Inana

 

Adapted from a 5000 year old Sumerian legend

 

Part two: The First War

 

'Ninurta was sitting at his ease on a reed mat, talking of the world and of the hunt. Around him the laughter and chatter of a festival, celebrated in his honour, echoed through the forest. The rich bison hides of his tent were draped with vividly woven hangings, a bright fire scented the air with cedar and spiralled smoke into the blue sky. The midsummer dance had just started and people were twisting and weaving in a graceful pattern to the beat of drums and the soft tones of the reed whistle and bone flute. Ninurta arose to join them, the beautiful Bau, leader of the hunt, by his side. At that moment a messenger from the Anuna burst into the glade. She stopped by the edge and threw her arms wide open, a traditional greeting, and after she had recovered her breath she walked to the centre of the dance and spoke directly to Ninurta. The dancing stopped and a hush settled on the celebration.

"Hero! The People of the Goddess appeal to you. Because of your father, Enlil, because of your superior strength, they are looking to you. Since you are strong, oh hero, they are calling for your help saying, 'Ninurta, not a single warrior can be measured against you.' The Anuna want to advise you about the creature called Asag. There have been consultations with the Ebih. They are seeking to put an end to the Anuna and Asag has taken up their cudgel. Its face is deformed, its location changes continually and day-by-day this terrible force adds new tribes to its cause."

 

 

The fire seemed to die down as the messenger continued with her news, her voice punctuated by hand movements, her eyes riveted on Ninurta.

 

 

"You, Antelope of Heaven, must trample the mountains beneath your hooves. Ninurta, son of Enlil, who so far has been able to resist the Asag? It is beyond all control. No warrior like it has ever been created against you, Ninurta. The Asag is your dark brother. It is against you that it fights, it avows to have your soul, you who reach out towards the earth's divine powers. Splendour! Jewel of the Anuna! You are a bull with the strength of a bull. You are a lion with the ferocious roar of the lion. This Asag, though, he is clever beyond all mortal cunning. My Ninurta, whose form the Goddess blessed, what is to be done?"

 

 

Ninurta gave a great cry so that the heavens trembled and the very rocks echoed. His face darkened and all the joy of the celebrations flew, like a bird, far away. He stood before the people of his tribe and beat his thighs with his fists. When he spoke it was a single word. "Enough!"

 

 

On that day, Ninurta rose and went to battle. On that day the earth became dark. The Anuna trembled and disappeared over the horizon like sheep. On that day the fate of the Ebih was sealed. Ninurta rode the eight winds with his people gathered behind him. In his hands he wielded the a-an-kar spear and the mace. His warriors, armed with clubs, surrounded and beat to death the Ebih wherever they were found. His shaman moved an evil wind to a hurricane - irresistibly it went before him, stirring up the dust, filling up the caves of the Ebih. Under a rain of fire, Ninurta reduced the forest to ashes. Even the earth put her hands to her heart and cried out pitifully for mercy.

 

 

Many of the Tribes of the Stones followed Ninurta's lead and in less then three days he had a war party. Without allowing his enemy to prepare for his arrival, he led the warriors through the Ebih's lands. He killed their messengers in the mountains, he crushed their huts and flooded their caves. He tied together their hands with hirin grass so that they beat their heads against the rock. But not all went in Ninurta's favour. The lights of the mountains no longer shone forth and many young men and women never danced the springtime's return. The world became filled with sickness. People gasped for breath, they were ill, they hugged themselves and cursed the earth. They rued the day the Asag had been born, for the hero caused a terrible poison to run through the lands and his lion heart smiled.

 

 

The Anuna were organised. Their messengers crossed the mountain trails bringing news of the conflicts, thus Inana was acquainted with every movement of the Ebih and their leader, the Asag. The reports were not all favourable, for though Ninurta had managed to inflict mortal blows on the Ebih, he had not managed to halt the rampage of the Asag. Inana was worried and informed Ninurta.

"Hero, beware!" she said, concerned. "You have battled gloriously in the thick of the Ebih. Those of the Ebih whom you have killed are Kuli-ana the Dragon, Gypsum the Strong Copper, the Six-headed Wild Ram, Lord Sama-ana, the Bison Bull, the Palm Tree Lord and the Seven-headed Snake. Ninurta, you slew them in the mountains."

 

 

"But, hero, do not turn again to do battle as terrible as that. Do not lift your arm of the smiting weapons, do not bring the young men to Inana's dance. Ninurta, do not go to such a battle as this, for the Asag is waiting for you in the mountains. The Ebih were not organised, you took them like a hunter. They were not united, for the power of the Goddess was not with them. The Asag is a different matter. It is cunning beyond all human standards." She stepped close to his side and taking his hand in hers, spoke softly. "You who wear the horn of the moon, who is great beyond all measure, I am full of fear for you, for this time you will not equal the Asag. Ninurta, do not take your war band into the mountains."

 

 

But Ninurta, very wise, rose from his contemplation. He shook his head. "This is not a game that I can leave, Inana." Looking up, he glanced towards the glade where the clatter and chatter of preparations for war could be heard. "Your council may be fair, but I can not take it. For good or bad I have my own fate to follow." And so saying, he turned and stretched his legs to join the warriors.

 

 

Pressing his advantage he went into the Ebih's lair in the vanguard of the Anuna. And there they met the Asag. It leapt to the head of the battle wielding the stump of a tree for a club, laying to the right and left and leaving a terrible carnage of broken bodies. It was a mad dog attacking the helpless, dripping with sweat on its flanks. It roared at the land and tore the flesh of the earth, covering her in painful wounds. Behind it, leaping and dancing with the frenzy of the fight, came its war band. Ninurta's people were routed and in terror they fled. None, it seemed, could stand against this mighty warrior. The Anuna flattened themselves against the rocks. An was overwhelmed and he crouched, wringing his hands against his stomach. For three terrible days the Asag and his warriors roamed the slopes seeking out the Anuna. The lands of the north wind were reduced to nothing in the whirlwind of the storm. Its people were finished. They had no solution.

 

 

But Ninurta was not daunted. He howled at the mountain and flailed about in every direction, seeking the Asag. And like a bird of prey, the Asag looked up angrily from his lofty home. He commanded the lands to be silent and a great quiet fell upon the battlefield. Then, without ceremony, the two magnificent warriors faced each other across the silent land. Ninurta approached his enemy. The Asag approached his enemy. The struggle was fierce, the earth herself cried out. But the Asag was the stronger, and knew it. A smile broke across its inhuman features. With a swift movement, it swept Ninurta off his feet and hurled him across the plain where he fell awkwardly, taking a few moments to struggle to his knees. It seemed as if he was finished. But Ninurta had unhooked a bone throwing-stick and had picked up a slim leaf-shaped blade bound to a stout piece of ivory. He raised both over his shoulder and looked once at the Asag. There was a blur of motion. Nobody moved. Then the Asag abruptly staggered and looked wonderingly upwards at the ivory blade sticking out of its gut as if by magic. The Asag's terrible splendour was contained, it began to fade. Like water, Ninurta shook it; like esparto grass, he uprooted it. He pounded its sides and pierced its liver with his dart and, piling its body like a heap of broken rock, he struck off its genitals. And thus Ninurta conquered the terror of this Ebih.

 

 

In the mountains, the day came to an end. The sun bade its farewell. Ninurta washed the blood from his clothes and wiped his brow. He made the song of victory over the Asag's body and gathered the elders of the Tribes of the Stones about him.

 

 

"From this day forth," he told them, "do not refer to the Asag. Its name will be stone, its entrails shall be the underworld, and its valour shall belong to me. The Ebih have been humbled." He turned towards Inana who had stood by his side in the thick of the battle. "I have done all this in the name of the Goddess. For you, now, the mountain meadows will produce herbs, for you they will make ripe fruits. Let the hillsides supply you with rich perfumes: cedars, cypress and box. For no-one else shall the mountain make wild animals teem. You have become an equal to the Ebih. Maiden Inana, you have great powers. May you be exulted!"

Inana looked at him and smiled. The leader of the Black-headed Folk and the organiser of battles smiled at Ninurta. "Great Hero, whose word is like the lion of his heart, you have not fixed the destinies of those warriors that you have conquered. And those that have aided you, you have not decreed their lot. What shall be their fate? Who but you can proclaim it at the head of your warriors."

 

 

Ninurta studied the faces of the assembled Anuna. He spoke first to those who had fought on the side of the Asag - the People of the Emery Stone and the Diorite; the Limestone clan, dreadful in battle; those of the Basalt and the bewitching Granite peoples; the Quartz tribe who caused lightning to be directed against him; the Flint and the Obsidian, whose battle cries had caused terror; the trampling Feldspar and the fierce Slate. Ninurta addressed them thus:

 

 

"Since you aided me not and caused me harm, your names shall be lower than the lowest. The people will use you as a servant. You will be broken and chipped. Your portion will be the smallest and your place the last. There has been too much killing already; in my mercy I will not have you killed. You will be content."

 

 

Then, turning to those of the Tribes of the Stones who had joined his side in the thick of the battle, he said, "You who have suffered the most, whose young men will no longer dance at the festivals of the year, to you I shall give exultation. Amethyst! Carnelian! Lapis Lazuli! You shall be considered great amongst the Anuna. Your names will ring throughout the ages and every person will glorify and treasure you. You are raised up. Where the Ebih were once, so you are now."

 

 

Inana was well pleased and went from there with her black-headed warriors of the lion. She travelled to the mountains and addressed those who still remained there. "Oh Ebih, who live in the mountains, hearken to my words! Because of your elevation, because of your height, because of your attractiveness, because you wore the holy garment and reached your soul up to heaven, you did not grant grace to the Goddess. In your arrogance I have brought you low. You are no more. I have put tears in your eyes and lament in your heart. Birds of sorrow are building nests amongst you."

 

 

Raising her voice so that the mountain echoed with her power, she decreed, "From this day forth I have changed the age-old rituals. I have moved the old ceremonies. I have imposed my victory on Ebih. No longer elevated, no longer high, you shall live as all live, in the heart and mind of the Goddess."