Enkidu lived among the beasts of the forests. All were peaceful, for evil and suffering had not yet entered the world.
Adamah was given the task of naming all the animals. The work was enjoyable, for a fine mist covered the ground, allowing all manners of fruits and herbs to grow without the work of preparing the soil or planting seeds or harvesting crops. However, Adamah noticed that he was the only creature of his own kind, the only human, and despite the paradise that surrounded him, Adamah began to grow lonely, so Chawwah was created.
Fascinated by this new creature, Adamah called her woman, and they dwelt together as man and wife. Chawwah was very beautiful and gentle, the perfect helper for Adamah as they drank from streams as pure as underground springs and fearlessly walked among all manner of wild beasts, who in turn had no fear of them. The fruit and vegetables they ate were always perfectly ripe, and the weather was neither too cold nor too hot, and every night, they watched the glories of sunset fade into myriads of stars, the night sky becoming like a dark sapphire beset with thousands of diamonds.
However, the Adversary of the world tricked them into eating the wrong fruit, and their God banished them from the perfect garden where they had previously lived. The soil from which Adamah had been created became cursed. Adamah would have days of endless toil for the rest of his life if he wished for edible plants to grow, but briars and weeds would grow naturally and easily.
As for Chawwah, she would struggle in great anguish when she gave birth. Countless women in future generations would be condemned to death as they fought to bring forth life. Even the world's first baby would grow up to be a murderer of his own brother, for death and all manners of evil and suffering had entered the world.
Eventually, mankind became so sinful that the God of the Hebrews decided to send a great flood to destroy the entire earth. However, he commanded Noach to build a large ark. Two of each animal would enter, except for the animals that were suitable for sacrifice; seven pairs of each of these species would be taken.
Noach obeyed and spent an entire century building the ark. Neighbors reviled him, for it had not yet rained in the entire history of the world, so how could a flood occur? Drunkards made him the subject of their inebriated songs.
When everything was in order, Noach entered the ark with his wife, his three sons, and his daughters-in-law. After the family and the animals had boarded, it rained for forty days and forty nights, and every underground spring rose above the ground. Noach and his family would float adrift for an entire year before the waters of the flood receded.
Many years after the world had been repopulated, a man called Avraham had a barren wife called Sarah, who had passed the age all women must eventually reach when they are no longer able to produce children. However, the God of the Hebrews insisted that Avraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars and the sand, and Sarah eventually had a baby, who was given the name Yitzchaq.
When Yitzchaq married, his wife bore twins. The younger, called Yaaqov, was born with his hand clutching his brother's heel, an act that should have warned his parents what he would spend the rest of his life doing. Yaaqov tricked his brother, Esav, out of his birthright and the greater portion of his father's blessing.
However, even the most cunning of deceivers shall eventually fall victim to the deception of another, as Yaaqov learned the hard way. He served his Uncle Lavan for seven years to earn the right to marry Lavan's beautiful daughter, Rachael.
On the day of the wedding, Lavan pressed goblet after goblet of strong wine into Yaaqov's hand. The bride was so heavily veiled that Yaaqov could have married a camel without realizing the true identity of his new wife.
In the darkness of their tent after the wedding, Yaaqov could barely see his bride's face, which was blurred from the clouds of wine that lingered in his brain. He could have given his love to a toothless grandmother and still believed he was embracing his beloved Rachael.
Yaaqov arose in the morning with a slight headache and began putting on his garments, but as he leaned over his wife to kiss her good morning, he saw to his horror that he had been wed to Leah, Rachael's sister. After all those years of deceiving his brother, Yaaqov had been outwitted by two sisters. (Rachael had strongly objected, but their father's word was law, so she had no choice in the matter.)
In order to marry the fair Rachael, Yaaqov would have to work seven more years. However, it was Leah who was able to bear him sons. Desperate to bring forth children, even in the legal sense of the matter, Rachael had given her handmaiden to Yaaqov, but when Leah saw what her sister was planning, she also gave her maid to her husband. Among two wives and two concubines, Yaaqov fathered twelve sons and one daughter.
However, the sons of Yaaqov seemed to have inherited their father's love of deceit, and many years later, they sold their brother Yowceph into slavery in Egypt, but as he was a man of great integrity and the God of the Hebrews had blessed Yowceph with the ability to interpret dreams, he rose to become the second-in-command in his new land, much like my own Daniyyel. To save his family from famine, Yowceph invited them to live in Egypt with him.
All went well until a pharaoh came into power who did not know Yowceph. He saw the vast number of Hebrews and enslaved the entire population. Four centuries later, another pharaoh decided the Hebrews had grown so numerous that they might easily rise against the Egyptians in battle, so he ordered that all male babies be cast into the river.
One mother had an idea to save her baby's life. Before casting him into the river, she put him into a floating basket. Perhaps he would stay hidden for the day. Perhaps a kind family of a people not enslaved would take pity on the infant. All she could do was leave her child in the hands of her God.
The Egyptian princess perceived the child as a gift delivered from the womb of the Nile and hired the baby's own mother to nurse him. She named the baby Moshe, and when he was nearly the same age as our dear friend Daniyyel, Moshe was instructed by his God to tell the pharaoh to release the Hebrew slaves. Pharaoh refused until the God of the Hebrews sent ten plagues to prove the gods of the Egyptians to be powerless to defend their people.
After many years wandering in the wilderness, the Hebrews eventually claimed their own land, but they entered a lawless period in their history. They would abandon their God, be captured by their enemies, and repent. In response, their God would raise up a judge to deliver the people, but after the judge died, the cycle would repeat itself.
One such judge was a man called Shimshon. He was meant to take a special vow to his God that included many strict conditions. Shimshon was not to drink wine or eat grapes, touch a dead body, or cut his hair. Although his God had blessed him with more strength than any man before or after him, Shimshon married a woman he met in a vineyard and took honey from a carcass of a lion that he killed.
In a strange twist of fate, the world's strongest man was helpless against women. One of the many women in his life used wine and her body to convince Shimshon to tell her the secret of his strength. When he fell asleep, she cut his hair, and the Philistines overpowered him and gouged out his eyes. Shimshon's final act of vengeance came when he pushed against the pillars of the temple of Dagon, where a huge crowd of Philistines had gathered to praise their god and mock their former enemy, who had killed so many of them. However, this victory came at the cost of his own life.
At long last, the Hebrews demanded a king. Shauwl was everything a people could desire in a monarch. He was tall, handsome, and brave. However, years of power eventually drove him to be a ruthless tyrant.
The next king was Dawid, the man who wrote so many of the psalms that Daniyyel and his friends quoted so often. Dawid had married one of Shauwl's daughters and was close friends with Prince Yownathan. In his earlier years, Dawid had killed a lion, a bear, and many Philistines, including a very tall man called Golyath. His son, Shelomoh, was rightly called the wisest man in the world, for the God of the Hebrews had blessed him with more wisdom than any other man.
However, no man is perfect, and because Dawid disobeyed his God, the kingdom of Yisrael eventually became two kingdoms: Yisrael and Yehuwdah. There were righteous kings, wicked kings, and kings who seemed unable to make up their minds whether they wished to be good or evil.
There were also prophets who warned of destruction of people refused to serve their God. Sometimes the hand of God was with these prophets, and he answered their prayers to him by performing miracles for them. King Nebuchadnezzar eventually conquered Yehuwdah approximately a decade before Prince Cyrus entered the world with his first cry, and now the captives awaited the fulfillment of the prophecy that would allow them to return to their beloved homeland.
When I had finished the story, I noticed the young Prince Gulbahar had fallen asleep on my lap with his head against my shoulder. Careful not to wake him, I gingerly lifted him and gently placed him into the arms of his nursemaid, who carried him off to his bed.
I turned to see Cyrus watching me. His face showed no emotion, so I was uncertain of how he might be feeling. Thus, I waited for him to begin the conversation.
"Charming story," he remarked. "What was it about? Gilgamesh, wasn't it?"
My heart pounded as the thoughts of my frantic mind began racing.
"Tell me. How is it that the King of Babylonia can't remember one of the region's most famous legends?"
I bowed to him and raised my hand to my lips. "My king, I assure you I have not forgotten. I merely..."
"Walk with me."