Saul and the witch of Endor

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So that the king Saul was overwhelmed, because Israel was sieged by the Philistines, and the king Saul was afraid, and so was the whole congregation of Israel, because the Philistines' spirit was belligerent, and the spirit of Israel was down and diminished.
That night king Saul begged for a revelation from the God of Israel, to know what to do, a revelation in his dreams, a revelation during his sleep, because king Saul was dumbfounded and confused in panic.
But the next morning came, and there wasn't revelation, just silence, and so -even- a next morning yet came, and a next one, and there wasn't revelation at all.
Just silence.




The human distress of king Saul was big, anguished in his heart to death, he shaved his face and dressed like a poor man of the congregation, like a simple plebeian of the streets, and disguised this way king Saul escaped from the battle front, abandoning the soldiers and the congregation of Israel: miles he walked under the twilight sun, to visit the fortune-teller of Endor, Samaria.


And endless miles he walked under the burning sun of the endless twilight, to meet the sorceress in Endor, and she was a witch, a meiga.


And still miles and miles king Saul walked alone, on the cracked and dry paths of Israel, and ended was the endless twilight, and closed was the night for the walker, who was observed by eyes beyond the starz.


And following the sad path of his bleeding feet king Saul entered Samaria when the closed night vanished in the purpley dawn, and the sun did rise in its fullness, and it was the morning, and king Saul still walked more, forcing his legs beyond human strength.


And it was the noon on Samaria, and yet the afternoon, when king Saul distinguished the dusty and white silhouette of Endor in the distance, like someone who beholds a mirage, like someone who observes something surreal, supernatural.


And still was the afternoon of that day when the exhausted shadow of king Saul entered Endor, and the shadows still were perpendicular on the streets of the small city, because the sun was in the middle of the sky, and there wasn't shelter from its ardour.


And still king Saul walked lost by the streets of Endor, shouting out loud, calling out the name of the witch, and the streets were deserted, and the only witnesses on those streets were the dogs searching for water, and the implaccable sun.


And still king Saul called out her name through the thin Endor streets, so he did during one hour, and her name was Lia, and she was a witch.


And still king Saul cried out her name for another hour, and he walked all over the whole town, and the dogs followed him, like they follow the insane man, or the sad lover, and Lia was the name he shouted.


And as king Saul passed by one of the houses of the small city, someone finally opened a wooden and tiny green door, and it was a young woman.


And she said
"I am Lia, who are you and what do you want from me?"


And she was petite, and her stare was wild and distrustful at the same time, and she still was a young woman, because she was 37.


And king Saul fell with his knees on the floor at the door of that poor house, and embraced her legs, and cried like a child, and king Saul was a mature man, and he was very tall, and a hardened man of war, and he cried on his knees like a little child embraced to her knees.


And he said

"I beg you to invoke a dead person for me, I'm begging you to conjure the aura of the prophet Samuel in this afternoon."


This is what king Saul begged crying in that afternoon to the sorceress, because in his desperation he forgot that the God of Israel prohibited the evocation of the dead.


And in his desperation he forgot that the God of Israel demanded that all soothsayer or witch or chiromancer should be expulsed from the land.


And the witch told king Saul to come into her modest house then, and the house was very poor and very small, and the walls were built in adobe and stucco, and the woman had snakes in the house, and the snakes were her company, and she also did foresee the future reading the poison of these snakes.


And a woman like her was banned from the society, and she hadn't a family, and the hermetic arts were all she knew to survive in the land.


And she invoked the ghost of the prophet Samuel, and still it was the afternoon in Endor, and before the spirit of prophet Samuel would speak a word, the woman said to king Saul:

"Why do you lie to me Saul? Do you think I don't know who you are?"


The lips of the king were sealed, mute, and he couldn't say a word.




And king Saul was mute, and his tongue was adhered to his palate and paralyzed, and the prophet Samuel words seemed to come from beyond the sepulchre, and they sounded slow and deep:


"Why did you wake me up, Saul? Why do you ask me things that the God of Israel doesn't want to tell you? He's your enemy now, Saul, and He is going to take the kingdom out of your hands, today.
To give it to David, and David will be the king of Israel, today.
Before this day ends, you and your sons will be sleeping with me."






The spectral presence vanished in the dark room, and king Saul fell with his forehead on the ground, and although he was a strong man of war, his big body was trembling like a pidgeon in the storm, and still was the afternoon of that day on the land.


And the sorceress came close to Saul, and helped him to stand up, and made him sit down on her humble bed, and she gave king Saul a mouthful of bread, and he refused to eat, but she insisted, and she killed her only calf, and cooked it, and kneaded and baked unleavened bread for Saul, because her goodness was beyond the starz.

And she was a witch, because she could read the snakes venom.







Out, on the streets, the dogs still searched for water in the endless Endor's afternoon.