On his way to Ecbatana Dionysos decided to stop off
for a nap, and while sleeping beneath a date-palm tree
Zenūt climbed down from the branches,
laid upon his chest, and pressed her way
into his dreams, much to her regret,
for what the Ardat-Lilî saw there
destroyed her sanity.
When he was done playing with Zenūt
Dionysos plucked her from his breast, and said:
“No, I will not kick a pregnant woman in the belly with you.
No, I will not rape a fair-haired maiden with you.
No, I will not knot the mane of a horse with you.
No, I will not spoil the milk with you.
No, I will not trip a drunk man on his way home and laugh with you.
I will not do any of these things, and neither shall you.
Instead, Zenūt, go back to the witch that sent you.
Go back to the cold, dark cave where you live.
Or better yet, go back inside your mother’s womb,
the womb of Taklạt, Queen of the South,
who brought this and numerous other
afflictions into the world.
Go there and shrivel.
Go there and grow ever weaker.
Go there and perish.
And never return to cause me,
or NN, or any of my people any trouble again.”
Dionysos flicked the Ardat-Lilî, now powerless and insane,
far away from him, and Zenūt was never seen
troubling Bacchic men or women again.