and her eyes came alive to stare into his. “Hanse? Did I See? Was it of value?”
He nodded. He was unable to look other than grim. “You Saw, 0 Passionflower.
This time I must owe you, beyond the binding coin.” (Which she had already
dropped into that warm crevasse she called her Treasure Chest.)
Eshi, Hanse thought. Eshi!
A jealous and passionate god, Ils created all the world, and from his bodily
wastes He peopled it. The gods He created from his two extra toes, and the eons
passed and the first-created challenged Ils. This was Gunder, and he lost. He
was hurled to the earth. His daughter Shipri, though, was thrice-fair, and her
the great Lord Ils spared-and couched. By him Shipri became All-mother; of him
she bore Shils, and Anen, and Thufir, and the twins Shalpa and Eshi, their
first daughter, and another; the god no one spoke of. Now Anen was called
firstborn, for jealous, passionate Ils sinned; in rage he slew his firstborn
son, Shils.
Eshi. Much spoken of She was, and prayed to as well, but it was little reverence
she gained. Everyone knew that she was a sensuous beauty who sought out and had
her way with each of her brothers, and indeed sought to bring to couch even her
father. In that She failed; even Ils was not that passionate, and one sin for a
god was enough.
Eshi was fond of jewellery, and so gemworkers took a manifestation of her as
patron. She was known to love love, and thus lovers, of course. Cows were
special to her, and so were cats. Her sign was the liver, which any child
learned early was the seat of love and its younger sibling, infatuation. Eshi!