The Brook Kerith: A Syrian story

  CHAP. VIII.

  There was one John preaching in the country about the Jordan: theBaptist, they call him, the president said. But go, Joseph, and see theprophets for thyself. I shall be rare glad to hear what thou hast tosay! And he pressed Joseph's hand, sending him off in good cheer. Banu,ask for Banu! were the last words he called after him, and Joseph hopedthe ferryman would be able to point out the way to him. Oh yes, I knowthe prophet; the ferryman answered: a disciple of John, that all thepeople are following. But there be a bit of a walk before thee, and onethat'll last thee till dawn, for Banu has been that bothered by visitsthese times, that he has gone up the desert out of the way, for he bepreparing himself these whiles. For what? Joseph asked. The ferryman didnot know; he told that John was not baptizing that morning, but for whyhe did not know. As like as not he be waiting for the river to lower, hesaid. At which Joseph had half a mind to leave Banu for John; but apassenger was calling the ferryman from the opposite bank and he wasleft with incomplete information and wandered on in doubt whether toreturn in quest of the Baptist or make the disciple his shift.

  The way pointed out to him lay through the desert, and to find Banu'scave without guidance would not be easy, and after having found andinterrogated him the way would seem longer to return than to come. But,having gone so far, he could not do else than attempt the hot wearysearch. And it will be one! he said, as he picked his way through thebushes and brambles that contrive to subsist somehow in the flat sandywaste lying at the head of the lake. But as he proceeded into the desertthese signs of life vanished, and he came upon a region of craggy andintricate rocks rising sometimes into hills and sometimes breaking awayand littering the plain with rubble. The desert is never completelydesert for long, and on turning westward as he was directed, Josephcaught sight of the hill which he had been told to look out for--hecould not miss it, for the evening sun lit up a high scarp, and oncoming to the end of a third mile the desert began to look a little lessdesert, brambles began again. Banu could not be far away. But Joseph didnot dare to go farther. He had been walking for many hours, and even ifhe were to meet Banu he could not speak to him, so closely did histongue cleave to the sides of his mouth. But these brambles betokenwater, he said; and on coming round a certain rock bulging uncouth fromthe hillside, he discovered a trickle, and a few paces distant, Banu,ugly as a hyena and more ridiculous than the animal, for--having noshirt to cover his nakedness--he had tressed a garland of leaves abouthis waist! Yet not so ugly at second sight as at first, for he sees God,Joseph said to himself; and he waited for Banu to rise from his knees.

  Even hither do they pursue me, Banu's eyes seemed to say, while hisfingers modestly rearranged his garland; and Joseph, who began to dreadthe hermit, begged to have the spring pointed out to him that he mightdrink. Banu pointed to it, and Joseph knelt and drank, and afterdrinking he was in better humour to tell Banu that Mathias, the greatphilosopher from Alexandria, scorned the prophecies that the end of theworld could not be delayed much longer. And, as John is not baptizingthese days, I thought I'd come and ask if we had better begin to preparefor the resurrection and the judgment. On hearing Joseph's reasons forhis visit, the hermit stood with dilated eyes, as if about to speak. Buthe did not speak; and Joseph asked him what would become of the worldafter God destroyed it. Before answering, Banu stooped down, and havingfilled his hand with sand and gravel he said: God will fill his handwith earth, but not this time to make a man and woman, but out of eachof his hands will come a full nation, and these he will put into fullpossession of the earth, for his chosen people will not repent....

  But the ferryman told me that John gathered many together and wasbaptizing in Jordan? Joseph inquired. To which Banu answered naught, butstood looking at Joseph, who could scarce bring himself to look at Banu,though he felt himself to be in sore need of some prophetic confirmationof the date of the judgment. Is John the Messiah, come to preach thatGod is near and that we must repent in time? he asked; to which thehermit replied that the Messiah would have many fore-runners, and one ofthese would give his earthly life as a peace-offering, but enragedJahveh would not accept it as sufficient and would return with theMessiah and destroy the world. I am waiting here till God bids me ariseand preach to men, and the call will be soon, Banu said, for God's wrathis even now at its height. But do thou go hence to John, who has beencalled to the Jordan, and get baptism from him. But John is notbaptizing these days, the river being in flood, Joseph cried after him.That flood will pass away, Banu answered, before the great andoverwhelming flood arises. Will the world be destroyed by water? At thisquestion Banu turned towards the hillside, like one that deemed his lastexhortation to be enough, and who desired an undisturbed possession ofthe solitude. But at the entrance of the cave he stopped: the track iseasy to lose after nightfall, he said, and panthers will be about insearch of gazelles. Thou wouldst do well to remain with me: my cave issecure against wild beasts. Look behind thee: how dark are the rocks andhills! Joseph cast his eyes in the direction of Jericho and thanked Godfor having put a kind thought into the hermit's mind, for the landscapewas gloomy enough already, and an hour hence he would be stumbling overa panther in the dark, and the sensation of teeth clutching at histhroat and of hind claws tearing out his belly banished from his mindall thoughts of the unpleasantness of passing a night in a narrow cavewith Banu, whom he helped to close the entrance with a big stone and topile up other stones about the big stone making themselves safe, so Banusaid, from everything except perhaps a bear.

  The thought of the bear that might scrape aside the stone kept Josephawake listening to Banu snoring, and to the jackals that barked allnight long. They are quarrelling among themselves, Banu said, turningover, for the jackals succeeded in waking him, quarrelling over somegazelle they've caught. A moment after, he was asleep again, and Joseph,despite his fear of the wild beasts, must have dozed for a little while,for he started up, his hair on end. A bear! a bear! he cried, withoutawakening Banu, and he listened to a scratching and a sniffling roundthe stones with which they had blocked the entrance to the cave. Or apanther, he said to himself. The animal moved away, and then Joseph layawake hour after hour, dropping to sleep and awakening again and again.

  About an hour after sunrise, Banu awakened him and asked him to help himto roll the stones aside; which Joseph did, and as soon as they were inthe dusk he turned out of his pockets a few crusts and some cheese madeout of ewe's milk, and offered to share the food with his host; butBanu, pointing to a store of locusts, put some of the insects into hismouth and told Joseph that his vow was not to eat any other food tillGod called him forth to preach; which would be, he thought, a few daysbefore the judgment: a view that Joseph did not try to combat, nor didhe eat his bread and cheese before him, lest the sight of it should turnthe prophet's stomach from the locusts. It was distressing to watch himchewing them; they were not easy to swallow, but he got them down atlast with the aid of some water obtained from the source, and duringbreakfast his talk was all the while of the day of judgment and theanger of God, who would destroy Israel and build up another nation thatwould obey him. It would be three or four days before the judgment thatGod would call him out to preach, he repeated; and Joseph was waiting tohear how far distant were these days? A month, a year, belike someyears, for God's patience is great. He stopped speaking suddenly, andthrowing out his arms he cried out: he has come, he has come! He whomthe world is waiting for. Baptize him! Baptize him! He whom the world iswaiting for has come.

  But for whom is the world waiting? Joseph asked; and Banu answered:hasten to the Jordan, and find him whom thou seekest.