The Art of Forthright Speech

So, there’s this story, about Inanna.  Basically, she goes to the God of Wisdom, Enki, and is all, “Hey there, I’m Ereshkigal’s little sister, I’m the goddess of Lurve and Battles, and I’m smokin’ hot.”

Enki says,  “Heh heh heh. Yes, honey, you sure are.”

Inanna says, “Would you like a beer?”

So Enki (who is supposed to be the God of Wisdom, some metaphor there I guess), drinks all of Inanna’s beer.  And gives her all his me, the holy powers of the Gods.  Inanna says, “Thanks, Enki!”

In the morning, he wakes up with the Hangover of the Gods.  And Enki says, “Dude…where’s my me?”

His sukkal says, “You gave them to Inanna.  Look, there she goes. What a fine ass that girl has.”

Enki, who still has the Mother of All Godly Hangovers, is pissed.  He sends some demons off to chase Inanna down and take back the me.  But Inanna’s good buddy Ninshubur, who is the Queen of Spirits and even more kickass than Inanna (rather like Cato and the Green Hornet) fights them off for her.  She does so three times, after which Inanna reaches Uruk, and Enki gives up.

Inanna says, “Ninshubur!  You are my BFF!”

Ninshubur says, “Aww, thanks.”

Hometown crowd on the docks says, “Yaaay!  Iiii-nan-na, Iiiii-nan-na, hey heeeey, she’s our Goddess!”

Inanna says, “Say, would you unpack these me for me?  They are getting a bit heavy.”

When the me are opened up, there are more even than there were before, more than Inanna brought from the house of Enki.  All the powers and skills and knowledge you need to run a civilization are there.  Including the art of writing, and different kinds of speech.  There is the art of adorning speech, the art of forthright speech, the art of deceitful speech.  All have their purpose, and their distinct power.

Words are one of the holy powers of the Gods.  Use them wisely, and purposefully, and well.