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the scarecrow
evil intentions and concluded
that the crime demonstrated
the existence of a culprit. So
she proceeded to set up scary
figures around her livestock’s
corral to frighten away wild
beasts. These resembled the
effigies that farmers set up
in their fields to scare away
birds but did not save her
herd from destruction. Every
morning she would discover
the disappearance of one
or two head of livestock
overnight. Outside the palm-
stalk fence she would find
the remaining vestiges of this
nocturnal bloodbath. There
were pools of blood that
the dirt had absorbed till it
hardened and coagulated
and skeletons with their
bones stripped clean of flesh
with alarming efficiency—as
if it had been trimmed off
with a knife. Intestines were
strewn about—split open
and begrimed with dirt and
pebbles—as digestive juices
spilled from them, mixed
with cud. The skins had been
flayed from the body and cut
into many pieces as if the
perpetrator had intentionally
destroyed them to ward off
suspicion and to destroy the
traces of his heinous deed.
At first suspicions centered on
wild beasts. Many people told
her that the gully the spring’s
waters had created at the base
of the eastern section of the
city wall frequently attracted
reptiles, vermin, and wild
beasts from the wasteland and
that it was certainly not out of
the question that dieb jackals
had slipped in from there too.
When she asked why jackals
would prefer her animals to
the herds of other people,
they ignored this question
and claimed this aspect of the
mystery pertained exclusively
to the Spirit World, because