Eshu and the black/red hat
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| Photo James C. Lewis of http://noire3000studios.com |
Once there were two men, fine friends who lived in the same
village. They had known each other since boyhood and loved each other like
brothers. They lived next door to each other. They eat their meals together.
They even kept fields in close proximity to each other; one farmed the land on
the south side of the road that led out of the village and the other farmed the
north side. These two were inseparable. Every morning, the two men met outside
with their lunch and tools in hand and walked up the road together. All morning
long one would hoe and chop in one field and the other would hoe and chop in
the field just across the road and at lunchtime they would stop and come
together under a big tree and eat lunch together. After lunch, and maybe a nap,
they would go back to work until the end of the day and walk back home
together. The people in the village were so used to seeing them like this that
they could barely think of one man without thinking of the other.
One day, Eshu came to the village. And he saw the two men
greet each other in the morning and he saw how close they were and he decided
to have a little bit of fun with them. That day the two friends, who loved each
other like brothers, walked up the road as always and one man went into the
field on the south side of the road and the other went into the field on the
north side of the road. They chopped and they hoed and they chopped and they
hoed and it was a really hot day, so at one point they both paused to wipe the
sweat from their brow.
A stranger was coming down the road. It was a really nice
looking man on a horse. The man was wearing a cap. Now there was not a lot of
traffic on this road, the village was small and not many people had their
fields out that direction. So the passing of this stranger was kind of an
event. Both of the men stopped and noticed the man and he waved at them and
they waved back.
When it was time to stop for lunch the two friends, who
loved each other like brothers, met under the tree and opened up their lunch
and started talking about their morning. The man with the field on the south
side of the road said, “My dear friend, did you see that fine looking man come
by on the horse?” and the man with the field on the north side of the road
said, “I certainly did. He was a fine looking man on a fine horse, and I really
liked his black cap.” His friend looked at him and said, “I liked the cap too
brother, but it wasn’t black, it was red.” And his friend who loved him like a
brother said, “No, the cap was
black.” And the other man, who had never disagreed with his friend before
insisted, “I tell you, the cap was red.” “Black.” “Red.” “Black.” “Red.” “It
was a black cap and you know it, why are you being obstinate?” “It was a red
cap and why are you being stubborn?” “Black, and you must be a fool.” “Red, and
you must be blind.” The two men got quite angry and before you know it they
were cuffing each other and rolling around in the dirt yelling and insulting
each other at the top of their lungs.
People way down in the village heard them and came running
up the road to see what was going on. They were shocked to find these two
friends, who loved each other like brothers, fighting in this way. They jumped
into the fray and pulled the men apart to find out what was the trouble. The
man with the field on the south side of the road said, “A man on a horse came
by in a fine red cap and this fool insist that the cap was black.” The man with
the field on the north side of the road said, “Well, this idiot needs to do
something about his eyes because the cap was black.”
The people stood around scratching their heads and they
weren’t sure which was more confusing, the bit about the cap or the sight of
these two dear friends fighting. In the midst of the confusion, up rides Eshu,
wearing his cap. The two men saw him and said, “There he is, there is the man.”
Eshu waved at them and they waved back. Then Eshu slowly turned his head to the
right and he slowly turned his head to the left. The two men were dumbfounded.
The cap was red on one side and black on the other. They got down on their
knees in front of Eshu and asked, “Eshu, why did you mess with us like that?”
Eshu replied, “Causing discord is my greatest joy.” He rode
away.
1 comment:
Eshu represents the distinctive knowledge, or, in Catholic terms, the knowledge of good and evil. It is the knowledge of the relative, the perception of the ego, ignorance of self. A Buddhist would say that you have to realize that all things are empty.
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