Chapter 13

AtthYs was excited! He was waiting in front of his uncle’s house shifting nervously from one foot to the other. Kiro watched him grinning, “Calm down cousin! You will meet the Great Mother soon enough! Take care! She may bite your head off if you come to close! She’s dangerous and has eaten more than one of her lovers!”

Then Kiro called back to the house, “Where are you high-born guests! AtthYs is giddy with excitement! Hurry up, let’s start! What are you doing boys, still dressing up for the girls? My friends are waiting!”

Tsemo was at least as excited as AtthYs. For the first time in his life he may have the chance to meet a deity in real! Was he something special, he Tsemo the wispy boy found and raised by a half-blind woman? He was told that shamans did meet the deities in dreams only! Tsemo speculated, was the Veiled One riding the sedan really a goddess, was she really Great Mother, or was she just a sham of the Galli, purposely installed to rule the city and the country? His teacher, the High Shaman, had always warned his novices: “Don’t trust your eyes! Don’t trust your ears! Trust your heart only! Sorcerers may always be able to trick your senses, but never your heart!” Nonetheless Tsemo was tense like bow ready to fire. Another thought crossed his mind: If Agdistis was real, if the veiled woman really was the Great Mother, was she also the Great Mother all druids and shamans were talking about? Was the Veiled One Nanna, the spouse of Balder? He had to solve the riddle! What had his old teacher told him? “Take your holy flute! Pipe a question! If she is really a deity and not just an evil apparition she will answer your question!” Tsemo grabbed for the flute. It was still attached to his necklace of bones. The flute was there! Relieved he urged the others, “Let’s hurry! I want to have a good look at the Great Mother! We are late!”

At the avenue, at all alleys, wide and small, even on laneways citizen and pilgrims were pushing and pressing forward to arrive on time at the city square. Kiro, who knew the town like the holes of his pocket took rat-runs, crossed gardens, flashed through crammed sheds and closed down shops till they finally ran into his friends waiting at a fountain. “Kimi, Nilo, Vladi, my friends!” he introduced the boys to the sun seekers. “Let’s hurry! The thundering of the big drum has already announced the opening of the procession.”

Kimi and Nilo took the lead. Laong side by side with AtthYs took after the two, and Aegir with Buri followed edging their way through the crowd. Vladi, who was a head shorter than his friends, took Tsemo’s hand and dragged him along. “Faster! Faster!” he urged. “We have to keep up with the others! If we lose them now, we will never find them in the crowd!” Moments later they were pushed out of their way by pilgrims, praying and singing. “Shitkickers!” Vladi cursed, “They should stay in their stinking homesteads and not annoy noble citizens!”

The agora, the big city square, was alive with people of all ages. At first glance there seemed to be no place left for the procession to cross the place to the altar at the square’s western end. Neither Tsemo nor Vladi were able to look over the heads of the grown ups populating the square because they were too short. “We have to edge our way to east-side of the square, to my uncle’s house! Give me your hand.” Even before Tsemo could ask why, Vladi began to worm his way through the crowd pushing the people and pulling Tsemo along. Some People complained, others just shook angry their heads and some out-of-towners even threatened to beat up the “cheeky city boys”. Arriving at the other side at the shops surrounding the town-square Vladi heaved a sigh of relief, “Uncle, uncle!” he shouted with loud voice to a fat man on the roof of a two-story house, “Can I and my new friend come up too? We can’t see the altar from down here!”

He didn’t wait and pushed Tsemo into a passage-way between the houses. Taking a ladder they climbed up to find a place at the already overcrowded flat-roof. “That’s Tsemo, the shaman!” he tried to impress his annoyed uncle, “Look dearest Uncle!” Tugging at his uncle’s sleeve, “Tsemo is a famous shaman from a famous clan upstream! He has come from far away to take part on the celebration! He has to have a good view of the Great Mother.” When his uncle growled, Vladi turned to begging, “Please let us stay dear uncle, I promise never to pilfer sweets in your shop anymore!” The fat man eyed the Tsemo suspiciously but then put a good face to the matter, “Seems pretty young for a famous shaman!” he grumbled, “Looks more like one of your buddies.”

The uncle’s wife, even fatter than her husband, sized Tsemo up and than smiled, “Let the boys stay! Kiro’s mother told me of her guest! They are famous! They are on their way to Ta-Seti, a country far, far away! ” and then she addressed Tsemo “Welcome at our place, dear Tsemo. Meeting you at the street I never would guess you are a shaman! You look so cute! The shamans I know look much more dignified and are much older!” turning to her husband, “He really looks cute, just like the slave-boys, you like so much!

Just then the procession arrived at the agora therefore neither Tsemo nor her husband had to answer the question! The people on the square turned their heads like on commands towards the avenue trying to get at least a glimpse of the splendour of the procession coming down from the temple town. The smaller ones rose on tiptoes to get a look, but mostly in vain. When the procession arrived at the square the crowd felt silent but just for a moment and then cheers rose into the air praising the Great Mother!

~.~.~

The procession was headed by an imposing man carrying a banner waving in the breeze coming from the Black Sea. Two young galli marched on his site blowing big curved horns made of the headgear of wild goats. The rhythmical hooting drowned out the cheers. When the hooting faded the chiming of cymbals and harps filled the air produced by six young musicians in loincloth. The soft melody announced a group of temple servants swaying censers. Then the next group entered the city square. Suddenly the chiming of cymbals was drowned out by the admiring cheers of the waiting citizens and pilgrims. For the onlookers further away the Sedan chair with the Great Mother looked like a boat gliding on the top waves. The waves however were the heads of the people on the square.

The sedan chair with the Great Mother was carried by two dozens of young nearly naked priests with garlands of spring-flowers around their necks. The beautiful adorned young men were nearly invisible, because a school of graceful maidens were dancing around the sedan. These were the maiden everybody was waiting for, the girls called Daughters of the Great Mother! The young maidens looked like bell-flowers in their long flowing dresses. The garment covered the girls from the head to toe. The garments were open in the front. Therefore every dancing step and the lightest blast of air revealed the graceful and delicate bodies of the maiden hidden by the wide cloak. Every boy, every lad and every adult man tried to catch a look of the flowering bodies. Every girl, every young lady and every woman kept a jealous watch over the delicate bodies of the dancers.

The citizens tried to guess which of the Daughter’s of the Great mother came from what family. But in vain! The faces of the dancing beauties were covered except for a small slit around their eyes. But this small gab was covered by a net.

The Great Mother sitting enthroned on the sedan’s seat was also covered from head to toe with a wide flowing coat and her eyes were concealed by a grille. She looked like a statue. But she was alive, because her head turned once in a while fixing a bystander or another from behind the grille. A murmur went through the crowd, “The Great Mother is searching the crowd for a young man, the young man she wants to make her husband! Look! She is searching! Her head is moving. Who will be the chosen one! Which of the young men will be honoured to become her spouse? Which of the young men will be honoured to live with her at the fountain of youth?” Her gaze made the young men’s flesh crawl in a thrill of pleasure and fear. Elderly priests in wide coats followed the sedan reciting prayers while ageless nuns saying rosaries tailed the procession.

Tsemo searched the crowd for his friends, “Look, Vladi there they are in front of the altar!”

“Where?” Vladi asked “I can’t recognize your friends!”

“Look, the foxy-haired guy in the second row and the black-haired besides him. Look, Aegir and Buri have trouble to hold back AtthYs. It seems he want to charge to the altar.”

“Yes, I can see it! Kiro, Kimi and Nilo are in front of AtthYs. They try to push him back!” He turned to Tsemo, “Kiro feels responsible for his cousin! He has to keep him from the suicidal undertaking to become the chosen of the Great Mother, he told me. Kiro calls AtthYs a mad dog! Last year he already tried to attract the attention of the man-eating monster!”

“Why are you calling her a man-eater? She’s said to be an eternal being, a goddess!” Tsemo remarked, searching the crowd on the square nervously, “But where is Laong, you know the novice, my friend? I can’t locate him! Do you?”

~.~.~

Not until Aegir and Buri together with Kiro’s buddies  were standing in front of the magnificently decorated altar Aegir realized Tsemo’s wasn’t with them. “We lost Tsemo! Hi Buri, we lost Tsemo!” rising on his tiptoes and searching the crowd, “He is short like a kid! He sure got lost in the crowd!”

“No problem! The little shaman was with Vladi. Vladi is street smart and sly like an old dog! He will not get lost nor will Tsemo. Vladi has a fancy for mysterious people.”

AtthYs tenseness was contagious. As long as the procession was still in the big avenue he shifted from one foot to the other, however as soon as the parade arrived at the city square his face turned white and he froze in his tracks.

“Don’t faint!” Buri warned AtthYs and put an arm around his shoulder! “Don´t pass out, friend! Do you believe Agdistis, the Great Mother, is hot for a pussy boy? She only devours strong men!”

“Like you?” Aegir teased his curly-headed friend, “She sure would like to press a hot black man to her breast!”

“And drink my blood, you silly! No way!”

At the square the people formed a line of honour along the route the procession took to the raised plattform of the altar. All the citizen and pilgrims bowed their heads in worship. They lowered their eyes and avoided to look straight up to the Great Mother! All with exception of AtthYs´. He stood tall like a tree and gazed straight up to the veiled goddess. His eyes nearly popped out of his head because he tried so hard to penetrated the grille covering her eyes. He wanted to look into her eyes. He stood there like a tree swaying in a tempest. Aegir and Buri had to support him left and right, while Kiro, Kimi and Nilo kept him from falling forward.

When the priests lifted the sedan with the great Mother onto the altar and the horns announced the beginning of the worship service the citizen and pilgrims fell down on their knees with exception AtthYs and his companions. The Great Mother rose from the sedan chair, standing tall the spread her arms to bless the crowd. Inevitable her eyes fell onto the group of young men at the foot of the altar. She searched for the reason of their misconduct and by intuition she knew it was the young man in the centre. The reason was AtthYs. The Great Mother fixed her eyes on the young man to read his mind.

AtthYs couldn’t make out her mesmerising eyes behind the grille but he had the feeling of thousand of arrows stabbing his mind and his body. He yelled! His body started shaking, his legs turned to jelly. The convulsions didn’t last more than a moment then his mind went blank. In this moment a high-pitched, clear sound flew like a arrows across the square. The sound hit AtthYs` eardrums, forced open his eyes, it wiped away his dizziness and he became aware of his surroundings again. He blushed and felt ashamed because everyone around seemed to stare at him. However the people hadn’t turned their heads at him. They all were searching for the source of the clear sound which had drowned out the music of cymbals and harps and mesmerized Agdistis, the Great Mother.

It was Tsemo’s flute which had caused the sudden change. Tsemo had witnessed AtthYs’s strange behaviour from his observation point on the roof of Vladi’s uncle’s house and intuitively he had been sure about the reason. “The Great Mother is hypnotizing AtthYs! She’s trying to deprive him of his soul.” he whispered to Vladi. At lightning speed he raised the holy flute to his lips. Sending a quick prayer to the three Norns, the mother’s of destiny, Tsemo charmed the highest and clearest sound possible with his flute. This sound left the flute darted across the square to the Great Mother pierced her mind and in the next moment her force was broken. Hit by the clear sound she had to shut her eyes and was AtthYs free. The grey veiled body shrunk back in her sedan and for a moment she looked like a discarded old rag. “She isn’t a real goddess, she is a creature of the priests, the Galli!” he muttered.

The folks however didn’t realize this change because at the moment the beautiful maiden in their bell-flower-like coats began to dance around the flower-decorated altar.

~.~.~

While Laong pushed his way through the dense crowd populating the square with Aegir and the others he suddenly missed Tsemo and Vladi. He got worried and immediately turned back to search for his friend. Just a moment he himself was lost in the crowd. He decided to shove his way back to Kiro’s father’s house at the river. However he was not able to fight his way back because the dense crowd pushed forward to the altar.

Laong’s only hope was that Tsemo had kept close to Vladi who as a local resident knew the town as his own pocket. Stuck between the sweating spectators he suddenly remembered Vladi’s curious way to size Tsemo up. Almost instantly he remembered the way he himself had sized Tsemo up the first time they met. His heart skipped for a beat! Had Vladi fallen in love with Tsemo? He had to know and he swore to himself to prevent it. Tsemo was his!

A high and clear sound of flute pushed Laong out of his thoughts. It was the sound of Tsemo’s holy flute, because he had listened to this sound. Laong was sure that must be close. Again he searched between the people on the square. In vain! Then he began to scan roofs of the houses surrounding the place. There Tsemo was on the roof of a house on the side opposite the altar! Laong pushed his way to the house and moments later he had entered the roof and barged in between Tsemo and Vladi. “Praise all you Holy Beings! Praise to the Norns!” he burst out, “Here you are, my Tsemo!” Still out of breath he put an arm around his friend and kissed him neither caring for Vladi nor his uncle and the others. Vladi looked surprised, but before he could utter a word Laong bent over with a big smile and gave him a peak on the cheek, “Thank you for saving my friend, dear brother. You took a load of my mind! I was o worried something bad happened to my love!”

Vladi was a rascal, but one with a good heart and a sure sense for other people’s feelings, “I like Tsemo! I adore him!” Vladi smiled bravely at Laong. “I never intended to take him away from you. But” he stuttered, “But, I would like to have him as a friend too!”

At the opposite side of the square at the foot of the altar the clear sound of Tsemo’s flute had startled AtthYs out of his emotional numbing. His head was throbbing. He opened his eyes and immediately closed them again. The world around him was spinning and the sun light was unbearable. When he opened his eyes for a second time his dizziness was gone and his eyes caught sight of the beautiful maidens in their bell-flower-like coats dancing around the altar of the Great Mother.

AtthYs was unable to avert his eyes from the bewitching maidens. He had no eye for the Great Mother slumped back defeated in her seat. His heart jumped for joy! This was the moment he had been waiting for, waiting for all his life long and not only he, no! All the young men crowed in front of the altar had only eyes for the dancing maidens in their free-flowing dress which was displaying their blossoming bodies more than concealing them.

~.~.~

There were two reasons all the young men in marital age had edged forward to get a place immediately at the altar. The first, the minor one, was to have the best look at the Daughters of the Great Mother. The second was the one of greater importance. At the end of the ceremony at the first day each of the maiden would take gay coloured feather out of a basket at the feet of the Great Mother and offer it to one of the young men. The young man who got one of this feather was the happiest of the whole world and naturally was met with envy by all who came away empty-handed. And this was the secret of the gay feathers. While the Great Mother was choosing her mate with the strength of her mind, the maidens were choosing their future husbands with these feathers. And while the young man chosen by the Great Mother was found dead at the end of these days and the young man chosen by one of her maidens married the beauty and the wedlock initiated at this ceremony lasted a lifetime.

Kiro, Kimi and Nilo were not the objects of this serious game because f their age. Aegir and Buri who had passed the rites of passage already were marriageable and in a way rivals of AtthYs. The young fisherman trembled with excitement and couldn’t avert his eyes from the dancing maidens. Time and again he whispered to Aegir and Buri pointing at one of the dancing girls, “Look at her, how graceful, how beautiful! A body like a nymph! Look her slender legs. Look her tender breasts, her graceful bottom.” He didn’t talk of one of the maidens in special; he even wasn’t able to do so, because the maidens buzzed around the Great Mother like bees around a honey-pot. Aegir who also admired the beautiful spectacle happily put an arm around Buri shoulder and began to tease AtthYs. “Of which girl are you talking, AtthYs? The petit girl? The slender one? The one with the big breasts? Or the one with the broad haunches?”

As AtthYs didn’t answer but continued to rave, Buri asked him, “Do you recognize a single one of them? They all are veiled. I would like to see her face to face before I let me hustle away!”

Now it was the boys chance to reveal that they had recognized some of the maiden. Kimi whispered to Aegir and Buri, “The slender one! Look! She is our neighbour’s second daughter. She is nice looking but she is a beast. She always hits her little sisters and teases boys.” Nilo pointed to a fat one, “She’s my aunts daughter!” he told Aegir, “Don´t marry her! She is a lazy chatter-box.” then he conspiratorially, “But she is good for a ride, I am told by my big brother!” Kiro grinned, “Look the petit one, Buri! She is really sweet! I bet you five to one she will not survive the first night with a bull like you!” Aegir broke out in laughter and poked Kiro in the ribs, “How do you know? Have you slept with Buri? I tell you a secret, Buri can be sweet like a kitten!” AtthYs however didn’t listen to the wisecrack of Kiro, Kimi and Nilo. He had only eyes for the girls.

Now the ceremony had reached the climax. The maidens lined up in front of the Great Mother. Walked up to her, saluted her by bowing deeply and in return received a coloured feather out of her hands. Then a new dance of the Daughters of the Great Mother began. Looking like gracious lovely bellflowers in their flowing coats they moved down the stairs of the altar hardy touching the ground. At its foot they lined up and animated by the sound of flutes, timpani and cymbals joined hands began a dance in front of the altar. The heart of the young men began to beat irregularly, there stomachs cramped, some even became sick with excitement, other closed their eyes awaiting the thundering beat of a drum. But the Daughters of the Great Mother danced on, moved in circles and then joined hands again to dance a ring-a-ring of roses. Then unexpectedly a single drumbeat stopped the music and the maidens began to move like a swarm of butterflies. Like butterflies in spring are dancing from flower to flower in search of honey the Daughters of the Great Mother danced from one young man to the next in search for the one they wanted to bewitch. They touched this young man with colourful feather, then danced on to the next touching him and then danced to another. The intriguing spectacle went on and on and the marriageable youngsters became jumpier and jumpier with every bantering move of the maidens. The tension of the young men became nearly unbearable. In breathless silence both citizens and pilgrims were following the spectacle waiting for the redeeming moment when another thundering drumbeat put an end to the spectacle.

Finally the drumbeat stopped the spectacle. The maiden stood stiff as statue but of a blink of an eye then one after the other moved forward and with a deep curtsy presented her feather to the young man of her choice. The tension of the citizen and pilgrims made way for a thundering applause: Cheers rang up and drowned the lovely tune of the flutes, the timpani and the cymbals.

~.~.~

The tension of AtthYs reached climaxed when the veiled maiden in her shimmying coats moved like butterflies from one young man to the other. Most of the butterflies had already chosen a young man. Only some of the Great Mother’s lovely daughters were still examine the rows of young man for the one to be the chosen one. AtthYs belonged to the latter group.

“Calm down! Calm down!” Aegir tried to caution him, “It’s up to the Great Mother only. She chooses the one for each of her Daughters! She only knows which two people will fit together for a life-time!”

AtthYs just shook his head in desperation, when Kiro whispered excitedly, “Watch out, watch out AtthYs you will be the next!”

“No! No! Never!” he stuttered and nearly fainted when a beautiful maiden approached him light-footed. Neither AtthYs nor the others could see her eyes, but all six sensed that they were studied through the grille. The careful examination seemed never to end. Then the veiled maiden touched with her colourful feather one after the other. With the tip of the feather she touched Kiro on the nose. This made him sneeze. She touched Kimi and Nilo behind the ears. This made them giggle. She caressed Aegir’s foxy mane for a long time with the feather tip and afterwards tried to tame Buri´s night-black curls. AtthYs in the centre of the group was wishing the ground would open and swallow him, but then the unexpected happened. The beautiful maiden bowed her head and with grace of a princess she handed him over the feather. AtthYs accepted the gift with shaking hands and a face white like virgin snow. When she fluttered back to join the other at the altar of the Great Mother AtthYs stood still like a poker. Not a single word passed his lips.

~.~.~