Then I went out of the house, and after a while my father called me
and said, "Gather up the chips of the fig-wood wherewith I was
making gods before you came in, and see about preparing dinner."
And as I was doing so, I found a little god lying among the straw and
the rubbish, and on his forehead was written: "The god Barisat." So I
kept him, and did not tell my father; and when I had kindled the fire
to cook the dinner, and was going out to fetch the food, I set
Barisat down in front of the fire and said to him, "Barisat, take
care that the fire does not go out before I come back; and if it
does, blow upon it and revive it." Then I went out and did my errand,
and when I returned I found Barisat fallen over backwards, and his
feet were in the fire and were badly burnt; and I laughed to myself
and said, "You are in truth a good fireman and cook, Barisat." Just
then the fire caught upon his body and burnt him all up.
When the time was come, I brought food to my father and he ate, and I
gave him wine and milk and he drank, and rejoiced and praised his god
Marumath; and I said, "Father, you should not praise Marumath, but
rather Barisat, for he has done more for you: he has thrown himself
into the fire to cook your dinner." "And where is he now?" said my
father. "He has been burnt to ashes," I said, "in the heat of the
fire, and nothing but dust is left of him." And my father said,
"Great is the strength of Barisat! I will make another one to-day,
and he shall prepare my food for me to-morrow." Now when I heard my
father say these words, I laughed in myself, and yet I was troubled
and angry in my soul. And at last I answered and said, "Whichever of
these things you honour as a god, it is folly. The god Zucheus, who
is the god of my brother Nahor, is more honourable than your god
Marumath, for he is adorned with gold finely wrought, and when he is
old he will be fashioned over again; but if Marumath is broken or
injured he will not be renewed, for he is only of stone. And again
the god Joauv, who stands next to Zucheus, is more honourable than
Barisat, for he is covered with silver; but as for Barisat, you made
him yourself with your axe, and, look, he is fallen upon the earth,
and the fashion of his likeness is destroyed, and he is burnt to
ashes, and you say, 'To-day I will make another, and he shall
prepare my food to-morrow.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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