Demeter, Goddess of Fertility and Agriculture
The cicadas sing and the scent of hibiscus perfumes the night air. Hagesichora, cloaked, slips through a doorway to where Nanno sits on a wooden stool, nursing her son.
-Here
She draws strips of meat, honey cakes and a stoppered flagon of wine from under her cloak, placing them in the goatskin bag at Nanno’s feet. Nanno will take them home to eat, it is too risky to consume them at the villa. Perhaps she does not eat them at all, perhaps she shares them with her husband and children. To Hagesichora, it hardly matters.
-How is he?
-Well, Mistress. He’s feeding well. And his breath comes easier now.
Nanno eases the drowsy baby off her breast and passes him to her mistress. Hagesichora takes him gently. She lays him over her shoulder, where he nestles to sleep.
-He feels heavier
-Yes. He’s doing well
-What do you call him?
-Aeson, if it pleases you Mistress
Hagesichora frowns.
-What possessed you to call him that? A name like that will draw attention to him, and that’s dangerous
-Yes Mistress
Hagesichora strokes the baby as she talks.
-My sisters call him Ouo, the runt. That will be his name, it’s safest. A runt may be annoying but it’s no threat, and once he stops milking they’ll have no reason to hate him.
-Yes Mistress
Moments pass. The sound of the cicadas seems louder, and Hagesichora has said all there is to say. It’s time for Nanno to leave, to spend an hour with her husband and children before being back for Anaxilus’s next feed. Suddenly
-Leave him with me
-Mistress?
-No-one will come. It’s only for an hour. Be back in one hour
-Mistress! It’s so dangerous! If we are found out, I will be killed, and my whole family too
-Go. I have told you
-I did this for you Mistress. I gave you my child so yours might live. Is this how you repay me, with this mad recklessness?
-One hour. One hour only. I have to hold this child once. You know I am not allowed to hold Anaxilus. I have to hold my child for one hour, just this hour
With great swiftness, Nanno leaves the room. Hagesichora is alone with her baby. Only the moonlight shadows decorate the plain walls. She stands, holding him, looking out at the night, breathing the scented air.
-This is madness. I’m completely in Nanno’s power. But if she gives the game away, she and her family will all die. I’m safe there.
-Why am I taking this risk? My son, I’m doing it for you, and for the love I bear your father. You may live to curse me every day for what I have done, but I never wished to destroy you. And I will protect you, I will do all I can to keep you from harm. This is the first time I have held you in my arms for more than a few moments, and it will be the last. I can never take such a risk again. In the future, Nanno will be your mother and I will be the mother of Anaxilus, such as I am. I will never acknowledge you. Nor will Nanno or I acknowledge you to each other, for all that leads to danger.
-But I will be watching over you. Your family will have all the food it needs, and I will keep the Krypteia away, if it is at all within my power.
-And I will make sacrifices for you, to Helen daughter of Zeus, special protector of Spartan women, and to Demeter, who makes the earth winter when her child is gone.
-That they will love you and be kind to you. And to them I will call you by your true name, I will call you Aeson.
Sabreena
No comments:
Post a Comment