Read Online Where the Bird Sings Best by Alejandro Jodorowsky - Free Book Online Page A

without dying. No, Abramiel in reality was the philosopher Isaac Abravanel, who tried to commit suicide. The flames, out of respect for his holy wisdom, refused to consume him. He emerged untouched from the bonfire and sailed with Estrella, Salvador, and the lions on a ship whose crew was made up of Moors who promised to carry them to Morocco. This last version was the one Jashe preferred.
    After paying the price demanded—which, despite the urgent situation, was fair—they stored the cages on the deck, near the poop, with the amiable help of the crew. How many lions were there? My grandmother did not have exact figures. There may have been twelve, like the twelve tribes; or seven because of the sacred candelabra; or four, like the letters of the unsayable name of God. The family never managed to agree on any of this. They all agreed that the lions over time, because of continuous incestuous couplings, began to be born albino. Their red eyes and white fur infused a hypnotic terror in even the most hardened warriors.
    Isaac Abravanel, invigorated by the lion’s milk and his passage through fire, accompanied the Arcavis. Enough families followed him to fill the hold and the rest of the deck. The Moors offered each passenger a glass of tea with mint. The ship set sail, leaving the coast of Spain in its wake. The women sobbed, the men squeezed their lips together, someone took out a guitar and, in a cracked voice, sang a farewell to the lost homeland.
    Soon the passengers calmed down. Some yawned, and a general drowsiness caused everyone to stretch out and sleep while the ship cut through the water, pushed by a pious wind. “Adonai seems cruel,” said Isaac the Wise, “but in the moment of our greatest pain, He preserves us by making us fall asleep in broad daylight as if it were night. His love is as great as his severity!” Salvador, despite these words, was very nervous. Between him and the lions there never were differences. If they were hungry, he would eat; if they fornicated, he would mount Estrella; when, for no reason, the beasts, possessed by an irrepressible joy, started to roar, he could not keep from shouting at the top of his lungs, made drunk by a similar feeling. So, how was it possible that God sent him sleep but did not make the lions fall asleep? To the contrary, enlivened by the sea breeze, they wouldn’t stop playing. He fought as much as he could until he fell as if struck by lightning next to his wife who, riding on a gigantic scarab, was looking for him in a virgin forest while she snored with her mouth wide open.
    The passengers, thanks to the drug the Moors dissolved in the tea, slept for two days. They woke up in chains. Without their friendly smiles, the sailors showed what they really were: slave traders. The prisoners would disembark in Constantinople, and from there their freedom would be negotiated with some Jewish congregation in Europe. If the ransom was paid, they ran no risk, but if not... A threatening silence ended the sentence.
    Salvador, Estrella, and their lions roared with rage and refused to leave the cage. The Moors got out their harquebuses and swore to kill the beasts if they didn’t. The Arcavis followed orders. The pirates tied up Salvador with his arms and legs open and then put a dagger blade into a brazier filled with hot coals. Laughing and drinking dark liquors, they began to pound drums and dance, pushing one another to Estrella, who defended herself scratching and biting.
    Suddenly, they pulled off her dress, knocked her down, spread her legs, and before the very eyes of the horrified Jews prepared to rape her. Salvador began to howl. The pirates, out of their minds, stripped off his lion skin tunic, revealing his genitals. A sweaty fat man, muttering curses, seized the red-hot dagger and burned Salvador’s testicles. Seeing her husband castrated, Estella sighed like a dying woman and stopped twisting around.
    One after another, the drunken men tried to possess her,