The Brook Kerith: A Syrian story

  CHAP. XXIV.

  Now it is here we leave the track, Jesus said, and he turned his assinto a little path leading down a steeply shelving hillside. We shallfind the brethren coming back from the hills, if they aren't backalready. It is daylight on the hills though it is night still in thisvalley; and looking up they saw a greenish moon in the middle of amottled sky of pink and grey. Over the face of the moon wisps of vapourcurled and went out: and the asses, Joseph said, are loath to descendthe hillside for fear of this strange moon, or it may be they arefrightened by the babble of this brook; it seems to rise out of the verycentre of the earth. How deep is the gorge? Very deep, Jesus answered;many hundred feet. But the asses don't fear precipices, and if ours areunwilling to descend the hillside it is because the paths do not seemlikely to lead to a stable; so would I account for their obstinacy. I'llnot ride down so steep a descent, and Joseph slipped from his ass'sback; and, rid of his load, the ass tried to escape, but Jesus managedto turn him back to Joseph, who seized the bridle. Dismount, Jesus, hecried, for the path is narrow, and to please him Jesus dismounted, and,driving their animals in front of them, they ventured on to a sort ofledge.

  It passed under rocks and between rocks to the very brink of theprecipice as it descended towards the bridge that spanned the brook somehundreds of feet lower down. Already our asses scent a stable, Jesussaid; he called after them to stop, and the obedient animals stopped andbegan to seek among the stones for a tuft of grass or a bramble. I seeno place here for a hermitage, Joseph said, only roosts for choughs andcrows. There have been hermits here always, Jesus answered. We shallpass the ruins of ancient hermitages farther down on this side above thebridge. The bridge was built by hermits who came from India, Jesus said.And was destroyed, Joseph interjected, by the Romans, so that they mightcapture the robbers that infested the caves. But the Essenes must haverepaired the bridge lately, Jesus replied, and he asked Joseph how longthe Essenes had been at the Brook Kerith. My camel-driver did not say,Joseph answered, and Jesus pointed to the ledge that the Essenes musthave chosen for a dwelling: it cannot be else, he said; there is noother ledge large enough to build upon in the ravine; and behind theledge thou seest up yonder is the large cave whither the ravens came tofeed Elijah. If the brethren are anywhere they are on that ledge, inthat cave, and he asked Joseph if his eyes could not follow the buildingof a balcony: thine eyes cannot fail to see it, for it is plain to mine.Joseph said he thought he could discern the balcony. But how do we reachit? We aren't angels, he said. We shall ascend, Jesus answered, by apath going back and forth, through many terraces. Lead on, Josephanswered. But stay, let us admire the bridge they have built and thepepper-trees that border it. I am glad the Romans spared the trees, formen that live in this solitude deserve the beauty of these pepper-trees.Jesus said: yonder is the path leading to the source of the brook;fledged at this season with green reeds and rushes. They have built amill I see! turned by the brook and fed, no doubt, by the wheat thycamels bring from Moab. But the Essenes seem late at work this morning.

  As he spoke these words an old man appeared on the balcony, and Josephsaid: that must be Hazael, but his beard has gone very white. It isHazael, our president, Jesus answered. Let us go to him at once, andstill driving the asses in front of them and carrying the puppies intheir arms they worked their way up through the many terraces; not oneis more than three feet wide, yet in every one are fig-trees, Jesusremarked, and there seem to be vines everywhere, for though the Essenesdrink no wine, they sell their grapes to be eaten or to be turned intowine, Joseph. Our rule is not to kill, but we sell our sheep, and alas!some go to the Temple and are offered in sacrifice. I used to weep formy sheep, he muttered, but in this world----

  The steep ascent checked further speech, and they walked to the east andthen to the west, back and forth, fifty little journeys taking them upto the cenoby. The great door was opened to them at once, and Hazaelcame forward to meet them, giving his left hand to Joseph and his rightto Jesus, whom he drew to his bosom. So, my dear Jesus, thou hast comeback to us, Hazael said, and he looked into Jesus' face inquiringly,learning from it that it would not be well to ask Jesus for the story ofwhat had befallen him during the last three years; and Joseph gavethanks that Hazael was possessed of a mind that saw into recesses andappreciated fine shades.

  We are glad to have thee back again, Jesus; and thou hast come to stay,and perhaps to take charge of our flock again, which needs thy guidance.How so? Jesus asked. Hasn't the flock prospered under Brother Amos? Ah!that is a long story, Hazael answered. We'll tell it thee when the timecomes. But thou hast brought dogs with thee, and of the breed that ourshepherds are always seeking.

  It was thus that Jesus and Hazael began to talk to each other, leavingJoseph to admire the vaulting of the long dwelling, and to wander outthrough the embrasure on to the balcony, from whence he could see theEssenes going to their work along the terraces. Among the ruins of thehermitage on the opposite side above the bridge, a brother fondled a petlamb while he read. He is one, Joseph said to himself, that has foundthe society of this cenoby too numerous for him, so he retired to aruin, hoping to draw himself nearer to God. But even he must have aliving thing by him; and then, his thoughts changing, he fell tothinking of the day when he would ride out to meet Jesus among thehills. His happiness was so intense in the prospect that he delighted inall he saw and heard: in the flight of doves that had just left theircotes and were flying now across the gorge, and in the soothing chant ofthe water rising out of the dusk.

  Jesus had told him that the gorge was never without water. The springthat fed it rose out of the earth as by enchantment. Hazael's voiceinterrupted his reveries: would you like, Sir, to visit our house? heasked, and he threw open the door and showed a great room, common toall. On either side of it, he said, are cells, six on one side, four onthe other, and into these cells the brethren retire after breakingbread, and it is in this domed gallery we sit at food. But Jesus hasspoken to thee of these things, for though we do not speak to strangersof our rule of life, Jesus would not have transgressed in speaking of itto thee. Joseph asked for news of Banu, and was sorry to hear that hehad been killed and partially eaten by a lion.

  The tidings seemed to affect Jesus strangely; he covered his face withhis hands, and Hazael repented having spoken of Banu, guessing that thehermit's death carried Jesus' thoughts into a past time that he wouldshut out for ever from his mind. He atoned, however, for his mistake byan easy transition which carried their discourse into an explanation ofthe dissidence that had arisen among the brethren, and which, he said,compelled us to come hither. The Essenes are celibates, and it used tobe my duty to go in search of young men whom I might judge to be welldisposed towards God, and to bring them hither with me so that theymight see what our life is, and, discovering themselves to be trueservants of the Lord, adopt a life as delightful and easy to those wholove God truly as it is hard to them whose thoughts are set on the worldand its pleasures. I have travelled through Palestine often in search ofsuch young men, and many who came with me are still with me. It was inNazareth that we met, he said, and he stretched his hand to Jesus. Dostremember? And without more he pursued his story.

  The brother, however, who succeeded me as missionary brought back onlyyoung men who, after a few months trial, fell away. It would be unjustfor me to say that the fault was with the missionary: times are not asthey used to be; the spirit of the Lord is not so rife nor so ardent nowas it was once, and the dwindling of our order was the reason given forthe proposal that some of us should take wives. The argument put forwardwas that the children born of these marriages would be more likely thanother children to understand our oaths of renunciation of the world andits illusions. It was pleaded, and I doubt not in good faith, that itwere better the Essenes should exist under a modified and more worldlyrule than not to exist at all; and while unable to accept this view wehave never ceased to admire the great sacrifice that our erstwhilebrethren have made for the sake of our order. That the large majoritywas moved
by such an exalted motive cannot be doubted; but temptationsare always about; everyone is the Adam of his own soul, and there mayhave been a few that desired the change for less worthy motives. Therewas a brother----

  At that moment an accidental tread sent one of the puppies howling downthe dwelling, and Hazael, fearing that he might fall into the well anddrown there, sent Jesus to call him back. The puppy, however, managed toescape the well in time, and the pain in his tail ceasing suddenly heran, followed by his brother, out of the cenoby on to the rocks. I mustgo after them, for they will roll down the rocks if left to themselves,Jesus cried. A matter of little moment, Hazael replied, compared withthe greater calamity of drowning himself in the well, for it is ofextraordinary depth and represents the labour of years. Wonderful arethe works of man, he added. But greater are the works of God, Josephreplied. You did well to correct me, Hazael answered, for one nevershould forget that God is over all things, and the only realsignificance man has, is his knowledge of God. But we were speaking ofthe exodus of a few monks from the great cenoby on the eastern side ofJordan.

  We came hither for the reason that I have told. We left protesting thateven if it were as our brethren said, and that the children of Esseneswould be more likely than the children of Pharisees and Sadducees tochoose to worship God according to the spirit rather than to wear theirlives away in pursuit of vain conformity to the law--even if this wereso, we said, man can only love God on condition that he put women aside,for woman represents the five senses: pleasure of the eyes, of the ears,of the mouth, of the finger-tips, of the nostrils: we did not fail topoint out that though our brethren might go in and unto them for worthymotives, yet in so doing they would experience pleasure, and sexualpleasure leads to the pleasure of wine and food. One of the brethrensaid this might not be so if elderly women were chosen, and at first itseemed as if a compromise were possible. But a moment after, a brotherreminded us that elderly women were not fruitful. To which I addedmyself another argument, that a different diet from ours is necessary tothose who take wives unto themselves. Thou understandest me, Joseph?Women have never been a temptation to me, Joseph answered, nor to Jesus,and in meditative mood he related the story of the wild man in thewoods, at the entrance of whose cave Jesus had laid a knife so that hemight cut himself free of temptation.

  At this Hazael was much moved, and they talked of Jesus, Joseph sayingthat he had suffered cruelly for teaching that the Kingdom of God is inour own hearts; for to teach that religion is no more than a personalaspiration is to attack the law, which, though given to us by Moses,existed beforetimes in heaven, always observed by the angels, and to beobserved by them for time everlasting. Jesus, then, set himself againstthe Temple? Hazael said slowly, looking into Joseph's eyes. In ameasure, Joseph answered, but it was the priests who exasperated thepeople against him, and what I have come here for, beyond hiscompanionship on the journey is to beg of you to put no questions tohim. A day may come when he will tell his story if he remain with thee.Here he is safe, Hazael said, and I pray God that he may remain with us.But where is Jesus? Hazael asked, and they sought him in the terraces,where the monks were at work among the vines. See our fig-trees alreadyin leaf. Without our figs we should hardly be able to live here, and itis thy transport that enables us to sell our grapes and our figs and thewine that we make, for we make wine, though there are some who think itwould be better if we made none.

  It was thou that urged Pilate to free these hills from robbers, andhadst thou not done so we shouldn't have been able to live here. But I'mthinking of so many things that I have lost thought of him whom we seek.He cannot have passed this way, unless, indeed, he descended the terracetowards the bridge, and he could hardly have done that. He has gone upthe hills, and they will help to put the past out of his mind. And,talking of Jesus' early life in the cenoby, and of his knowledge offlocks and suchlike, Hazael led Joseph through the long house and upsome steps on to a rubble path. The mountain seems to be crumbling,Joseph said, and looked askance at the quiet room built on the veryverge of the abyss. Where thou'lt sleep when thou honourest us with avisit, Hazael said, which will be soon, we trust, he continued; for weowe a great deal to thee, as I have already explained, and now thoucom'st with a last gift--our shepherd.

  On these words they passed under an overhanging rock which Joseph saidwould fall one day. One day, replied the Essene, all the world willfall, and I wish we were as safe from men as we are from this rock. Partof the bridge over the brook is of wood and it can be raised. But theledge on which we live can be reached only from the hills by this path,and it would be possible to raid us from this side. Thou seest here awall, a poor one, it is true; but next year we hope to build a muchstronger wall, some twenty feet high and several feet in thickness, andthen we shall be secure against the robbers if they would return totheir caves. We have little or nothing to steal, but wicked men takepleasure in despoiling even when there is nothing to gain: our contentwould fill them with displeasure, he said, as he sought the key.

  But on trying the door it was found to be unlocked, and Joseph said: itwill be no use building a wall twenty feet high to secure yourself fromrobbers if you leave the door unlocked. It was Jesus that left the doorunlocked, Hazael answered, he must have passed this way, we shall findhim on the hillside; and Joseph stood amazed at the uprolling hills andtheir quick descents into stony valleys. Beyond that barren hill thereis some pasturage, Hazael said; and in search of Jesus they climbedsummit after summit, hoping always to catch sight of him playing withhis dogs in the shadow of some rocks, but he was nowhere to be seen, andHazael could not think else than that he had fallen in with Amos andyielded to the beguilement of the hills, for he has known them, Hazaelcontinued, since I brought him here from Nazareth, a lad of fifteen orsixteen years, not more. We shall do better to return and wait for him.He will remember us presently. To which Joseph answered, that since hewas so near Jericho he would like to go thither; a great pile ofbusiness awaited his attention there, and he begged Hazael to tell Jesusthat he would return to bid him good-bye on his way back to Jerusalemthat evening, if it were possible to do so.