02x04 - The Sumerian Boy

[bunniefuu]

Namihira, what's wrong with you?

Why?

Your essay. It's unacceptable.

Personally, I think it's entertaining
and well-organized.

And the twist is good, isn't it?

It's not the content.

You made too many mistakes.

How can you be so bad at writing kanji?

Please go back to elementary school.

What's the big deal?

So what if I wrote the characters
slightly different?

It's fine as long as you get the meaning.

Hey, easy. Calm down.

For making the children
of future generations suffer,

I want to time-travel
and punch the dude who invented kanji!

Relax, Namihira.

Don't be so quick to hate them.

If you look at kanji's origins,
you'll find it fascinating.

Kanji characters started as pictures.

They turned into symbols,
then into logograms,

and then became the kanji we have now.

Wow, that sounds interesting.

It's definitely intriguing.

And then,
when those basic symbols are mixed,

they create new meanings
and become increasingly complex!

Wow!

I see.

KANJI WORKBOOK FOR JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS

Whoever invented kanji
must have been a weirdo

who had too much time to k*ll.

Oh, hey! It's a mission!

I can skip studying!

Agent Bon, this is not an excuse
to skip studying.

Oopsie.

Didn't think you'd hear that.

Hey, someone's studying hard.

A mission?

That's right. Get ready.

We're going to 3319 B.C.

The location is Sumer, in modern-day Iraq.

First, we'll head
to the ancient city of Eridu.

It must be a hassle
to always come pick me up.

Not really, since I have this boat.

I think it's about time I got my own boat.

Let's ask Headquarters...

And you're going too far again.

Here he comes.

Want your own Time Boat?

Gain experience and make achievements,

complete your apprenticeship,
and become an associate agent.

This is how everyone who was chosen
to be a Time Patrol agent has...

Wait up!

I'm not done talking to you!

Buyo!

THE SUMERIAN BOY

This is Eridu in Sumer.

Look! There's a really magnificent temple!

There'll be an even larger ziggurat
built in Babylon later.

So this is the original model
of the Tower of Babel in the Bible.

Where's our destination?

It's a small village
not far away from here.

Look at that! That's amazing!

What exactly is amazing there?

The wheels!

The wheel is one of the Sumerians'
two greatest inventions.

It enabled the mass transportation
of people and goods to distant places.

Didn't you learn it in school?

Show-off. I bet you know it
thanks to Compressed Learning.

Guilty as charged.

This place looks nice and tranquil.

It's a small village,

but the residents seem to live peacefully.

Which one in this village are we saving?

The whole village.

-What?
-Buyo?

This is horrible.

They were raided by thieves.

Headquarters couldn't pinpoint
the exact date and time.

But the village was plundered and burned,

all men were k*lled,

and women and children were enslaved.

Such atrocity.

This is a huge mission.

Right.

What's that?

It's a wolf!

I'm not your food!

What?

It's wagging its tail.

Come on. Don't scare me like that.

It looks pretty tame.

It's got something on its neck.

Let's follow it.

Lu, right here!

Hey, good job.

Let's see.

Interesting.

Geme Inanna is going
the day after tomorrow.

Thanks, Lu.

Have a treat.

Something like pebbles came out,

and they seemed to hold
some sort of message.

But those were just some complex tokens.

What's that?

Complex tokens are small objects

that were used to record
types and amounts of things.

That's what people used
way back then before writing.

But he looked like
he received a letter or something.

Let's keep watching.

On it.

I'm back!

Hey, you!

Where were you playing
during this busy time?

No, Dad...

With your wolf again.

"Finding wealth is hard,

but poverty is always by our side."

Your Grandpa used to say that.

But here's what Grandma said.

"Being rich makes you happy,

having goods makes you glad,

but being poor makes you sleep well."

They also say,
"Into an open mouth, a fly enters"!

Stop acting smart and come with me!

I wasn't acting smart.
Okay, Dad, I got it.

Let go of me!

He's getting dragged to the field.

Kids just want to play, no matter the era.

Hey, Dad.

When do we go to the temple in Eridu?

I'm thinking of going sometime soon.

Let's go in two days.

Only if we finish
everything we need to do.

I'm gonna work really hard.

Let's finish everything by then. Please?

Fine.

In two days, then.

Yeah! Thanks, Dad!

What's happening in two days in Eridu?

Let's skip to two days later.

Absolutely not.

We're not taking a wolf to Eridu.

But Lu is gentle and tame.

He's not like other wolves.

Uru, you want to go to Eridu, don't you?

Then do as your father says.

Okay.

Lu, I'm sorry,
but you're staying here, okay?

See you later!

The oil and the cloth and...

Dad, we can see it from here.

It's Eridu.

The great god Enki,

the guardian of people.

Thanks to you,
we had a good harvest this year.

We thank you very much.

Good, we've paid our dues.

Let's buy the cloth and oil for your mom
and go home.

Dad, can I go see the port?

Sure.

Let's meet by the boat in the evening.

Cool!

He's super excited, isn't he?

He really is.

Hey, Geme!

Geme Inanna!

Uru Dumuzid!

Hi. It's been quite a while.

It really has.

Where's Lu?

Dad didn't let me bring him,
so he's staying home.

How adorable.

They're having a date.

But how did she know he was coming here?

Uru and his dad decided to come here
only two days ago.

Perhaps those complex tokens
are the key after all.

You know, I was so excited to see you
that I couldn't sleep last night.

Me neither.

I really wanted to see you too.

My father decided to come to Eridu,

so I asked Lu to make haste.

How's Uruk?

You're so lucky, Geme.

You live in such a big city.

I'd love to go there sometime.

I'm going to leave Uruk.

My father is moving
to our family's hometown of Bad-tibira

to inherit my grandfather's business.

Bad-tibira?

It's a village
much farther away from Eridu or Uruk.

No way.

You'll be even farther away than now?

But it'll be fine,

because we can talk to each other
no matter how far apart we are

if we use the signs you came up with.

The signs?

This is me.

This is you.

This is Eridu.

These mean "in two days."

"Me."

"You."

"Eridu."

"In two days."

-See?
-Yeah.

I told you! I knew they were using
complex tokens as a messaging tool.

Different types and numbers of tokens
can deliver short messages,

but I want to tell you more!

Me too!

So here's something I came up with.

Is that

a chunk of clay?

That's right.

Watch me.

I get it!

This way, the order and pairing
can be preserved on clay.

So we can have a lot more signs.

That's a pretty clever idea.

This is...

We can decide different pairs and orders
to mean different things,

and we'll be able to share
more complex stories!

Could it be...

Exactly!

Let's think up
more new signs and meanings.

It's writing.

What? What do you mean?

They're pictographs!

The other great Sumerian invention
besides the wheel!

We're witnessing the birth of writing!

You sound awfully thrilled about it.

Why wouldn't I be?

It's a huge event in human history!

Tokens were originally used for recording
the types and amounts of goods.

Then their designs got creative,

and it eventually became cuneiform.

The invention of writing

is akin to taking a human mind out

and storing it forever.

All knowledge becomes shareable,

and from hereon,

civilization develops
at a skyrocketing pace!

CIVILIZATION

Let's have lunch?

Sneaky...

-Hi, Father.
-Buyo?

Geme, we should get going.

All right.

Aren't you from the neighboring village?

I'm the son of Lu Nanna,

Uru Dumuzid.

I see.

Thanks for being good friends
with Geme, Uru.

My regards to your father.

I'll tell him.

Come visit me in Bad-tibira.

Yeah, I definitely will.

Dad.

Uru, you're late.

I'm sorry.

Did you get everything?

Yeah. Salt, fish, cloth, and oil.

And a necklace for your mother.

Mom will be so happy.

Seems like you had fun in Eridu.

Yes, a ton!

The city of Uruk where she lives

develops to become
a massive city in southern Mesopotamia.

This is where
writing on clay tablets was invented.

Call it the birthplace of writing.

I'm so full.

You ate quite a lot today.

Yes, traveling far
seems to have made me hungry.

Geme, when Uru visits you in Bad-tibira,

I'll teach you two fishing and hunting.

Great. I can't wait!

Thanks, Father!

It's great to see her so excited.

I know.

But, my dear,

I heard something concerning.

A merchant from the east was saying

that Bad-tibira is being targeted.

The thieves.

I wonder when I'll get to see him next.

Even from afar,
these two wanted to share their stories,

and that's why they invented symbols.

What they started
naturally spread among people.

"Me. New village. Doing well."

"Dad. Angry. But doing well."

"Fishing. Fish. Me. Ate it."

"Fields. Many. Vegetables. Grown."

This peaceful village

will soon face a dreadful disaster.

There's no time to just keep watching.

But even Headquarters doesn't know
the exact date and time.

And even if we did know,

how can we tell the villagers
about the raid and convince them to run?

That's the question.

If it was just a villager or two, but...

Our mission is to save the whole village.

Are we going to try our best
to persuade everyone?

It won't be easy to make them understand.

It's also a bad idea
to intervene too much.

Time Patrol's intervention
must always look natural, too, right?

What can we possibly do
to protect this village?

He looks like he's worried
about something.

Looks like he's anxiously waiting.

Uru!

Slacking off again?

Dad.

The sun won't wait for a lazybones.

We'll harvest till sunset.

But Lu! He hasn't come back yet!

That wolf hasn't returned?

He probably didn't come back
from that girl's place.

Something happened.

Lu!

Where are you?

Between Bad-tibira and the village,

the quickest way
should be to go along this river.

I'm an excellent finder. Leave it to me.

Hey! Lu!

Where are you? Lu!

I can feel it.

I can definitely feel it. Buyo!

There you are!

Stop chasing me!

All right. Good boy. Go on now.

Phew.

Buyo?

Buyo?

I found him!

He must've been speared or something.

This should heal him.

Who did this to him?

I'm guessing...

The thieves?

He's awake.

He's okay now.

You shouldn't move yet!

Buyoyon, you follow the wolf.

Roger that!

And we go check the girl!

Okay!

This is horrible.

From the looks of it,
it's been attacked a few days ago.

So it was the thieves.

Look. There's that girl.

She's going to be enslaved
if we don't do something.

Lu was running back
to inform Uru about this.

The village is in danger!

We have to tell them to run away!

Do you think the villagers
will understand us?

If we don't do something, they'll all die!

Lu!

What happened to you?

I was worried sick.

Dad, it's an emergency!

Hmm? What is it?

Bad-tibira was raided by thieves!

The thieves?!

They're heading our way!

How did you know about that?

That girl! Geme Inanna just let me know!

Quit playing!

How can a girl in Bad-tibira
tell us about it?

It's Lu! He brought this back!

She told me with these signs!

What? Symbols on clay?

They're shaped like tokens.

Geme and I gave them new meanings!

Even though we're far apart,
we can still talk!

It sounds bizarre, and it's unheard of.

My dear, if this is true...

Dad, we don't have time!

Believe me, Dad!

You have to believe me!

Dad, please!

Uru.

Wake up every man in the village.

Gather at the Elder's house.

But we only just finished harvesting.

Damn thieves.

They'll take every grain
and burn our homes.

And whoever survives
will be sold as sl*ves.

We have to escape now.

Don't panic.

Everyone, calm down!

But what should we do?

We should run so we can all survive.

It's no use.

Escaping is pointless.

Elder...

Why don't we take this occasion
to take them on and defeat them?

Those ferocious thieves?

We don't stand a chance.

Indeed.

If they attack us off guard,
we won't stand a chance.

But that's not the case this time.

Thanks to Lu Nanna, we have time.

That's true.

We shall be armed and ready
before they come, and we'll fight back.

All right!

Let's gather all the weapons!

Let's trap those b*stards!

We'll protect our village!

-I'll give them hell!
-Let's do it.

We won't die here.

Now. Since we're going into battle,
we need to choose a lugal.

-That's right.
-But who?

I think Lu Nanna is perfect for it.

What?

I agree!

-Lu Nanna has both bravery and wisdom.
-Agreed!

Most of all, he's young.

I agree! Let Lu Nanna be our lugal!

Let Lu Nanna be our lugal!

What do you say?

All right.

I accept.

Then let me tell you what I think!

We shouldn't just wait.

We'll prepare our gear by dawn,

leave the village,
and attack from our end!

Yeah!

Prepare for the battle!

Yeah!

I'm so glad they got the message.

But fighting instead of running...

Will they be okay?

If that's what they decided,
let's respect it.

Shouldn't we give them a hand?

As Time Patrol, we have to keep
our intervention to a minimum.

We saved Lu,
and it changed the course of history.

It'll be fine.

I guess you're right.

Hey. What's a lugal?

A lugal is the leader in battle.

They're elected only during the wars.

To be elected,
they must be young and tough.

The word "lugal"
originally meant "big man."

But as more time passed,

the lugal gained greater power,

and eventually,
the word became equivalent to "king."

The system of monarchy,
which ruled people for thousands of years,

is said to have started from here.

Dad!

Uru Dumuzid!

Geme Inanna!

Seems it was quite the victory.

I'm so glad.

Those two are the ones
who really saved the village.

I see how important writing is.

With writing, your message
can transcend time and space.

Mission accomplished.

KANJI WORKBOOK FOR JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS

Bon? I bought you some cakes.

Wow. Now that's unusual.