The Pursuit of
Shugat-Nergal
A story about Ancient Sumer
by James W. Bell © 2001 - 2003
7
“To keep from being recognized,” Nanay said, “we need to go in disguise. If we pretend to be Amurru, we can wear robes with cowls over our heads. Passersby won’t see our faces and we’ll look like we’ve just come from the desert.”
Denisha watched Nanay pull up the hood of her robe, hiding her lustrous black curls and shadowing her lovely face. Then she imitated the goddess, putting on a robe and covering her head in the same manner. “Like this?”
The goddess walked around Denisha, scrutinizing her appearance. “You seem a little plump for a desert woman, but you’ll pass. Perhaps the Uruki will think your father was overly protective and kept you secluded in a tent. But, Denisha, your speech is a giveaway. You talk like a city woman. Can’t you sound more like a nomad?”
“Like this you mean?”
The goddess nodded. “Contrived a little you sound. But speak like this we must. Around town we’ll have to stay on guard.”
“That I understand.”
“Good. Then into the city let us walk,” Nanay said as she led the way out of the temple and across the courtyard. As they went through the gate, the goddess asked, “To find Shugat-Nergal where should we look?”
“My lady, I know not. In hiding he stays. The River Rat is one we might ask.”
“Shugat-Nergal the River Rat knows?”
Denisha nodded. “He does if anyone does. Like this they are.” She put her palms together as if in prayer. “Together they often work.”
“This River Rat, where will we find?”
“By the river he stays. Salvage jobs for which he can charge outrageous sums he seeks.” Denisha paused. “A boat we might rent. Then, an accident we could pretend.” A glance at the goddess revealed the puzzled look on her face.
“By Nin, My Lady, I can’t speak Amurru more clearly,” she whispered. “I was saying we could rent a boat and pretend to have an accident. My plan would work best to the north of the city - near the claypits, but beyond the wall - where the shore patrol seldom keeps close watch. It’s places like that we’re most likely to find the Rat. Lone travelers and mishaps attract his attention.”
“If you think he’s there,” the goddess said, “let’s go. But walk with a shuffling gait as if we’re from the desert. And, be careful. Don’t speak if you can avoid it.”
* * *
They went from the holy quarter of Eanna into the Kullab, the secular quarter of Uruk that borders the Euphrates. They walked along the road that followed the riverbank. When they passed the marketplace, Denisha was surprised no one recognized her. Our disguises, she thought, work well.
Farther north, where the houses were smaller and often decrepit, they came upon the city claypits where clay was dug to be mixed with straw and molded into brick. A short distance beyond, they reached the city wall, the magnificent structure built half a century earlier by King Gilgamesh who ornamented its top with a broad valence of copper. What other city was rich enough to afford such an ostentatious display of wealth?
Silently, they followed the towpath, going unchallenged past the sentry at the riverside gate. A short distance beyond, Denisha nudged the love goddess with her elbow. “Over there,” she whispered, and nodded toward the riverbank.
The goddess looked but saw only a small man by the river lying on his back, his eyes closed. “What are you hinting at?”
“That man, my lady,” Denisha said. “That’s the River Rat.”
“He seems asleep.”
“Like a crocodile,” Denisha started on. “Come, my lady, don’t stand there and stare. You’ll give us away.”
The Goddess of Love hurried to catch up. “Now speak Amurru we should.”
“Do it I will.”
Farther on, upriver, out of sight of the man, they came across an old, weather-beaten reed boat, a craft abandoned in a bed of rushes, with half its bundle ties broken and jagged ends of straw protruding. “Perfect for us this boat is,” Denisha said.
“Hah!” Nanay protested. “A wreck. Sink, it will. No paddles are there?”
“Paddles we don’t need. Just what it is we want,” Denisha insisted. “Down the river past the wall the boat will carry us. As we sink, we’ll call out. See us, the Rat will.” She giggled. “Running to help he’ll come.”
“Fear have you not?” Nanay was obviously worried. “Swim, can you?”
Denisha shook her head. “Near the bank, shallow the river is. Waist high. In it I bathe. Come. The boat we’ll launch and underway we’ll be.”
8
They pulled the boat through the reeds out into the shallows and climbed into it, Nanay at the bow and Denisha in the stern so she could push off. The boat wobbled, then was caught by the current and began drifting downstream. Water seeped in and, as they neared the city wall, Denisha cried out in a loud voice, “Sinking we are!”
Nanay joined in. “Help! Help!”
“Drowning we are!” Denisha shouted and grabbed the gunwale of the port side of the boat, pulling it up so the soggy vessel capsized. “Us may the gods preserve!” she yelled as the boat overturned and they both tumbled into the river.
The River Rat was already on his feet, splashing through water, making his way towards them. “Hang on, ladies!” he called out. “I’m coming to save ya.”
“Oh,” Denisha gasped dramatically. “Be praised the gods!” she said and swooned.
The Rat grabbed her arm as she started under and took hold of the goddess’s arm with his other hand. He dragged both towards shore. “You ladies ought not to have been out there by yourselves in a boat like that. It’s downright dangerous.”
Denisha revived enough to splutter, “Yes, a dangerous river we found it to be.”
“I’ll save you ladies, but ya can quit the phony accent.”
Denisha shook free of the Rat’s hold and stood up in the shallow water. “What do you mean phony accent?”
“Ya heard me, lady. You haven’t the rhythm. Right off, I could tell you weren’t no desert ladies.”
Nanay was signaling Denisha frantically but she paid the goddess no attention. “Is that so? Well, if you must know, I’d just finished telling my friend here all about you.”
“Ya did?” The Rat sloshed over closer to Denisha and peered at her. “You know who I am?”
“Of course I do! Everybody knows you.” Denisha waded to the bank. “You’re the River Rat. That’s why we tried to disguise ourselves.”
The Rat followed her ashore with the goddess in hand but looking puzzled.
“You’re very well known,” Denisha continued. “I thought you might be weary of admirers pestering you.”
“Is that so? Admirers, you say.” The Rat chuckled. “Why would I be troubled?”
“Because of your popularity.” Denisha winked at Nanay. “Tell the Rat.”
The Goddess of Love removed the Rat’s hand from her arm and stepped into her role. “I wanted to meet you. My friend here said she knew where to find you.”
“Ya did? Really?” The Rat was becoming impressed. “Well, well … just who are you ladies?”
Denisha interrupted. “We can’t tell you.”
“Whadaya mean you can’t tell me?”
“Because - ,” Denisha arched an eyebrow, “- we’re traveling in-cog-ni-to.” She paused a significant moment and raised an eyebrow. “You know.”
“Oh,” the Rat said. “Yeah.”
Denisha went on confidentially. “We’re on the lookout for someone special.”
“Me?” the Rat asked with a smile on his face.
Denisha shook her head. “Sorry, Rat, not this time. It’s someone else.” The Rat’s face showed disappointment. “Someone that only a person of the highest importance would know where to find.”
The Rat’s face brightened somewhat. “Is that me?”
“Indeed, Rat, that is you.”
The Rat smiled. “Just who is it that you are wishing to find?”
“A Shugat-Nergal,” Denisha replied. She paused. “Sometimes called the Thief of Uruk. I’ll bet a man as important as you might know where to find him.”
The Rat immediately became reserved. “Maybe.” He extended his hand, rubbing his thumb over the first two fingers. “If I had a little consideration, I might could recall.”
Nanay spoke up. “It’s important. We need to find him.”
“What’s it to you?”
“That’s a highly personal question,” Nanay answered. “We’re ladies. Surely, you aren’t the type that pries into the affairs … of ladies.”
The Rat blushed. “No, I ain’t the type. Definitely not. I always warned Shugat about things like that.”
“Then,” the goddess exclaimed, “you do know him! You’ll tell us where he is?”
“Perhaps.” The Rat repeated the motion with his hand. “I still need a little consideration to help my remember. Perhaps a few spare shekels of copper that might otherwise go unmissed. Is that asking too much?”
Nanay looked at Denisha who threw out her hands to signal that she had no money. “I don’t guess you’d accept a promise of payment tomorrow?” the goddess asked.
“I’ve heard about tomorrows but ain’t never met up with one,” the Rat said. “Ladies, it’s like this, if I can’t get no consideration, I’m just not likely to recall.”
Denisha shot the goddess a look of despair.
“Well,” said Nanay, “if it’s consideration you’re wanting …” She undulated as she undid her cowl, throwing it back to reveal her curly black hair. She focused her kohl-lined eyes on the Rat, smiled at him with her lips of pomegranate red and moved a step closer. “I can offer a certain type of consideration.”
“Holy Nergal!” The Rat choked and his eyes bulged. “I recognize you. You’re Nanay! The Goddess of Love! Right here with me!”
Nanay smiled. “And with the city wall behind us,” she hinted.
The Rat just stood there, looking at her wide-eyed and speechless.
“Rat, if you and I looked, maybe we could find a nook where I could give you some … special consideration. Would that help jog your memory?”
“What about your friend?” the Rat asked, nodding at Denisha.
“She’s a good girl,” Nanay said, “not like me. She’ll wait.” The goddess turned to Denisha. “Won’t you, dear?”
Denisha was taken aback. She had never realized a goddess might act like this. But what else could she do if she wanted to find Shugat? “I will,” she agreed.
The Goddess of Love touched the Rat’s arm. “Shall we?”
“I’m willing and ready,” he said with an audible gulp and let Nanay lead him away toward the wall.
9
It was a good half hour before Nanay returned. Alone. “Where’s the Rat?” Denisha asked when the goddess came back with her cowl up over her head.
A chuckle came from inside the cowl. “He’s asleep—recuperating. I think he overextended himself.”
“You sound inordinately pleased.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I get great pleasure in attracting a man to the point that he throws himself at me and exhausts himself in the process.”
Denisha shook her head. “Did you remember to ask him the whereabouts of Shugat-Nergal?”
Nanay’s voice sharpened. “Of course! Do I look the fool? Do you think I would give away something and not get anything in return? Not only did I find out where Shugat-Nergal lives, I learned his favorite hideouts in the city.”
“Then you can lead us to him?”
Nanay nodded and turned to go. “Let’s get underway.”
Denisha restrained the goddess with a hand. “My lady …”
Nanay stopped and turned back. “What is it now?”
“Don’t you need to wash first?” Denisha felt embarrassed. “You know, bathe in the river?”
“What?”
Denisha wrinkled her nose. “I mean, after your tryst with the Rat.”
“Oh, that. Why should I?”
“My Lady, you … you smell …”
“Denisha, the gods term it the aroma of conquest. When it’s fresh and warm, it attracts male mortals. Drives them wild.”
“My lady,” Denisha spoke slowly and clearly, enunciating each syllable, “we are going after Shugat-Nergal—a criminal.”
“I am well aware of who we are going after.”
Denisha felt the blood rise and clenched her fists. “You are not going after him smelling like that. You’re going to bathe first.”
The Goddess of Love faced Denisha and tossed back her cowl. “Since when do you presume to tell a goddess what she can or cannot do? Do you think I need your permission to see a mortal? Including this Shugat-Nergal?”
Denisha drew herself up straight with her hands on her hips. “I wonder, my lady, what would be said in the Assembly of the Gods if they learned that you chased after the Land’s most notorious criminal alone … so you could throw your divine body at him?”
Nanay’s face blanched. “Denisha! You wouldn’t!”
“Don’t push me.”
The Goddess of Love narrowed her eyes. She must have seen the expression on Denisha’s face, because she said, “All right, you win this time. Since you insist, I’ll take a dip in the shallows before we go.”
“We can go back to the reed bed upriver. You can safely bathe amongst the reeds. I’ll stay on the bank and keep watch.”
“Humphf.”
“My Lady, you’ll feel better. Everybody will.”
“I must say, you seem unusually interested in this criminal we’re chasing.”
“My Lady, it was I who called Shugat-Nergal to your attention. I saw him first. Don’t forget that. Whatever else Shugat is, he’s mine.”
become necessary for her to personally experience the taste of his sweet lips to be able to understand them. The thought made her smile all the more.
To Chapter 10
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