Me, Shugat and
the Love Goddess
A story about Ancient Sumer
by James W. Bell © 2001
Today was Feast Day. That, in itself, would bring large crowds to the marketplace. But, in addition, Nanay, love goddess at the Eanna Temple, was to appear in the market at noon to start the festivities. That meant even more people. I knew the setup would be irresistible to thieves like Shugat-Nergal. So I got up before dawn.
Besides, I had to go. I hurried down the steps and made my way to the House of Latrines. Having gotten that far, I went on down to the river, took off my sandals and waded out into the Euphrates for an early morning bath. Then I sat on the corniche while the sun came up. When my shift was suitably dry, I put my sandals back on and returned to the house for a quick breakfast. Dear Old Mulata had my beer and hot barley porridge ready.
After being widowed, Mulata had briefly served as a novice at the Eanna temple where she acquired a genteel air of concern. I think that caused her to notice my wet hair. “You bathed this morning?” she asked.
I nodded. “In the river.”
“I hope not in your all together.”
“Mulata! Of course not! I kept my shift on. Besides, I don't know why men are so interested in what I look like.”
She chuckled. “You know it’s not just you, Denisha. It’s every woman. That’s the way Father Enki made men. ‘To populate the Earth,’ he said, ‘so the gods would have enough mortals to be their servants.’ It’s the rare man who is able to resist a young woman.”
“I find men a damned problem.”
“Do you? You could solve it by acting more ladylike.”
“By Nin,” I said, “I’m a freewoman, entitled to do as I please. Besides, I’m hired by the Karum as watcher in the marketplace.”
“Makes no difference. You could still act like a lady.”
“What’s wrong with the way I am? Aren't I polite enough?”
“You’re a little too independent. Look at the riffraff you mingle with. Vagabonds and thieves. The worst of the lot is that show-off called The Thief of Uruk.”
“You mean Shugat-Nergal?”
“ I think that’s his name. Why do you keep following him around?”
“It’s my job. Even you recognize him as a thief. I’m supposed to keep my eye on him.”
“All the time?” Mulata laughed. “Come on, Denisha, you’re not fooling me.”
“All right, I find him interesting. Stealing excites him. He's good at it. Further, he's a quick-change artist. A master of illusion. You know, hand quicker than the eye.”
“So, tell me, why does this thief attract you so?”
“He's tall and well shaped. Has black hair and dark eyes. Most of all, he has a way about him. I tell you, Mulata, he's more seductive than even that Namtar fiend.”
“Perhaps you could change him … enlist him to serve your precious Karum.”
I sighed. “Don’t think I haven’t tried. I’ve dreamt of having him by my side. I've even fantasized his strong body touching mine.”
“So, what happened when you tried to recruit him?”
“He swiped my necklace.”
Mulata narrowed her eyes like a municipal judge pronouncing a verdict. “That proves he’s a no good bastard.”
“No, you don’t understand, Mulata. Shugat’s more like an overgrown boy. He’s mischievous. To him, it’s all a game, one he enjoys. He gave the necklace back to me.”
“He may be trying to lure you on. You should stop paying attention to him.”
“How can I? My job is being watcher in the marketplace. If anyone ever needed watching, it’s Shugat-Nergal. Especially on a day when it’s crowded, like today.”
“Because of the Feast Day celebration?”
I nodded. “That and the love goddess. Nanay’s to appear at the call of the noon watch. Everybody will be there to see her.”
“Even this Shugat-Nergal?”
“Especially Shugat-Nergal. He’ll come because of the people. Crowds with money to spend attract him like honey attracts flies.”
“Well, Denisha,” Mulata advised me, “remember, to stay out of trouble, you need to act like a lady.”
“I’ll try,” I promised her.
>>
The Uruk Marketplace was the largest in all Sumer. Orderly rows of vendor stalls filled Mesiaggasher Square, a raised platform of limestone named for the founder of the city upwater from the municipal park at Gilgamesh Point. Located near the tip of the peninsula, the marketplace is situated between the city’s two quays, the Eanna Quay to the east where all types of handcrafted items are received by the Iturungal Canal and the Kullab Quay to the west where boatloads of bitumen and raw materials are brought in on the Euphrates.
The Karum House is upriver on the Euphrates side, near the claypits, in the poorer section of Kullab Quarter. Mulata’s house, where I rent living space, is near the claypits. So, for me, it’s only a short walk down to the marketplace.
>>
As soon as I entered the marketplace, I spotted Shugat-Nergal. This time, he was dressed in sandals and a shabby cloak, disguised as an old man hobbling about with the aid of a twisted tamarisk limb for a walking stick. He was already hovering over a table of precious stones in one of the jewelry stalls.
I came up behind him. “Hello, Shugat,” I said.
He flinched and dropped jewelry back on the table, some possibly from a sleeve of his cloak. Having prepared himself, he slowly turned around to greet me. “Denisha,” he sighed. “I hadn’t expected to see you here today. I figured you’d be taking a holiday. What are you doing here in the marketplace on a Feast Day?”
“Keeping my eye out for the likes of you.”
“A young woman like you should be out enjoying yourself. Others are.”
“I see a lot of young women here. They’ve come to see the Goddess of Love.”
“What fools these mortals be, eh?”
“Only the men, Shugat.”
Shugat shrugged. “So you know, Denisha, goddesses, even a love goddess like Nanay, mean little to me.”
“Aren’t you staying for her appearance?”
“Perhaps … if I haven’t finished my work.”
“Now that I’ve arrived, you may not be doing much more. I was thinking I might tag along with you.”
“Denisha, you remind me of my dear departed mother.”
“Shugat, that’s a sweet thing for you to say.”
He rolled his eyes. “No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant nosing into my business like my mother used to do. She could never leave well enough alone.”
“Ah, Shugat, I thought you knew. The Karum pays me to watch you.”
“Even on a Feast Day?”
I gave Shugat my classic rejoinder. “Evil never rests. Neither does Good.”
“Ah.” Shugat rolled his eyes again and started moving to the next stall. I trailed him at a respectful distance.
I heard the rhythmic jingle of tambourines commence. Six bare-footed dancing girls wearing bleached linen skirts with copper bangles on their wrists appeared at the downwater end of the market. Tigi drums punctuated the beat of their dancing and slowly increased tempo. Then heralds appeared, young men in bleached linen shifts with red colored sashes. They raised goat horns to their lips and blew a fanfare. The dancers stopped and bowed, each frozen with an extended hand pointing down the aisle. Everybody turned to see.
At the downwater end of the marketplace, a retinue of breech-clothed slaves appeared carrying a sedan chair with a woman seated in it. It was the love goddess, sitting erect, bare-breasted, dressed in a lightweight linen skirt and open cloak tied around her neck. Her most salient features besides her breasts were a crown of curly black hair, kohl-lined eyes and big, red lips shaped in a huge smile. She put out her hands on both sides, acknowledging the crowd and waving to them.
Nanay! I gasped at the sight of her. “She’s beautiful,” I confided to Shugat.
He made no answer so I turned to him. He wasn’t there. Damn! The bastard had slipped away! At once, I began making my way through the crowd, searching for him.
Thank the gods that the Thief of Uruk is tall. Had he been of average height or short like the River Rat, I might never have spotted him. As it was, not only did he stand head and shoulders above the crowd, but, since he now had on a yellow turban, I spotted him at once. As I made my way towards him, I saw that he had dressed himself in the colorful attire of an Amurru nomad, in a blue coat and yellow pants. I had to admit, in the space of only a few minutes, he had rendered himself quite impressive.
I chased him as he made his way through the crowd and only caught up with him as he reached the central aisle. “You’ve certainly dressed up,” I commented.
He turned and saw it was me. “It’s you again.”
I nodded. “What’s the occasion?” I asked.
He harrumphed at me.
“I thought you weren’t interested in goddesses, even a love goddess,” I went on. “But, to me, you look like you’ve dressed up for Nanay.”
“Think whatever you wish.”
“I am. I’m trying to understand you, Shugat. I think you have some wild idea in mind—like a plan to attract the goddess’s attention.”
“If you must know, yes.”
“So you’ll get invited to spend a night with her in the temple?”
“You’d have to admit it would be a feather in my cap.”
“I thought you weren’t interested in things like that.”
“Oh, that? No, I’m not interested in that. It’s my reputation I’m thinking of.”
“What do you mean your reputation?”
“Well, it’s not every man who gets to spend a night with a goddess, especially a love goddess like Nanay. From today on, I plan to have a reputation.”
“That’s what all this costuming is for?”
“You’re not going to try to stop me, are you?”
“Me?” I pitched my voice high and pretended complete surprise that he would even think of asking me such a question. “Shugat-Nergal, I couldn’t care less what you do.”
“Good. Then just stand back and give me room.”
He slowly wormed his way to the front of the crowd. Knowing that when he went into action, he would move fast, I forced my way through until I stood beside him.
As Nanay was being carried down the aisle, she continued to turn from one side to the other, smiling, waving and blowing kisses to everyone. Shugat stiffened as he watched her approach, his attention totally concentrated on her. While he watched, I planned. Knowing that he must have some way to change clothing quickly, I felt around under the back of his jacket for something like a drawstring. The rhythmic cadence of the tambourines and beat of the drums were overwhelming. The crowd was pressing so there was a lot of jostling. I had all the opportunity in the world.
I was lucky. I found not one drawstring, but two. I figured one for Shugat’s coat and the other for his pants. Very gently, I took firm hold of both with my right hand.
As the goddess approached, I readied myself, poised like a real lady. When Nanay was about twenty feet from us, I saw her look down and catch sight of Shugat. I felt Shugat’s body tense and knew he was getting ready to move, so I carefully moved my right foot, placing it in front of his while maintaining my ladylike composure.
Shugat moved. Had I not been prepared, he might have escaped me entirely. As it was, he called out, “My Lady!” when he started to step out into the aisle.
He tripped over my foot and went sprawling on the brick pavement. More, the strings I held yanked his jacket off and pulled down his pants. Worst, his turban came flying off when he fell and went rolling across the aisle as if he’d been decapitated.
I must say this for Shugat, he has the fastest reflexes of anyone I know. Rather than lay helpless on the floor, he rolled himself up into a ball and somehow somersaulted out of his pants back up on his feet so that he stood in front of the goddess in his old man’s costume which he apparently had been wearing underneath all the time.
Nanay had shrunk deep into the sedan chair while the action was going on, but when Shugat rolled out and landed on his feet, she interpreted his performance as some type of acrobatic trick and leaned forward to applaud. “How delightful!” she exclaimed.
I could see Shugat was momentarily taken aback. But, almost instantly, he approached the chair and offered his hand. Nanay extended hers. He took it, held it lightly and fervently kissed it. “My lady,” he said.
I could see the love goddess was impressed. That was enough for me! I bent down and scooped up Shugat’s jacket and pants. As I hurried off, I heard Nanay saying something like, “You’d make a wonderful jester at the temple.” I figured Shugat would respond badly to that so I hurried back to the Karum House with his costume to wait for him. I knew, eventually, he would realize that was where I had gone.
>>
He arrived at the Karum House about an hour later. His eyes were dark and angry. The expression on his face was definitely unfriendly. He raised his arm, pointed an accusing finger at me and said, “There you are!”
“Yes,” I admitted, “here I am.”
“You ran off - with my clothes,” he accused me. “You stole them!”
I picked up the brightly colored pants and jacket. “These?” I asked.
“Those.”
“I found them laying on the pavement in the market so I picked them up. As they had not been marked with any seal, I didn’t immediately recognize them as yours. So I brought them here - where all items lost in the marketplace are brought. I don’t think you could make a charge of theft against me stick.”
I could see Shugat grit his teeth. “You tripped me!” he claimed.
“Me? I didn’t move,” I said in my own defense, “and you know it. You stepped out and nicked my foot, if that’s what you mean.”
“Denisha, you yanked my pullstrings! You’ve made me a laughingstock.”
“I was beside you, Shugat. When you stepped out, I felt something tug at my hand. Could it have been your pullstrings? You never told me about them. If you had, I certainly would have been careful to make sure my hand didn’t get entangled with them.”
Poor Shugat. His face turned an enraged red.
Then I said, ladylike, “Don’t tell me Nanay didn’t ask you to spend the night.”
He closed his eyes and howled. “May the gods preserve me!”
I stepped back, picked up the mallet and rang the gong. Two burly traders came out from the back office. “Shugat-Nergal,” I warned him, “control yourself.”
“By the gods, Denisha, you raise the passion in me. I don’t know if it’s hate or love.”
I held up his pants and jacket. “I think you’d better take these and leave.”
He grabbed them with one hand and snatched them away. Then, with the other, he suddenly grabbed me and planted a kiss on my mouth.
The two traders started towards us but Shugat let go and stormed out the door. “Just you wait, Denisha,” he shouted back at me. “Your time’s coming. I’ll get you!”
I don’t think Shugat fully realizes it, but he may.
The End
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