Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Appointment in Samarra
(1933)
W.
Somerset Maugham
(January 25, 1874 – December 16, 1965)
Notes
This is Death's story from the end of W. Somerset Maugham's 1933 play Sheppey.
SHEPPEY. Look 'ere, you ain't come 'ere on my account?
DEATH. Yes.
SHEPPEY. You're joking. I thought you'd just come to 'ave a little chat. I'm sorry, my dear, there's nothing doing to-day. You must call again some other time.
DEATH. I'm too busy for that.
SHEPPEY. I don't think that's treating me right. Coming in all friendly and pleasant. If I'd known what you was after I'd 'ave nipped off with Cooper when 'e asked me.
DEATH. That wouldn't have helped you much.
SHEPPEY. I wish now I'd gone down to the Isle of Sheppey when the doctor advised it. You wouldn't 'ave thought of looking for me there.
DEATH. There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
SHEPPEY. (with a shudder) D'you mean there's no escaping you?
DEATH. No.
The Babylonian Talmud
The Angel of Death at the gates of Luz
| Two
Ethiopians were in the service of King Solomon, named Elihoreph and
Achiyah the son of Shisha, and were his scribes. One day Solomon saw
the Angel of Death was sad, and he asked him for the reason, and he
said: Because the two men are required from me. And Solomon took the
two men and gave them away to devils, who should carry them away to
the city of Luz, which the Angel of Death cannot enter. On the
morrow he saw the Angel of Death was very cheerful, and when he
asked him the reason, he told him: To the place where I was
commanded to take the lives of these two men, thou hast sent them,
for they died at the gate of Luz. Then said Solomon: The feet of a
man are his securities; where he is needed, to that place they bring
him. Source: "Chapter 5," Tractate Sukkah, The Talmud |
There
were once two Cushites9 who attended on Solomon, and these were
Elihoreph and Ahyah, the sons of Shisha, scribes,10 of Solomon. One
day Solomon observed that the Angel of Death was sad. ‘Why’, he said
to him, ‘art thou sad?’ — ‘Because’, he answered him, ‘they11 have
demanded from me the two Cushites who sit here’.12 [Solomon
thereupon] gave them in charge of the spirits13 and sent them to the
district of Luz.14 When, however, they reached the district of Luz15
they died. On the following day he observed that the Angel of Death
was in cheerful spirits. ‘Why’, he said to him, ‘art thou cheerful?’
— ‘To the place’, the other replied, ‘where they expected them from
me, thither didst thou send them!’16 Solomon thereupon uttered the
saying, ‘A man's feet are responsible for him; they lead him to the
place where he is wanted’. Source: "53a," Sukkah, The Babylonian Talmud |
Besides
Benaiah, Solomon's two scribes, Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of
Shisha, deserve mention. They both met their death in a most
peculiar way. Solomon once upon a time noticed a care-worn
expression on the countenance of the Angel of Death. When he asked
the reason, he received the answer, that he had been charged with
the task of bringing the two scribes to the next world. Solomon was
desirous of stealing a march upon the Angel of Death, as well as
keeping his secretaries alive. He ordered the demons to carry
Elihoreph and Ahijah to Luz, the only spot on earth in which the
Angel of Death has no power. In a jiffy, the demons had done his
bidding, but the two secretaries expired at the very moment of
reaching the gates of Luz. Next day, the Angel of Death appeared
before Solomon in very good humor, and said to him: "Thou didst
transport those two men to the very spot in which I wanted them."
The fate destined for them was to die at the gates of Luz, and the
Angel of Death had been at a loss how to get them there. Source: Louis Ginzberg, "Chapter 5: Solomon," vol. 4, The Legends of the Jews (1909) |
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