Historical Setting, 629 C.E. Creek House in the Vosges Mts.
Layla has come to see her mother and she brought a kitten to give as a gift. Now Hannah is telling me it is an infant reminder that the castle fields are seeded with ancient superstitions pretending evil spirits into life. She tells me the cat is supposed to receive the illness and take it from Ana. Hannah, and Ana too, have seen this strange notion put to use too often. It is the idea that an evil or an illness is passed along to another using a particularly cursed animal for transference. [footnote]
“So, Hannah, you think this kitten was meant as a gift of magic?”
“Clearly, it is was a gift given to spite this surgeon’s blade. When the cancer had spread beyond the reach of my blade, some castle witch sent naïve and innocent Layla this magical, so-called, cure.”
“And so, Hannah, what is it you fear, that it will work, or that it won’t?”
“Papa, are you arguing with me because you just can’t let go of your ancient root where Jesus sends pigs hurdling from the cliffs to drown demons? [Mark 5:1-20] Or maybe you are clinging to your Jewish root, burdening a poor goat to carry all the sins of Israel into the wilderness for an annual ritual. [Lev. 16:20-22]”
“Oh, fair arguments, my brilliant daughter! But we both know your mother’s opinion of this and she isn’t going to send this little kitten away to be burned up by witches just because you made a proper surgeon’s choice when you saw the spread of the cancer. I know she knew what this disease was all along. And we both know she doesn’t expect this dear little critter to be a sacrifice to give us a wish for a magical healing.”
Now here is Layla. She’s told her mother she is bringing her a gift, but she didn’t tell her what it was. I’ve to put the little kitten back into the bird box for the grand presentation.
To Layla I say, “She usually only gets dying flowers. Something living will be a nice gift.”
“Thanks, Papa. I’ve been worried she won’t like it when I tell her what it is for.”
I follow Layla and Hannah and the bird cage into the house, wishing there really was some creature that could release us from worry.
[footnote] “transference” is well explained in Chapter III, pages 148 and following of The Golden Bough by James G. Frazer (New Jersey: Gramercy Books, 1981-reprint from 1890 edition) An interesting aside—how ancients circumnavigated scientific understanding of contagious disease and also the use of the term in classical psychology.
(Continues Tuesday, September 10)
Lazarus Ink 