Death Invisible

Story Note: This story chronicles the origin of alcohol, brought to earth by the goddess Sumnima to counter the wiles of men and to cause them to reveal themselves. It is told as an admonition against alcohol: to take it is to lose a lot.

In ancient times, so it is told, Death was

quite visible and took pity on his unsuspect- ing victims. That is, until a blacksmith tricked him. Then Lord Paruhang made Death invis- ible. Here's how the story is told.

For thousands of years, Death worked without incident, taking away each person whose time it was to die. One day, Death approached a blacksmith's wife who had just given birth to a son. Her husband quickly intervened. "Death,"the husband pleaded, "you must reconsider. Please give my wife at least one or two more years so she may nurse our young son.

"My dear fellow,"said Death, "I cannot help you. "He ushered the blacksmith's wife out the door. Now it fell to the blacksmith to look after his new baby alone.

The following year, Death came again. "My good fellow," Death said to the blacksmith. "It is your time to go." The blacksmith fell at Death's feet, crying, "Oh, lord, I have no care for my own life. It is the life of my son that troubles me. He is so tiny. If I die, who will look after him? Please reconsider."

"You know that I can't," said Death.

"Then take us both together, please, both me and my son."

"No, dear fellow," Death replied. "You must understand I cannot take just anyone. Your son has sixty more years yet to live." "How could that possibly be," asked the blacksmith, "when there will be no one here to feed him or look after him? How can you be certain he will live that long? Please be sure of this."

Death thought to himself, "The blacksmith has a point." So he checked his book of who shall live and who shall die and saw that, indeed, the child was destined to live sixty years. Now Death was impatient to end the discussion. "Your child will live sixty more years. How, I do not know. My job is to take you now. Let us go." Death began dragging the blacksmith out the door, but the baby fell from his father's lap and cried loudly.

Tears streamed down the blacksmith's cheeks. "How can you take me while my child lies helpless on the floor? Do you not have a heart?"

Death stopped to reconsider and finally said, "I will give you one more year to care for your child."

The following year, Death came again. This time the blacksmith said, "Look at my baby. See how he wobbles when he walks. How can you leave him like this? Wait at least until he learns to become a blacksmith. Then he can earn his bread when I die."

The two haggled back and forth, until Death, moved by the blacksmith's argument, said, "Very well, I will wait until the boy turns sixteen. By then he should have learned the blacksmith's trade.""Thank you, my lord," said the blacksmith. "You are truly a great one."

Now the blacksmith was not only a persuasive fellow, he was cunning, as well, and he began to devise a plan to entrap Death.

The years passed and the blacksmith's son helped him with all of his work. The blacksmith had more time to work on his scheme.

At the end of fourteen years, the blacksmith had finished. His work looked like a huge mass of chains. Nobody knew what it was, not even his son.

On the day Death returned, the boy was not there. "Are you ready now, blacksmith?" asked Death. "By this time you must have trained your son well." The blacksmith pretended to be happy to see him. "Yes, lord, I am absolutely ready to go with you. My son has great skill. In fact, before I leave this world, I would like to show you his work. Please come with me."

Death followed the blacksmith inside the mass of chains."His creation is indeed beautiful," said Death, "but I do not understand it."

"You will know when we reach the center,"said the blacksmith. "You should be proud that the boy to whom you gave life has completed such a work."

The blacksmith and Death passed through seven chambers until they reached the center. The blacksmith then turned to Death and said, "Please be seated. I am going to show you how all of this works."

Death sat in the place that the blacksmith showed him, suspect- ing nothing. Suddenly the blacksmith ran from the mass of chains, locking all seven chambers behind him. Death was entrapped.

Immediately the blacksmith left the house and went out into the village, acting as though nothing had happened. He told no one what he had done, not even his son.

Since Death could not come out, no one died for years. The world became quite crowded, and life was uncomfortable. Lord Paruhang was worried. He thought Death was lost. He and his wife, the Goddess Sumnima, went out in search of him the world over. But Death was nowhere to be found.

One day Sumnima said, "Lord, I think Death has disappeared because of the mischief of some human beings. I have a plan to rescue him."Lord Paruhang allowed her to work in her own way.

Sumnima went down to earth in the form of a lady and imme- diately began cooking millet, mixing it with marcha, herbs that aid in fermentation. She put the mixture aside and covered it tightly. After four days, she uncovered the pot and began talking to the fermented liquid.

"Listen to me, jaand, your job is to speak the mind of the people as you go into their bodies." Sumnima then went off to a village to try to sell the jaand. She sat at a crossroad, and many people came to her. They drank the jaand and became quite drunk. Now, since it is known that drunkards talk a lot, Sumnima listened to everyone.

One day a group of smiths came to drink, the blacksmith among them. They too became quite drunk, and one of them moaned, "Oh, I'm so horribly drunk. I feel I am going to die."The blacksmith spoke up quickly. "Don't worry, you will not die, for I have entrapped Death. Be sure you tell no one. It is a deep secret."

Sumnima heard the blacksmith talking loudly in his drunken state and quickly left the place where she was sitting. She ran to the blacksmith's house and found Death locked in the chamber. She set him free and brought him before Lord Paruhang. Lord Paruhang was very angry.

"From this day on,"he told Death, "you will have no feelings, no sentiments, no emotions. And you will be invisible to all human beings, unable to communicate with them."From that day on, Death has been both silent and invisible, and he pities no one.

[1]Lord Paruhang-Lord Shiva, to the Kirati people of Nepal

[2]jaand-a local beer made of either millet, rice, wheat, or maize