The scribe puts down his stylus and sends the clay tablet for baking. A good day’s recording of the village’s wheat yields, so he allows himself a cup of beer with his dinner.
In the tavern, villagers avoid him. He’s used to that. Scribes are never popular.
Voices at a nearby table rise as the ale flows. “Writing! What’s it good for? Spying on our harvest! And what does that get us?” “Bloody taxes.” “For the bloody king, may Ahura curse him.”
The scribe shivers at the next outburst. “We need to put a stop to all this writing business.”
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Writing seems to have been invented three distinct times. The cuneiform of ancient Mesopotamia and the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt are well-known, But the third, proto-Elamite from ancient Iran, is shrouded in mystery. One fascinating feature of the Iranian invention is that they gave up writing for 800 years around 5,000 years ago. We can only speculate why.
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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here
Neil MacDonald Author 
Dear Neil,
One must beware of writers. Interesting footnote. Thank you for sharing.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks so much. Rochelle
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If you keep allowing people to write, who knows what they might eventually get round to saying? I liked this, Neil. And the footnote.
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I had never really questioned the origin of writing before. But, of course, it’s taxation
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Now I feel like a rebel or an outcast.
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Turns out writing has other uses too
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Very interesting story. Incidentally the early Sumerian writings on clay tablets were all about records of business transactions. A great disappointment if we thought writing was first associated with work of literary nature.
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Thanks so much
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I enjoyed your story and learned something too! Nice one, Neil.
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