The Making of the Lamb Page 25

  “Yes, I can sense it now,” Jesus replied.

  “Let’s start digging! Which way?”

  “There are three lodes under this field, Daniel. And they are all deep beneath the surface.”

  “I don’t suppose you know which of them have silver and which just have lead?”

  Jesus shook his head.

  Driving the shafts was backbreaking work. Day after day, from sunrise to sunset, they chipped away at the rock and hauled the chips to the surface. Using the stash of Roman money, they paid villagers to finish the thatching of their hut. Every night they came home to collapse into their beds. They started on the lode closest to the surface, but they found only lead. The second lode was equally disappointing.

  They began working the shaft to the third lode at midsummer. It was the deepest. They had to keep stopping to brace the shaft with timbers. Finally, after weeks of digging, they reached the lode. Daniel swung the axe and broke away a piece of the light-colored rock. And there, in candlelight, they finally spotted the thin grey veins—the telltale sign of silver.

  “We did it!” Daniel shouted.

  “No, Daniel,” said Jesus. “It was God. He is the source of all we have and all we are.”

  “But look how hard we worked. It shows in your muscles—and mine, too.” Indeed, after the hard summer of toil, there was not a spot of fat left on either of them, and their hard muscles gleamed with sweat.

  “I am sure it is part of my Father’s plan for me, cousin. He challenges me more. I feel myself growing in spirit, not just physically.”

  “Do you know more of what he plans for you?”

  “After all my talking to him, I know nothing more than I knew as a child. He will tell me when the time is right. But he teaches me strength. And that is what I will need if I am to be the Messiah for our people and lead them to freedom.”

  Daniel sighed. He wanted so much to tell Jesus what his own father had told him of the prophecy. But he remembered the promise he had made. It is for God to reveal it to Jesus—not for me or even for Papa.

  They covered the entrance to the shafts and bade good-bye to the farmers in Priddy. The wheat was coming to its full height, and the start of the harvest would be upon them soon. The cousins promised to return with more men, and added that they would be spending more for their supplies. Making their way around the marshes, they saw signs of the approaching harvest on every patch of cultivated ground. It would soon be time for Lugnasad.

  It was Daniel’s task to negotiate with Grengan, and Jesus made it a point to stay away, for the venture in Britain was still the family business of Daniel and his father. They needed an exclusive right to mine the field, before they could hire men and reveal the location to anyone. Daniel explained to the king how he and Jesus had toiled all summer to find the lode. Surprisingly, it took little convincing.

  “Our men could use the work once the harvest is in,” Grengan said, “and it will help secure the prosperity of the Lake Villagers.” The royalty portion he requested as king was modest. “There is yet more silver to be found,” he said, “and I know from the Dumnonii how your cousin Jesus’s discoveries benefitted the people.

  The next day Jesus and Daniel paddled to Wearyall with the Lake Villagers. All about the field at the foot of the Tor the men held their games and contests. There was free-flowing mead and feasting. They took part in the games, and Daniel won the archery contest.

  The women laid out an assortment of treats on a long trestle table.

  “What is this?” Daniel asked a willowy brunette.

  She smiled and cast her eyes downward. “Bilberries with biscuits and clotted cream, sir. It’s important to share the bilberries now, because they are the first fruits of the harvest season.”

  “The offering of first fruits is important among my people, also.” He helped himself to the sweet confection and answered the girl’s questions about his people.

  The young Celtic women were particularly eager to get Daniel and Jesus to sample a dish called “boxty.” Just a griddle cake made with savory meal and milk, it seemed strange for it to take such priority, until they heard the older women chanting a folk ditty:

  Boxty on the griddle,

  Boxty in the pan,

  If you can’t make boxty,

  You’ll never get a man.

  Jesus and Daniel couldn’t contain their laughter.

  A hush fell over the crowd as several young couples approached the center of the field. One by one, the couples turned their backs to each other and walked away. Here and there tears were shed by the man or the woman or a member of the crowd.

  Esmeralda approached, greeting people. Daniel pointed to the diminishing group of couples still waiting their turn. “What is this ceremony about?”

  “Those couples were hand-fasted in marriage at last year’s festival, but it did not work out,” she explained. “They can walk away from each other and try again with someone else at this year’s hand-fasting.”

  “How does this hand-fasting work?” asked Daniel.

  “You will see in a moment,” said the priestess.

  One group of young men and another group of young women then gathered on either side of a hedge. In the middle was a gate with two large holes slightly above head height. Although it appeared that the men and women were not supposed to see each other, most seemed to find ways to sneak a peek through the hedge or some opening in the woodwork of the gate, much to the amusement of the benevolent crowd. Then one of the men stuck his hands through the holes in the gate and one of the women on the other side quickly grasped them in hers. The gate was then opened and the couple embraced, showing their delight in the matchup that occurred by feigned chance.

  One by one, the couples were united to the cheers of the crowd. Everyone seemed pleased with the pairings, except when several women grabbed for the hands of one particularly handsome young man at the same time. As the crowd gasped, his evident intended ran off in tears while the usurper smothered the bemused bridegroom with kisses.

  “No good will come of that marriage, I fear,” said Esmeralda. “But one never knows.”

  “So…they try their hand at marriage for a year,” said Daniel.

  “It doesn’t seem like much of a commitment,” Jesus muttered.

  “It’s not so different from our ways, when you think about it,” Daniel replied.

  Jesus frowned. “How so?”

  “A man can divorce a wife at any time by handing her a get.”

  “But that is by the law of God, not some pagan ritual,” Jesus interjected sharply in Aramaic.

  Esmeralda looked taken aback for a moment. She couldn’t know what Jesus had said, but the sharpness of his tongue was unmistakable. Her mood quickly lightened, though, as a gentle rain began to fall. Along with the people, she raised her arms and spread them in a welcoming gesture. “Lugh is with us this year,” she said. “He will protect our crops from the storms until the harvest is all brought in.”

  “Is that why the festival is named for Lugh?” Daniel asked of the priestess.

  “Yes, partly, but Lugh is also the one who dedicated this festival. He did so in honor of his foster-mother, Talantiu. She was the last queen of the Fir Bolg, the last race who inhabited this land before the coming of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She cleared the great forest so the people could sow the land with crops, but she worked herself to death doing that. She told the men at her deathbed to hold funeral games in her honor so the country would not be without songs. That is why Lugh dedicated this festival to her.

  “There are some who say Talanltiu was a goddess herself,” the priestess continued. “Her name means ‘Great One of the Earth,’ and this festival also goes by a name for the labors of childbirth. ‘Brón Trogain,’ we call it. It is this time of year when the goddess earth begins to bring forth the fruits of the harvest so her mortal children might live.”

  Jesus seemed to have focused his mind elsewhere. Esmeralda asked him if something was amiss. He answered, �
��I was thinking about her taking on the motherhood of a being with two natures, for that is what I have learned of Lugh—that he was of the substance of both gods and giants. It would be a little like being a mortal woman called to be the handmaiden of the Lord God.”

  “That’s too far-fetched for me, I’m afraid.” Esmeralda took her leave of them and continued making her rounds in the crowd.

  As the day wore into evening, Daniel left Jesus to his philosophical brooding and joined in the fun. He was fascinated by the artists and entertainers, and especially the girls who came from far and wide. The crowd was rude and profane in its roaring, but it was all in good fun. Some women shunned Daniel, presumably for his accent or his beard, but far more were eager to enjoy a laugh and a dance with the archery champion.

  Daniel and Jesus spent the night as guests of one of the Lake Villagers. Several times during the night Daniel awoke to a cry from his cousin or the noise of him thrashing about. It was so unusual for dreams to trouble Jesus; Daniel could only remember the time the fever had taken Jesus back in Lugdunum after he’d witnessed that crucifixion.

  When will God set Jesus straight on his destiny? Jesus has found sparring partners among the Lake Villagers, and he still works on his swordsmanship whenever he has the time. Despite his deep sorrow for the loss of Fedwig, he seems as intent as ever perfecting his fighting skill to become the heroic Messiah of the Jews.

  Daniel felt Jesus’s forehead. It was cool to the touch, so at least it was not fever again. Jesus did not seem to be in torment this time, but he seemed very sad. Daniel could not make out what his cousin was saying. Here and there, he heard him say “Joseph,” which was strange because Jesus always addressed Daniel’s father as “Uncle.” Then, for no apparent reason, Jesus smiled in his sleep and stopped muttering.

  Daniel looked across the hut to Jesus’s bed. His cousin was already up, and Daniel could hear the sounds of the Lake Village coming to life. He found Jesus leaning on the deck rail and gazing into the mist that filtered and softened the morning sun.

  Daniel approached and noticed a warm smile on his cousin’s face. Jesus certainly appeared untroubled by his dreams. “There is something I must do here,” said Jesus, “and I want to do it alone.”

  “Can’t this wait?” asked Daniel. They were planning to return to Priddy with a small crew of hired workmen, to start extracting ore and building huts for the workers. More men would join them as soon as the harvest was in. “We won’t have much to show Papa if we don’t extract some ore before winter sets in.”

  “It’s something I need to start now. It will take a few weeks. You will be fine without me. You are the one who organizes the workmen best; you don’t need me getting in the way.”

  “Is this something God told you to do?”

  “Not in so many words, but I feel called to do it.”

  Curiously, Daniel studied Jesus. Whatever he’s up to, he doesn’t want to talk about it. There isn’t any point in trying when he gets like this. “Will I be able to find you if we run into a problem?”

  “Grengan will know where to find me.”

  Jesus

  Daniel left for Priddy as soon as he had gathered his men. After Jesus saw them off, he waited for the mists to clear. Then he set out in a coracle with some tools. He paddled to Ynys Witrin but steered to the left of Wearyall, landing at the outlet of a small stream that seemed to flow from the Tor. He followed the stream to its source in a spring at the foot of a smaller hill. It was a pleasant spot, with bees buzzing through a grove of apple trees. He found a tidy stack of seasoned wooden posts, which he had purchased from the villagers. This was not going to be like the hut they had built in Priddy. I feel the guidance of the Spirit helping me make a structure that will last.

  He took his time digging post holes in a perfect circle. He drove each post into the ground, then carefully notched the upper end of each post the way Papa had taught him.

  Jesus daubed the hut, after which he had several days of waiting for it to cure in the sun. He walked to Priddy to help with the mining. Daniel already had the operation well under way. At one point during their labors, Daniel paused. “I heard from one of the workmen that you’re building a hut in Ynys Witrin.”

  Jesus kept his silence.

  After a few days, Jesus returned to Ynys Witrin. By then the sun had cured the walls, and he was ready to construct the conical thatched roof. He cut trees for the upright beams that would rest on the wall and then rise at an angle to a high point above the center of the hut, where they would be gathered.

  The next day Jesus started chopping down trees for the angled upright members. After cutting down several and trimming the trunks to form each upright piece, he cut a notch in the bottom ends to form the joint with a corresponding tongue he had carved into the exposed upper ends of the upright posts, which were imbedded in the wattled walls. He looked up from his work and was surprised to see Grengan leading a large contingent of workmen to the site.

  “You’re early,” he said.

  Grengan laughed. “It’s our custom to gather from the surrounding villages any time a roof is being raised—we can finish in a day. We call it the ‘roof-raising.’”

  They marveled as Jesus finished the joinery to secure the roofing uprights to the wattle-work. It was more stable than the lashings the Celts used, which had to be redone from time to time as their buildings aged.

  Grengan assigned a few men to help Jesus finish off the remaining uprights, while the others raised the structure. Within hours the framework was done, just as the women of the village approached bearing mead and food for all. For the next hour they feasted and sang, and then they began the thatching. Grengan organized the men into teams that began competing to bundle up the thatch reeds and secure them to the roof frames the fastest, as the women and children cheered them on. As the sun set it was done.

  The next day, while the men went to work on their harvest, Jesus brought out several amphorae of wine from his stocks, and with the help of a few women he prepared a special feast. At the end of the day, the villagers gathered.

  Jesus stood before them. “I want to thank you all for completing the roof.”

  Grengan scoffed. “It is unnecessary for you to go to all this trouble.”

  But the villagers, eager to partake of the feast, quickly shouted him down.

  Jesus laughed and poured out the Gallic wine.

  In the middle of countless toasts, Grengan rose. “What is the purpose of your hut, since everyone in your party is welcome to stay at the Lake Village?”

  “That is the secret of the Lord,” said Jesus. “But it will soon be revealed.”

  The name for the structure near the spring at the foot of the Tor quickly caught on among the villagers. When families passed by the lonely oversized hut on Ynys Witrin, Jesus often heard parents telling the children it was called the “Secret of the Lord.” He spent several more days constructing interior walls and furnishings, including a large bed with a wattle platform. It was now the most grand and comfortable house on the island, but Jesus returned each night to stay among the Lake villagers.

  Daniel

  The harvest season began in earnest a few days after Jesus completed the mysterious hut on Ynys Witrin. Over several weeks, the people of Lake Village and the surrounding places raced to gather in the harvests from the fields before the onset of cold weather. Possible storms could lay the crops to waste if they struck when fruited stalks were rising high on the fields.

  Daniel returned to the Lake Village for the peak of the harvest season. With all the workmen needed on their farms, there was nothing for him to do in Priddy. He walked on the deck behind the hut he shared with Jesus in the Lake Village. Sure enough, his cousin was back out on that little spit of ground that extended from the seaward side of the settlement and remained above the water at high tide. He watched his cousin for a while. Jesus gazed toward the sea, as if his vision could pierce the thick fog. Then he turned his attention to working the san
d at the water’s edge, using only his hands. Jesus had never told Daniel what the sand structure was, but over a few days it had taken a distinctly recognizable form. There was just enough clay mixed into it to hold the structure together. Eventually Daniel realized that it was a model, marvelously complex and fragile, of Jerusalem.

  Daniel continued to watch Jesus, who didn’t seem to be himself. It was a month now since he had left Daniel to his own devices to manage the mining operation at Priddy. First there was that mysterious structure that Jesus had built on the island, and now he was working on this sand castle. True, with all the villagers occupied with the harvest there wasn’t much to be done at the moment, but this wasn’t the first time in Britain where they had encountered a period where the smelting or mining had to stop when their helpers were needed urgently in the fields. That was usually the time for them to head out and explore. Does Jesus even care anymore about the success of the venture?

  Jesus stared intently into his model. He shook his head as if something was not quite right.

  The model was a crazy thing to build, Daniel thought, but what could be wrong with it? Everything seemed perfect, just as Daniel remembered David’s City. Then suddenly, Jesus jumped right into the model and began tearing down the temple structure.

  “What are you doing?” Daniel shouted. “You’ve been working on this for days. Now you’re destroying it.”

  “I am making it what it should be,” shouted Jesus. “This is the New Jerusalem, not the Old.” Jesus tore away the highest section of the slightly hardened sand.

  “But you’re ruining the temple. What is Jerusalem without the temple? It’s the house of God!”

  “No. God is everywhere,” said Jesus. He was working frantically on his knees in the section of the model where the temple had been, scooping away the remaining bits of the crumbled structure. “The New Jerusalem does not need a temple. I am the only temple the people will need.”

  Daniel’s jaw dropped. He recalled his glimpse in Nazareth of his cousin in glory. “What are you saying, Jesus? Will you take the place of the temple as the center of worship for all the people?”