Acts of Faith Ch. 03

Enheduanna, on the other hand, was far and away, singularly devoted to the Goddess. As, Ninkurra supposed, it should be. Instead of venturing out into the city, Enheduanna wrote praises to Inanna. Rather than join Ninkurra for a stroll among the vender's stalls, the High Priestess attended to daily matters of temple business and administration with her Priests and political advisors. As an alternative to admiring the sun setting over the two great rivers that fed Uruk, Enheduanna read scholarly tablets into the night.

"Is it not an aunt's purpose, to spoil her nieces?" Nin answered as she set the empty clay bowl upon the table beside her.

The High Priestess studied her novice, the light reddish bronze of her complexion, the handsome narrow slant of her eyes that always seemed to convey some slyness or complicity, her small, narrow nose and her little round chin. There was no mistaking Nin for anything but Sumerian. Conversely, Enheduanna did not exactly appear Semitic. There was her lovely red skin, her tall stature and shapeliness, the squarish almond shape of her head and the very unusual gold tint to her thick black hair. She seemed directly from the most ancient ancestry, the pedigree of the Gods. But still, surely, the line of Sargon was in her face, the roundness of her eyes, there striking dark brown depth, the gentle broadness of her nose and the lovely fullness of her lips.

"You look haggard from the heat." The Priestess commented.

"What is the heat and the sweat it makes but the blessings of Utu?"

Enheduanna, still studying Nin, turned her head slightly. The karkid observed her Lady's sleep tangled hair and was reminded that nothing could diminish the High Priestess's beauty.

"Do you mean to convey that there are greater blessings than those to be received in the House of Heaven?" the High Priestess said, chastising her novice.

Ninkurra suddenly reddened and looked away from her Mistress. Feeling shamed, foolishly forgetting that to look directly into the eyes of the High Priestess was as daring to look into the eyes of the very Inanna Herself, Nin felt her face grow hot and hotter still. A slave could be killed for assuming so much as to boldly stare at the Goddess, let alone speak to her in such a manner.

"Forgive me my Lady!" pleaded Ninkurra, staring down at the hands she'd clasped at her belt, "I meant not to disabuse you of your wisdom and love for the Great Goddess Inanna."

Save for the sound of Anunit's, Gesthinanna's and Lahamu's chewing and gnawing, there was silence between the women once again. It was not a silence that brought Nin comfort. As the cats ate, Enheduanna did not continue to utter her rebuke, which only made the quiet all the more frightening. As it lingered, Ninkurra was of a mind to risk turning her gaze back on her Lady, but dreaded to actually do so. It was in that instant she heard a small snicker rise from her Mistress's throat. Only then did Nin dare again to raise her eyes to see Enheduanna watching her with warmth and mirth, her white teeth showing from inside a broad smile. Again, Ninkurra reddened, but with embarrassment.

"Must you always play with me so Mistress?" exclaimed Nin, now smiling too as she wrung her hands.

"Ah, but you make it so easy my karkid!" answered the High Priestess, laughing, applauding herself, "Now come. Remove your tunic, display your holiness and come sit beside your Lady."

Nin went immediately to removing her belt, her sandals, her embroidered woolen tunic and the long skirt beneath. In the presence of the High Priestess, she was not ashamed of her nakedness, but she was certainly self-conscious of how her light dark bronze skin shined with sweat. The High Priestess watched Nin's approach and let her eyes linger on her novice's short but lean stature, her shapely hips, darkly haird womanhood and her high, side weighted, breasts. Nin met her gaze as she sat, keeping her wet body a short distance away. Then, looking down at the tablet laid out before the High Priestess, the novice asked:

"The script looks shallow my Lady. Is it an old tablet?"

"Yes Nin," replied the Priestess, "a very, very old tablet. It is a report of a trader's account of a settlement, where the river valley ends and the mountains begin. It tells of a Temple, not one made by people, but by Ninhursag Herself. But..."

The High Priestess became silent again. Wearily, she sighed and Nin watched as her Lady moved her legs beneath her so that they were crossed. Then the novice observed an unusual solemnity color Enheduanna's expression as she began to slowly guide the long fingers of her right hand along the bottom of a few lines of text. Interested, Nin asked:

"But what my Lady?"

With mild exasperation, seeming somewhat perplexed, Enheduanna drew in a deep breath, regarded Ninkurra, turned back to look upon the text, and then pointed repeatedly at one particular line.

"Read there." She commanded.

Ninkurra turned the tablet toward her and set her finger at the spot where her Lady had been pointing. Presently, with her brow furrowed, she read aloud:

"Mami, Belet-Ili, Ki, Ninham, Nintu,

Aruru? I, I don't understand Mistress!

"Mami was the Goddess who fashioned the fourteen embryos of the first mortals." The High Priestess explained, "Belet-Iri was the Lady of the Gods, Goddess of the mountains and not unlike our Inanna. Her sigil creature was the lion cub. Ki was the earth Goddess, the consort to En, the union of which begot the Amanaki. According to other tablets I read in my birth land, Belet-Iri's name was changed to Ninmah and then to Ninhursag by her son Ninurta. As for Nintu, I do not know who that is. But Aruru..."

Nin watched the High Priestess's eyes wander away to where her words had gone. Then suddenly, she rose to her feet, stepped around the cedar table and began to search for a particular tablet. Finding it, she carried back to Ninkurra, sat down beside her and began to read.

"Aruru is the Great gentle Mother; Goddess of earth and birth; Creatrix of the seed of humanity; Creatrix of humanity from Her own muddy substance; She Who takes the clay of creatures in Her fingers; She Who washes Her hands before She pinches off clay; Matron of the artists and potters and to whom pottery and brick making is sacred. It is known that She had produced with Marduk, the seeds of humanity; from clay She created the hero Gilgamesh, and subsequently his friend Enkidu, both of whom Aruru conceived after the image of Anu."

"So Mami and Aruru are one in the same?" asked Nin.

So it seems." Enheduanna replied as she set the tablet down, and then took up the other, "Which leads me to believe that these names are all names for Aruru."

"But why Mistress?"

"It could be said that these designations were used when your language was young, so then, as Sumerian became more complex and varied in its vocabulary and use, certain names of the Goddess fell out of favor. Or it could be said that these are actually the words of different peoples that settled in different places. We are here because of what your ancestors created from the confluence of the Idigna and the Idiqlat rivers. That is not to say that others could not have gathered in another place where water and food were plentiful. Now if you look here."

The High Priestess pointed at another section of the old tablet then read:

"And so the peoples of the land led the traveler to a cave, which was not a cave, but a passage into the earth that was the exact representation of the gal -la. It was a single great stone, nearly twenty cubits high, shaped as the almond, with a fissure with sides that seemed as the soft flesh of that woman's vault, and a slit opening wide enough for a man to pass through. The traveler passed through, blessing himself with the sign of Ninhursag, waited for his eyes to adjust to the light of the candles there in and saw that it was where the people in deed went to worship their Goddess."

Setting the tablet back down, again, Enheduanna looked off to find her own words, gesturing helplessly with her hands. She seemed very troubled and it hurt Ninkurra to see her so. Then, as pieces of words formed and died in her throat, the Priestess said:

"Nin, why is it do you think we have this great family of Gods? Or more to the point, why is it that we have Gods? Why is it not just Goddesses in our pantheon? No, why is it that we do not have one single Goddess?"

Now too had Ninkurra become perplexed. Looking away from the Priestess, she gazed off toward each of Enheduanna's lionesses as they licked their bones clean. Yet, as she absently brought her fingers to her mouth, she could find no answer other than the simplest one.

"Because of all the wonderful things the Gods as a whole gave us," she answered finally, "the land, the water, life, the seeds, the animals, they are all attributes of, divinity, having both feminine and masculine qualities."

"But Nin, a single Goddess could have made all things come to be, allowing them to perpetuate all at once, without any assistance from any other God!"

Ninkurra's stomach suddenly began to churn with anxiety. She glanced out the library entrance and hoped that no one was concealing themselves behind the wall. Turning back to face her Lady, she whispered:

"Mistress, take care. You are wise and bold, but even the boldest Gilgamesh had to fight to survive the consequences of his poor judgement. Please, do not speak of this to anyone else. It would break my heart and devastate the whole of Uruk if you were to be removed from your office!"

Slowly, Enheduanna's eyes softened. The corners of her mouth then rose into a smile. Then the High Priestess set the tablet down, leaned in close to Ninkurra, and then turned her smile into a long kiss. Nin more than willingly accepted the kiss. One never refused anything from Inanna's chosen emissary. Yet, as powerful, as divine, as the High Priestess was, it was their friendship that meant everything to Nin and would make her pain so much more cutting if she was to lose Enheduanna.

"Hmm," uttered the Priestess, "You stink! Come bathe with me and then you may comb my hair."

2

As the High Priestess summoned the Temple slaves to draw them a bath, Ninkurra went to her chambers to prepare a slurry of water, cedar ash, and cinnanimum cassia oil. Presently, the abzu in the central hall was filled nearly to its brim. As Ninkurra approached with her bowl of soap slurry, the slaves in the High Priestess's attendance had just laid down wool towels, and then departed. Enheduanna had been seated upon the edge of the abzu, but then immersed herself upon noticing Nin's arrival. Setting her bowl of soap beyond the lip of the abzu, Nin joined her Mistress.

"So, how is your young farmer?" inquired the High Priestess as Ninkurra lathered her long hair.

"Oh," answered Nin, having been caught off guard, "I believe he is well."

"You think? You do not know? Did you go to see him this morning?"

"I did my Lady."

"And?" pressed Enheduanna, turning to face her friend.

Nin watched as the Priestess reached for the bowl of soap, and then began to massage a portion of it into her hair. Who is this magnificent incarnate of the Goddess, she thought, who so deigns to make herself a commoner among commoners? Perhaps she is truly Inanna Herself. Presently, Nin's thoughts of her Lady were replaced by her recollection of her visit that morning with the young man of her fancy.

"Come Nin," encouraged the Priestess, "give your Lady an accounting. What is his name?"

"He is called Ashi-Qurub." The karkid said shyly.

"Yes, yes, and?" laughed the Priestess as she soaped her novice's shoulders and breasts.

"Very well Mistress," said Nin, she too laughing briefly, "I shall recount my visit to you."

"Ah, then leave no detail unspoken."

Alas, I found Ashi in his family's field. He was building a trellis for the vines of his plants to grab hold and rise to the sun. Coming upon him, I commented on his wonderful work."

Enheduanna swam around Nin and began to scrub her back as she went on with her story.

"You bring blessings to the land and for the people of the city, I

Told him. Well, that made him smile, and he blushed. Then he said it is only farming I do. Anyone can do it."

"Not anyone." I said, "There are many who do not feel the inclination, to do the work, such as you, to care for the land and to raise all these beautiful things so that we may live and be healthy."

Nin then reported of the embarrassed silence between them.

"Do you intend to come to the Temple this night?" I asked him.

"My mother forbids me." Said he, "She says I'm too young."

"Really?" I said, "And how old, may I ask, are you?"

"I have eighteen years." said he, "My father says he will take me, but every time we try, she follows us and we are beaten back with her broom."

This, made me laugh, so he said:

"You laugh! My mother is a large woman!"

So then I asked:

"Does your mother not go to Temple?"

"She does, but it is to one of the small, old district Temples of Anu she goes."

"Ah, I see. Well, she does have a right to celebrate the God she chooses."

"And then my Lady, there came upon us another silence as I watched him train the tendrils of his gloriously green leafed plants up his trellis, opening the coils of their vines with such great tenderness that I wanted to be those vines. And then, breaking our silence, Ashi said:"

"I wonder Ninkurra, can you tell me about the kiss or, kissing?"

"Kissing?" I said, "What of it?"

"Do you kiss those you, bless?"

"Not, usually." I answered him, "Mothers, I kiss like a daughter. Sisters, I kiss like a sister. Grandfathers or fathers, we do not kiss or at least I do not let them kiss me. I only offer them the blessing and they take it gratefully. No, a kiss from me, kissing, is rare in the Temple and I suppose, it would be rare out in the city if I were not a sister harlot."

By then, the High Priestess had swum back around to face her novice and gave Ninkurra a look of amused doubt.

"My Lady?" said the karkid, her gaze sidelong, "Why do you look at me so?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Go on."

"Ah," said Ashi, "so, you don't put your lips on just, anyone?"

"Certainly not," I said, smiling, "I am very particular about whom I put my lips upon." This, made him blush again my Lady. So then I told him: Wait until your parents have fallen well asleep on their bedding and steal away tonight, and then come find me in the Temple."

"And?" said Ashi.

"And," I said, "I will anoint you with a blessing."

"I may then, perhaps." Said he.

With that, Ninkurra shrugged, and she dunked herself under the water. Rising again, she ran her fingers through her hair as she met the Priestess's gaze.

"Hmm," Enheduanna said, "and what magnificent crop exactly does this, Ashi-Qurub, grow?"

"Cucumbers." Nin answered plainly.

Slowly, laughter bubbled anew from the High Priestess's throat. Presently, her laughter swelled into a rapture. Nin felt suddenly ashamed and disconsolate.

"My Mistress?" she tried to shout above Enheduanna's tickled uproar, "What have I said that you find so amusing?"

"Nin! You are so quaintly naive! Go back and find your Ashi. Tell him that he must bring a cucumber for each of the Temple's sister harlots so that they may have something to remember him by. Oh, wait, we can hold a contest to see whom among us can crack her cucumber first with the muscles of her gal-la!"

"My Lady!! Nin hissed, trying herself then not to laugh, "The Priests will hear you!"

"Or," whispered the Priestess, soap still all over her body, her eyes tearing with laughter, "we can see who can get their cucumber the furthest down their throats."

Ninkurra's eyes went wide as she covered her mouth in fear.

"Oh no, no, no no, my Lady!" she cried, "Surely you don't mean to say such things! That is not sacred!"

"Oh why not Nin! Have you not tasted a man's Nitah?"

"My Lady! No man devoted to Inanna has asked me to do such a thing! "

"Ninkurra, tasting a nitah is just as sacred a blessing as letting it into your gal-la."

Ninkurra looked toward both ends of the hall, her hands still over her mouth. Enheduanna abruptly slipped under the water. Nin continued to peer down the hall, fearful, wondering of Ali and his cucumber, when she felt a creeping of fingers in her gal-la. Screaming with laughter, she sprang to her feet.

"My Lady!" she said, trying to contain her embarrassed laughter, "that is not the behavior that the Goddess would condone."

"Oh, it's not?" Said Enheduanna as she brushed her dripping hair back and gestured for her novice to sit.

"No," said Nin, "It is not."

Facing each other once more, the two continued to smile and laugh a while longer. Presently, Nin's skin lost its shamed red. Presently, in the silence, it was then Enheduanna that scanned the hall for any observers. Seeing none, she again reached to bring her hand to Nin's gal-la. In that instant, the High Priestess met no resistance, though her novice's cheeks and chest had reddened anew.

"And what of one tasting your gal-la, my precocious student?" Enheduanna whispered, "Is it not sacred enough to drink from, to taste, to have its life giving liquids be poured into the bowls of ceremonial wine?"

"Some of the devoted, men, women, they have drunk from me, yes," answered Nin, staring directly into her Lady's eyes, "but I do not believe, they know exactly how to taste what they drink."

The High Priestess smiled and said:

"Come. I will teach you how to drink, so that you can teach your Ashi, and the others, and so that you may delight in the taste of your pious and handsome farmer."

Ninkurra bowed her head. Enheduanna kissed her gently on the left cheek, and then took her hand and raised her up out of the water. In silence, they dried together with their woolen towels as the slaves returned to clear the abzu of any sign of their presence. In short fashion, they followed each other back to the High Priestess's suite. There, a fresh bed of reed rushes waited for them, covered in a great blanket of heavily worked wool and a dozen fine pillows from Ur. The karkid, Enheduanna's novice, stopped at the foot of the bedding, regarded it for a time, and then turned to the Priestess and said:

"Forgive me my Lady, but I have not celebrated with women beyond a kiss or a taste of my breast and, well-"

Enheduanna was by her side as Nin's words failed her. Gently, the Priestess took her again by the hand and said:

"We are servants of Inanna. We are Holy and within our rights as Temple harlots."

Ninkurra's brow furrowed with displeasure and she shook her head.

"My Lady," Nin whispered, "You are the earthly exemplification of the Goddess. You are the consort of kings. We are no better than slaves in your presence. I beg you, speak no more in that way, please."

Enheduanna then seized Nin by the hair, lingered her gaze upon her face, and then drank deeply once again from her lips.

"You, Ninkurra-Inanna, free woman of Uruk," the High Priestess then replied, her voice low and purring like the lioness in her mortal Goddess heart, "are more beautiful to me than you could ever possibly understand."

Again, she kissed Nin as she held her face in both hands. Then parting again, Enheduanna said:

"Now come! I have an idea of how I should like to proceed with you."

"An idea," Nin repeated, as she and the Priestess crawled onto the bedding.

"Yes. Lay on your back and I will show you."

Nin did as she was asked. Presently, under the Priestess's admiring gaze, the novice made the sign of Inanna. Then, Enheduanna returning the sign, proceeded to maneuver her body in such a manner that she lay draped conversely upon her novice, so that her holy gal-la was poised over Nin's face. Eyes wide and glancing in every direction but her Lady's holiness, Nin felt as afraid as she felt excitement and piety.