He took the lamp and studied the tablets as if with indifference. “What are these to me, witch? Have I not read the Scriptures? Here, pictured in a confused order, are the annals of kings and princes and prophets of Israel.”
“In your own heart lies the confusion. Here is one story and one story only. It runs bustrophedon—as one ploughs alternately from right to left and from left to right. When the golden tablet is done, the red begins. It is the story of the ancient covenant from which the Ark takes its name : the covenant sworn between my Mistress and the twin Kings of Hebron ; that she will share her love and her anger equally between them both so long as they obey her will. Here it begins.” She took the lamp from him and pointed with her finger.
A great contest ensued between Mary and Jesus over the interpretation of the pictures, and neither was ever at a loss for the word of contradiction.
Mary said : “See where my Mistress, the First Eve, is seated on her birth-stool under the palm-tree. The people are awaiting a great event, for the pangs are upon her.”
Swiftly Jesus answered her : “No, witch, that is not the First Eve : that is Deborah judging the Israelites under the palm-tree of Deborah. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here my Mistress is delivered of twins, begotten of different fathers, namely Adam son of the Terebinth, and Azazel son of the Kerm-oak. She ties a red thread about the wrist of Azazel to distinguish him from his brother Adam.”
“No, but Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, is delivered of her bastards Zarah and Pharez and ties the thread about the wrist of Zarah. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here the infant Azazel is shown to his father the King, and here Adam is laid in the ark of osiers and sedge and committed to the waters of the Brook Eshcol, lest the King should destroy him.”
“No, but the infant Samuel is presented to Eli at the tabernacle of Shiloh, and the infant Moses is committed to the waters of the Nile. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here the shepherd’s wife takes and suckles Adam, while my Mistress, the First Eve, stands apart, watching.”
“No, but Pharaoh’s daughter finds Moses among the bulrushes and consigns him to the care of Jochebed, his own mother. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here my Mistress, the First Eve, restores her virginity by bathing in the fish-pool of Hebron and becomes the King’s daughter, my Mistress, the Second Eve.”
“No, but King David from the roof of his palace at Jerusalem sees the wife of Uriah the Hittite bathing and lusts after her. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here the tale of Adam continues. Adam, now a youth, destroys a lion and a bear which come among his flock, and here he is taken before his uncle the King, who is ignorant of his parentage.”
“No, but the youth is David son of Jesse, and the King is Saul. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for at the King’s desire Adam also strangles a fearful serpent which has destroyed thousands of the King’s people with its fiery breath, and displays it to the people.”
“No, but Moses raises the brazen seraph in the wilderness to stay the pestilence. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here the King has taken Adam into his household ; he and his brother Azazel are for a while united in loving comradeship.”
“No, but David and Jonathan, Saul’s son, become blood-brothers. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam takes up an ox-goad and falls without warning upon the King’s bodyguard.”
“No, but Shamgar the son of Anath wields the goad against the Philistines. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam slays his uncle the King, and strikes off his head with his own sword.”
“No, but David slays Goliath the Philistine. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam mourns for his uncle at the Oaks of Mamre.”
“No, but David mourns there for his enemy Abner. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam is preparing for royalty. See, where he rests under a tree of royal broom to prepare for his vigil.”
“No, but Elijah rests there. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam at his vigil tames the wild beasts that come against him.”
“No, but Adam names them in Eden. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam is anointed King of Hebron.”
“No, but Samuel anoints David King over Israel. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here preparations are made for Adam’s marriage feast to my Mistress, the Second Eve.”
“No, but provisions of wheat and barley and flour and beans and honey and butter and mutton and cheese and beef, together with beds, basins and pots, are brought as a gift to David at Mahanaim. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here other provisions that were lacking are brought to Adam’s marriage feast.”
“No, but Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth brings David bread and raisins and summer fruit and wine. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here the marriage contest is depicted. Adam wrestles all night with his enemies until he is lamed, and at dawn halts upon the right thigh and becomes bull-footed.”
“No, but our Father Jacob wrestles all night with an angel at Penuel and suffers that injury. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here at Beth-Hoglah, the marriage-arbour of the Hobbler, bull-voiced mimes call upon the bridegroom Adam to come rushing with his bull-foot.”
“No, but Baal’s priests upon Carmel dance their hobbling pesach and cut themselves with knives and vainly invoke Baal. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam comes rushing to his bride, my Mistress, the Second Eve, who dances by the reeded fish-pool with her fifty daughters.”
“No, but Miriam and her maidens dance in triumph by the Sea of Reeds after the army of Pharaoh has been engulfed ; and Aaron, her brother, joins in the dance. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here the marriage feast of Adam has begun and here he sits at table, his bull’s foot resting on a footstool.”
“No, but lame Mephibosheth is invited to feast at the table of King David. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for when the feast is done Adam companies in public with my Mistress, the Second Eve, and with the fifty daughters of my Mistress.”
“No, but the rebel Absalom companies in public with Abigail of Carmel and with the other wives and concubines of his father David. For so it is written.”
“The golden tablet is done, and the golden King has triumphed. Here begins the red tablet and the triumph of the red King. See, where Adam, inventor of the lyre, plays melodies and sings in his own honour. His twin, Azazel, son of the murdered King, glowers at him, javelin in hand, plotting revenge.”
“No, but David plays and sings psalms to ease Saul’s melancholy. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Azazel dances naked before the Ark of the Covenant, imploring my Mistress to keep faith with him. Wearing her horned moon headdress she smiles at him favourably.”
“No, but David dances before the Ark and his wife Michal, otherwise named Eglah, ‘the heifer’, laughs scornfully at him from a lattice. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here my Mistress, the Second Eve, true to her covenant, invites Azazel to her bed.”
“No, but Amnon forces his sister Tamar. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here my Mistress ties Adam’s hair to his bedpost for Azazel to shear.”
“No, but the deceitful Delilah ties the hair of her husband Samson to a weaver’s beam. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Azazel comes by night into Adam’s chamber with scissors to shear his sacred hair.”
“No, but David finding King Saul asleep in a cave spares his life, and cuts off only the hem of his robe. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam’s hair is cut off, and the sacred hem
of his robe with its five blue tassels. And here Azazel with his companions pelt and revile him as he goes up the hill to his death.”
“No, but Shimei and his fellows revile and pelt David at Bahurim. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Adam is blinded by Azazel.”
“No, but Samson is blinded by the Philistines at Gaza. For so it is written.
“Not so : for here Adam, with green bonds cut from the willow of Hebron, is tied by Azazel to the terebinth of Hebron and there unmanned.”
“No, but the King of Ai is hanged on a tree by Joshua at Ai. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here Azazel raises a circle of twelve pillars, with an altar for a thirteenth. He will sacrifice Adam in honour of my Mistress, the Second Eve, and here are the striped basins for the blood.”
“No, but Moses raises the twelve pillars at the foot of Sinai—which is Horeb—one for each tribe of Israel, and the basins are to catch the blood of slaughtered bullocks. For so it is written.”
“Not so : here comes maimed Adam limping into the circle ; and here he is hacked in pieces.”
“No, but King Agag walks delicately into the Circle of Gilgal, where the prophet Samuel hacks him in pieces. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here twelve men of Hebron feast upon Adam’s flesh, but Adam’s shoulder-joint is reserved for Azazel’s eating.”
“No, but the shoulder-joint of the ox is reserved for King Saul by Samuel at the feast of Mizpeh. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here a messenger comes to my Mistress, the Second Eve, to tell her : ‘It is done.’ She shrouds herself and becomes the Third Eve with dog, owl and camel.”
“No, but Rebeccah dismounts from her camel and veils herself when she sees our father Isaac approach to claim her in marriage. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here the people of Hebron mourn for Adam. Fool, do you not know where you stand? This is the innermost chamber of the cave of Machpelah. Josiah, that evil king, stopped up its entrance ; but we Kenites have guarded the secret of its other door. See, where my Mistress, the Third Eve, carries away the stripped bones of Adam to this very cave to lay them in a burial ark.”
“No, but the Children of Israel mourn for Moses at Pisgah ; and the Lord God, who is veiled lest any man should see his face and die, buries him secretly in a valley of Moab. For so it is written.”
“Not so : for here you cannot refute me. Here at last you see my Mistress in Trinity. My Mistress, the First Eve, white as leprosy ; my Mistress, the Second Eve, black as the tents of my people ; my Mistress, the Third Eve, her death’s-head mercifully shrouded. See, where the spirit of Adam prostrates himself before my Triple Mistress and holds her to her covenant, while Azazel looks on aghast.”
“No, but I refute you! Here Moses complains to the Lord against Miriam his sister and Aaron his brother who have mocked his Ethiopian wife. Aaron prostrates himself before the Lord, who punishes Miriam with leprosy. For so it is written.”
“Not so : your prevarications will not serve you. For see, where my Mistress has granted Adam his plea. His spirit rises from the dry bones of the burial ark and, uttering threats to Azazel, returns once more to the wheel of life. He will be born again to my Mistress, the First Eve, as his own son and twin to the son of Azazel.”
“No, but I refute you. Here King Saul consults the witch of Endor, who raises the spirit of Samuel from the dry bones of Samuel. For so it is written.”
“Not so : have done, in the Mother’s name! Here the red tablet ends, and the golden tablet takes up the story again, with my Mistress, the First Eve, in pangs beneath her palm-tree.”
“You have had my answers. What need to give them again ?”
“They are not acceptable to my Triple Mistress.”
“The Living God in whom I trust is immeasurably stronger than your Mistress. He can create what-is from what-is-not. He can make what-was as though it had never been. Her ancient tables record a covenant of death which the Lord God overturned and set aside at the Well of Kadesh when he swore a new covenant of life with his servant Moses. The Books of Moses record that covenant ; they are stored in the holy ark of every synagogue throughout Jewry and written on the tablets of every loyal heart.”
“Strong as he may be, how can your Living God rescue you from this House of Death which lies in the Valley of Death? No man ever defied my Mistress in her own house and escaped alive. Fool, this place is the end of all venturesome fools. The stopped tunnel is choked with their bones.”
“It is written : ‘Though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death I shall fear no evil, for thou, Lord, art with me.’ Therefore my fate will be as the Father ordains, not as your Mistress ordains. I am released from the jurisdiction of the Female ; I have come to destroy her works.”
Mary the Hairdresser began to comb her long white hair with an ivory comb and, as she combed, invoked the ancient powers of evil one by one to rise against Jesus and overthrow him. She called upon the scaly-footed Shedim and the snouted Ruhim and on the Mazzikim, the harmers, and on the goat-like Seirim of the crags, and on the ass-haunched Lilim of the sandy wastes, and on Shabiri the demon of blindness who haunts uncovered pools of water, and on Ruah Zelachta the demon of catalepsy, and on Ben Nefilim the demon of epilepsy, and on Ruah Kezarit the demon of nightmare, and on Ruah Tegazit the demon of delirium, and on Ruah Kardeyako the demon of melancholy, and on Shibbeta the demon of cramps, and on Ruah Zenunim the demon of sexual madness, and on Deber the demon of pestilence, and lastly on Pura the insidious demon of sloth and forgetfulness of whom God-fearing Jews stand in the greatest dread.
All these powers came flocking about him with fury and terror and whirrings, trying to tear the holy fringes from his garment, and the phylacteries from his arm and forehead. He remained quiet and undismayed, and his lips unfalteringly repeated the “Hear, O Israel”—three times against the First Eve, three times against the Second Eve, and three times against the Third Eve. When he had done, he said : “In the name of the Holy One of Israel—blessed be he—depart, creatures of night and death, to the desolate places assigned to you by the Disposer of All !”
They vanished, gibbering, one by one.
Mary suddenly screamed out : “I know you, Adversary of my Mistress! Are you come here at last, Son of David, apostate Adam ?”
He commanded her to silence, but she stopped her ears and screamed again : “The apostate was driven from the paradise of Eden, which is Hebron. He was driven as a wanderer over the face of the earth, but it is prophesied that he shall return to Hebron at last to make his reckoning with the Great Goddess. The apostate may deny his mother, the First Eve ; and his bride, the Second Eve, he may reject ; yet the Third Eve, his grandam, will inexorably claim him for her own.”
“If the First Eve be denied for the love of the Living God, and the Second Eve be rejected for the love of the Living God, will the Third Eve find bones to bury ?”
Mary tore at the flesh of her forearm with her dog-teeth and greedily sucked the blood. Then, seizing the death-mask of the Old Adam from its peg in the recess and thrusting it on her head, she began to prophesy in rough hexameters, her voice piping and querulous :
ADAM, son of the terebinth, ADAM only begotten,
Born at the death of the year from green-eyed Miriam’s birth-stool,
Rapt from Azazel’s fury by wandering shepherds of Hebron :
Your first feats astonishment spread in a region of wonders.
None could divine your secret, you sucked all Solomon’s wisdom.
ADAM, son of the terebinth, well you endured your vigil,
Two-score days upon Horeb defying bestial powers.
Now shall the ever-young prophet return once more to anoint you.
You shall be lord of the land, shall enter Miriam’s chamber.
ADAM’s path shall you tread, nor fail these covenant tables
Till at the last you hang, by friends and kindred forsaken, r />
Bound to the terebinth tree with strong green branches of willow,
Suffering there as is right, distressed with odious torments.
Twelve bold shepherds shall drink of your blood, shall eat of your body.
Eve, our mother, shall laugh ; in dreams her pythoness bidding
ADAM’s bones to recover, where ADAM’s skull lies buried.
As she croaked the final spondees the flame of the lamp sputtered and shook. A clammy drop fell from the dome of the chamber on Jesus’s foot, and after a minute’s pause, another.
He spoke : “What have I to do with the Old Adam who speaks low out of the dust? A New Adam comes in the name of the Most High to make an end, to bind the Female with her own long hair, to fetter God’s Adversary in chains of adamant. In the Old Adam all die ; in the New all shall live.”
“Beware! The beasts that entered the circle which you drew under the thorn-bush of Horeb were four in number. Three you tamed, but did not the fourth paw the ground apart ?”
Trembling, Jesus prayed : “Lord, who can understand his errors? Oh, cleanse me from my secret fault !”
She laid the mask aside, laughed and blasphemed against Jehovah. Jesus seized her by the hair, though she struggled like a hyaena. “In the name of him who is Lord of the heights and depths, come out of her !” he cried.
One by one the unclean familiars issued reluctantly from her mouth. He named them each in turn and forbade them ever again to enter into her ; the first, Alukah the horse-leech ; the second, Zebub the bluebottle ; the third, Akbar the mouse ; the fourth, Atalef the bat ; the fifth, Tinshemet the lizard ; the sixth, Arnebet the hare ; and the seventh and last, Shaphan the coney. At each expulsion her struggles became the less violent, and at the end she stood trembling, lost, and without power, her mouth gaping.
He released her and spoke the word of peace. “Come, Mary! Let us return to the land of life. Have done now with your villainies.”
She opened the door for him and went before him up the staircase, dizzily swaying from side to side. She opened the second door, the night wind blew out her lamp, and together they stepped out into star-light ; for the moon was obscured by a bank of cloud.