"How did you escape from the Land of Dreams, Jesaja?"
"God heard the pleading of the Prophet, shattered the cheeks of all his enemies, and smashed the teeth of evildoers. And when the bright day exploded, the Land of Dreams also exploded, and the suffering all came together to flee headlong in all directions!"
"What happened to the Prophet?"
"He ascended into heaven."
"Did you see him?"
"No. No one laid eyes on the miracle. Those who knew the Lord died in the Land of Dreams. All that remains to us, the Children of the Blessed, are confused visions."
"What did you do after the bright day exploded?"
"I wandered as if inebriated through the Land with many pains racking my body. Day and night merged into one another, and in the end they became one. Then, hunger and thirst tired me and made me fall senseless, and as I stood at the crossroads between this and the other world, I met Father Joker."
"Joker?"
"Verily, verily: our good, dearly beloved Father Joker. He has called this Temple his home for ages, and he carried me here and provided me with all manner of good food and drink. In the years following our meeting, he taught me how to hunt, and he taught me how to find fresh water in the underworld. Furthermore, he taught me how to read so that I was able to study the Holy Scripture and at last could become a virtuous man of God. The time came, however, when Father Joker said, full of sadness, that he now had to leave me to proclaim and spread the word of the Prophet. All should know what the Risen had done, and forevermore lead pious lives, he said. Thus he made his departure, and I alone remained behind in the Temple."
"This is all really very informative, Jesaja. Could you perhaps also tell me what reasons dearest Father Joker gave for this nice collection of bones?"
"Oh, no, no. When Father Joker and I lived together, the dead had not yet dwelt among us. The Temple was a place of meditation and of prayer to Yahweh. One day, however, ages after Father Joker had departed, I heard a rumbling in one of the meandering shafts that connect the World of Night with the World of Day. I ran swiftly to the shaft, arriving at its mouth just in time to see a dead sister come flying out. 'Oh my God, what does this mean, by the raven-black coat of the Prophet?' I cried out, not knowing what was happening. I ranted and raved like one possessed about the dead sister, and called out to Yahweh for help and counsel. Was it possible that the Prince of Darkness himself was playing a joke on me? Or had a horrible war broken out above? It was all the same to me, for I felt mortal fear. But suddenly I heard the voice of the Lord, of our blessed Prophet, who spoke to me gently."
"What? You heard a voice from the shaft?"
"Not just a voice—His voice!"
"And what did His voice say?"
"It said that I had been chosen to take up the duties of the Guardian of the Dead. But I spoke into the hole: 'Lord, you are omnipotent, and I am but a miserable fool before your immeasurable wisdom. I know that your plans are inscrutable, but please tell me where this dead sister came from, and why she is splattered with blood.' Then the Lord spoke, and His voice was filled with wrath and poison this time: 'Do dutifully your service as Guardian of the Dead and do not concern yourself with the things of heaven! For if your little head should brood too much it will swell up to the size of a pumpkin and then burst! And if you should ever dare to go up to the World of Day, I will consume you in fire!' "
"So you obeyed him and took delivery of the corpses that were being thrown down at regular intervals."
"Yes, that is so. To the full extent of my powers I made a home for the dead in my Temple. I decorated them with the flowers that grew in the canals, and I prayed for the salvation of their souls. The Lord praised me for obeying His will so conscientiously and often gave me His blessing. Again and again, He had wise advice for me, and even sent down a fat rat now and then. But now, all at once, everything has changed."
"Oh?"
I suspected something.
"The Lord no longer sends the dead to the Realm of the Dead nor has He spoken with me recently. He has forgotten me."
"And because of this deficiency you had been up there tonight. You wanted to look out for the dead personally and, in case you found any, bring them to the Temple, which you certainly almost succeeded in doing."
"It's probably true that I committed a grave sin, for the sacred prohibition in fact says that I am never under any circumstances to go up to the Realm of Day. But if the Guardian of the Dead has no more dead to welcome, then what purpose shall he serve? Alas, the Lord has abandoned me, and has turned away from his loyal servant."
Yes, but why? I was tempted to ask, but at the very last second, I decided not to because
