Skip to main content

The Return of "Thus Spoke the Platypus" Part VIII

News of how Utnapishtim had received Bera, Priest of the City, spread far and wide and came to the ears of Birsha, Priest of the Forest, as he walked among his beloved cedars. When Birsha had heard how Utnapishtim had rejected Bera and his crooked ways, he girded up his loins and went up to the crossroads. Thirty-nine days he traveled, and on the fortieth he came to Utnapishtim.

When Birsha saw Utnapishtim with the people gathered about him, he cried out in a loud voice: "Utnapishtim, friend, colleague, wisest of men! Rightly have you spoken out against Bera, Priest of the City. Now show your wisdom and speak out against the City! Well do these people know of its oppressions. They wait only for one who can guide their wrath; one such as Utnapishtim!"

Utnapishtim heard these words, and saw what was in the heart of Birsha, Priest of the Forest: that he hated man and would sacrifice all men but himself for the idea of his sacred groves. So he replied: "You viper! You have walked forty days and forty nights to find me, yet you have never walked so far from your beloved cedars for Wisdom! Who is Utnapishtim that you should seek him so? At what school did you study together, that you call him 'friend' and 'colleague'!”

Birsha, when he heard these words, became wrathful, and he did not disguise it when he replied: "Is Utnapishtim a lover of the City that he chastises me? Is Utnapishtim a lover of oppression that he rebukes me?"

And the people heard the words of Birsha, Priest of the Forest, and were thrown into confusion by the passion of his speech.

Then Utnapishtim smiled, and he replied: "This I salute in you, Birsha Priest of the Forest: that you speak your thoughts plainly and do not dissemble. Yet you miss the mark. Utnapishtim loves Wisdom! He will speak out against the oppressions of the City, he will raise a great cry against the oppressions of the rulers of the City, but against the City he will not speak; for the City is in the image of Man, and Man is in the image of Wisdom. This Wisdom holds against you, Birsha, Priest of the Forest: that you love not the City, not because of its oppressions, but because it is Man's!"

Great was the wrath in the heart of Birsha at these words, and with scorn he spoke to Utnapishtim: "What is this wisdom that you speak of but the lies of City-men, and what is Utnapishtim but a chattering monkey that the rulers of the City keep on a leash?"

At these words, many of the people rejected Birsha, Priest of the Forest, on account of the greatness of his passion, but a part of the people took up his cry.

Then Utnapishtim laughed out loud, and great was the laughter of Utnapishtim. "Shall I say to Birsha the words I spoke to Bera, his mortal foe? Birsha and Bera should be better acquainted; indeed their hatred of Wisdom may make them friends. You say that Utnapishtim speaks the words of City-men. That may be true! You say that Utnapishtim is a chattering monkey. Perhaps he is! Yet what is Utnapishtim to you? Scoff at Utnapishtim, slander him from the rooftops, and Utnapishtim will be glad; for so your fathers treated all those who wisdom sent to them. Seek not to know who Utnapishtim speaks for, nor who holds his leash. Seek Wisdom!"

All the while that Utnapishtim said these things he laughed and at the laughter of Utnapishtim, Birsha left in scorn and returned to his beloved cedars, but a part of the people went with him.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Platypus Reads Part XXVII

Thoughts after reading the "Iliad" to prepare a Greece unit for my students: -Hector is a jerk until he's dead. He even advocates the exposure of Achaean corpses and then has the cheek to turn around and ask Achilles to spare his. He rudely ignores Polydamas' prophecies and fights outside the gate to save his pride knowing full well what it will cost his family and city. After he's dead, he becomes a martyr for the cause. -Agamemnon has several moments of true leadership to balance out his pettiness. In this way, he's a haunting foil to Achilles: the two men are more alike than they want to acknowledge. -We see that Achilles is the better man at the funeral games of Patroclos. His lordliness, tact, and generosity there give us a window into Achilles before his fight with Agamemnon and the death of Patroclos consumed him. -Nestor is a boring, rambling, old man who's better days are far behind him, and yet every Achaean treats him with the upmo...
15 comments
Read more

California's Gods: Strange Platypus(es)

We've noticed lately a strange Californian dialectical twist: there, freeways take the definite article.  In other parts of the country one speaks of I 91 or 45 North.  In California, there's The 5, The 405, The 10.  Each of these freeways has its own quirks, a personality of sorts.  They aren't just stretches of pavement but presences, creatures that necessitate the definite article by their very individuality and uniqueness.  They are the angry gods to be worked, placated, feared, for without them life in California as we know it would cease.  Perhaps that's fitting for a land whose cities are named for saints and angels.  Mary may preside over the new pueblo of our lady of the angels, but the freeways slither like gigantic serpents through the waste places, malevolent spirits not yet trampled under foot.
9 comments
Read more

Seeing Beowulf Through Tolkien: The Platypus Reads Part CXCIX

After spending a few weeks wrestling with Tolkien's interpretation of Beowulf , I found myself sitting down and reading Seamus Heaney's translation of the text during a spare moment.  I came to the place where Beowulf presents Hrothgar with the hilt of the ancient sword that slew Grendel's mother.  Hrothgar looks down at the hilt with its ancient runes and carvings depicting the war between the giants and God and meditates on the fortunes of men.  In a flash of insight, I thought: this is the whole poem! Let me explain.  Tolkien believed that the genuine contribution of the Northern peoples to European culture was the theory of courage.  The Northern heroes, at their best, were men who fought for order against chaos -a battle they knew they were doomed to lose.  If they were true heroes, their souls would join the gods and aid them in the final battle against darkness and its monsters and again go down fighting, spitting in the face of the meaninglessness...
3 comments
Read more