Sumer was bored. The beautiful palm trees and the smell of the hot air. The sound of the river and the sight of his people farming along it. But he was still bored. He was the only country for miles or even in the entire world. Why couldn t anyone else form a civilization like his? It shouldn t be that hard. Just a group of people at least bigger than 100 needed to group together, pick a leader, and name their new country. But if it was so simple, why hadn t he seen another country by now?
Thinking about this made him notice some nomads. They were trading with his people . Wait. They were trading with his people. He had seen plenty of his people decide to trade, but they were different. They weren t a part of him. Sure, they were probably years ago but they had changed. It was then that Sumer saw a young man walked with them. The man had a short, brown beard. His long locks of hair were the same color and his amber eyes scanned around him. His garments were simple and probably made of the wool of the livestock he had with him. Sumer knew right away he was another country.

Scrambling from his place at the top of the ziggurat(why did he have to go to the gods? Couldn t they just come to him instead?) and through the busy streets, Sumer almost tripped over a woman with a clay pot. Sorry he shouted quickly and continued running. He got to the man and put his hands on his knees panting. His eyes looked up and saw the man was looking at him strangely.

'H-Hello! Sumer uttered between breathes. You re another country aren t-are-ah.' The man smiled as Sumer raised his hand at others to ask for water.

'My name is Israel. You can call me Jacob if you want.' the man said politely.

'Is-Israel, huh?' Sumer stated. He got impatient and stole a jar from a bystander. He chastised the woman for attempting to get it back and he began drinking.

'Yes. My people just started coming here for trade. Is your name Sumer?' Sumer looked up at the man.

'Yeah but you can call me Gudea.' He set the now empty jar down and stood up straight. Israel held out his palm and they shook hands.

'That large building over there, what is it?' Israel said, pointing at the ziggurat.

'Oh! Haven t you seen a ziggurat before? It s where we have sacrifices to the gods!' Sumer said proudly. To his surprise, Israel didn t seem as convinced.

'Gods? I must have heard you wrong. Surely you re only talking about one god?' Sumer laughed loudly.

'Well, of course that ziggurat is for one god, but we have plenty of other temples for other gods. But most of them are to Baal so if you consider it for one god then you re right pretty much.' Sumer felt like he was talking too much, but he didn t get to talk to anybody anyway.

'I don t think that s good.' Israel said quietly. 'There is one god but his name isn t Baal.' Sumer frowned.

'Then what s his name?'

'Yahweh.'

'Yawa what? Is that one of your strange, foreign words for Baal?'

Israel pointed up at the sun and at the ground. 'Yahweh isn t a moon or the ground, he s everywhere and watches over us. He created everything.' Sumer eyed the man with suspicion. This Yahweh-whatever was surely a joke? Are other countries really putting their sacrifices to something that s supposed to be everywhere at once?

'Get out.' Israel looked confused. 'I said, get out .GET OUT!' Sumer shouted. He knocked one of Israel s traders over, causing his basket of grain to fly in the air and spill all over the place. 'I want you and your false god OUT of my city!' Israel looked at Sumer in anger.

'Do you want to spend the rest of your life worshipping a piece of rock that s supposed to be a god?!' Sumer didn t have the patience and called for his guards. Israel hurried his people out as the guards chased them. When the newcomers were a while away, Sumer realized what he had done. He had just thrown away the only other country probably for miles around, and probably in the entire world. He fell on his knees, slammed the ground with his fist and looked at the gates the trades had flock to get out.

'I m.... sorry.... Jacob.' he looked over his shoulder to see an older man with a bronze sword behind him. He had a long, braided, black beard and was in armor. The man swung his sword at the mourning man.

And so, after the man, who s name was Elam, knocked around Sumer and stole a lot of his goods, he was left for the dead in his city of Ur until another man whose people he called Amorites swept over and took him under his rule.