Many years ago I read a book whose story struck me. I didn’t realize how much it struck me until years later, when I found myself desperately wanting to reread it and reclaim some of its details. I’m fairly certain it was a Deepak Chopra book, but I’ve failed to identify the book and now I’m not even sure that it was a Chopra book. I detect some hints of The Epic of Gilgamesh in my recollections as well. In any case, here is my partly fabricated version of what I remember…
There have been a number of miracle healers over the centuries. Once such healer was Desimsodenes(?) of Persia(?), who lived in the 4th(?) century. He was a chemist of renown, and very learned. He preformed miracle healings regularly; it was the grand chore of his life; he moved from town to town, performing these miracles, with no real message and for only nominal recompense, if any.
Either he had been in touch with the supernatural or he was an atheist. (I forget what the source had said.) He leaves us this story…
* * *
Once upon a time, there were twin brothers born half-divine, for their father was Hasam(?), a god in the manner of Zeus. Just before reaching the cusp of their manhood, they acknowledged to one another a yearning to meet with their divine father and have their divinity acknowledged by him.
Thus, they fled their village in search of the gods. They traveled for days and days. They were so strong and full of life, they went a long way without need of sustenance. But, eventually, they began to languish. Just then, near the top of a mountain, they encountered a couple’s homestead.
The couple were very welcoming. They were of sturdy stock: healthy and beautiful. The wife provided them with food and beverages. It was a restoritive, magical time. After a number of days, the young men sensed they were receiving the hospitality of a divine couple.
One evening, at dinner, the wife asked the young men the reason for their journey which took them so far. When the young men told them of their semi-divine nature and their desire to have an audience with the gods, the wife looked them over in contemplation. She conferred with her husband in soft seriousness.
“We can help you with your quest,” the husband told them. “It will require you to transform into birds.”
The young men both readily assented and did so without even giving a pause to confer with one another.
All day, the wife baked loaves of bread. All week, the twins ate of this bread. Little by little, their bodies began to transform: feathers sprouted, beaks grew, their knees inverted. By the end of the week, the young men had become birds.
“Now you must wait for your flock – and with them, you will fly to the abode of the gods,” the husband told them.
Days passed. At first, the twins stayed near the homestead. The wife put out pieces of bread for them to peck on. Out of curiousity and wanderlust, the twins, more and more, took to the air, surveying the mountain range and feeling the wind, until they were rarely seen; for they now only appeared to partake in their daily bread morsels.
The season began to shift; the air was different; leaves began to fall. One day, a flock of birds, birds of a type resembling the twins, roosted in the trees around the homestead. The wife set out bread for the flock. The twins returned, and, as they joined the flock, they all lit onto the sky to the gods.
When the flock arrived at the abode of the gods, the door to the abode was closed; so, they roosted outside. After a moment, the door opened: it was the butler of the gods.
“We are the sons of Hasam and we desire an audience with the gods.”
“They’ve just left,” replied the butler. “Just wait a moment and greet them when they appear.”
The twins returned to roost with the flock and they waited.
Days passed, many days.
Time became blurry with them waiting so long. After a time which felt like forever, one of the twins went up to the door and was astonished to find it open, the butler gone. The flock roosted inside the abode of the gods and they’re still there to this day!