Denisha and
the Thief of Uruk
A story about Ancient Sumer
by James W. Bell © 2001
I knew he was going to test me.
Shugat-Nergal’s not the type of thief to take anything lying down. He wasn’t about to let a newly-appointed watcher from the Karum – especially a woman like me - interfere with his activities without putting me to the test.
It started this morning. A little boy about six or seven years old came running up the outside stairs to the roof where I slept. He poked me in the side and said, “Miss Denisha.”
I turned over and opened one eye. It was still the dark gray of early dawn but I could see the boy had already put his loincloth on. “Yes?”
“Master Shugat-Nergal. He sent me to give you this and tell you a message.” The boy held out a small envelope woven out of reed fiber.
I sat up, took the envelope from him and untied it. Inside I saw my necklace and personal seal. “What did he ask you to tell me?” I asked the boy.
I think I frightened him because he immediately backed off and then started reciting rapidly while staring down at his feet. “Master Shugat said tell you there will be action today at the marketplace at noon sharp.” The boy finished with a sigh of relief.
“That arrogant bastard!” I cried out and heard the patter of bare feet running down the outside stairs. I looked up to see the boy was gone. “Bless Bes,” I swore to myself and promised myself not to curse in front of little boys again.
I couldn’t bring myself to touch my poor necklace after Shugat had fondled it with his dirty hands. So I left it in the envelope, retied it and tucked it away in my moneybag.
>>
I made use of the slop pot and then hurried downstairs for a quick breakfast. Mulata, my landlady, treats me like a mother. She’d hardly spoken to me since I got appointed watcher by the Karum. “It’s still a shame,” she told me as I came in the doorway.
“Anything to eat?” I asked brightly.
“Groats. A little beer. Are you watching again today?”
“Yes,” I said and went to the jars on the windowsill. I cupped my right hand, poured some groats into it from one jar and a little beer from another. I swilled it around in my cupped hand with my finger until it became paste and then put it to my mouth and gulped it down. “Great groats,” I said.
“Humph!” Mulata grumped. “It’s you who should be staying home and roasting them—not me.”
“Thanks,” I told her. Then, before going out the door, I left her a gift of a trinket on the window sill, worth at least six shekels of copper.
“Where are you going?” she called after me.
“To the marketplace,” I answered. “The Thief of Uruk sent a little boy this morning to inform me he’s pulling a job there at noon.”
“I should have known!” Mulata shouted back. “You’ve started chasing men!”
Distracted by my landlady’s shouting, I almost tripped when I stepped outside because the street level was a good two fingers higher than the floor of her old house. Like I’d already told her, it was time to knock down walls and build a new one. That’s the best part about houses built of sun-baked mud brick. When the old walls come down, they are stomped into rubble and given a good wetting. That makes an excellent floor on which to erect a new house. It also ensures the new floor is higher than the street.
>>
I walked down to the quay on the riverfront. The Karum building sat at the north end of the quay and it wasn’t all that impressive, a small cube built of sun-baked brick, much like Mulata’s old house or most other houses in Uruk—not at all distinguished or noteworthy. But traders, wealthy as they are, learned long ago it’s safer not to be noticed overly much.
The Karum door was open so I walked in. Mashad was the only one there. “Hello, Denisha. What can we do for you today?”
“I’m going to have a problem today.”
He furrowed his brow at me. “Going to have?”
“You know I’m the new watcher in the city marketplace?”
Mashad ground his teeth. I sensed his regret at my appointment. “I’ve heard. So?”
“Shugat-Nergal’s planning a robbery in the marketplace today ... at high noon.”
“Are you some type of a fortune teller?”
“No, not me. It’s Shugat. He’s bragging. Sent a little boy to my home this morning to tell me his plan.”
Mashad eyed me cynically. “So,” he said in a tone of voice that implied he might be wondering if there were something between Shugat and me.
I intentionally cursed Shugat out loud. “That bastard is challenging me,” I said. “The Uruk Marketplace is huge. And Shugat can recognize me. He’ll pull off the robbery somewhere while I’m not close by. I’m not going to be able to stop it.”
“I’m glad you admit it.”
I hissed at Mashad. “But I’ll catch him anyways.”
He laughed out loud. “How?”
“Chase him if I have to. Run the bastard down.”
“Are you up to it?”
“Look,” I said and went into my Ishtar pose. “I’m in great shape. So is Shugat. He’s also a master at disguise. And quick— like a magician. I hope I’ll be able to track him.”
“Well, what are you expecting me to do about it?” Mashad asked.
“I hear there’s a special dog the Karum uses. One that can track a criminal by smell.”
“That’s so. We have such a dog here.”
“I’d like to borrow the animal for a few hours.”
Mashad acted as if I’d struck him. “Who do you think you are? Besides, you’d need something that had the criminal’s scent on it.”
I remembered my necklace tucked in the envelope in my moneybag. “Listen, I’m watcher for the Karum at the Uruk Market. My reputation - and the Karum’s - is at stake.”
He let out a sigh. “Really.”
“It will only be till after lunch,” I told him. “I’ll bring the dog back myself. I’ll have caught Shugat-Nergal by then. Everybody will have their reputation saved and you’ll probably receive a commendation for your part. Perhaps a few shekels as a bonus.”
I saw his eyes waver just before he gave in. “All right, Denisha. The dog’s name is Dunnu. We keep him out back.”
>>
I took the necklace out of the envelope and let Dunnu get a good sniff. Then we left for the marketplace.
Just as the sun reached its apex, I heard a man’s voice behind me call my name. I turned around and glimpsed Shugat-Nergal at some distance. He held up a handful of necklaces, waved them in the air at me and laughed. “See?” he shouted at me.
I could not believe his gall. I tugged at Dunnu’s leash, pointed at Shugat and told him, “Go!” The dog took off after the thief with me in tow. Of course, Shugat had already popped down one of the side streets.
Dunnu apparently picked up Shugat’s scent because he began yelping and racing ahead. I gave him his head and tried to keep up with him. Down the lane we went and then back up another road only to wind up on yet another side street.
Finally, we came to the stall of a baker of bread, an old woman in a shawl who sat on a stool behind a clay oven atop a stand. She pulled a strip of flatbread off the top of the oven and waved it in the air. “Hot bread,” she called out in a shrill voice from under the hood of her shawl.
Dunnu sniffed and stopped directly in front of her, sitting down on his haunches. “Would you buy a piece of bread from an old widow?” the hag asked me.
I looked at Dunnu and tugged at his leash. He wouldn’t move. I turned to the old woman and squinted my eyes at her. “I don’t think you’re a woman,” I said.
She gasped and clasped her shawl tightly around her. “I’ve never heard the like!” she said. “I hardly know what to say.”
“Admit it!" I challenged her. "You’re Shugat-Nergal."
She leaned back on the stool and looked at me from under her shawl like I was mad. “I’ll call the watch - ”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Go ahead.”
She tried to get up from the stool and I moved to help her. “Don’t touch me!” she screeched and stepped back. She tripped on the hem of her shawl and fell backwards. The bottom of her shawl was flung up, exposing a pair of especially hairy legs.
I pointedly stared down at the ugly legs. “Those legs look remarkably like the legs of Shugat-Nergal,” I said.
A voice spoke again from the hood, only this time it was a Shugat’s voice. “You are truly an exceptional watcher, Denisha-Ishtar. However did you track me?”
I pointed at Dunnu. “My canine friend. He tracks criminals by scent,” I said. “I borrowed him from the Karum.”
“By scent?” Shugat asked. “Where did you get my scent?”
“Off the necklace you had the little boy return to me this morning.” I took the little woven envelope out of my moneybag and waved it in the air above him.
He nodded, got up and took off the shawl. “Well,” he said, “that’s the thanks I get for trying to be nice to you.”
“Nice you say? You shouldn’t have taken my necklace in the first place. You know you're a thief, Shugat. You’re going to get what you deserve.”
His face saddened. “Alas,” he sighed. “I guess you’ll have to arrest me and take me back to the scene of the crime.”
I suddenly realized he was making it too easy. A master thief like Shugat-Nergal giving in like this? I sensed a trap. “I’m asking you to show me where you got these necklaces.”
He suddenly grinned. “Why not? If I don’t, that nosey dog of yours would point it out anyway.”
>>
The table Shugat led me to wasn’t far from where he had first hailed me. I marched up to it with the necklaces in hand and Shugat and Dunnu in tow. “Do you recognize these necklaces?” I asked the vendor standing behind the table.
“Most certainly,” the man said. “Those necklaces in your hand came from this very table.”
I pointed at Shugat-Nergal. “Did he take them?” I asked.
“But, yes,” the vendor replied. “You’ll notice he selected the most beautiful of the lot.”
“Why didn’t you shout?” I asked the vendor. “Why didn’t you let a watcher know what was going on?”
The vendor’s eyes opened wide and he viewed me with a horrified expression. “And point out to my competition the best customer I’ve had all day?”
It was my turn to be amazed. “Customer?” I repeated.
“Yes,” the vendor said. “He bought all those necklaces. Seven of them. See?” He took them from my limp hand and counted them out loud. “It’s my biggest sale of the week.”
Then he looked at me suspiciously. I realized he did not recognize me as his Karum-appointed watcher and I had no wish to enlighten him now. “Who did you think he was?” The vendor narrowed his eyes at me. “Who did you think he was?” he asked.
I gulped. “He’s a friend,” I said. “He was showing me these necklaces. I’ve never seen such beautiful ones. I couldn’t believe they were being sold at such good prices.”
The vendor smiled. “So he brought you here.” The man knew how to make a sale. He held up a necklace of carnelian and shell. “Only one shekel of silver,” he said. “You like, yes?”
He had me. I looked around at Shugat who had a big, silly grin on that stupid face of his. “Yes,” I growled and pulled out my moneybag. I paid the vendor and walked off with Dunnu. Shugat-Nergal trailed behind, pestering me.
“Well done,” Shugat called after me. “Really, Denisha” he went on, “I’m being serious. I never would have thought you could track me. And then I was surprised how you recovered so nicely when you realized it was me tricking you.”
I turned around to face him. “Because of you, I’ve been done out of a shekel of silver,” I said. “I have nothing more to say to you.”
“You know, Denisha, you truly are exceptional. We really ought to get together.”
“Not on your terms!” I exclaimed.
“We’ll see,” he said. He grabbed me, kissed me and turned to walk off down a side street at a brisk pace. “’Til we meet again,” he called back to me
“Not if I can help it,” I called after him.
I flicked the leash to get Dunnu to head back to the Karum building. What would I report to Mashad? I was feeling so embarrassed. At least, I consoled myself, I had a new necklace, one that was very pretty. I reached down to touch it. It wasn’t there!
That bastard, Shugat! He’d done it to me again! I thought about giving chase but then I realized I was getting to know him. Chasing after Shugat-Nergal was like playing a game of chase-and-chase rather than a game of chase-and-catch.
Then I relaxed. I realized he’d get it back to me if I just waited a bit.
The End
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