An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit (Ishmael 1) - Page 12

I sat there for a minute, trying to figure out how to stop playing dumb. “Okay,” I said at last. “I guess I’d expect it to be their creation myth.”

“Of course.”

“But I don’t see how that helps me.”

“Then I’ll spell it out. You’re looking for your own culture’s creation myth.”

I stared at him balefully. “We have no creation myth,” I said. “That’s a certainty.”

THREE

1

“What’s that?” I said when I arrived the following morning. I was referring to an object resting on the arm of my chair.

“What does it look like?”

“A tape recorder.”

“That’s exactly what it is.”

“I mean, what’s it for?”

“It’s for recording for posterity the curious folktales of a doomed culture, which you are going to tell me.”

I laughed and sat down. “I’m afraid I haven’t as yet found any curious folktales to tell you.”

“My suggestion that you look for a creation myth bore no fruit?”

“We have no creation myth,” I said again. “Unless you’re talking about the one in Genesis.”

“Don’t be absurd. If an eighth-grade teacher invited you to explain how all this began, would you read the class the first chapter of Genesis?”

“Certainly not.”

“Then what account would you give them?”

“I could give them an account, but it certainly wouldn’t be a myth.”

“Naturally you wouldn’t consider it a myth. No creation story is a myth to the people who tell it. It’s just the story.”

“Okay, but the story I’m talking about is definitely not a myth. Parts of it are still in question, I suppose, and I suppose later research might make some revisions in it, but it’s certainly not a myth.”

“Turn on the tape recorder and begin. Then we’ll know.”

I gave him a reproachful look. “You mean you actually want me to … uh …”

“To tell the story, that’s right.”

“I can’t just reel it off. I need some time to get it together.”

“There’s plenty of time. It’s a ninety-minute tape.”

I sighed, turned on the re

corder, and closed my eyes.

2

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