This story is a revisioning of The Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian myth, set in the South during slavery. The myth and this story include themes of oppression, rape and other sexual violence, as well as other forms of abuse and violence.
In the city of Montgomery, Alabama, there once stood a splendid plantation home constructed from oak wood. Large white columns framed the home’s floor-to-ceiling windows, and on one side, there was a balcony overlooking the cotton fields where one could sit in the summer heat enjoying iced tea. A gravel driveway led up to the “Big House” with trees on each side filled with chirping families of birds. Between the trees, rows of colorful flowers bloomed, yellow tulips and red roses, an assortment of other colors. This beautiful home belonged to a man named Gregory Adams. If you only saw the flowers, trees, and extravagant home, you might think everyone who abided here wanted nothing. Sadly, you would be mistaken; all this beauty and splendor served one purpose, merely to feed the vain ego of the plantation owner.
Gregory Adams was a very handsome man, he was lean yet muscular, and one could tell he had always been well-fed. His Curly black hair was always pulled back into a bun brushed only with the finest coconut oil money could buy. He wore beige and tan suits from the tailor in town; their light complexion complimented his Amber-hued skin well. Unlike most of the other plantation owners he knew, he did not need stilts in his shoes. In fact, in most of the pairs he owned, he had cut off the heel to appear shorter, though he still towered over others by three or four inches.
Yes, Gregory was extremely beautiful, all the women on his plantation swooned over him anytime he walked past or sunbathed on his veranda (or so he thought). Yet for some reason, the other plantation owners never would come over after his father passed and left him the estate. Poor Gregory did not understand that though he was born into a lucky inheritance, he still was not equal to the white plantation owners of Alabama.
Perhaps it was this injustice or the feeling of inadequacy it caused that caused Gregory to be a worse tyrant than his father ever had been, or perhaps it was because Gregory was lonely because he wasn’t white enough for his father’s plantation friends, yet he also didn’t understand the culture of his slave mother’s people, and she had died long before she was able to teach him anything about it.
Served her right for trying to leave, he had told himself as a child while he watched her lifeless body swinging. She was his father’s property; she should have just kept doing what she was told. Then they could’ve been a family together. Then he wouldn’t be so alone now. Rather than face his loneliness or try to understand his slave’s strange traditions, Gregory covered his pain with cruelty.
Some days, he would drink himself into a stupor, wander into the fields, and challenge any man he could to a fight; sadly, most of those men never stood a chance. The one thing Gregory’s father had been certain to teach him personally growing up was how to fight. At a young age, he had been told to compete in “Hercule” fights with other plantation owners’ slaves. Gregory had always been abnormally strong, so his father knew he could use that to win some extra money or new strong slaves. Young Gregory just thought he was making his father proud and enjoyed the praise he was receiving by winning. All this fighting as a boy made him impossible to beat as a man; he’d thrash any he fought. Only now there were no cheers from his father, only the silence.
When he was not pummeling some unsuspecting slave in the fields to show his dominance over them, he would do something even more horrendous. Anytime a slave couple would perform one of their ceremonies where a couple would jump over a broom together, Gregory would call the woman to the manor so that he could bed her before her new life partner. If she tried to refuse his call, he would come to their home, beat the man to a pulp, and take her there in front of him.
Truly, the master of the Babylon plantation was a monster. There seemed no hope for the poor occupants of the plantation. How could they escape Gregory, the Master of Misery? Yet they were strong; they descended from warriors. They did not have peace, but they did have hope. They had their traditions, their gods, the Orisha. Each night after the master had come and spread his misery, the slaves of Babylon would gather together around the fires for their meals and pray to the Orisha.
“Obatala sky father, Ogun of iron and war, Oshosi warrior, hunter, justice seeker, send us aid that we may be free from our monster.”
Each night, the slaves of Babylon would send up their prayer for salvation and retribution until finally their prayers were answered in a way none would expect. The Ogun of iron and Oshosi of the hunt went to the Sky Father Obatala. They sought his blessing to create a rival for Gregory, someone who could bring justice and end his tyranny, and so Obatala gave his blessing, and they set to work. Ogun gave him the skin of Bronze tempered in his forges, muscles sculpted by his mighty hammer like a fine machete. Oshosi gave him hair to cover him like the fur of an animal Curled tightly to keep him cool, and the senses of the wilds’ greatest hunters. Obatala gave him life, placed him in the wilds outside the plantation to live alongside the animals, and finally, he was given a name… Emanuel.
Even after the birth and placement of Emanuel, life on the plantation did not change: still Gregory would torment his slaves, still they would pray unaware that the answer to their prayers simply waited at the border of the trees. Funny how close salvation can be and not be seen because we are too focused on our misery. It went on like this for a time until something miraculous happened: a young slave girl who had been noticed by the master’s suffocating gaze finally got up the courage to run away. She didn’t want to lose herself like so many others had to his brutality, better dead than robbed of her purity. She ran in the night as fast as she could to the tree line, into the woods. She could hear the hounds being released. She looked back only for a moment, seeing the flickering lights of lanterns, hearing the snarling barks of the dogs coming to rend her flesh. Only a split second she looked back, as she turned forward again she smacked into something with a thud. When she composed herself again, she looked up in horror at what she had run into. There swinging from the tree was her fiance. She thought he had been sold off to another plantation freed of this hell. What else could she do but scream and cry? Her fervent wales attracted the attention of all the creatures in the forest.
The first to come upon her as she sat sobbing in shock under her lover’s body were the dogs and slave hunters. They began to circle her.
“Now you know you shouldn’t have gone and run off like that. You know the Master is going to be furious. Come on home and maybe you won’t get strung up there next to your lover boy.”
With these final words, defeat set in. She knew this was the end one way or the other, but still, she’d rather die here with her lover than go back. She pulled a knife from beneath her skirt.
“BETTER DEAD THAN HIS TOY!!” she shouted bringing the knife down on her chest, but it never reached its intended target. Emanuel’s massive hand had stopped her mid-thrust, confused by this new creature who looked nothing like his friends in the forest. He didn’t know what kind of animal this was or why it was crying, but he did know two things. First, he knew that this animal was hurt and was scared of the other group of animals. He didn’t like seeing her scared or seeing what they did to the animal in the tree, and second, he knew she smelled nice. Emmanuel brushed the tears from her eyes before leaping at the dogs and attacking the pack.
The sight was impressive and terrifying. The dogs did their best to fight this new hulking monster, but their teeth couldn’t pierce its flesh. The handler was awestruck. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was like watching a massive bear beat his dogs into submission. By the time the fighting had stopped, all his pets were beaten, whining and limping away. That’s when the monster turned its emerald green eyes on him and began walking toward him.
“H…he…hey now boy th…th…that girl is, sh…sh..she belongs to us, y…y……you give her b..b….back now,” the handler stammered out his command more like a whimper as he backed up. Tripping over a fallen tree limb, he hit the ground, turned and ran half tripping over himself as he chased behind his dogs back to the plantation.
Emmanuel turned to the new sweet-smelling animal once more. It showed its teeth to him, not like the other animals did when they were fighting for food; this one didn’t feel threatening. He attempted to show his teeth back, but something didn’t feel right, so he stopped. The new animal bowed her head at him and then spoke a different sound than he was used to from the forest creatures, but he had learned this sound from the hunters as they would come by each day.
“Thank you, for saving me, I am Jasmine, what’s your name?” Her howl was soft and silky to his ears.
“Name is Emanuel,” he grunted back.
She showed her teeth again, “Emanuel, God is with us then. The Orisha’s heard us, blessed be.” She smiled to the sky as she said this, sending a prayer to her gods. “Emanuel, please stay here to help the others. There will be more coming. I am going to be free. Promise you’ll stay here ok?”
This question confused Emanuel. Of course he was staying here. This was his forest. He didn’t know what she meant by others, but he knew he liked her smell and the way she showed her teeth, so he just nodded. With that, the pretty, sweet-smelling animal left into the forest looking for something she called freedom.
The news of the hunt master coming back stumbling over himself with all his dogs injured spread fast on the Babylon plantation. Rumors began to spread, some said a massive bear was hiding in the woods now, and others said it was a gorilla loose from another plantation. Whatever it was in those woods each time a hunting party was sent in after it they came back beaten and bruised, Master Gregory was getting more furious with each attempt and the slaves were becoming more emboldened. As the weeks became months more and more slaves ran for their freedom protected by the monster man of the forest Emanuel. Finally, Gregory had had enough he realized that brute force was not the answer so he devised a plan, if he could not kill the wild man in the forest then he would have to bring him out.
Gregory asked who was the prettiest of the young slave girls, he was told of Ariel, a young slave girl with fair skin and freckles that all the men’s eyes followed even in her tattered clothes. Gregory sent for her, and when she arrived at the house he fed her better than she had eaten in her entire life, then she was permitted to take a hot bath and clean herself, he had other slaves from the home help clean and dress her. When all this was done he came to her and said “Ariel I have a task for you, I know you have heard of the wild man in the woods, I want you to go out there and lay down with that man for what can tame a wild man better than a beautiful woman. Once you have laid with him and he has satisfied himself enough I have no doubts he will leave my woods. If you do this for me I promise you can eat and bathe here everyday ok, will you do that for me, Ariel?
She nodded with excitement at the idea, being able to eat and bathe in hot water every day is a dream for a simple slave girl. Ariel did exactly as her master asked, she went out to the forest and when Emanuel the wildman came to her she stripped herself bare and lay with him. For days they laid together over and over again until he was done and tired and all the forest creatures had left him.
When they had finished laying together after so many days Ariel stood, put back on her garments, and began to leave the forest. Emanuel sat up stunned he hadn’t even known who she was but she smelled sweet and he enjoyed what they had done. “Are you leaving? You can stay here with animals too?” he asked so innocently.
Ariel smiled back at him. “I can’t stay out here I have a hot bath waiting, besides there are no animals here anymore just a very strong man, why don’t you come with me?” She asked as she walked toward the slave quarters.
Emanuel stood and began following behind her, he had never seen this place except from the trees with the other animals, it was very pretty and empty he thought. As they arrived at the slave quarters Ariel guided him inside one of the huts and told him to sit.
“I have hot food and a hot bath waiting for me so I have to go but I’ll come back shortly ok?” she said looking into his longing green eyes. Just wait here,” she said putting her hand on his chest and laying him down to rest.
Gregory saw Ariel come back and asked if the task was done to which she responded, “Yes, Master, there is no wild man or other animals in the forest anymore, can I go enjoy the hot bath again?
“Absolutely, my Dear, go enjoy your bath you have earned it,” Gregory said with a grin, happy with himself at how well his plan worked.
That evening after Ariel had finished her bath she went back to the slave quarters to find Emanuel dancing and singing with the other slaves around the fire. Emanuel clapped whooped and hollard as he danced around the fire, he didn’t know why but this warmth felt familiar to him like his skin recognized its glow. When he saw Ariel his emerald eyes lit up. He ran over to her excitedly telling her about all the new experiences he was having with these things called, singing, dancing, and food.
“Yes,” she said “This is a celebration for one of our family here because they’re jumping the broom.”
Emanuel didn’t know what she meant by jumping the broom but if it was anything like dancing he knew he’d like it, and above all else he knew he was happy Ariel was here to enjoy it with.
As Gregory sat on his Veranda finishing off his bottle of Scotch celebrating his victory over the wildman of the woods alone, he was remisssed that he did not take the opportunity to go face this monster he had heard such fabled stories about. The hunters had made him out to be a great warrior and Gregory thought perhaps a victory over someone so great could finally bring back the joy of fighting he had been missing since he was a boy. As he finished the last drop he threw the bottle against the wall.
“Why is there never anyone to satiate this loneliness I feel?” He screamed into the empty void of blackness around his veranda, so dark, so cold, so alone. He began to drift off as his eyelids weighed from the drink. Then he noticed it off in the distance a twinkling light of a fire, he could see the small shadows of people dancing. A celebration.
Perfect, he thought to himself, if I can’t find someone to satiate my loneliness with battle then I’ll bed another man’s wife and satiate my misery that way. Gregory began his descent from the veranda heading straight for the bride of this party.
The party was in full swing when Gregory arrived stumbling over himself as he pushed passed the slaves. “Where is she? *Hiccup* Where is the beautiful bride to be?” Gregory said through his drunken slurs. “Come now don’t hold her from me. *Hiccup* You all know the rules: I get first taste of my property.”
Everyone stopped celebrating. Everyone, that is, except Emanuel who hadn’t taken notice of the Master of Babylon. As Emanuel kept clapping and dancing Ariel put her hand on his arm, and that is when he noticed the trembling. He was familiar with that tremble, it was the same one he saw on that first girl so long ago the one who tried to hurt herself. This snapped Emanuel out of his dance, he turned to see Gregory for the first time.
“Come on, bring me my property, you all know the rules now-WHERE IS SHE!!!” Gregory began to yell as he started shoving some of the slaves.
Emanuel stepped forward and caught Gregory’s hand before he could slap one of the women. “That’s quite enough you are ruining the party and should leave.” Emmanuel said this with an authoritative tone that shocked everyone, even Gregory.
“You want me to leave,” Gregory said, “ Then you know the rules, if you can beat me in a fight I’ll leave and you can go back to your party.” Everyone stood silent not sure what to expect.
“Very well,” said Emanuel “Let us fight then.” Emmanuel knew what this was, he was used to it from the forest, he had to show he was the alpha so the man would back down.
Both men walked out into the field and faced each other. Gregory removed the jacket from his suit and uncuffed his sleeves rolling them up, then he removed his shoes and rolled up the legs of his trousers. Emanuel removed the shirt he had been given and rolled up his pant legs. All the onlookers were in awe both these men were massive, their bodies shaped as though they had been chiseled from stone. Their Impressive statures were extenuated by the glow of the firelight. Each had an aura that could envelop a city, truly this would be the clashing of giants.
“You ready,” asked Gregory.
“Whenever you are” snarled Emanuel, and with that the hulks clashed.
Each hit rang out like thunder; it was as though the gods themselves were colliding with each other. A fist here, a foot there. As they battled the sky split open and released a torrent of rain, the ground became unsteady, and each man gave up striking and moved to grappling. Gregory got in a hip toss slamming Emanuel’s massive body down, but he quickly got back to his feet, attempting to counter with a double leg takedown aiming to slam Gregory to the floor hard. However instead Gregory braced his footing and used Emanuel’s momentum to send him off sideways. As they collided over and over they tore the grounds apart.
The battle raged on, trees collapsing, craters forming, and huts being knocked over. For hours these god-like men wrestled until eventually Gregory locked Emanuel in a choke hold, forcing him to yield.
As Emanuel was released, he looked to Gregory, “I lost, you are a great warrior indeed, I shall leave you your home.”
Gregory burst out into laughter startling Emanuel and all the slaves who hadn’t such a sound from him since he was a boy. “You will do no such thing, you’re the best fight I have had in a very long time and you will stay here with me as my honored guests,” announced Gregory.
Emanuel looked at him puzzled normally the alpha would kill the losing animal yet here this man offers him brotherhood? Humans are truly strange. “Very well I will stay on one condition, you must agree to treat your family better here after all without our pack we are alone in this cold dark world” Emanuel said this with such sincerity that Gregory was aghast. He had never considered his slaves as anything except his property (that is what his father taught him they were) but here was a man who had not only stood up to him, but gave him the best fight he had ever experienced.
Perhaps he was right. Gregory needed to spend more time with his pack getting to know their ways. “Ok, I will get to know the family and will be the leader my pack deserves. To start I am Gregory,” he said, outstretching his hand.
“My name is Emanuel” The two men shook hands a mutual brotherhood forming.
“Now before we get too comfortable we should probably clean this place up,” Gregory said as he looked at the remnants of his once eloquent driveway. The trees that had housed chirping birds were uprooted or cracked in half and his flower beds had been destroyed. In short: it was a mess, but he looked forward to making it beautiful once again, this time with the help of his friend.