Читать книгу Mother of Jesus - Ilia Grinberg - Страница 11

Twilight was gathering. Judah already wanted to ask Joachim to give the order to stand for the night, as the cry of one of the shepherds, walking far to the right, was heard.

“Master! Master! goes rather here.”

All rushed in his direction, but were stopped by the shout of Judah:

“Everyone stand! You wasn't called! Master, please see what is there, you are closer to him.”

“Let's go together,” Joacim answered. “And the way he yells, so there, the sight is not very pleasant.”

,When he and the senior approached the place where Saul was located, that was the name of the screaming shepherd, he was already turned inside out. Although Joachim and Judas were men in years, who had seen more than one death in their lifetime, and royal civil strife, and the revolt, and the cruelty of the Romans, but the spectacle that had opened to them caught them by surprise. In a small dell on the ground in strange, at first glance, poses lay three corpses. The fact that they were corpses was clear at first glance. As Judas said, one of them belonged to a hefty peasant, the second to a flimsy old man with a goatee, and the third was John’s body. The hollow was almost never blown by the wind, and the smell around the bodies that had lain in the heat for three days stood appropriate. Clutching their noses, Joachim and Judah came closer. After being in the sun in the rocky desert, where predators scoured, and over whom scavengers soared all day, it was not so easy to identify the guy.

“Master, let's all things put off until the morning. So much time lay, and another night it will lie. All the same, we do nothing in the dark. Menashe, Pinchas come here.”

“Found? “shouted Pinchas.

“Found, found” answered Judas. “Where are you going? Oh, look! Well, looks, you are my curious.”

On the side of the hollow, the sounds of gagging were heard again.

“That's what kind of people! You say do not go. No,he is rushing. Why do you stand here, uninteresting?” he asked Menashe.

Menashe, who was on the far left, just did not have time for his partner. And, having heard how that turns out, sharply braked, representing now the person to whom the find is completely uninteresting.

“As I understand it, it will be dark now, and our four-legged friends will come to us for dinner. We will sleep in turns, or they may foolishly try to eat us. Pinchas, are you okey? Will you have dinner?

A curious shepherd shook his head, indicating that, he says, no.

“That's good” Judas continued. “About a hundred meters away, I saw a completely dried tree. Take an ax and a knife, bring the branches, thicker. You can still grab the bag and the donkey. More wood will be …

“Master,” he said to Joachim. “we need to be on duty. Take turns. The one who will guard will need to walk in circles around the ravine so that the little animals will not climb to us or to the deceased. How do you think?”

“Do as you think right” he dismissed.

“So we have the wind west. So sleep place is located here. It seems the smell does not reach? The plot is flat. There are almost no stones. Rain is not expected. Who after the spectacle and the latest news wants to have dinner? Yes, master, the youth are rather weak these days. On the other hand, this is not so bad. We will get more.

After eating the bread and drinking it with wine, Joachim wrapped himself in a raincoat and lay down comfortably, entrusting the workers with the fire and other household chores. When it began to dawn, Judas woke him and motioned for him. It was quiet around, the animals either left, or did not appear at all. Scavengers, too, was not to be seen.

“Why didn't you wake me up for duty” reproached the senior tracker with Joachim.

“What for? he was surprised. “If the owner does the work that the worker can and should do, what will it be? You have enough of your worries, to organize everything, to provide us with work, with bread, money, if agreed. And we will do the rest. The order should be ... I was sitting here and guard the fire at night and thought. These robbers we do not know. In the city no one heard of them. So they did not seem to be. This time. Two. Can you imagine what will happen if we show all three corpses to the Romans and start explaining that why? It would not have become the corpses themselves, but on the Roman column does not raskoryachitsya. They will not understand for a long time. They do not need it, they need order and that's all. On the rest they do not care. And three. John will not return. I agree?

Satisfied with a nod of Joachim, he continued:

“Therefore I have here a proposal: these two men bury here. Just we put pebbles above them. It is simple and clear. Like a god day. With a guy harder. Of course, he would have to be buried humanly, but, given his appearance ... Come, let's see. It is already light.”

Trampling around the corpses, then squatting, then moving aside, Judas said:

“I think he caught up with them, but did not immediately climb on the rampage, he waited for them to go to bed. Then he cut the throat huge man. But, either he managed to make a noise, or the old man did not sleep soundly, only he woke up and stabbed a knife in Jonh's back. But the guy turned out to be strong and with his last strength stuck his own knife right in the eye. Strictly to the handle. In general, everyone died. If not immediately, there was no one to help them anyway. So what shall we do with the guy?” Judas returned to the issue of burial. “We must wrap the body. We must find in what. And then, God forbid, who decides to look at the face. His eyes pecked out.”

“No one will not look at anyone.” answered Joachim. “ Is's not a fair, come on. And it is necessary to wrap and bring immediately to the cemetery. Then we bury him. This is the first. Secondly, not a word to anyone. Neither his, nor, especially the Romans. The bodies only we saw, no witnesses. They will ask - not found. Maybe he went to a new place to work, maybe he disappeared. We do not know, right? Tell your workes what to do and how to talk. Will be silent - I will pay, I will not offend. If they open their mouth, they will be next to him.”

“Be your way. Do not be afraid, they are guys with the concept. Do not talk. Do you think I’ll probably send two forwards so that they can prepare the grave? Then, as we arrive, one or two, the guy was buried and ready. And we need to manage here. Bury or bury the stones of these bastards so that the animals and birds cannot get to the bottom. All right, let's go. There is a lot of work, but you need to manage in the light of day. Not in the dark to bury the guy. He, of course, does not care, but we are very uncomfortable.

After a quarter of an hour, Pinchas and Menachem, munching on pieces of bread, went to Tsiporia, to prepare a place for John. The rest, led by Joachim, were engaged in a healthy and bearded man. Soon they were incredibly lucky; Judah found a rather deep gorge in the limestone left over from the winter rains. They were not almond-hung with corpses, they tied ropes to donkeys and dragged them straight to the ground. Skat former brigands down, poured on top of the ground. But with this Joachim, Judah, and Shabtai were tormented. Recruit crumbly, and not lumpy land was very difficult. The owner and the two shepherds were about to throw stones at the remains, but then Judas rescued again. In the shadow of a large stone, he found a small area with even slightly damp soil that yielded to a knife and shovel. Throwing an improvised grave half of the ground, they poured stones from above, collected from the neighborhood. Satisfied with the results, Judah said:

“As good as it gets. The beast does not get to the bottom, and there are no people here at all.”

“Oh, you are good, Judas. If it were not for the land that you found, you would have to fill up with stones alone, but this is not good ” concluded the righteous works of Joachim with authoritative words. “Let's take a break and go away then.”

Tearing a couple of bags, Shabtai and Jude wrapped the body of John in them. And then the problems started. The body was completely numbed, despite the heat of the day and did not bend, so they decided to tie it to the donkey’s back almost along the ridge of the animal, with the hope that the weight would hang on both sides under its own weight after several kilometers. However, the donkey, on whose back they decided to tie the corpse, categorically rejected this idea. He struggled, kicking, striving to hook someone with his hind legs, and, bulging his eyes, screamed so that in Joachim his hair stood on end at the thought that the stubborn animal would be heard not only in the nearest village, but possibly in Jerusalem itself.

Crazy from the fight with a donkey, people tried to find a way out. Shabtai offered to move obstinate cattle between the eyes butt, Jude thought to try to give the animal some water. Joakim rejected both proposals, arguing that the nasty beast would most likely die from either an ax or wine, but would not carry the dead. The solution was surprisingly simple. The second donkey, on which they tried to adapt the body of the dead guy, just stared in surprise at the unusual weight. And that's all. To fall, to twitch and shout a good mat he did not begin.

Soon the funeral procession set off towards the city. Two kilometers from Zipory the caravan stopped. Judah went to explore and soon returned with good news. The grave was almost ready. There were no people in the cemetery area due to the terrible heat and the absence of other dead people in the city today. The second day of an unusual journey was walking towards sunset, when, to put it in high style, the body of a young man who gave his life for the honor of his beloved found peace.

Before the shepherds went to the flock, Joachim personally reminded them of the need to keep their mouths shut, looking at them with a heavy look. People are imbued.