The Rite of Spring: The Student

The Rite of Spring: Fragment 12g

The Student
in which Taynuic listens to the pronouncements of the mouth

One of the easiest jobs I get to do is making notes at first announcements. The House of the Mouth announce the word of the God first in the Chamber of the Word, in the afternoon of the Day of the Mouth. They don't get round to announcing it in the place of justice 'till the morning of the next Day of the Mouth. But you can't get into the Chamber of the Word without making an offering to the Mouth.

Of course, that's how the Mouth makes most of its wealth. A lot of the rich merchant houses pay to have someone at the first announcement, because they can often make a quick killing knowing the word of the God before anyone else. Also, people who've had a serious complaint made against them pay to hear what the judgement is, so that if it's too tough they can run for it before the Hand come looking for them. Mostly the merchants send younger people of their houses, but there's one house in particular - the House of the Three Diamonds - which often employs someone to go, and lately I've had the job often, because I make my glyphs neatly, for all I can't afford a set of scribes' rings and have to make do with a stylus. It helps that I get on well with old Malledich, who is the intelligencer of the house.

So on the afternoon of the Day of the Mouth I paid three of Malledich's gold pieces and took my stylus and wax into the gilded chamber. I suppose the Chamber of the Word is intended to impress. To be honest I find all the gold and the ornate inscriptions a lot less impressive the plain, simple stone and hangings of our own Chamber of the Sands. And the silly chanting voice they use to announce the Word I just find irritating. Still, it's slow, which makes it easier to write down.

When the recitation was finished for the afternoon, I hung around while all the other note-takers stood up, stretched, and wandered out, talking idly among themselves. After a while, a priest came up to me, all tricked out in his fancy robes.

"My son", says he, sonorously, "the recital is over."

"I know it", I said, courteously, "but I have some questions I would like to ask of the Mouth. I wonder if you could spare some moments to help me?"

The priest looked at my ragged tunic. "You have an offering, perhaps, for the service of the God?"

I sighed, and dug out the other half piece that Malledich had given me for myself. I'd have to find some other job to earn the rent.

"Please, if you will, tell me why there are so many cults, and which one is the true one?"

I asked. The priest coughed, and thought for a moment. Then he recited, in the same silly voice the head priest had used for the recitation of the day.

"On the third Mouth of the Ear, in the year of the Hand that Reaches for the Rosy Peach, the Thirty Second incarnation spoke thus 'I am the God that sees all things. Therefore, all shall serve my eye'. But on the fourth Mouth of the Eye, in the Year of the Eye Delighted by the Shining Cherry Tree, the Seventy Fourth Incarnation spoke thus: 'I need my eye that I may see; but if I have no stomach to digest, I shall starve, and my eye shall not see. If I have no hand to pluck, I shall starve, and my eye shall not see. If I have no mouth to eat, I shall starve, and my eye shall not see. If I have no foot to walk, I shall not find the grove where the sweet fruit grows, and so I shall starve, and my eye shall not see. Further: as to see is to know, so also is to hear to know. As to see is to know, so also is to smell to know. Further: knowing is empty if I have no children to pass my knowledge to. Therefore I have my cock, that I may engender you, my children, and my cunt, that I may bear you. And all the other parts and organs of my being, these also are necessary to me.

'Humble yourself, then, my eye, for you are not greater than any other organ; yet do not humble yourself too far, for likewise you are not less. There is no part of me that is less holy than the God, for every part of me is God.'"

That stirred in me. I knew something about the Year of the Eye Delighted by the Shining Cherry Tree, because it was in that year that the demon Kiar lead the Yachorach into the Place, and threw down the House of the Eye. This seventy fourth incarnation must have been the incarnation that closed the Eye, and I realised that this must have been the dictum by which it was done. It puzzled me, because it seemed so mild. '...likewise you are not less...' Yet when my father, or when the priests of the Eye had told me the story, it was that a false incarnation had siezed the High Place, and utterly thrown down the Great House.

I asked, very tentatively,

"is it known that this Seventy Fourth Incarnation was a true incarnation of the God?"

Again the priest seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

"On the first Mouth of the Foot, in the Year of Nose Appreciating the Scent of Roses, the Hundred and Twelth Incarnation spoke thus: 'I am every incarnation that has dwelt in the High Place, and every incarnation is me. Every word that I have said was meet for its time, and, in so far as I have not spoken again, is meet for this time also.'"

I thought about that. Did it really prove anything at all? After all, if the Seventy Fourth incarnation had been a false incarnation, could the Hundred and Twelth not be so also? This did not seem to get me anywhere. I thought again of my other question.

"Please, father", I asked,

"why must I call the God 'She'? Is the God indeed female?"

The priest looked at me very hard. Finally he coughed, and chanted rather coldly.

"On the fourth Mouth of the Nose, in the Year of the Foot Bathed in Clear Cool Water, the Ninety Third Incarnation spoke thus: 'Women, you are the mothers of my children; as you love me, know that I am male, and hold yourselves ready to lie with me. Men, you are the fathers of my children; as you love me, know that I am female, and hold yourselves ready to lie with me.'"

"Father", I asked,

"how is it that you know which incarnation said each dictum?"

The priest looked chillier than ever.

"Have you perhaps a further offering for the service of the God?"

Well, I hadn't.

"Sir, I have nothing more I can give you. The coin I have given you already would have been my supper, and the supper of my father."

The priest snorted.

"Then this is the last thing I shall tell you. It is not known precisely how many incarnations there have been. The first incarnation of whom we keep records in this House is believed to be the Twenty Fourth, but this is not certain. We certainly know all the transitions from the Twenty Fourth incarnation until the Seventy Fourth; after that, we cannot know for certain, but we study the dicta of the God and, by careful study and comparison, try to note when the incarnation changes. But there is disagreement within this House as to whether there was really a transition in the Year of the Ear Listening to Wind in Pine Branches. We have asked the God to help us in this, but She has always refused. Now, my son, you must go."

"Sir", I said,

"I thank you for your time"; and with that, I left.

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