It seemed to be summer forever with the Lovers. The nights were short but warm, the days were long and hot, and there was always a shady tree or a swimming hole to cool off in. The garden was dotted with fountains that provided cool, refreshing water.
One day the satyr said he was going into town for some supplies. The Fool wanted to go with him. They traveled out of the garden and past the hedgerow that surrounded the paradise, following a brick road that cut through a maple forest. The leaves were yellowing, and some had fallen to the forest floor and the brick road.
We don’t spend that much time apart, the satyr said, but sometimes it is nice to have some space.
The Fool couldn’t understand how two people could spend that much time together without needing alone time, or needing to wander away.
She is my partner, the satyr said, and so we share everything, without any conditions.
They came to a bigger road and the road was packed. It seemed that there was some kind of religious pilgrimage happening. People were either packed light or had whole carts full of belongings. Some had brought animals like mules and oxen to lug their baggage. The satyr and the Fool merged into the long line of people.
The people were talking about some kind of celebration – of being freed from slavery, and coming here to give offerings to the local temple. The people ranged in age, but most seemed very poor, and looked like farmers.
It took several hours, but the Fool and the satyr made it through the city walls and came to be walking by the temple itself. Stalls were set up all around the temple and even inside the temple: making currency exchange, selling animals for sacrifice, and giving loans. Vendors yelled out to the pilgrims as they waited in line for the temple.
The Fool thought it sad that people were using a spiritual pilgrimage and ritual to make money. Most of these people were poor, and had brought everything they owned to make the trip and give the local God an offering. The Fool saw that some of the richer people were buying sheep and cattle while the poor waited in long lines to buy doves. He saw the poor also waiting in line for loans with exorbitant interest rates. The Fool shook his head.
A man marched into the square with some people following him. He was angry, and he started yelling at the vendors that sat right in front of the entrance of the temple.
This is a house of prayer to God, the man yelled, not some kind of way to rob the believers of their coin!
He then started flipping the tables over, spilling the coins and gold all over the plaza. He used some cord to make the sheep and cattle run away. He opened up the cages and let the doves free, and the crowd watched them fly away. The vendors were angry, but the rest of the people celebrated and scrambled to get the coins off the ground.
After all the tables had been overturned and all the animals set free, the man and his many followers went into the temple to worship. At first the temple leaders seemed reluctant to let him and his people in, but they stood to the side as the line of folks entered.
The Fool and the satyr moved on as the commotion died down. They found a market, and the satyr went stall to stall, picking the wares up and looking at each item with intensity. The satyr seemed at peace scouring each piece of produce he picked up for details. The vendors seemed to enjoy the satyr’s critical eye. They conversed about the story of each item. The satyr seemed enthralled with each tale of how the head of lettuce in question got from the ground to his hand.
He bought a basket full of fresh produce, some eggs, and some lamb. The satyr and the Fool exited the city shortly thereafter, and the Fool felt instantly better being on the open road. He noticed that the line of pilgrims had become a trickle. As the sun sat low in the sky, they made their way back to the garden and feasted.