Cain (19 page)

pee in the night breeze, and there perhaps, after suffering
a dizzy spell, rolled to the side of the ship and vanished
into the waters. Just one of those unfortunate things. The
level of the vast sea covering the earth continued to
subside,
but no mountain peak had raised its
head to say, Here I
am,
my name is ararat and I'm in turkey. Nevertheless, the
great voyage was nearing its end, and it was time to prepare
for the conclusion, the landfall or whatever it would be.
Shem and his wife had both fallen into the sea in as yet
unexplained circumstances, and the same had happened
to japheth's widow, who had spent
the previous night in cain's bed. Now noah was tearing his
hair out in despair, all is lost, with no women to impregnate,
there will be no life and no human race, it would
have been far better to have made do with the familiar
world they had, and he went on, distraught, How can I
stand before the lord with nothing but this boatful of
animals to show him, what shall I do, how will I live out
the rest of my life, Throw yourself overboard, said cain,
no angel will scoop you up in his arms. There was something
in the way cain said this that awoke noah to reality,
It was you, he said, Yes, it was me, answered cain, but I
won't touch you, you will die by your own hand, And god,
what will god say, asked noah, Don't worry, I'll take care
of god. Noah took the six steps that separated him from
the edge of the boat and, without another word, jumped.

The following
day, the boat reached land. And the voice
of
god was heard, saying, Noah, noah, come forth from
the ark with your wife and your sons and the wives of your
sons, bring forth with you every living thing that is with
you, both fowl and cattle and every creeping thing that
creeps upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly on
the earth and be fruitful and multiply. There was a silence,
then the door of the ark slowly opened and the animals
began to emerge. Out they came, an endless stream, some
large, like the elephant and the hippopotamus, some small,
like the lizard and the cricket, others medium-sized, like
the goat and the sheep. When the tortoises, who were the
last to emerge, were moving off, slowly and ponderously
as is their way, god called, Noah, noah, why do you not
come out. Emerging from the dark interior of the ark, cain
appeared on the threshold of the great door, Where are
noah and his family, asked the lord, They're all dead,
answered cain, Dead, what do you mean, dead, how, Well,
apart from noah, who drowned himself of his own free
will, I killed them all, You murderer, how dare you ruin
my plan, is this how you show your gratitude for my having
spared your life when you killed abel, asked the lord, There
had to come a day when someone would show you your
true face, What about the new human race I had promised,
There was one, but there won't be another and no
one will miss it, You are indeed cain, the vile, wicked
killer
of your own brother, Not as vile
and wicked as you,
remember
the children in sodom. There was a great silence.
Then cain said, Now you can kill me, No, I can't, the word
of god cannot be taken back, you will die a natural death
on the empty earth, and carrion birds will devour your
flesh, Yes, once you have devoured my spirit. God's answer
went unheard, and what cain said next was lost too, but
it seems likely that they argued with each other on many
other occasions, and one thing we know for certain is that
they continued to argue and are arguing still. The story,
though, is over, there will be nothing more to tell.

The translator
would like to thank Tania Ganho, Ben Sherriff
and Euan Cameron for all their help and advice.