However, he needed a donkey to take him there. At first, he even considered forgetting about donkeys altogether and travelling on foot, but if it took a long time before he was sent to another present, he would have no option but to wander those deserts, guiding himself by the stars at night and, by day, waiting for them to come out. Besides, he would have no one to talk to. Contrary to what most people think, the donkey is a great conversationalist, one need think only of its many ways of braying and snorting and the sheer variety of its ear movements, however, not everyone who rides a donkey knows that language, which is why seemingly inexplicable situations arise, like when the creature stops in the middle of the road, motionless, and refuses to budge even if beaten. People say then that the donkey is as stubborn as a mule, when, in fact, it's simply a communication problem, as happens so often between human beings. The idea of travelling on foot did not, therefore, last long in cain's mind. He needed a donkey, even if he had to steal one, but we, who are gradually getting to know him better, also know that he will not do this. Cain may be a murderer, but he's an essentially honest man, and even the dissolute days he spent in concubinal bliss with lilith, however reprehensible in bourgeois eyes, were not enough to alter his innate moral sense, one has only to think of the way he bravely stands up to god, although, truth be told, the lord has not as yet noticed, unless one recalls the discussion they had over abel's still-warm body. In this toing and froing of thoughts, cain had the providential idea of buying one of the donkeys in his care, by taking only half his salary and leaving the other half in the hands of the landowner as payment on account. It would take a long time to pay off this debt, but cain was in no hurry, no one in the world was expecting him, not even lilith, however nervously and impatiently her body might toss and turn in bed. The owner of the donkeys, who was a decent man, drew up the accounts in his own fashion and to cain's benefit, not that cain noticed, mathematics never having been his strong point. It did not take many weeks before cain found himself, at last, in possession of his own donkey. He could leave when he wished. On the eve of his departure, he decided to go and see how his previous employer was doing, to see if the sores left by the boils had now healed, but was horrified to find him still sitting on the ground at the door of his house, scraping at the wounds on his leg with a potsherd, just as he had been on the day when the curse fell upon him, for god's surrender of him into satan's hands had proved to be the very worst of curses. Much coin, much care, people say, and job's story demonstrates that to the full. Discreet as any fugitive has to be, cain did not approach job to wish him some improvement in his health, after all, employer and employee had never met, that's the problem with social divisions, with each of us stuck in our own place, preferably the place we were born, how then will we ever make friendships with people from different worlds. Mounted on the donkey that now belongs to him by right, cain returned to his place of work to prepare what he needed for the journey. In comparison with the donkey he had left behind in lilith's stables at the palace, the magnificent beast that had prompted the envy of the farrier at jericho, this new mount is more of a retired rocinante than an animal to be led proudly out on parades. However, even the least demanding of independent minds will acknowledge that the beast has good strong legs, albeit somewhat skinny and inelegant. All in all, cain is not ill served, thought the donkey's former owner, who came to the door to say goodbye when cain, early the following morning, finally set off.
Chapter 12
He didn't have to travel very far to leave behind him the sad present of the land of uz and find himself, instead, surrounded by green mountains and lush valleys flowing with streams of such pure, crystalline water as eye had never seen nor mouth tasted. It could have been the garden of eden of now fond memory, for the passing years had taken with them many a painful recollection. And yet, there was something false and artificial about that dazzling landscape, as if it were a backdrop specially prepared for some purpose quite indecipherable to someone riding a very ordinary donkey and without a michelin guide to hand. Cain rode past a large outcrop of rock that concealed a broad section of the panorama and emerged on the other side at the entrance to another valley, less verdant perhaps, but no less attractive than those seen earlier, and there he saw a wooden construction, which, given the shape of its component parts and the colour of the materials it was made from, looked very like a boat, or, to be more exact, a huge ark whose presence there was all the more intriguing, because a boat, if it was a boat, is usually built near water, and an ark, certainly one of that size, isn't something one would leavein a valley, waiting for who knows what. Curious, cain decided to seek out a reliable source of information, in this case, the people building that enigmatic boat or no less enigmatic ark, either for their own use or under orders from someone else. He made his way with the donkey down to the shipyard, where he greeted those present and tried to strike up a conversation, Beautiful place this, he said, but the reply, as well as being a long time in coming, was given as succinctly as possible, a merely confirmatory, indifferent, impartial, non-committal yes. Cain went on, A grand construction like this is the very last thing any traveller, myself, for example, would expect to come across, but this intentionally flattering hint went unheeded. It was clear that the eight workers, four men and four women, had no desire to fraternise with the intruder and made no attempt to disguise the wall of hostility with which they defended themselves against his advances. Cain decided to stop beating about the bush and come straight to the point, So what are you making, what is it, a boat, an ark, a house, he asked. The oldest member of the group, a tall man, as strong as samson, said only, It's not a house, And it's not an ark either, said cain, because arks always have lids, and if this thing had a lid, no amount of human strength could lift it. The man did not respond and made as if to move away, but cain stopped him at the last moment, If it isn't a house and it isn't an ark, then it must be a boat, he said, Don't answer him, noah, said the older of the four women, the lord will be angry with you if you talk too much. The man nodded and said to cain, We have a lot to do and you're distracting us from our work, please leave us alone and go on your way, adding in a slightly threatening tone, As you can see, there are four strong men here, myself and my sons, Fine, replied cain, it would seem that the old rules of mesopotamian hospitality, which have always been respected in our land, have lost all value for the family of noah. At that precise moment, the lord appeared, with a deafening roll of thunder and accompanying pyrotechnics. He was wearing his work clothes, rather than the usual luxurious vestments that he could always rely on to reduce those whom he wanted to impress to immediate obedience without having to resort to divine dialectic. Noah and his family immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, which was covered in wood shavings, while the lord looked at cain in some surprise and asked, What are you doing here, I haven't seen you since the day you killed your brother, That's where you're wrong, lord, we did see each other, only you didn't recognise me, in abraham's tent by the oaks of mamre, before you destroyed sodom, An excellent piece of work that, clean and efficient, and more importantly, definitive, There's nothing definitive in the world you created, poor job thought he was safe from all misfortunes, but your wager with satan brought him poverty and made of his body a running sore, at least that was how he was when I left the land of uz, Not any more, cain, not any more, his skin has healed completely and his herds and flocks have doubled, now he has fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand asses, And how did he manage that, He bowed to my authority, he recognised that my power is absolute, limitless, that the only person I have to account to is myself, that I never have to concern myself with considerations of a personal nature, and that I am endowed, let me say this to you now, with a conscience so flexible that it agrees with whatever I do, And what about job's children, who died beneath the rubble of a house, A minor detail of little importance, he'll have another ten children, seven boys and three girls, to replace the ten he lost, Just like the animals, Exactly, after all, children are the same as flocks, nothing more. Noah and his family had got up from the ground now and were listening in astonishment to the dialogue between the lord and cain, which resembled that of two old friends meeting again after a long separation. You haven't told me what you came here to do, Oh, nothing special, lord, besides, I didn't come here, I found myself here, Just as you found yourself in sodom and in the land of uz, And at mount sinai, and in jericho, and at the tower of babel and in the land of nod, and at the sacrifice of isaac, You've done a lot of travelling, Indeed, lord, but it was not of my own choosing, I even wondered if these constant changes that have taken me from one present to another, now in the past, now in the future, were not your work too, No, it's nothing to do with me, such primitive skills, such tricks intended to épater le bourgeois, are beyond me, time does not exist for me, So you admit, then, that there is another force in the universe, different from and more powerful than yours, It's possible, but I'm not in the habit of indulging in such idle speculations, one thing is certain, though, you cannot leave this valley, and I would advise you not to try, from now on, each exit will be guarded by two cherubim bearing flaming swords and with orders to kill anyone who approaches, Like the angel you placed at the gates of eden, How do you know about that, My parents often spoke about him. God turned to noah and asked, Have you told this man what the boat is for, No, lord, may my tongue fall from my mouth if I lie, my family are my witnesses, You are a loyal servant, I did well to choose you, Thank you, lord, now, if you don't mind my asking, what should I do with this man, Take him with you on the boat and make him one of your family, that way you will have another man to give your daughters-in-law babies, their husbands won't mind, I hope, They won't, I promise, and I will do my best as well, for old as I am, I'm not so old as to turn up my nose at a good-looking woman. Cain decided to intervene, Would you mind telling me what you're talking about, he asked, and the lord responded as if repeating a speech he had given before and knew by heart, The earth is corrupt and filled with violence, I find in it only corruption, for all its inhabitants have strayed from the path, the wickedness of man is great, every thought and desire incline always and constantly towards evil, I repent ever having created man, for he has grieved me to the heart, the end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, I will destroy them along with the earth, I have chosen you, noah, to start a new race, which is why I have ordered you to build an ark of gopher wood, and to make rooms in the ark, and to cover it inside and out with pitch, I commanded you to make it three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits high and to make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and to set the door of the ark in its side, and to make it with lower, second, and third decks, for I am going to bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life under heaven, everything that is on the earth will die, but I will establish my covenant with you, noah, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you, and of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you, male and female, be they birds, quadrupeds or other animals, you must also take with you the different kinds of food eaten by each species, and store it up to serve as provisions for you and for them. This was the lord's speech. Then cain said, A vessel of that size and so heavily laden will never float, when the valley begins to flood, no amount of water will be enough to lift the ark off the ground, everyone will drown and the hoped-for salvation will turn out to have been a mousetrap, Not according to my calculations, said the lord, Your calculations are wrong, a boat should be built next to water, not in a valley surrounded by mountains at a vast distance from the sea, normally, when you finish building a boat, you carry it down to the water, and it's the sea itself or the river, if you're by a river, that lifts the boat, you don't seem to realise that the reason a boat floats is because any object partially or wholly submerged in a fluid experiences an upward impulse equal to the weight of the volume of fluid dislodged, it's the archimedes principle, May I give my opinion, lord, asked noah, Speak, said god, who was clearly much put out, Cain is right, lord, if we wait here for the water to lift us, we will all end up drowned and there will be no new human race. Furrowing his brow in thought, the lord considered the matter and finally came to the same conclusion, all that work to invent a valley that had never existed before, and for nothing. Then he said, I have a solution, when the ark is ready, I will send my worker angels to carry it through the air