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the scarecrow
“My tongue may possibly
reveal something that
embarrasses me.”
3
“In the urine of a woman who
has known only her husband
is found the cure.”
The prophecy was inscribed
on soft gazelle-skin parchment
wrapped in a piece of faded
linen and fastened with
straps of colored leather.
Her messenger brought it at
twilight. He said his mistress
refused to accept any fee for
this prophecy until the cure
was effected.
“In the urine of a woman who
has known only her husband
is found the cure.”
WhatcorrelationdoestheSpirit
World see between women’s
liquids and sorceries that blind
the eye? Why does prophecy
keep surprising us with one
marvel after another? Or—
does the secret of prophecy
rest in its marvelous quality?
Would prophecy lose its magic
if marvel were not its mate?
But he knew better than to ask
too many questions. He knew
that what is covert is the Spirit
World’s share and that he had
no right to question a matter
that time had not brought to
the badlands. He knew that
stubborn resistance to a sign
differs from a hero’s stubborn
resistance to enemies with
spears or swords. He knew that
obtaining a prophecy’s text
was easier than expounding
it and that the exegesis of
a prophecy was easier than
searching for the secret
behind a prophecy.
But ...how could he find a
woman in this desert who had
known only her husband? In
an oasis where nations mixed