>>5420231>There will be drinks enough at our destinationYou soldier on through the blistering heat, trying not to think about how bad the bearers must have it. Soon, you are at the gate on the other side, but the procession turns south, heading along the riverbank.
You can see why the road is called Way of Date Palms - they do indeed line the street, and their mottled shade provides some respite from the glare. Ironically, some people here sit under the wall hawking dates and date syrup. There are even some with jugs of date beer, but judging by the official's distasteful grimace, they are not masters of their craft.
It seems to be a pattern here - the market squares are reserved for 'truer' trade, while second-hand or small-time salesmen are sidelined to the walls and alleys.
Here too you glimpse your first sight of poverty. A group of beggars is sprawled in the shade of the walls, wrinkled and thin. The old, maimed, and sick do not have business in the great temples of Nippur's eastern half, and you expect there are far more of them than you will ever be shown. Why would the governor visit the poorer quarters, the slums under the walls? It is enough that his troops patrol them, and keep the peace, after all.
"Ah, we are almost there," the honeyed voice reaches your ears again.
>"Indeed.">"Will there be time to visit the market on our way back?">"What is to be done about the beggars in Nippur?">WRITE-IN 