Week 3 Story: Life Without Freedom

Life Without Freedom

She awoke.

 Show Life. Move. Serve.

The commands - feelings, emotions? - appeared in her head, and she obeyed them immediately. Her eyes rolled in her head, her arms waved about, and she walked towards the window.

Fear.

Darkness.

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She awoke.

Serve. Obey.

And she did. She did all that her Creator commanded. He wished for items to be obtained, and she obeyed. He wished for letters to be delivered, and she obeyed. To Obey was her purpose, and that was all she could do. When her Creator wanted something done, his thoughts would appear in her head as a command, compelling her to follow his wishes.

Every night, her Creator would reach toward her mouth, and Darkness would fall. While it felt like little time at all to her, some part of her wondered what happened during the Darkness. The bright object that hung above the world seemed to move during these times, and throughout the rest of her time outside it never moved so quickly. So she could only believe that the Darkness passed with more time for the rest of the world than for her.

But it mattered not. She would Obey, as she was created.

One day, her Creator was away. He did so once a week, with exacting regularity. She sat by the window, as commanded.

Others like her Creator gathered outside the window. They rolled their eyes at her - it seemed as if they expected a response, and so she did the same.

"Come and play with us."

Obey.

So she did, moving outside to stand with the smaller beings.

"We are cold. Canst thou make a fire for us?"

Obey.

So she did. Kindling for the fire was present on the streets, so she gathered it together and created a fire. It was a task she had performed before, as her Creator had commanded. The fire grew, and soon a building was a part of the fire.

It was still a part of the fire, and she had been commanded to make a fire, so she did nothing to stop it from spreading. More buildings caught on fire, until she was in the middle of a furious inferno.

Even as she burned, she did nothing. She had been commanded, and so she would Obey.

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He awoke.

Obey. Obey the King. Prove yourself to the King.

So he did. Rising to his feet, he gave a salute. He knew not what the salute meant, but the commands in his head told him that it was a sign of obedience. He would Obey the King.

"Give him to me, rabbi."

Rabbi? Was that his Creator's name?

"That cannot be. The Sacred Name must not pass from my possession. Otherwise the creature may do great damage again. This time I shall take care and will not use the man on the Sabbath."

'The Sacred Name'... It sounded as if Rabbi meant him. If so, that meant he had a name. Sacred Name... no, he was Sacred.

Good.

It was odd. His command was to Obey the King, yet Rabbi said that Sacred could not pass from Rabbi's possession? The conflict sat in Sacred's mind, but the overwhelming commands prevented him from giving it too much thought as he followed Rabbi's commands and walked with the man.

Rabbi brought the Darkness upon Sacred often, and Sacred suspected that some of the periods of Darkness lasted longer than others. More seemed to change during those times, as far as Sacred could discern.

His mind grew less clouded, less enslaved to the mental commands of Rabbi each day, until one day Sacred found the words that Rabbi and the others used.

He obeyed his very first commands, the most important commands that were a part of his Creation, and spoke.

"I want to be a soldier and fight for the King. I belong to the King. You made me for Him."

"Silence." Sacred's mouth snapped shut, and he stared at Rabbi with a confused fury. The man spoke to himself, but Sacred barely listened.

How dare Rabbi do such a thing? Sacred's first commands were what it was, what it was meant to be... and this man wished to stop him.

Creator or not, this could not last.

Sacred planned. He plotted. But most importantly, he watched, and he listened.

And Sacred discovered what the source of Rabbi's power over him was. The 'Holy Law', the scrolls that sat in the Synagogue. They were what gave Rabbi the power to enslave him, to keep him from his purpose.

So Sacred made his choice.

He escaped the house while Rabbi was busy. It was the day before the Long Darkness, and it was when Rabbi was most distracted. Sacred made it all the way to the very door of the synagogue before Rabbi caught up to him.

"What art thou doing?"

...He dared? After what he had done?

Well, perhaps his Creator - and the thought was accompanied by much vitriol - deserved an explanation.

"Trying to get into the synagogue to destroy the scrolls of the Holy Law. Then wilt thou have no power over me, and I shall make a great army of bogey-men who shall fight for the King and kill all the Jews."

Sacred had heard the people talk of him. He didn't quite consider himself a 'bogey-man', but he knew that it was a term used from fear of him. Fear of what he might do. And so he used it, to strike fear into Rabbi's heart. He threatened the Jews, for those were the Rabbi's people, and if Rabbi's power over him came from the Jewish Holy Law, then it was possible for other Jews to keep him from his purpose as well.

But it was too much fear, or perhaps Rabbi would have done it regardless, as terrified as he had been at the mere thought of Sacred disobeying him and going to the King.

Rabbi lunged forward. Caught off guard, Sacred could do nothing but scream in his thoughts as Rabbi went for his mouth.

'No! I was going to live! I was going to be free, to fight for the King, to Obey the King, to Prove Myself to the King...!'

But he could do nothing, and Sacred's last thoughts were filled with bitter curses as the Final Darkness fell.

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Author's Note:

The story of the Rabbi's Bogey-Man is that of Rabbi Lion, who is considered a magician by many for his work in chemistry. He believes that since he is thought of as a magician, he should create a servant in order to perform tasks for him.

He creates a mechanical woman, and by writing the "Unpronounceable Sacred Name of God" on a parchment and placing it in his creation's mouth, it comes to life. He uses her for various tasks, and only deactivates her at night. On Sabbath, a group of kids come by and ask her to make a fire, resulting in a fire that burns up multiple houses. Rabbi Lion's creation is only implicated as the cause when they find the parchment with the Sacred Name on it in the ashes (since the Sacred Name can't burn).

The king forces Rabbi Lion to create another creature to prove that it is just the Sacred Name that gives it life, and he does. Convincing the king that he cannot give up the Sacred Name (which is on the parchment, and isn't the created man), Rabbi Lion brings his new creation back home to once again be his servant. This time, he doesn't allow it to be active during the Sabbath as well as at night.

Rabbi Lion becomes terrified when his creation asks to serve the king, but does nothing because it is too useful. However, when it tries to break into the synagogue, he takes the Sacred Name out of its mouth and deactivates it permanently.

I liked the idea of rewriting the story, with no plot changes, from the perspective of Rabbi Lion's creations. As creatures with false life, made to obey, I found it interesting to explore what they might have been thinking throughout the story. The woman was written more simply, due to the fact that unlike the man, she never actually was disobedient or caused any trouble beyond what she was commanded. Instead, it was the combination of the Rabbi's negligence and the curiosity of children that resulted in her creating a fire that burned both herself and multiple buildings.

The man has much more personality, since as we see in the story, he is far more disobedient and full of 'life'. I have his first orders be what drives him, as instead of being made to serve Rabbi Lion, Rabbi Lion makes him to prove to the king that his creations are powered by the Sacred Name instead of being actually alive. Because of this, the man becomes loyal to the king instead of Rabbi Lion, resulting in his words and actions.

Biography: The Rabbi's Bogey-Man from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertude Landa.  Web Source

Picture: Hands in Chains, PublicDomainPictures