Spring was in the air once more, and winter was almost past. The temple maidens sang as they worked, and their feet danced in the shadowy hallways of the temple. Akitu. The coming festival occupied all their thoughts and dreams. Indeed, the countryside was awake with excitement, and the city’s streets were busier than usual. Livestock, grain, festivities, smell of food, the entire city was filled with bustle and activity. Inns were overflowing, Temples thronged with pilgrims, and the city was overrun with tourists from all over the world. Children were continually running through the markets, full of high spirits and mischief, for they had no school these days and they plagued the merchants and sellers of sweetmeats in the market. Tribesmen from the desert had come to trade in frankincense, and to stock up on metal ware and other items from the teeming city. Neither they nor their camels liked the crowd, and they tended to keep in groups.

Puabi sat in her palace, pensive. Akitu brought some memories she did not like to think about. Her attendants giggled when they came to consult her about the gown she would like to choose, and the jewelry she wanted brought out of the treasure chests of the temple for the marriage bed ceremony. Suddenly there was a commotion on the street below, which brought her maids running to the window. The procession of the King was passing through the temple precinct. One of the younger maids exclaimed “Oh, there is King Naram-Enlil, how handsome he is….I wish I were his Inanna-- !” a pinch from her companion stopped her words, and Nin-shub turned quickly away from the window, knocking over a bowl of dates from the little inlaid table beside the window. Nin-shub quickly started to gather the fallen dates and glanced with fearful round eyes at Puabi. They were silly, silly girls, thought Puabi bitterly, as she reprimanded the young attendant for her clumsiness.

Elsewhere in the city, the temples resounded with the priests’ recitation of the story of the creation. The age-old stories of the beloved gods were being brought to life. Inanna’s temple had its own preparations and they were gathering momentum. The dressmakers had ceremoniously presented the king’s gifts- a necklace of interlinked gold flowers set with carnelian; rings set with lapis lazuli; armlets, bracelets of heavy gold; gown after gown of finely dyed soft wool and Egyptian linen, and Puabi chose one that was deep red linen, edged with gold.

The day of the marriage bed ceremony was finally here. Puabi rose early to complete the day’s special ceremonies that only she, as Chief Priestess of Inanna had the right and responsibility to perform. She was bathed, and massaged with scented oils till her skin gleamed. She was dressed, decked in jewelry; her hair was braided and coiled around her head like a crown. Finally, the great golden head-dress was placed on her head. She walked to the inner sanctum of Inanna alone. She would emerge as Inanna herself, come to earth in the body of Puabi, to bless and fructify the land by the annual marriage with the King.

Face to face with the implacable Goddess, Puabi alternately raged and pleaded: raged against the terrible price demanded of her for the prosperity of her beloved city; pleaded that this time, she would not conceive and bear a child from the ceremony. She had wept so long for the memory of the tiny fingers curled around her own, the feel of the child that she held in her arms for a brief few minutes before the priests took the little bundle away to be smothered. No child born of the scared marriage was allowed to live. Only three months ago….Puabi thought. She felt the familiar terrible dull ache growing in her heart. “I cannot do this”, she pleaded with Inanna, but she knew she would. “Very well, then, let it be done as you will”. She took a deep breath and walked out of the sanctum. Her face was like a serene mask, and she held her head high. At the head of the procession, Puabi climbed the Ziggurat up to the highest chamber. The cedar bed was there, strewn with flowers, and there were lamps, platters of fruit and sweetmeats, and pitchers of kash and jugs of date wine.

Puabi/Inanna sat on the bed and dismissed her attendants. Soon, the King would be here.