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41
the scarecrow
you described man’s water
yesterday as impure and today
characterize it as sacred?”
“I would not have admitted
that, my lady, if time had
not taught me such a severe
lesson.”
“Know, then, that man’s
water is like a chameleon’s
saliva, which is lethal poison
for vipers but the strongest
antidote for sorcery in man’s
body.”
“I have heard that the
chameleon overpowers the
sorceries of foreigners.”
“The water that exits from
the body is a secret like the
chameleon’s saliva. It literally
kills grass because it is a
herbicide, but purifies bodies
of their poisons.”
“No creature who exists in
the desert could possibly
believe my lady’s statement
as fervently as the miserable
wretch kneeling at your feet.”
“In man’s water resides man’s
cure!”
“You’re right, my lady.”
“What is man’s water, which
fools refer to as urine? Isn’t
man’s water life itself?”
“Man’s water is life!”
5
He came to the temple
escorted by two of his slaves,
who seated him on the mat
in the Chamber of Sacrificial
Offerings. Then he ordered
them to leave. Alone, he sat
erect at the center of the
chamber, scouting the stillness
and fending off demons in the
abyss of darkness. Even so, he
did not hear the footsteps of
the lady in the thawb.
He did not hear her footstep