Lexie+Assyrian+Narrative

The Autumn Day Tragedy  “Rebecca, I need your help milking the cows and goats today. You don’t mind skipping washing the clothes and hanging them on the clothesline, do you?” my mother called to me one autumn afternoon. She was raking leaves in the barley field so my father wouldn’t have to. //Yes!// I thought. //Now I can do the chore I relish doing instead of the one that I detest!//

 “I’ll be there right away, Mother!” I responded as I cheerfully skipped to where the cows and goats were merrily grazing. “Alright, are you ready to be milked?” I asked the animals. It was a tradition of mine to talk to the creatures before I did anything to them.  “Okay Rebecca, let’s milk them before sundown so we will have time to finish your other chores. Then we can have a nice, relaxing family dinner," continued my mother. My family consisted of my parents, me, and my little brother, Jacob. "Since we are enslaved by the Assyrians, we would like to at least try to enjoy one kosher meal a day and get to pray to God at least twice a week.”  “Well, then we better get working,” I replied as I began to squeeze the milk from the squirming goat who I called Sheep. I called him Sheep because his hair was as silky as a sheep’s fluffy wool. Besides, I thought it was clever to give an animal another animal’s name as its name.  Once Mother and I finished all of the chores, and Father and Jacob got home from picking barley in the fields, we had a wonderful dinner of pita, hummus, and barley soup, and water to drink. We never ate dairy and meat in a meal together because that wouldn’t be kosher. After dinner, we said the //Birkat Hamazon,// the prayer thanking God for the wonderful food we had on our table.  I went to bed that night completely unaware of the danger and fearful day that I and many others would encounter the following sunrise.  The next morning, I woke up to the pounding of horses, galloping across the terrain dashing to get to the battle point. I rushed to my mother’s and father’s room to find out what was going on.  “What is happening to our land, Mother?” I screamed, my body trembling with horror. “Whatever it is, why is it so loud and frightening?”  “Dear Rebecca, we are not quite sure what is going on. We think that our captors, the Assyrians, have initiated another war. If that is so, we’re unsure with whom they are fighting this time,” my mother responded; she sounded a bit frightened herself.  “The best thing is to stay here until someone comes and tells us what we should do,” my father managed to say before he hurried out of the room to go warn Jacob.  “Don’t fret though, Little One,” my mother said soothingly, hoping to calm me down and to remind herself that we did not need to worry. That was what she called me on occasion. She thought that it would make me feel better if I was ever nerve-wrecked or petrified. I actually appreciated it every now and then.  Suddenly, the door swung open and a large, bulky man stood in the doorway. He looked as if he was waiting for one of us to say something.  “Whoever lives in this household,” the odd looking man began, “must come out immediately!” His voice boomed through the small, one room hut like a flamboyant echo in a large tunnel.  I cautiously came out of hiding. There, in front of me, was the bulky, hairy General Vincent, the Assyrian army’s fearless leader. “We have started a war with the Elamites,” he bellowed. “You all need to stay in your home and keep out of the way of the battle. I say this because I have a very different perspective than Tukulti-Ninurta, the king of Assyria. I believe that enslaving the Jews is wrong and cruel.”  Suddenly, we heard the distant screams of mothers with their children, and the whizzing of arrows. We searched the terrain and witnessed the superb, gilded chariots racing across the acreage. Many of my fellow villagers almost fell out their windows watching in awe. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> “You must hurry," urged the General. "Try to escape secretly. Take as many of your belongings as you can carry. When everyone eventually finds that you are all missing, I will act as if I was never here. Now, I must go before they wonder where I am,” he retorted before he scurried out the door to rejoin his army at the battlefield. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> I was so petrified that for a minute, I was absolutely silent. I was amazed at what General Vincent had told my family a moment ago. There was an awkward silence until finally, I assembled enough courage to ask a meaningful question. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> “What are we going to do now?” I asked, even more concerned about what the answer would be. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> “I guess that we should listen to General Vincent and attempt to escape to Israel. It will be difficult, but I believe it is our best path to take,” Father responded. He sighed a deep sigh as if he was trying to tell us that he was depressed yet excited that, finally, we would be capable of journeying back to our homeland, Israel. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> “It must be done,” Mother supposed. “We will begin packing our belongings immediately, and we’ll leave at dusk tonight. Hopefully, we will arrive in 21 days, just as the Sabbath arrives.” <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> I scrambled back to the other side of the hut where my “room” was, and I began gathering my possessions. //I wonder what life will be like in Israel again//. //I mean, yes, I was born there, but we were enslaved by the Assyrians when I was only 11 months old.// I began to realize that I was very anxious to see Safta and Saba, my grandma and grandpa, again. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Once the sun grew dim, we set off on our time-consuming adventure from Assyria to the land we love, Israel.We walked for four hours before we rested. "I'm tired!" Jacob complained. I was, too, but I didn't speak of it because I knew that it would drive Father mad.

<span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> We received our second rest at 6 hours. My parents realized that they were weary and achy, too, so we agreed to sleep in a tent we brought until sunrise. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> We all got a good night's rest and the next day we didn't stop for 7 hours. We took a couple hours to sit and eat a meal of matzah, pita, hummus, and milk from Sheep. However, it didn't seem like very long until we were back on the trail again. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> We got to a point where Jacob and I couldn't stand it any longer. Our feet were so sore that if there was a slight breeze, we would start wailing in excruciating pain. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> "Children, would you like to take a rest and camp here for tonight? We don't want to cause you pain or tiredness. Why don't I set up the tent while you kids sit and rest. Honey, do you mind cooking us supper?" my father said with care. He himself looked as if he could use a rest, too. His eyes were droopy and his hair was matted and wild. He sat down for just a moment; then, he got up and began making our campsite. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> We all sat down together and had a lovely supper. When Jacob and I were excused from supper, we dragged ourselves through the doorway of our tent. We crashed into our beds and immediately fell into a deep slumber. We didn't wake up until after dawn. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Finally, after weeks of trudging across the dry terrain, we reached our destination: the majestically beautiful land of Israel. We found Saba and Safta's comfy home and knocked on the wooden door, exhausted from our journey. <span style="color: #cc66ff; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> They answered the door, thrilled to see us, yet a bit confused as to why we were there. We told them our story over many cups of hot tea. They understood and said we could stay as long as we liked. I was so ecstatic to realize that we had escaped Assyria and returned to Israel. We got to live with Saba and Safta and we were free. I now knew that I was safe with my loving family. I was home in paradise.