The Pursuit of
Shugat-Nergal
A story about Ancient Sumer
by James W. Bell © 2002 - 2003
13
As Nanay tried to explain, the neighborhood watcher scowled. He thumped the road hard with his staff and demanded she start over. Though he was a mortal, he looked big and strong, so the goddess deigned to honor his request.
“My good sir, it happened like this. The man we came to arrest closed the door in our faces. Bolted it to keep us out. We, frail women that we are, were unable to open it, so we had to summon help.”
“You said that before. Where’s the guy who came to help?”
“Well,” Nanay glanced up, making sure the cloud and Ishkur were gone, “it wasn’t exactly a guy.”
“Come on, lady. Look at that door! It’s busted clean out of the wall. How’d it happen? Did you bring a bull into town to butt it in? It’s against the law, you know, having bulls running loose on city streets.”
“Well, it wasn’t a bull ….” the goddess said and let the sentence die.
“Lady, I need answers. I can’t chance you going around breaking down doors. Look at the damage. But you’re not telling me what happened. Now, either enlighten me or I take you to the palace.” The watcher eyed her from under shaggy brows. “You’re a woman. You know what might happen to you in the palace?”
He paused and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his free hand. “By Nergal, I feel like I’m talking to myself. I can’t even tell who I’m talking to. Listen, ladies, pull down your cowls so I can see who the kur you are. Both of you.”
Nanay and Denisha let their hoods down.
The burly watcher was obviously awed by Nanay’s appearance. He turned to Denisha. “Who’s the lady?”
“Nanay,” Denisha answered. “The Goddess of Love.”
“And who’d she get to break down the door?”
“Ishkur, the Storm God in the Hursag.” Seeing that the watcher looked doubtful, Denisha pointed at the purple mountains dimly visible on the eastern horizon. “Nanay called him and he came all the way here. From there,” she said, “like that,” and snapped her fingers.
“Great!” the burly watcher snorted. “My neighborhood’s become a trysting place for gods. Just what I needed!”
Nanay flashed him a celestial smile.
Denisha was amazed to see the watcher immediately drop to one knee before the goddess. “My lady, I overspoke. Forgive me.”
“You are forgiven this time,” Nanay said. “You may rise.”
The watcher stood and pointed at Shugat-Nergal’s residence. “But, my lady, my problem remains. How am I to explain this destruction to the lugal?”
“My good man, tell him the truth. Report that we came to arrest Shugat-Nergal, a notorious criminal –”
“Shugat-Nergal? Did you mention Shugat-Nergal?”
“I did.”
“Everybody around here knows Shugat. He may be a little foxy and a glib talker but he’s a nice guy at heart. People really like him, especially women.”
Denisha let out an audible sigh.
“Him a criminal?” the watcher went on. “My lady, neighbors won’t believe what you’re saying about him. Further, I question the lugal will either.” He paused a minute. “Perhaps I could describe the pair of you as a goddess and her sukkal seeking vengeance, an affair gone wrong maybe … something on that order, nothing too specific.”
Nanay put out a hand. “For Heaven’s sake, my good man, don’t. My reputation is bad enough. Besides, I’m not supposed to be in Kullab. I’m only here to help this poor woman.”
The watcher turned to Denisha. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s the marketplace watcher who was humiliated by Shugat-Nergal.”
The watcher guffawed. “You’re a watcher? Come on. You’re a woman.”
“I am a watcher in the marketplace,” Denisha said. “Appointed by the Karum, if you must know. I apprehend women when they try to lift goods.”
“So, how does Shugat come into it? I guess lots of women have problems with him, huh?” He winked at her.
“It’s not that.” Denisha blushed. “Shugat came to the marketplace and I caught him red handed, stealing jewelry from a vendor’s table, but he escaped. That’s why I’m after him … why the goddess is helping me.”
The watcher clucked his tongue.
The goddess interrupted. “Perhaps, my good man, you could look from another angle and explain this whole thing to your lugal as a mishap, a chance strike by a lightning bolt that fell from a passing cloud. A happenstance.”
“By the gods, my lady!” the watcher roared. “The quarter would be up in arms if they learned gods were cloud riding over Kullab with untethered lightning bolts. I can tell you, they wouldn’t like it at all. They’d complain to the lugal, make him close all the temples.”
Nanay sighed. Mortals were damnably difficult to deal with. “Then report it as a natural occurrence. Lightning bolts sometimes escape the gods. When wild, they go anywhere. Blame it on Ninhursag, Mother Nature. Whatever the damage, the gods will make it good.”
For the first time, the watcher relaxed. “They would pay for the damage?”
Seeing that the watcher was amenable, Nanay moved swiftly to close the deal. “You have my word on it. Come, let us go inside Shugat’s place and determine what damage has been done.” She took the watcher by his hand and turned to Denisha. “My dear, there’s no need for you to hang around. You may go home.”
“But –”
“I’ll see you later, Denisha. At your house. Then she turned and led the watcher into the ruined abode where Shugat-Nergal had so recently lived.
14
Mulata set a bowl of dates on the windowsill. “Try some of these.”
“Thanks,” Denisha grumped, “but I’m not hungry.”
“You seem out of sorts.”
“I am.” Denisha’s eyes cast a glance outside. The sun was low in the western sky, its rays streaming through the window. “It’s near call of the evening watch.”
“Still wondering about the goddess, huh?”
“I can’t help it. Where is she? When I left her at Shugat’s place, she promised to meet me here. That was hours ago. What’s keeping her? I can’t help wondering if she’s seducing that watcher.”
“Don’t seem proper for a goddess to go round acting like that, does it?”
“Tell me about it.”
Just then, Nanay walked in the door with a big smile on her face. “I’m here!” she declared. “Everything’s okay. I’ve cleared the damages with the watcher. Even helped him write his report for the lugal.”
Denisha spoke. “It’s about time you showed up.”
“Hey, it took time. There was a lot of damage to check out.”
“One door?”
Nanay nodded. “And the contents of the room … plus the hole in the back wall.”
“Shugat made that hole.”
“I didn’t want to debate the matter.”
“So, what did you do? Seduce him?”
“Denisha! How can you say that?”
“You seem to have a habit of doing it with men.”
“I am the Goddess of Love.”
“Even my landlady says your actions don’t seem proper. Isn’t that so, Mulata?”
Mulata nodded. “They sure don’t seem right to me.”
“Being the Goddess of Love, I believe in love. That’s why I practice it. So what?”
“You seem to be spreading it around awfully thin.”
The goddess cocked an eyebrow. “Like you think I have only so much to give?”
“Isn’t that usually the case?”
“Tell me, Denisha, does the couple with three children love each child only a third as much as the couple with a single child?”
“Come on, Nanay, you know what I’m talking about—sex.”
“Love includes sex.”
“Why don’t you get married and settle down? Like decent folk.”
“And start producing little godlets? From all I hear, you mortals think the Earth’s already overrun with gods and goddesses.”
Mulata added, “There’s already a temple on most every corner.”
“Now that the gods have come down to the Earth,” Denisha said, “there’s plenty of room in Heaven. Since you’re a goddess, you could go reside up there.”
“And suffer Antu’s fate? My dear, don’t forget, Earth is very visible from Heaven. Just look over the edge of any cloud and there it is. You can see everything. When you’re in Heaven, married a thousand years or so, anything different looks good. It’s temptation unbound. That’s how Anu was lured down to Earth. These days, I doubt if any goddess would consent to being carried up to Heaven and chance being abandoned. Certainly not me.”
Denisha nodded. “It was mean of Inanna to lure Antu’s husband down to Earth.”
“It’s her nature. Although Inanna’s a goddess, she’s Earthborn, so she has earthly desires.”
“Well, mortals don’t go running around promiscuously like you goddesses do. Especially women. Not only is it considered ill-mannered, but downright stupid—it’s easy to get pregnant.”
“My dear, didn’t you know? Goddesses are immortal, therefore immune to mortal diseases. Also impregnation by humans. Being the Goddess of Love, I spread love.”
“Regardless of its sordid consequences?”
“What sordid consequences? With love, I learned from the Rat the whereabouts of Shugat-Nergal. With love, I had Ishkur smite the door which Shugat had bolted against us. With love, I persuaded the watcher to turn in a routine report to the king and calm him about the damages done. Are these the consequences you’re speaking of?”
“You enticed them. I personally saw you charm the Rat.”
“My dear, I did little more than smile. It was they who responded. If you aren’t aware, when Enki created you mortals, the gods insisted he make you oversexed so you would multiply and fill the Earth. Believe me, my dear, it’s rare that men or women can resist their god-given natures.”
“Oh, I give up.”
“Poor Denisha. You came to the temple for help. I offered to help and have done my best to do so. In everything I’ve done, I’ve tried to act on your behalf. But it seems in doing so, I keep offending you. If that’s the case, perhaps I should withdraw and let you seek the help from some other god or goddess, one more compatible with you.”
Denisha almost blurted out That would suit me fine! but bit her lip. What other god would stoop to help a mortal woman like me? she wondered. What other god would accompany me in my pursuit of Shugat-Nergal? She knew the answers. None.
She swallowed her pride and looked the Goddess of Love in the eye. “Since you must know,” she told Nanay, “I am terribly in awe of you. I see how beautiful you are and I’ve witnessed your skills in the art of seduction. I fear, my lady, with no more than a smile or the wink of an eye, you’ll take Shugat-Nergal from me.”
“Dear Denisha, I can tell that, though he is a criminal, Shugat has come to mean something more to you.” Nanay reached out and took Denisha’s hand in her own. “I dally now and then but would never do anything serious that might hurt you. Don’t you realize that would be against my nature? I’m the -”
“I know, the Goddess of Love.”
Nanay smiled and squeezed her hand.
Denisha smiled bravely in return. “Okay,” she said, “I’m not used to being around a goddess. Maybe I’m beginning to understand.”
15
“Since Shugat’s eluded us,” Denisha asked, “what now? I guess we start over?”
“Why?” Nanay answered. “We have leads. Remember, the Rat confided in me. He said whenever Shugat’s hounded, he lies low in one of the abandoned sheepfolds out on the Arali.”
“The desert’s so big.”
“Yes, we’ll need help. Maybe zu-birds.”
Denisha gave a short laugh. “Where would we get birds like that?”
“The rookery at my temple. We keep a small flock. I could send some out to search for Shugat. But not now. It’s almost dark. Like other birds, zu-birds nest at night.”
“Then tomorrow?”
Nanay nodded. “At the end of starlight watch. I’ll return to the temple and, when the birds wake, I’ll send a patrol out to the desert before coming here. If Shugat’s out there, they’ll spot him when the sun comes up and report back to me here at your house.”
“My house? How are they going to know where to find it?”
“I’ll give them directions. My dear, they are very smart. That’s why they’re called zu-birds …wise birds.”
“My lady, I warn you, Shugat is a master of disguise. He’ll likely masquerade as a shepherd.”
“Without sheep? Hah! Then the birds will spot him instantly.”
“But the desert’s so big.”
“It’s mostly hardpan, flat as the surface of a pond, with few places to hide. An abandoned sheepfold here and there. A few forsaken irrigation ditches. Haven’t you ever been out there?”
“Not very far. I’ve always stayed within sight of the city wall. I was born and raised here in Uruk and feel lost whenever I’m away.”
“My dear, if Shugat-Nergal’s out there, you’re going to have the time of your life when we go after him. At any event, I need to return to the temple to set our plan in motion. I’ll be back in the morning, before daybreak.”
“I’ll be sleeping on the roof. It’s cooler up there.”
“Good,” Nanay said. “You know, I think you’re starting to trust me. It’s rare that any mortal can trust a deity, but, believe me, my dear, it’s rarer still when a deity can trust a mortal. I have an idea we may have the beginnings of a great partnership. Mortal and immortal. Wouldn’t that be something?”
To Chapter 16
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