User:Hekatef/Stories

How Bes Obtained His Rattle

Bes, as you know, is the laughing midget god. He is the friend of humanity and protector of the household. In the early days of the world, Bes took many journeys, and everywhere he walked, he was beset with the sound of wailing mothers in labor, crying aloud with the pain of childbirth. For so it is with people, and has been since the very start. The god was distraught to hear all the suffering, and he said, "Poor humans! It is terrible that birth should be so painful a thing for them. I will go on a journey to find a way to help them."

Now Bes knew that of all the animals, the rabbit is the most fecund. They give birth in great litters and the doe is hardly the worse for wear. So Bes traveled to Nubia to find a rabbit to speak to for advice.

But Bes was unaware that his journeys were watched by Montu, the war god. Montu had a grudge against Bes for a trick played against him previously. The god said to himself, "There is that ridiculous Bes! He is up to something as usual. Well, I will follow and make sure that whatever he is trying, it will fail. That will even our score." And so saying Montu changed into a falcon and took to the air.

Before long, Bes was wandering through a grassy field and espied a rabbit, and went over to address her. But before he could get close, a falcon swooped down and seized the rabbit, flying off to the southwest! Bes was annoyed, but journeyed on.

Near a river he spotted a second rabbit, and began to trot over as fast as his short legs could take him. But suddenly a falcon swooped in, grabbed the rabbit in its talons, and flew off to the east! Now Bes was very angry, and stomped his big feet.

So next he went toward the sandy desert, and soon enough he spotted a rabbit squatting in the open. Bes looked up into the sky. Sure enough, he saw the falcon circling overhead, ready to seize its prey.

"Bah! Keep away!" yelled Bes, his beard waggling with rage. And as the falcon circled closer and closer, Bes followed it, running underneath all the while, throwing stones straight up in the air to hit it. But no matter how he threw, the stones always hit nothing but air. They fell back to the ground, and as Bes ran, he pounded the stones into the sand with his big feet.

(You can still see the place today where this happened. If you travel into southern Queen's Retreat, you will find a large spiral in the ground showing where Bes ran, following under the falcon as it circled. This is how you can be sure this story is a true one.)

At last the falcon began its dive to grab the rabbit. Bes hurled his last stone with all his might, and hit the falcon square in the beak! The bird squawked and flew off.

The rabbit hopped up to Bes. "Thank you, O mighty god," she said. Bes replied, "Since I have saved you, perhaps you can advise me with a problem. Everywhere I go, women suffer in childbirth, and their wails are a pain to my heart. I wish to help them, so I must know how rabbits manage it." But the rabbit replied, "Bearing litters is easy for us because we have no arms, only four legs. Humans have broad shoulders; that is why birth is so painful for them. You cannot change this, Lord Bes, unless people were born with no arms!"

This news made Bes despair. But then the rabbit added, "You can help in other ways. Do you see the spiral which you have made on the ground? Go into the sea and look for that same spiral. Then, crush it up and use the pieces to craft yourself a rattle."

Bes thanked the rabbit and went on his way, walking straight east until he strolled right into the Red Sea. There he searched and searched on the sea floor for many days. He had many adventures down there which do not come into this tale; but after seven days he came across a mollusk, and behold! its shell was a spiral just the same as the flight of the falcon. Bes did as the rabbit had instructed and crushed up the shell, carefully sealing the pieces inside a hollow sphere of wood, and binding it to a handle with strips of leather.

And that is how Bes created the rattle that he uses to this day, to scare away evil spirits who intrude on childbirth. Although the pain of birth is the lot of mankind, Bes works his hardest to help as he can.