Moses, Man of the Mountain

by Zora Neale Hurston

  Late in the night two camel drivers got into a quarrel over their beasts. They drew knives but did not use them. They grabbed up rocks and made all the motions of throwing but didn’t throw. Their threats were terrible. They had everything for a good fight except the courage. They imitated a frenzy to rush upon each other so successfully that they actually did. The shock of actually having to do what they had threatened to do was too much. They sprang apart and ran several yards in opposite directions before they went back into character.

  “Ha!” one screamed back, “it is a good thing you didn’t catch me. If you had they would have toted you across three yards—this yard, the church yard and the graveyard.”

  “I don’t beat up bums like you. I pass you up and call you lucky. I’m bad! and if you hit me they’ll give you four names—Nubby, Peggy, Bad-eyed and Shorty, cause you’ll look like all of them.”

  “Humph! Nobody is scared of you. They tell me you stick pegs in tigers’ hips, but I’ll make you pull this peg out.”

  “Oh, you’re not so bad! If I jumped on you I might not beat you but scarce as people is around here, we’ll draw a crowd.”

  They kept this up at a safe distance from each other until they both ran out of threats. Then they returned to the circle about the fire and drank together as if not a word had passed between them. When they turned in to sleep they rolled themselves in their separate blankets and slept side by side.

  Moses took no active part in anything that went on though he was interested and entertained by all that he could understand. After the passage of threats between the camel drivers Moses thought: “Here it is just like it is in Egypt—the scared people do all of the biggest talk.”

  A party of travelers from the Sudan played their drums and danced. One man with a dirk in his hand danced a marvelous pantomime of a hunter going through a jungle. He trod the jungle path. He was on the lookout for sudden death from the brush and the trees. He thought he heard sounds and stopped to listen. He suddenly hid himself behind a tree. False alarm. He proceeded swiftly and leaped over impediments in his path. He carefully parted shrubbery and looked for danger before he ventured further. He whirled about when he sensed danger behind him. A leopard! It attacked and he fought it off and killed it after a terrible struggle and ended the dance with a triumphant flinging of his shiny black body about. It was so realistic that Moses felt he could hear the snarl of the beast as it fought.

  Late that night when most of the travelers were asleep the chief of an Arab caravan of traders called across the fire to Moses.

  “Well, how do you do, soldier?” he asked.

  Moses listened to his mode of speech and decided the man had been educated by books or travels, probably both. He was well-dressed in a manner and bore himself with an air that proved he was accustomed to commanding others. Moses noted all this quickly, in the space of time it took to form an answer.

  “Why do you call me a soldier?” Moses countered.

  “Because you look like one. But like an officer soldier more than the common kind.”

  “Well, I have seen some service.”

  “Egyptian soldiers are very good fighters. I know from experience.”

  “Not the worst in the world.”

  “Well, what is on your mind?”

  “Oh, nothing much. This place and the next one I suppose. I am just on the loose for a while.”

  “That is fine. I have a job for you.”

  “What kind of a job is it?”

  “Right in your line—fighting.”

  “Where is the war?”

  “Anywhere that we find booty that is takeable. Can you ride?”

  “Anything with four legs under it.”

  “Better come along then. A lot of stuff could be picked up along the route, by fighting men.”

  “Thanks, but I’ve just made up my mind to never fight again except in self-defense. It seems that fighting is a game where everybody is the loser. I have simply abandoned the idea of force. I want to sit and think.”

  “That is a crying shame with the build you got on you. Great big frame, fine legs, beautiful muscles—perfect fighting machine.”

  “Thanks. I’ve been told that before and I have led many a battle and chopped down my share of men. But I doubt that any life I have ever taken benefited anybody. The property I took from conquered countries didn’t make anybody rich. It just whetted their appetites for more. No, no more soldiering for me.”

  “Where are you headed for now? It is odd to see a high-born Egyptian around here. That outfit you got on cost aplenty, too.”

  “Just walking away, and following my toes.”

  “You can ride in my caravan tomorrow morning. Ride as far as you like and leave us whenever you want to. Of course, I’m hoping you will stay. We need a man like you for both offensive and defensive fighting. But you can have your way.”

  “Thanks. Believe I will ride with you for a while. No telling what I might think by tomorrow this time.”

  All day the next day Moses rode in the caravan of the desert Nomads. He sat a fine stallion and rode with pleasure. Everybody in the band seemed eager to win him over. As they went on, however, he became a little ill at ease. Too many of the men wanted to feel the texture of his fine linen with their rough hands. Too many of them wanted to heft the fine steel of his jewelled sword, which he never presented by its hilt. Always he held it by the hilt and let them pass their hands along its beautiful blade. Then again there was too much curiosity about the jewels on his hands and neck. He felt the bite of the tiny fear known as suspicion. If he did not join the robber-traders, they but waited until night to take him. He could picture his stripped corpse being casually left behind at the next encampment. The prospect did not worry him too much because he knew that he didn’t have to make that encampment. So long as they were on the march, he had a distinct advantage, mounted the way he was. The chief thought that he was at his mercy. All right, let him think it. But when he got ready to leave the caravan, nothing could be done about it. The first large settlement that they passed he would rein in and announce off-hand that he was stopping there.

  But early in the afternoon he saw his first mountain. It made him feel as if he had been lacking in something vital to life all along. He saw the great mountain at a distance lifting its rocky crown above the world and he was dumbstruck with awe. To him it had its being in grandeur, so it was right and proper to draw itself apart from the surrounding country and hide its mysteries in its heart. It was near; it was far. It called. It forbade. It was all things to his inner consciousness. He must believe in gods again, for here was the tomb of a god a thousand greater than the pyramids. No, it was not a negative and vain thing like a pyramid, whose builders were puny pigmies about the toes of this mountain. This was not a mere pile of stone. It had an aura of clouds upon its brow. This sublime earth form was the living place of a god, certainly. It had peace and fury in its face. Moses slowed his mount to gaze on the eminence.

  “What is the name of that mountain?” he asked the man nearest him.

  “It’s according to where you live. The people on one side of it call it Horeb. On the other side they call it Sinai.”

  For more than an hour the train of men and animals wound close to the mountain and it changed its aspect every few minutes as it drew near, but gaining in glory and never losing. Then the way veered off to the right and the distance.

  So Moses got down off his horse suddenly and walked away by himself and the riders nearest him were too surprised to act until he had gained ground in rocky territory. So Moses walked towards the mountain for some time. When he found water he quenched his thirst and sat down by the well.

  CHAPTER 12

  Moses sat there by the spring of water. He saw well-trod paths leading away in several directions. So people lived hereabouts—people with cattle. He began to wonder where he would sleep that night and how. Tomorrow he would visit the mountain. That was settled in his mind. But he was tired now and
he wanted a good night’s rest. He wondered if the people who made those paths were neighborly folks or would he have to fight for his life before he found a resting place. The cool of the trees surrounding the spring was homey enough to suit him.

  Here came sheep and cattle down one path driven by young voices. All of the animals crowded around the watering trough in eager thirst, stamping and looking for someone to draw the water for them. Down the path came a troop of seven girls who looked to Moses to range in years from about six to seventeen or so. They could not see him so easily from where he sat on the ground at the foot of a sycamore tree. So the girls came with their water jars and filled them first. He watched their happy ways as they spilled little splashes of water on each other in fun. One girl about twelve splashed water from a pot into the face of an older girl and turned to run away. The other one chased her and both of them came tearing towards the spot where Moses sat on the roots of the tree. They both saw him at the same time and halted dead in their tracks with little screams of alarm. They whirled as quickly as they could and ran back to the well. He could see them telling the rest of them about finding him. They pointed the place out to the tallest of the girls. They all looked worried for a moment and seemed about to go away without watering the stock at all. At this Moses stood up and made a gesture of friendliness and sat down again. They set down their water jugs and began to draw water for the cattle and to laugh and talk again.

  Then from another direction came bursting three young men who were, Moses estimated, between seventeen and twenty-one years old. They rushed down upon the little party about the well, whooping, driving off the cattle and scattering them all about. The girls ran in fright and began to hide wherever they could—all except the tallest one. She stood her ground at the well where she was pulling up a bucket of water and looked at what was going on with a great hatred in her eyes. She stood there until she saw one of the boys deliberately trip up one of her sisters as she ran from him in terror. She heard his big ugly laugh as the girl fell sprawling on her face. Then she set down the bucket and flew at him with her little fists. The other two boys were scattering stock and little girls in every direction.

  Moses forgot the resolve he had made in Egypt to mind his own business and leave other folks’ affairs alone. He leaped from his place and rushed to the aid of the girl who was being shaken violently by the man whom she had tried to chastise for hurting her little sister. Moses sent in a smashing blow to the head that sent him to his knees. As he was rising, Moses slapped his face with the flat of his sword and sent him down again. This time he did not try to get up. He looked at the sword first and then Moses and saw him all over. He stayed on his knees and raised his hands for mercy. Moses’ scorn of the bully mounted at his cowardice so he snatched him to his feet and knocked him down again. Pick on little girls, would he, then just as soon as he faced a man, beg for mercy! He left the man on the ground and went after the others and chased them completely away.

  The girls crowded around him, all talking at once and acting out their gratitude. He could not understand a word they said but he read their gestures. So he helped them to round up their cattle again and to water them. Then they waved shy little goodbye gestures and followed their stock back up the way they had come.

  Moses sat back down under the sycamore tree. He still didn’t know where he was going to sleep that night and the sun was setting. It went down and down and at last it hung like a big gold dishpan against the wall of God. Just then the tallest of the girls came back down the path and motioned him to follow her home. He got up and walked behind her at a respectful distance for fear that she might not feel safe with him. In less than half a mile of walking they came out in a big clearing, with a huge tent under shade trees and cattle pens and all the things that make up the household of a patriarch.

  The master of the place met him at the gate and made him welcome. He was an oldish man with a gray beard. But his eyes were large and dark and they had power in them. Moses felt his personality before he spoke. To the surprise of Moses he could speak Egyptian well.

  “Come right in, Moses, and make yourself at home.”

  “How did you know my name was Moses?”

  “I don’t know it. But that is what you were thinking when you came up.”

  “That certainly is the truth. I was wondering whether to tell you my real name or not. You have the advantage of me now, because you know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

  “Jethro is the name my father named me. As chief of my clan I am chief Jethro. Otherwise, I am Ruel. Among the Kenites a priest has a ceremonial name, too. Pretty general habit all over the land of Midian. But I guess you already know that.”

  “Well, I tell you, it’s like this. Over there where I come from, news from this side of the Red Sea don’t get around very fast.”

  “Let’s table that discussion and take up one more important. I certainly am mighty much obliged to you for looking out for my girls down at the well this evening—but wait, don’t say a word till I get you inside on a couch so you can slip out of those shoes and rest your feet. The womenfolks are out there around the cook pots stirring up something to eat.”

  Moses sat down on a low couch and took off his shoes. A servant brought a basin of water to wash his feet. So he took off his sword and headdress and made himself comfortable.

  “Now to go back to this business of my daughters at the well.”

  “That was no more than decency demanded. No man would stand and let a gang of ruffians mistreat girls.”

  Moses looked at Jethro and saw a man dignified and graying. He looked as if he was supposed to be listened to, but there was no insistence on his face. He looked capable of guiding people, but he didn’t look as if he were determined to do it. Wisdom and a kind of strength were gathered together in the man, but his self-confidence had not driven off simplicity. He knew little sorrow[s] and joys as well as big ones. He looked as if he could understand and talk with shepherds as well as kings. So Moses was not surprised when he spoke to hear him dropping into idiom of the simple people. It took nothing from his majestic hearing, and somehow it fitted him. Moses was constrained to meet him on his level as they talked.

  “But, Moses, it didn’t just happen today. Nearly every day those same rough varmints annoy my children. Law and order is in a terrible state in Midian.”

  “If what I saw today is a sample, it sure is,” Moses agreed.

  “Oh, you don’t know the half of it. I am getting along in years, you know. Not the man I once was at all. It hurts me to see my girls shoved around every time they go to water the cows.”

  “It’s none of my business, but why do you send the girls? Why not send your sons and your menservants?” Moses asked.

  “It is a shameful situation, Moses. I hate to talk about it, but my wife don’t have nothing but girls. Seven children and not a boy! Why, I can’t hold up my head around here. They say I am too weak to father boys.”

  “Nothing to be ashamed about at all, Jethro. Why don’t you send your menservants to water the cows? Send somebody that can strain with those hoodlums.”

  “They have run away, my menservants, all but one and he is old. Those wretches would kill him sure if he went down to the well.”

  “But, Jethro, why do they run off your cattle and bother your girls?”

  “Well, I tell you, Moses, my house has always been powerful. From generation to generation it was that way. Right and justice prevailed in all Midian. But for the last few years a weak King has been on the throne and the robbers and things are just about to take us. Nobody is afraid of the King so people do not respect their chiefs and the country is gone to the dogs. Nobody can have any more than he has the might to protect. It all started with the downfall of the Hyksos in Egypt many years ago. Bands of them retreating before the Egyptians’ army overran this country and got things so upset we just haven’t been able to get straight since. No real unity any more. If a chief hasn’t got an army of his own, he’s
in a mighty poor fix. Our menservants ran off and joined up with gangs who live in caves and what not. They drive off cattle and raid encampments. My own herds have been raided until I am a poor man. The three men you whipped yesterday are runaway servants turned bandits. Because I am a priest they are afraid to come up here. But they hang around the well, terrify my girls and stampede the cattle. Each day or so we lose another beast which I reckon they have killed to eat.” There was a sad resignation in the voice of Jethro. “So I reckon the day will come when we won’t have any stock to water.”

  “Not necessarily so. They could be stopped,” Moses said belligerently.

  Jethro shook his head slowly. “No, I am afraid it’s too late. We have no man power to fight and that is what it takes.”

  The tallest girl came into the tent and began to put the food before her father and Moses. She arranged lamps to the best advantage and this time Moses happened to look up and see her squarely in the face. To him her eyes looked so large and brilliant that the rest of her face was a suburb. Her whole body was extremely pleasant to look at and something about her made every cell in his body thrust out its head.

  Moses turned to Jethro after the girl went out of the tent and said, “If they come around stealing cattle while I am here they better bring their good luck charm along because they are going to need it.”