Section 8

The Seven are vanquished and the Stranger-Man stays victorious. The Man of piety put to the test was victorious and helped the whole of his race unto victory. Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. THE FINAL SUBMISSION OF THE EVIL FISHERS (§ 39). In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. 'TIS the voice of the Pure Fisher who calls and instructs the fish of the sea in the shallows. He speaks to them: "Raise your ... up, on the surface of the water stand upright; then will your force be double as great. Guard yourselves from the fishers who catch the fish and beat on the Jordan. 1 Shilmai and Nidbai 2 curse them, and they depart and settle themselves down behind me a mile off. The fish curse their casting-net in their place." When the Fisher thus spake, warning all [of the fish, when] the fishers his voice heard, they came up and gathered around him. They put themselves forward to ask of him questions, and knew not whence he came. "Where wast thou, Fisher," they ask him, "that we heard not thy voice in the marsh? Thy ship is not like our ship, and thy ... is not * * * * * *. Thy ship is not tarred over with pitch, and thou art not like the fishers of this world." The fishers see him, become scarlet for shame and remain standing in their places. They say to him: "Whence comes it p. 80 that thou dost fish without finding? Thy ship is not like our ship; it shines by night like the sun. Thy ship is perfected in æther, and wondrous standards are unfurled above it. Our ship sails along in the water, but thy ship between the waters. Our reeds (? rods) grumble at one another and break into pieces. Among them is the fish-trident of wrath, on which ... and ... ... are not. Thy ... ... O Fisher, is such that when the fish see it, they take themselves off. We have not yet seen any fishers which are like unto thee. The wind wafts thy ship on, the mast ... ... for the fisher and a rudder that gleams in the water-shallows. On thy cast-net is no cord, and they have not laid ... ... 1 round it. There are no ... in it, which are a cunning device against the fish of the ... ... ... . Thou keepest thy yarn and hast no clapper and no hatchet. Thy yarn ( = net) fishes not in the water and is not coloured for catching fish." When the fishers thus spake, the Fisher made answer unto them: "Have done, ye fishers and fishers' sons; off, get you gone from me! Off, go up to your village, the Ruins, Jerusalem. Ask about me of your father, who knows me, ask of your mother, who is my maid-servant. Say to him: There is a Fisher in the boat, in which are four ... . [There is] a rudder, and it stands there, and a mast ... ... ... ... 2 and redemptions. They lay waste the land of Jerusalem."