family of eight were the patriarch himself, his son shem and his wife and japheth's widow. Two women should still be enough, thought noah with his unfailing optimism and his unshakeable trust in the lord. However, he couldn't conceal his bewilderment at his wife's inexplicable disappearance and he said as much to cain, She was in your care, I just can't understand how such a misfortune could have happened, to which cain responded with a question, Was I your wife's keeper, did I have her tethered to me by the ankle with a rope, as if she were a sheep, No, no, I don't mean that, said noah, retreating slightly, but she was sleeping with you, and you might have noticed something, Yes, but I sleep very deeply. The conversation went no further, and it was true that cain could hardly be held responsible for the fact that noah's wife got up in the dark and went outside for a pee in the night breeze, and there perhaps, after suffering a dizzy spell, rolled to the side of the ship and vanished into the waters. Just one of those unfortunate things. The level of the vast sea covering the earth continued to subside, but no mountain peak had raised its head to say, Here I am, my name is ararat and I'm in turkey. Nevertheless, the great voyage was nearing its end, and it was time to prepare for the conclusion, the landfall or whatever it would be. Shem and his wife had both fallen into the sea in as yet unexplained circumstances, and the same had happened to japheth's widow, who had spent the previous night in cain's bed. Now noah was tearing his hair out in despair, all is lost, with no women to impregnate, there will be no life and no human race, it would have been far better to have made do with the familiar world they had, and he went on, distraught, How can I stand before the lord with nothing but this boatful of animals to show him, what shall I do, how will I live out the rest of my life, Throw yourself overboard, said cain, no angel will scoop you up in his arms. There was something in the way cain said this that awoke noah to reality, It was you, he said, Yes, it was me, answered cain, but I won't touch you, you will die by your own hand, And god, what will god say, asked noah, Don't worry, I'll take care of god. Noah took the six steps that separated him from the edge of the boat and, without another word, jumped.
The following day, the boat reached land. And the voice of god was heard, saying, Noah, noah, come forth from the ark with your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons, bring forth with you every living thing that is with you, both fowl and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth and be fruitful and multiply. There was a silence, then the door of the ark slowly opened and the animals began to emerge. Out they came, an endless stream, some large, like the elephant and the hippopotamus, some small, like the lizard and the cricket, others medium-sized, like the goat and the sheep. When the tortoises, who were the last to emerge, were moving off, slowly and ponderously as is their way, god called, Noah, noah, why do you not come out. Emerging from the dark interior of the ark, cain appeared on the threshold of the great door, Where are noah and his family, asked the lord, They're all dead, answered cain, Dead, what do you mean, dead, how, Well, apart from noah, who drowned himself of his own free will, I killed them all, You murderer, how dare you ruin my plan, is this how you show your gratitude for my having spared your life when you killed abel, asked the lord, There had to come a day when someone would show you your true face, What about the new human race I had promised, There was one, but there won't be another and no one will miss it, You are indeed cain, the vile, wicked killer of your own brother, Not as vile and wicked as you, remember the children in sodom. There was a great silence. Then cain said, Now you can kill me, No, I can't, the word of god cannot be taken back, you will die a natural death on the empty earth, and carrion birds will devour your flesh, Yes, once you have devoured my spirit. God's answer went unheard, and what cain said next was lost too, but it seems likely that they argued with each other on many other occasions, and one thing we know for certain is that they continued to argue and are arguing still. The story, though, is over, there will be nothing more to tell.
Translator's Acknowledgements
The translator would like to thank Tania Ganho, Ben Sherriff and Euan Cameron for all their help and advice.
Jose Saramago
