchantment and passion
called Love. So profound the feeling was that the God of Sweet Waters, Magic and Crafts proposed to Ninhursag, with the enthusiasm
of a young lover’s heart.
Ninhursag looked around the land, her stony body, and remembered the taste of the
wondrous moisture of the Sweet Waters God within herself. She wondered whether the land should not feel the same loving touch
without. She said then to Enki:
‘I heard your heart speak, Enki dearest. But if I feel your wondrous moisture
within me, I look at the earth of Dilmun, also my body, and feel its longing for the gifts that you, dear heart, for sure
can bring. Thus I ask you: what is a land, what is a city that has no river quay? A city that has no ponds of sweet water?’
Taken by surprise, Enki realized that indeed he had given his whole essence to the beloved, but forgotten to look
after her Earthly Body, the land. He then rose to the challenge of providing water for the land with aplomb. He replied:
‘For
Dilmun, the land of my lady’s heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench
the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives’
Enki then summoned Utu, the Sun God and Light
of the Day. Together, they brought a mist from the depths of the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. Then Enki
and Utu created waterways to surround the land with a never-ending source of fertile Sweet Waters, and Enki also devised basins
and cisterns to store the waters for further needs. From these fertile sweet waters flow the four Great Rivers of the Ancient
World, including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Thus, from that moment on, Dilmun was blessed by Enki with everlasting agricultural
and trade superiority, for through its waterways and quays, fruits and grains were sold and exchanged by the people of Dilmun
and beyond.
Ninhursag rejoiced in Enki’s mighty prowess and said to him:
‘Beloved, the powerful
touch of your sweet waters, the essence of Mother Nammu that lies deep within you, transformed the land, my stony body. I
feel the power of life throbbing within to be revealed without upon my surface as I give joyously birth and sustenance to
the marshes and reed-beds, that from now on will shelter fish, plant, beasts and all that breathes. Thus I call myself Nintur,
the lady who gives birth, the Womb of the Damp Lands by the riverbanks.’
Enki replied:
‘Ninhursag,
dearest Nintur, beloved, how can anyone quite compare to you? I cannot resist your wild, sweet ways, so lie with me one more
time and fill my body, heart, soul and mind with endless delights! For me you will forever be my fierce Damgalnunna, my Great
Spouse, passionate and very much loved!’
Ninhursag laughed and welcomed the eagerness of the Sweet Waters Lord.
Nine days later, the Great Goddess gave birth to a lovely girl without the slightest travail or pain. The girl was called
Ninsar, Lady Verdure, the Mistress of Vegetation, the green carpet of grass, leaves and flower beds that cover the surface
of the earth.
Enki was overjoyed with the birth of his and Ninhursag’s child:
' How perfect, how lovely
is our Ninsar! I love already the woman in the girl-child, the young Anunnaki goddess and Mistress of Velvet Meadows and Green
Fields. The ties that bind me to Ninsar are strong and tempered by an even greater love, for in her face I see also Ninhursag’s,
the one and only to my wandering heart.’
The Great Lady, holding Ninsar in her arms, kissed Enki in the mouth,
and said:
‘Soon my time to leave Dilmun will come, but to this holy land I will sure return at the beginning
of the earth’s rest in the Middleworld. I need to leave, for without my loving touch Spring cannot come back, the winds
to dismiss Winter won’t blow, all there is won’t sing or mate until I invite them to return. But before I go away,
I endow Ninsar with the power to grow in record time, and in holy Dilmun I’ll leave my youngster daughter safe and sound
from any illness, hatred or harm.’
As the Great Lady had declared, nine days later Ninsar was fully grown, charming
and graceful, a sight to behold. Ninhursag then left for the Middleworld. Enki knew he would miss his beloved terribly, but
while she was busy in the Middlearth giving her Essence for the land to grow happy and gay, equally busy was Enki in holy
Dilmun. It was his sacred duty to oversee the rise and fall of all fertilizing waters that flowed from Dilmun to feed the
rivers, lakes and ponds of the Middleworld to make the land ready to receive the Spring seeds. Thus, as much as he missed
Ninhursag, Enki knew he could not leave Dilmun before all waterways were filled to ensure that the people would have plenty
of water to grow their crops. Enki’s essence, the fertilizing power of the sweet waters, should reach every piece of
land in the Middleworld that had been worked and ploughed.
It was at the end of a day he had spent totally absorbed
by the mighty task of controlling the water flow to the Middleworld that Enki saw Ninsar walking on her own along the marshlands.
Indeed, a lovely goddess she had become, and Enki’s eyes fell on the Maiden’s. Deep within the Sweet Waters Lord
felt a longing he could not as yet define. He only knew that after Ninhursag’s departure, no other maiden had touched
his heart the way this one did. Indeed, she who walked on her own along the marshlands was the closest version to Ninhursag
his eyes had the luck to find. Enki did not lose time and immediately started wooing the young lady, encouraging her to love
him wildly by the riverside.
Curious and eager as Ninsar was to experience the power of love in her body, mind, soul,
and heart, she, the young goddess of Green Fields and Luscious Meadows, yielded to the Sweet Waters Lord, and together they
made wild love.
But when morning came, Enki looked into Ninsar’s eyes and found her a loving, but pale portrait
of Ninhursag.
‘What is in her that was so alluring last night, but now in the broad day light seems to have
lost substance? Lovely as she is, she is not the one I surely miss’, thought Enki.
Despite the doubts he felt
deep inside, Enki stayed with Ninsar for a while, because he knew his seed could be her womb. So he stayed with her until
the ninth day, when Ninsar gave birth to Ninkurra, another girl-child, the future goddess of Mountain Pastures.
As
before, Enki rejoiced at Ninkurra’s loveliness, at her cheerful smile and sweet face. Again, Enki saw in Ninkurra twice
the mark of his beloved Ninhursag.
Sadly, Ninsar realized that although she had been passionately loved by Enki for
a time, there was a longing in his eyes, his body, soul and mind she could not satisfy.
‘Bonded to him I for
a time was,’ thought Ninsar,’ but he does not want me for myself, this I can tell. Mine is not the mind, body,
soul and heart that holds his for a minute that means eternity, so I’ll let him go, now and forever. I need to be loved
for who and what I am, and not to be a mere replacement for whom I know not he loves.’
Thus, when Enki left
her and young Ninkurra, Ninsar grieved deeply, but found hope, meaning and sustenance in drawing from her all-one-ness, her
inner and outer resources to heal and grow with the experience. She also kept a watchful eye on Ninkurra, who, like herself,
grew in record time. Lovely, resourceful Ninkurra demonstrated enormous energy by climbing the highest heights, up to the
mountain tops, but also keeping her essence tied to the ground. This way Ninkurra, the Goddess of Mountain Pastures grew safe
from all hatred or harm.
Another nine days passed by, and as Ninkurra played at a mountain top, curiosity led her
to explore a well that surfaced out of the blue to water the greens and wild flower beds she had just made grow. To her sheer
surprise and delight, the well took the shape of a handsome god, who introduced himself to her as Enki the Sweet Waters Lord.
Again, Enki looked at Ninkurra’s young and cheerful face, and desired to dive into the maiden’s embrace,
for she reminded him twice of Ninhursag, the one and only to Enki’s wandering heart. The maiden at the mountain top
though had attracted the Sweet Waters’ Lord. Had he again fallen in love?
Ninkurra, who had lived a life so
sheltered at the mountain heights, was fully bewitched by the easy charm of the older, more experienced god. Thus she joyously
yielded to him and love they made for nine days and nine nights. But Enki soon realized that as lovely as Ninkurra was, she
could not be compared to Ninhursag.
As before, the Sweet Waters Lord left Ninsar after nine days, when Ninkurra gave
birth to another lovely girl-child called Uttu, the Spider, the Weaver of Patterns and Life Desires.
But Ninhursag,
having kissed the earth to awaken for Spring to come, had returned to holy Dilmun. The Great Lady who saw and wisely judged
all life forms, frowned at the sadness reflected in Ninsar’s and Ninkurra’s eyes, and frowned at Enki’s
unbridled lust. Ninhursag knew how charming Enki could be, but no matter what, young Uttu the Weaver should be advised to
avoid the riverbanks, or the places where Enki and herself could be found alone or unchaperoned:
‘Daughter Uttu,
beware of the marshes and the riverbanks, where Enki, the Sweet Waters god, reigns as Sovereign. There he will see you, there
he will desire you and want to make of you his own, only to leave you all alone later on!’, was Ninhursag’s stern
advice to Uttu.
For a time young Uttu did follow the Great Lady’s advice and kept her distance from Enki’s
lusty sight. But one day Enki’s desire won the young goddess’ heart, when he brought to her delicacies from the
garden of delights: apples, cucumbers and grapes, all this and more Enki offered to the young goddess. Then Uttu, full of
joy, opened herself to welcome Enki, the crafty god, and he embraced her with heartfelt glee, lying in her lap content and
happy. Loving strokes, kisses and hugs they shared, until Enki’s seed found its way to Uttu’s young and yet untried
womb.
Later, still lying on Enki’s powerful arms, doubt entered Uttu’s mind, body and heart:
‘Tonight
you loved me so dearly, tonight I was your spouse, the one and only, your dearest, ‘ she thought . ‘ But will
you love me in the morning, o lustiest of all gods? Will you stay in my arms and never let me go? And will you love for more
than a holy night, and share with me happy and hard times?’
But everybody called him the Thief of Uruk. In all Sumer, there was no
criminal more daring - or more clever.
I know. I’m a watcher at the marketplace for the traders’ association
called the Karum. My name is Denisha-Ishtar. As you can tell by my name, my mother was Amurru. Amorite. She was raised on
the desert in a tent. One day she rode into Uruk with a donkey train, met my father, married him and stayed. Then she had
me.
Uruk verges on the desert. They call it Rainbow City because of half-breeds like me who live there. We’re
not popular. So I grew up on the waterfront, hanging around the quay, meeting sailors and traders plying the Euphrates. Most
belonged to the Karum. I learned from them and was damned lucky I didn’t get pregnant. What the hell. When I could stand
it no longer and decided to get a decent job, I went down to the Karum to sign up.
“You’re but a girl,”
one of the examiners informed me. “This is a man’s world. What can you do for us?”
I was prepared
for him. I knew I would have to have some special talent to be accepted. So I had developed one. “Observation,”
I told him. “With my keen eye, I’d be a good watcher. I know the Uruk Market. I’d make you a great undercover
watcher in the marketplace.”
“By the gods!” that examiner exclaimed. “She’s got a point!
Who’d suspect a girl of being our watcher in the market?” He enthused the others so they signed me up on the spot.
Yata. Like that, I became a member of the Karum and a watcher. Once in a while, being a girl has its advantages.
>>
When my mother heard I’d joined the Karum and intended to walk the streets of the marketplace, she thought I’d
taken up prostitution. “I am not a whore,” I said. “But I’m not going to argue about it.” So
I left home and that was that.
Like most Sumerian women, I dress comfortably: sandals, a necklace with my personal
seal and a single-strapped wool shift that leaves my right breast uncovered. My breast is well-shaped and attracts a lot of
attention. It distracts men, especially the young ones, and that gives me the chance to be a better watcher.
Like
I mentioned, Shugat-Nergal was a master thief. I knew his favorite territory was the Uruk market. The first time I saw him
operate, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was walking down the street when he stumbled and brushed against a table of
necklaces in a jewelry stall. “Sorry,” he apologized to the vendor. But I had my eye on his hand and saw three
necklaces disappear into his kilt. I charged over to accuse him, but he disappeared before I could reach him. He had vanished,
leaving me confused.
The next time, I caught sight of him as he entered the market gate. I was headed towards him
when he pulled his stumble trick again and fell against another merchant’s table. He lifted another handful of necklaces
and stuck them in his kilt. I took out after him. He saw me coming and hardly had time to apologize to the merchant before
he took off. As he ran, I saw him pull off his kilt and toss it under a table in an empty stall.
I was amazed to see
all the stuff he was wearing underneath his outer kilt, one of those gaudy colored kilts the Amurru love so much. He went
into what seemed to be an act. He slumped his shoulders, ruffled his hair and changed his brisk gait to an awkward shuffle.
By the gods! Before my eyes, he remade himself into what looked like a drunk Amurru driver from one of the donkey trains.
I easily caught up with him and tapped him on the arm. “I saw those necklaces you took from that merchant’s
table back in the market,” I told him.
He turned around and looked at me with unfocused eyes. “Wha’
I did back there?” His body weaved in the air and I thought for a moment he was going to fall. “Miss, if I bumped
you, I am shorry. Shorry. Deeply shorry. Miss, I apologize all over the place,” he said and knelt down in front of me.
“Don’t put on a show with me!” I told him.
He looked up at me with the most distressed eyes
I’d ever seen on a man. I must say he was one hell of a good actor. “Wha’ show?” he asked throwing
out his arms. Immediately, he lost his balance and toppled over on the brick pavement.
Several passersby stopped.
“Is he drunk?” one in a robe of bleached wool asked. “Should I call a watchman?”
“By
all means,” I replied. “This man is a thief. He’s stolen necklaces from a merchant’s table.”
The man started shouting “Watchman! Watchman!” while I stared at the face of the master thief lying on
his side in the street. He was looking up, gurgling and rolling his eyes at me.
A watchman arrived. “All right,
all right, what’s going on here? What seems to be the matter? A domestic quarrel, eh?”
The watchman’s
remark infuriated me. “I don’t even know the damned man!” I informed the officer. “Besides, he’s
a thief. I watched him steal necklaces off a merchant’s table here in the marketplace.”
“Is that
so?” The watchman turned to Shugat-Nergal lying on the street in his gaudy kilt. “What’s the matter with
you?”
“I think I had too mush to drink,” the thief gurgled.
“Well, get up,”
the watchman said. “You look disgusting lolling around down there.”
“Yes, shir.” Shugat-Nergal
clambered to his feet with no little difficulty and then stood stiff before us, his body weaving. He accidentally bumped the
watchman. “Shorry.”
“This woman says you took necklaces from a merchant’s table in the marketplace.
What have you to say about that?”
Shugat-Nergal held up his hands and rolled his eyes again. “I haven’t
anything on me,” he said. “Shee for yourself.” By the gods, I had to admit, he was a fascinating actor.
The watchman felt around the thief’s kilt. “Where’s your moneybag, man?”
“Drank
it. Drank it all up.” He put his face in the watchman’s face. “Can’tcha tell?” he asked.
The
watchman flinched but stood his ground. “I didna take anything. I am not a thief,” Shugat-Nergal went on. “Thish
woman — she owes me an apology, a great big one.”
The watchman turned back to me. “You said you
saw this man take necklaces from a table in the marketplace, ma’am?”
“I did. He took them and stuffed
them into his kilt.”
The watchman turned back to the accused again. The thief undid his colored kilt and whipped
it off, standing stark naked in the marketplace like some slave. He flapped his kilt in the air. “Nothin’s in
it,” he said and offered it to the officer.
The watchman took the gaudy kilt and carefully examined it. He turned
back to me. “I find nothing in his kilt, ma’am.”
It was more than I could stand. “For god’s
sake, give him the damned thing back and tell him to put it on. I tell you, officer, I saw him take necklaces from a merchant’s
table. If you’ll come with me into the marketplace, I’ll show you.”
The watchman told Shugat-Nergal,
“You come along with us.” They accompanied me back inside the marketplace.
I marched them up to the table
where I had seen him take the necklaces. The merchant behind the table looked up hopefully as we approached, but his face
turned grim as soon as he noticed the watchman’s harness. “Sir,” the officer asked the merchant, “are
you missing some necklaces?”
The merchant nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. Three, I think ... a carnelian
and two very expensive lapis.”
“This woman claims she saw this man take necklaces from your table.”
The merchant stared at Shugat-Nergal, shook his head and sighed. “I wish it were so, officer,” he said,
“but I have to tell you, I’ve never seen this man before.”
“How can you say that?” I
asked. “I saw this very man stumble and fall against your table less than a quarter hour ago.”
The merchant
nodded. “Ma’am, someone did stumble and brush against my table, but it wasn’t him. Look at that god-awful
kilt he’s wearing. I wouldn’t let anyone in a kilt like that get close to my goods.” He leaned forward.
“You know, ma’am,” he whispered to me, “I think he’s Amurru.” I felt my face burn.
Shugat-Nergal
chose this moment to come alive. “Shee!” he exclaimed. “She owes me a great big apology!”
“No!”
I cried. “Look at his face,” I urged the merchant. “When he left the market, he pulled off an outer kilt
he was wearing and threw it under an empty table. That gaudy kilt he’s in now is a disguise that he was wearing under
his kilt. Pay attention to his face.”
The merchant took a close-up look at Shugat while he continued to weave.
I’d swear Shugat was suppressing a smile. “Looks drunk as hell to me,” the merchant said. “I smell
beer on his breath.”
“By Nin!” I exclaimed. “Come with me. I’ll show you!”
The
merchant shook his head. “Can’t leave my table.”
“That’s all right, sir,” the
watchman put in, “the accused and I will accompany this woman.”
I led them back the way Shugat had run
out of the marketplace, passing two or three empty stalls on the way, including the one with the table I thought he had pitched
the kilt under. I looked under it. There was nothing there. To be sure, I got down on hands and knees to search, figuring
the kilt might have slid further back.
When I got back up, I conceded defeat. “There seems to be nothing here
now.”
The watchman raised his eyebrows and turned to Shugat-Nergal. “It seems this woman was mistaken.
Do you wish to make a charge, sir? Perhaps a charge of slander?”
Shugat-Nergal straightened up and looked me
straight in the eye. He seemed to have made a rapid recovery from his drunken stupor. I held steady and didn’t flinch.
“Not if she’ll retract those nasty things she said about me. And apologize. Nicely … like a lady.”
GRRR. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done. I gritted my teeth. “I cannot produce the missing necklaces,”
I said. I turned to Shugat-Nergal. “I must have dreamed the whole thing. I apologize to you, ... sir.”
Shugat
smiled and turned to the watchman. “She’s apologized, officer,” he said. “We all make a mistake now
and then, but it’s over. There’s no longer any problem.”
“So it seems,” the officer
said and turned to go back to his post at the market gate.
As soon as the watchman left, Shugat turned his attention
back to me and his face broke into the grin I’d been watching him suppress. “You’re quite the woman,”
he told me.
“And you’re quite the thief,” I replied. “This is the second time I’ve watched
you operate.”
“The second time - ?”
“I’m an undercover watcher for the Karum
here at the market,” I said.
Shugat nodded. “Ah,” he said, “then you know who I am?”
“Indeed!” I said. “You are the notorious Shugat-Nergal! Better known as the Thief of Uruk.”
“Ah, yes,” he said and bowed slightly. He smiled, as if he were very pleased to meet me. “And may
I ask your name?”
“Denisha-Ishtar,” I answered.
“Denisha,” he said and eyed
me from head to toe. “Nice,” he said and I blushed. “Well, you are young but quite a woman.” He hummed.
“I could use someone like you. We could do well together if you joined me in my ventures.”
“A proposition?”
I asked. “I’m already self-supporting and lack for nothing. If I continue to do well here in the marketplace,
then I may gain a chance to travel the waterways ... perhaps go overseas to places like Meluhha or Ægypt.”
“Ah,
yes,” he said and bowed again, “if you do well here.”
“I will have my eye out for you.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t want to hinder your career.”
“And you, Shugat-Nergal?”
I asked. “You seem like a decent man in a way. Why not give up your thieving?”
He grinned. “My dear
Denisha-Ishtar, for the same reason you won’t want to give up your watching. I’m good at it.”
“I
admit that,” I said. “You’ve learned to control yourself very well. You’d make a wonderful actor.
You have a kingly appearance. You could handle the lugal’s part in the New Year’s Festival. You’d get to
go to bed with Inanna, sleep with the goddess.”
“I’m flattered you think that. But I hardly believe
they’d choose me to play the role of one as important as the lugal.”
I shrugged. “In festivities,
it’s appearance that counts. Whatever else, you have the appearance. Or you can fake it. Besides, you might become one
of Inanna’s favorites.”
“Ah,” he said, “I hear that’s a dangerous thing to do.
But, really, I haven’t time to tarry. I must be going.”
“If you don’t quit this life of thievery,
Shugat-Nergal,” I warned him, “I’ll eventually catch you with the goods.”
He laughed. “I
don’t think so,” he replied. “But we’ll see, Denisha, won’t we?”
Then before I
realized what was happening, he grabbed me by the arms and held me to him while he kissed me on the mouth. Pushing me away,
he turned, waved goodbye and quickly disappeared into the crowd that filled the marketplace.
I felt embarrassed and
put my hand to my throat. Damn! It was gone! That phony son of a bitch. He had snitched my necklace with my personal seal.
For a moment, I thought about chasing him so I could scratch his eyes out when I caught him.
But then I thought better
of it. My time will come.
SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - PICS - CAROLINE E. KENNEDY - CAROLINA KENNEDIA
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SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - PICS - DISCOURSE
SEE LINK FOR DISCOURSEI FOUND THIS INFORMATION IN MY HISTORY FILE AND I DIDN'T LOOK
IT UP SOMEONE ELSE WAS IN MY OFFICE ON MY COMPUTER AND DID IT OR THEY SWAPPED AND RAIDED MY COMPUTER DRIVE...I GUESS ONE OF
THEM THOUGHT THEY COULD COVER MORE SUBJECTS THAN ME...
