The Minoan Rhapsody

The Keiftu

It was the break of dawn. Pasiphae entered a bathing room whose walls were decorated with frescoes. Her shoulders were down, exhausted after an endless night. She welcomed Chalya, embracing in a long, hard hug. Pasiphae broke down, sobbing, finally releasing the horror she lived through. More than anything, she needed her sweet Amah's comfort. Two Keiftu women approached them and took the white, bloody clothes off from her.

"Leave us," Chalya ordered as they took the clothes with them. She helped Pasiphae step inside a painted terra cotta bathtub. "Water!"

Above them, water from a heated cistern began to pour down a hole on the ceiling, onto the bathtub.

Chalya grabbed clean rags and began cleaning the blood off Pasiphae's head, arms, and torso.

The Colchian Princess scooched down and wrapped her arms around her legs. She closed her eyes and whimpered.

"My dear child." Chalya set the rags to the side and let her forehead touch Pasiphae's head. She didn't mind getting drenched.

"I wish you'd been there."

"I'm sorry I wasn't, but I'm here now. Talk to me."

She sighed as water trickled down her face. "They were so many. I held a little girl's cracked head. I was keeping her brain inside her open skull. I can still see her eyes staring at me." She sniffed and wiped off her tears. "There was a disemboweled man, walking towards me. He held his dangling guts, but he didn't ask for help. It was as if he didn't expect anything from anyone. There were crushed torsos, and impaled corpses. I tried to help as many as I could. Some rejected me. Others lost their will to live. I tried to help still. But they were too many."

"Can't these people take care of their own?"

"I don't understand any of it. The wounded didn't cry for help. The healthy didn't help anyone. These are civilized people, yet they behaved like animals!" She paused. "Some animals take better care of their own..."

"How did all this come about?"

#

Pasiphae and King Minos sat on a bench; a top of a stone balcony, built besides the ramp that connected the throne room with the Plaza above. They were accompanied by the Council, all dressed in white, their entire bodies concealed underneath linen cloaks and their faces hidden behind white hoods.

Row after row, sometimes twenty-deep, the Keiftu stood at ground level, rubbing shoulders, toe to heel. Edging the Plaza, half-done stone balconies and wooden scaffolds built for the event were also packed. All present were concealed under the whiteness of their clothing. They swayed in unison from side to side, humming a strange, undiscernible tune.

One of the leapers surfaced from the Palace below, followed by two more who escorted a black, blindfolded bull. The one leaper took off his white clothes and placed them, neatly stretched on the floor. He was Knagos. He wore a red loincloth, its flaps sewn front and back and together under the groin. He raised his hands and acknowledged the crowd around him.

The Keiftu did not cheer but kept swaying and humming.

Knagos ran, tumbled, and flipped in the air, landing on his feet. He positioned himself on one side of the Plaza, opposite to the bull.

The crowd went silent, still. Even the wind dared not make a sound.

The two other leapers escorting the bull removed the blindfold and slowly retreated.

The massive beast bellowed thunderously as it shook its head. It arched its back and lowered its head once it saw Knagos. Shaking its head rapidly from side to side, it pawned with its forefeet, sending dirt flying behind and over the back.