Ephron Son of Zohar Read online

  Chapter Ten Pleasure In Toil: A Gift of Elohim

  Ecclesiastes 3:13

  “We have guests,” said Shelometh.

  Elon, Tawananna, and Shelometh stood outside Ephron's door obviously waiting for him. Though most people were still busy, a crowd stood around the tables in the dining area.

  “Heth?” asked Ephron.

  “Not coming until spring,” said Tawananna. “They are flooded out and in the process of moving to higher ground. He's giving us goats, pigs, sheep, and cattle. He said that there will be enough to start a herd of each.”

  “So who's here?” asked Ephron.

  “Someone we've never met,” said Elon. “But apparently you have. Heth's oldest brother, Sidon.”

  Ephron stopped in his tracks. “I have to get something before meeting Sidon.”

  He wheeled around and returned to his sleeping quarters, leaving his three comrades confused. They slowly followed him, but only took a few steps before Ephron returned with two swords. He handed one to Elon. “Put it on and be prepared to set it on the anvil, blade up, when I tell you.”

  The bewildered comrades followed Ephron, who blew a trumpet, raised his sword, and headed for the forge.

  “Ah, the little wimp,” shouted Sidon across the courtyard to Ephron. Sidon, the oldest person in the village, was head and shoulders taller than most of the men. But he was tanned, muscular, and looked like he could defeat anyone in either tribe. “Remember what I said I would do to you the next time we met?”

  “Put your sword on the anvil, blade up,” Ephron said to Elon.

  Looking at the near-giant who was his uncle several times removed, Elon complied.

  “Now, hold on,” said Ephron.

  “Still playing games,” said Sidon, laughing. He reached into his scabbard, drew his sword, lifted it high above his head and with two hands brought it straight down on the sword on the anvil, nearly cutting Elon's bronze sword in two.

  “Steel,” shouted Sidon. “I'll smash your iron swords as well.”

  Ephron set the bronze sword aside, then turned to Sidon. “Put yours down.”

  “Look, wimp,” said Sidon, “that tiny metalworking shop can not make enough swords to go smashing them like that.”

  “Put it down,” repeated Ephron.

  “I did not come here to waste you puny resources playing games,” bellowed Sidon. “I've spent my life sailing the world, and there is nothing that can cut steel.”

  “Put it down.”

  By this time, everyone within earshot had come to watch. “Let him play his game,” laughed one of Sidon's comrades.

  Sidon raised his sword. “See? One tiny nick on my steel sword.” He then set it on the anvil, blade up, like Elon had done.

  Everyone backed away as Ephron raised his sword and with two hands brought it crashing down on Sidon's sword. It cut into Sidon's sword without leaving more than a small mark on Ephron's sword. Ephron also hit it at the edge of the anvil, knocking it out of Sidon's hand. Sidon and his friends all stopped laughing.

  “It's not so funny when you lose at your own game, is it?” asked Ephron.

  Sidon picked up his sword, looked at it, then looked at Ephron's sword.

  “Can your puny forge fix this?” Sidon was now angry and shook his sword in Ephron's face.

  “I can fix it,” said Ephron. “Can you? Or are you still as incapable as ever of fixing anything?”

  “I am an immortal!” shouted Sidon.

  “Oh really?” Ephron raised his sword. “Do you want me to test that?”

  “That stupid temper of yours always gets all of us trouble,” said one of Sidon's companions. “We came here to help, not get in a fight.”

  Ephron examined, then sheathed, his sword. “If you trust me to hold it,” he said to Sidon, “I'll fix your sword while you watch.”

  Sidon handed Ephron the damaged sword, hilt first. Ephron plunged it into the blacksmith's fire.

  “So what did Dad teach you?” asked Sidon.

  “Manners,” said Ephron. “So who are your friends?”

  “First introduce me to your wife,” said Sidon. “I cannot imagine the little wimp married.”

  Ephron took the sword out of the fire and with a broad arch, just missing Sidon, set it on the anvil and began hammering.

  “We're not married,” said Shelometh.

  “So that's the wench?” said Sidon. “Soon to be queen of all the Hittites?”

  “You are certainly jumping to a lot of conclusions,” said Shelometh.

  “And you certainly haven't seen much of the world,” said Sidon. “I imagine you haven't been past Shinar. Excuse me, have you even been to Shinar?”

  Shelometh turned to Ephron. “Is his brother like this?”

  “Heth is nice and polite,” said Ephron. “Sidon is a sailor. And he usually makes good on his boasts.”

  “This little mountain nobody wanted is soon going to be capital of all the Hittites,” said Sidon. “And you, my pretty wench, will be queen of them all. You said you weren't married yet? How come? Consummate it tonight. Get it over with.”

  “You're drunk,” said Shelometh.

  “He always is by evening,” said Ephron.

  Sidon lunged at Shelometh and Ephron turned backward, catching Sidon's feet, sending him backward and knocking the wind out of him.

  “Sidon, Sidon, when will you ever learn? Some things just never change.” The smiling comrade looked up. “My name is Elah. Allow me to introduce Menta and Hershaw. If this goes like it usually does, Sidon will wake up in the morning wondering what happened to his sword.”

  Ephron smiled and filled the indentation in Sidon's sword with standard bronze. Elah, Menta, and Hershaw roared with laughter.

  “Leave it,” said Menta. “Leave it.”

  “He is always bragging that his steel sword is so much better than bronze,” Hershaw. “Serves him right.”

  “Are you seriously just going to leave him there?” asked Tawananna.

  Elah bent over Sidon. “He’s breathing normally,” said Elah. “Not much we can do. He's too heavy to move.”

  “Besides,” said Hershaw, “until he sobers up, you don't want to be around him.”

  “Well,” said Ephron, “we can at least move him out of the way.”

  It took eight men to drag Sidon away from the foundry.

  “Let's go over to the tables,” said Ephron. The crowd followed.

  “When Sidon's drunk,” said Ephron, “he garbles his facts. But he speaks facts. He's not smart enough to invent clever lies.”

  “We arrived at the noon meal,” said Elah. “And we've spent the afternoon listening to your people and examining this village.”

  “Except for Sidon,” said Ephron. “Who spent the afternoon doing what he usually does; drinking.”

  “You were asleep in bed,” said Tawananna. “How do you know?”

  “Because he knows Sidon,” said Menta. “If the sun's going down, he's on land, and there is wine to be had, Sidon is drinking.”

  “So,” said Elah. “Where do we begin?”

  “At the beginning,” said Shelometh.

  “Not to be making fun of anyone,” said Menta, “but where is that? Zohar decided to withdraw himself from the rest of the world and he has done a very good job. If only you people could read, we could give you tablets with news and proclamations.”

  “But what language would we use?” asked Hershaw.

  “Ah, what language indeed?” said Menta.

  “What's a language?” asked Dumu.

  “The beginning,” said Elah.

  “May I guess that most of you do not know what a language is?” asked Hershaw. Many nodded in agreement.

  “Such splendid, sweet innocence,” said Elah. “Adonai Elohim examined the tower Nimrod was building and decided to divide tribes and clans by how they spoke. They were no longer able to work together on the tower. We are all sons of Heth, Hittites. We can still understand each other because we are all t
he same tribe. But we cannot understand any other language; the speech of other tribes. The sounds that come out of their mouths make no sense to us.”

  “Like the soldiers we met,” said Yovov.

  “Exactly,” said Hershaw. “From what you described to us, they seem to have been Mitanni.”

  “So these Mitanni,” asked Tawananna, “are the ones who intend to attack us?”

  “I believe that you have misunderstood the situation,” said Elah. “The Mitanni were attacked and scattered by the Assyrians, who were attacked and scattered by the Sumerians, who were attacked and driven back, but not scattered, by Sargon, king of Akkad. Perhaps by this time Sargon has assimilated the Sumerians. The Mitanni are hungry and might even make good allies, if you could learn their language. You were probably attacked by a raiding party, looking for food.”

  “Which brings up another point,” said Menta. “Though I do not know about this next business. It is just another point. Like it or not, and you probably do not, several thousand aunts, uncles and cousins are coming to live here in the next few years. You have most to fear from a well-organized army of Sargon of Akkad or the Trojans of Ilion.”

  “And since Zohar has Lamech's disease,” said Hershaw, “he will not be in charge of this city. So he informed us that his choice of a successor is his son Ephron. And he has chosen Ephron and Elon to marry peace children Shelometh and Tawananna.”

  “Now wait a minute,” said Shelometh. “Zohar also agreed to wait until Heth arrives.”

  “But Heth is not coming until spring,” said Elah. “And we are his representatives. Do you object?”

  “Well, no,” stammered Shelometh.

  “Does anyone object?” asked Elah. The crowd was silent.

  “So be it,” said Hershaw. “Let the women, sisters, mothers, wives, make whatever arrangements they wish as quickly as possible. When the ceremonies are consummated, this will be one tribe under Ephron and Shelometh.”

  “One more chance,” said Elah. “Any objections?”

  “The next order of business,” said Menta. “You have excellent hunting skills. With very little training, you will be able to adequately protect your family from the few marauders who might reach this far north within the next year. This place is set up as a village, not a city. While I am not telling you what to do, I believe that building pens for the animals outside and using larger bricks and stone inside the existing walls is a better use of resources. The inner buildings can be taller than three stories.”

  “And tomorrow,” said Elah, “the day after at the most, you should build a bridge, not just a causeway, and invite caravans. You need to send as many signals as many ways as possible that you are a strong people and you will not permit any attack on yourselves, your families, or your friends. The information the caravans take back can do far more to protect you than any temporary wall you can build over the winter.”

  “And you need indoor halls for meeting during the winter,” said Menta.

  “And division of labor,” said Hershaw.

  “I told Zohar that we did not want Ephron ruling over us,” said Anah. “You know that we chose our land so that others will not rule over us.”

  “You may go back to that land,” said Menta. “However, it will be a battlefield and you are not prepared to win that battle.”

  “You are our family,” said Elah. “Our brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, and nephews. We are not here to rule over you. We are here to inform you, to help. Nimrod, excuse me, Gilgamesh, ignored Hattus because it was of no use to him as he built the tower. With his tower gone, this will be one of the four great empires of earth. You could surpass the Mizraim, the Harappan, and the Xia.”

  “Really, the only choices you have are to rule, be ruled, or be destroyed,” said Hershaw.

  “We are so sorry,” said Menta. “We are presenting conclusions. We need to spend the time explaining why.”

  “Do you still worship Adonai Elohim?” asked Zohar.

  “We offer sacrifices every morning and evening to Adonai Elohim,” said Hershaw. “We do not permit the worship of Nimrod's gods. Though everyone is claiming those gods in their own language, so Nimrod's gods are very confusing.”

  “Dumu is taking your place in the forges as of tonight,” said Taku. “So you and Shelometh may lead as many as you need to the Marashantiya River tomorrow.”

  “Every available saw and ax,” said Ephron. “Two men for each saw, one man for each ax, and an equal number of women. Most will be done by dark and not need to return for another day. And I need the portable iron shaduf.”

  “You have an iron shaduf?” asked Elah.

  “More than a dozen,” said Ephron. “But they are up at the rock quarry and attached to rails to slide back and forth. Only one is portable.”

  “I never saw anything like that in Egypt,” said Hershaw.

  “We needed them to make the tower,” said Taku. “They've seen very little use since then.”

  “We also have movable slides,” said Ephron. “We use shadufs to lift stones onto the slides at the quarry and then gently pull them down the oiled slide where another shaduf can lift them into place. It takes a many men, but the operation is very efficient.”

  “So what do you need shadufs for to build a bridge?” asked Elah.

  “There are trees tall enough to bridge the river,” said Ephron. “Enough trees can be measured, cut, and trimmed tomorrow to build the bridge. We have to find a place where the stone on one side is high enough to never be flooded. Then we will have to cut stones to raise the road on this side to the same height.”

  “Please do not misunderstand,” said Menta. “We are not telling anyone what to do. But why does Ephron have to do this? Does no one else have the skills necessary to build a simple bridge?”

  “Ephron is a magician,” said Shelometh.

  “My brother can complete a task in hours that others spend days on,” said Tawananna.

  “You need to learn how to instruct others and delegate,” said Elah. “Sorry, I did not mean to come across as telling you what to do. But we need to talk in the morning after Sidon is sober. I believe that you leading the party to build a bridge is unwise.”

  “Sidon sober?” smiled Ephron. “Taku? Anah? This is your call.”

  “First they tell us that the bridge is the highest authority,” complained Taku. “Now they tell us we can't use the only person with all the skills necessary to get the job done in a single day.”

  “What about your son Elon?” asked Ephron.

  “Elon?” asked Anah. “Elon's never worked in stone.”

  “But Elon has worked with people,” said Ephron. “He's far better getting people to work together than I am. And he understands where the road needs to go. Tawananna is familiar with stone cutting. They need to work together and complement each other. Trust them.”

  “Anah is right,” said Elon. “I have never done anything like this bridge. The engineering and number of people are more than I have ever worked with.”

  “We can do it,” said Tawananna. “You know we have never done anything like this. What was your plan, Ephron? Tell us and we will do it. Why the women?”

  “First,” said Ephron, “pick a good place for the road. The trees are on this side of the river. Build a solid bridgehead. Make depressions for each log to fit in on each side of the river so the logs are secure and will not move, even in a storm. Once you have three logs in place across the river, so that it is safe to be on the logs, have women lashing the logs together and filling in the cracks with whatever material you can find that will not wash away in the monsoons. Have the women also build side railings to keep people and caravans from accidentally falling into the river. Make it as wide and smooth as you can. The trees might be cut by mid-afternoon. However, leveling the stonework, trimming the trees, lashing them together, putting them over the river – this work will take several days, maybe a week. But you will need far more people to fell and trim the trees on the first da
y. When you have a good grasp of when the bridge will be finished, send a delegation to ask for a caravan to come to Hattus.”

  “This is my responsibility,” said Menta. “Elon, Tawananna, have either of you ever seen a bridge?”

  Both shook their heads no.

  “I am not certain that Elah and Hershaw can control Sidon,” said Menta “I am not certain the three of us together could control Sidon. But someone who has at least seen a bridge should be there tomorrow. So I'm going with you. But now all this is yours. You are in control. If you can control it.”

  “So Ephron, your job will be to control Sidon,” said Elah.

  “Just like old times,” said Ephron.

  “But this isn't a game,” said Hershaw.

  “It never was,” said Ephron. “And it's not about control. It's about responsibility.”

  “Without control, you are not responsible,” said Menta.

  “I'll see you before you leave in the morning,” said Ephron. “Tonight, I have another responsibility to take care of.”