His
comrades
threw dice for the shares they had obtained — he staked his to win more for us.
Universal Anthology - v01
Instead of the ornaments in bracelets, anklets, ear and finger rings, in neck laces and clasps, which most of the Egyptian ladies — and indeed her own sister and daughter — were accustomed to wear, she had only fresh flowers, which were never wanting in the garden of her son-in-law.
Only a plain gold diadem, the badge of her royal descent, always rested, from early morning till late at night, on her high brow — for a woman too high, though nobly formed — and confined the long, blue black hair, which fell unbraided down her back, as if its owner contemned the vain labor of arranging it artistically.
But nothing in her exterior was unpremeditated, and the unbe- jeweled wearer of the diadem, in her plain dress, and with her royal figure, was everywhere sure of being observed, and of finding imitators of her dress, and indeed of her demeanor.
And yet Katuti had long lived in need ; ay, at the very hour when we first make her acquaintance she had little of her own, but lived on the estate of her son-in-law as his guest, and as the administrator of his possessions ; and before the marriage of her daughter she had lived with her children in a house belonging to her sister Setchem.
She had been the wife of her own brother, who had died young, and who had squandered the greatest part of the pos sessions which had been left to him by the new royal family, in an extravagant love of display.
When she became a widow, she was received as a sister, with her children, by her brother-in-law, Paaker's father. She lived in a house of her own, enjoyed the income of an estate assigned to her by the old Mohar, and left to her son-in-law the care of educating her son, a handsome and overbearing lad, with all the claims and pretensions of a youth of distinc tion.
128 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
Such great benefits would have oppressed and disgraced the proud Katuti, if she had been content with them and in every way agreed with the giver. But this was by no means the case ; rather, she believed that she might pretend to a more brilliant outward position, felt herself hurt when her heedless son while he attended school was warned to work more seri ously, as he would by and by have to rely on his own skill and his own strength. And it had wounded her when occa sionally her brother-in-law had suggested economy, and had reminded her, in his straightforward way, of her narrow means, and the uncertain future of her children.
At this she was deeply offended, for she ventured to say that her relatives could never, with all their gifts, compensate for the insults they heaped upon her ; and thus taught them by experience that we quarrel with no one more readily than with the benefactor whom we can never repay for all the good he bestows on us.
Nevertheless, when her brother-in-law asked the hand of her daughter for his son, she willingly gave her consent.
Nefert and Paaker had grown up together, and by this union she foresaw that she could secure her own future and that of her children.
Shortly after the death of the Mohar, the charioteer Mena had proposed for Nefert's hand, but would have been refused if the king himself had not supported the suit of his favorite officer. After the wedding, she retired with Nefert to Mena's house, and undertook, while he was at the war, to manage his great estates, which, however, had been greatly burdened with debt by his father.
Fate put the means into her hands of indemnifying herself and her children for many past privations, and she availed her self of them to gratify her innate desire to be esteemed and admired ; to obtain admission for her son, splendidly equipped, into a company of chariot warriors of the highest class ; and to surround her daughter with princely magnificence.
When the regent, who had been a friend of her late hus band, removed into the palace of the Pharaohs, he made her advances, and the clever and decided woman knew how to make herself at first agreeable, and finally indispensable, to the vacillating man.
She availed herself of the circumstance that she, as well as he, was descended from the old royal house to pique his ambi
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. ] 129
tion, and to open to him a view, which, even to think of, he would have considered forbidden as a crime, before he became intimate with her.
Ani's suit for the hand of the Princess Bent-Anat was Katuti's work. She hoped that the Pharaoh would refuse, and personally offend the regent, and so make him more inclined to tread the dangerous road which she was endeavoring to smooth for him. The dwarf Nemu was her pliant tool.
She had not initiated him into her projects by any words ; he, however, gave utterance to every impulse of her mind in free language, which was punished only with blows from a fan, and, only the day before, had been so audacious as to say that if the Pharaoh were called Ani instead of Rameses, Katuti would be not a queen but a goddess, for she would then have not to obey, but rather to guide, the Pharaoh, who indeed him self was related to the immortals.
Katuti did not observe her daughter's blush, for she was looking anxiously out at the garden gate, and said : —
" Where can Nemu be ? There must be some news arrived for us from the army. "
" "Mena has not written for so long," Nefert said softly.
Ah ! here is the steward. "
Katuti turned to the officer, who had entered the veranda
through a side door. "
" What do you bring ?
"The dealer Abscha," was the answer, "presses for pay
"
and already so much has been delivered to the dealers that scarcely enough remains over for the maintenance of the house hold and for sowing. "
" But, madam," said the steward, sorrowfully, " only yester day we again sold a herd to the Mohar ; and the water wheels must be turned, and the corn must be thrashed, and we need beasts for sacrifice, and milk, butter, and cheese for the use of the house, and dung for firing. "
" It must be," she said presently. " Ride to Hermonthis, and say to the keeper of the stud that he must have ten of Mena's golden bays driven over here. "
" Then pay with beasts. "
Katuti looked thoughtfully at the ground.
she asked.
ment. The new Syrian chariot and the purple cloth
" Sell some corn," ordered Katuti.
" Impossible, for the tribute to the temples is not yet paid,
130 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
" I have already spoken to him," said the steward, " but he maintains that Mena strictly forbade him to part with even one of the horses, for he is proud of the stock. Only for the chariot
"
of the lady Nefert
"I require obedience," said Katuti, decidedly, and cut
ting short the steward's words, "and I expect the horses to morrow. "
" But the stud master is a daring man, whom Mena looks
upon as indispensable, and he
" I command here, and not the absent," cried Katuti, en
raged, " and I require the horses in spite of the former orders of my son-in-law. "
Nefert, during this conversation, pulled herself up from her indolent attitude. On hearing the last words she rose from her couch, and said, with a decision which surprised even her mother : —
"
" The orders of my husband must be obeyed. The horses that Mena loves shall stay in their stalls. Take this armlet that the king gave me ; it is worth more than twenty horses. "
The steward examined the trinket, richly set with precious stones, and looked inquiringly at Katuti. She shrugged her shoulders, nodded consent, and said : —
" Abscha shall hold it as a pledge till Mena's booty arrives. For a year your husband has sent nothing of importance. "
When the steward was gone, Nefert stretched herself again on her couch and said, wearily : —.
"I thought we were rich. "
" We might be," said Katuti, bitterly ; but as she perceived that Nefert's cheeks were again glowing, she said amiably : " Our high rank imposes great duties on us. Princely blood flows in our veins, and the eyes of the people are turned on the wife of the most brilliant hero in the king's army. They shall not say that she is neglected by her husband. How long Mena remains away ! "
" I hear a noise in the court," said Nefert. '* The regent is coming. "
Katuti turned again toward the garden.
A breathless slave rushed in, and announced that Bent- Anat, the daughter of the king, had dismounted at the gate, and was approaching the garden with the Prince Rameri. . . .
Katuti looked down reflectively. Then she said, "The regent certainly likes very well to pass his hours of leisure
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
131
with me, gossiping or playing draughts, but I do not know that I should dare to speak to him of so grave a matter. "
"Marriage projects are women's affairs," said Bent-Anat, smiling.
" But the marriage of a princess is a state event," replied the widow. " In this case, it is true, the uncle only courts his niece, who is dear to him, and who he hopes will make the sec ond half of his life the brightest. Ani is kind and without severity. Thou wouldst win in him a husband who would wait on thy looks, and bow willingly to thy strong will. ""
Bent-Anat's eyes flashed, and she hastily exclaimed : That is exactly what forces the decisive, irrevocable ' no ' to my lips. Do you think that because I am as proud as my mother, and resolute like my father, that I wish for a husband whom I could
govern and lead as I would ? How little you know me ! will be obeyed by my dogs, my servants, my officers, if the gods so will it, by my children. Abject beings, who will kiss my feet, I meet on every road, and can buy by the hundred, if I wish it, in the slave market. I may be courted twenty times, and reject twenty suitors, but not because I fear that they might bend my pride and my will; on the contrary, because I feel them increased. The man to whom I could wish to offer my hand must be of a loftier stamp, must be greater, firmer, and
I
; and I will flutter after the mighty wing strokes of his spirit, and smile at my own weakness, and glory in admir ing his superiority. "
better than I
Katuti listened to the maiden with the smile by which the experienced love to signify their superiority over the visionary. " "Ancient times may have produced such men," she said.
But if in these days thou thinkest to find one, thou wilt wear the lock of youth till thou art gray. Our thinkers are no he roes, and our heroes are no sages. Here come thy brother and Nefert. "
"Will you persuade Ani to give up his suit? " said the princess, urgently.
"I will endeavor to do so, for thy sake," replied Katuti. Then, turning half to the young Rameri and half to his sister, she said : —
" The chief of the House of Seti, Ameni, was in his youth such a man as thou paintest, Bent-Anat. Tell us, thou son of Rameses, that art growing up under the young sycamores, which shall some day overshadow the land — whom dost thou
132 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
esteem the highest among thy companions ? Is there one among them who is conspicuous above them all for a lofty spirit and the strength of intellect? "
The young Rameri looked gayly at the speaker, and said, laughing: —
"We are all much alike, and do more or less willingly what we are compelled, and by preference everything we ought
not.
"A mighty soul — a youth who promises to be a second Snefru, a Thotmes, or even an Ameni? Dost thou know none such in the House of Seti ? " asked the widow.
" Oh, yes ! " cried Rameri, with eager certainty.
" And he is ? " asked Katuti.
" Pentaur, the poet," exclaimed the youth. Bent-Anat's
face glowed with scarlet color, while her brother went on to explain.
" He is noble and of a lofty soul, and all the gods dwell in him when he speaks. Formerly we used to go to sleep in the lecture hall ; but his words carry us away, and if we do not take in the full meaning of his thoughts, yet we feel that they are genuine and noble. "
Bent-Anat breathed quicker at these words, her eyes hung on the boy's lips.
" You know him, Bent-Anat," continued Rameri. " He was with you at the paraschites' house, and in the temple court when Ameni pronounced you unclean. He is as tall and handsome as the god Menth, and I feel that he is one of those whom we can never forget when once we have seen them. Yesterday, after you had left the temple, he spoke as he never spoke before ; he
I feel it burning still. This morning we were informed that he had been sent from the temple, who knows where — and had left us a message of farewell. It was not thought at all necessary to
poured fire into our souls. Do not laugh, Katuti ;
communicate the reason to us ; but we know more than the masters think. He did not reprove you strongly enough, Bent- Anat, and therefore he is driven out of the House of Seti. We have agreed to combine to ask for him to be recalled ; Anana is drawing up a letter to the chief priest, which we shall all sub scribe. It would turn out badl^foi; one alone, but they cannot be at all of us at once. Very likely they will have the sense to recall him. If not, we shall all complain to our fathers, and they are not the meanest in the land. " . . . . ? -. .
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 133
As soon as Bent-Anat had quitted Mena's domain, the dwarf Nemu entered the garden with a letter, and briefly related his adventures ; but in such a comical fashion that both the ladies laughed, and Katuti, with a lively gayety, which was usually foreign to her, while she warned him, at the same time praised his acuteness. She looked at the seal of the letter, and said, —
" This is a lucky day ; it has brought us great things, and
the promise of greater things in the future. " " Nefert came close up to her and said imploringly,
Open
the letter, and see if there is nothing in it from him. "
Katuti unfastened the wax, looked through the letter with
a hasty glance, stroked the cheek of her child, andIsaid, —
" Perhaps your brother has written for him ; see no line
in his handwriting. "
Nefert on her side glanced at the letter, but not to read it,
only to seek some trace of the well-known handwriting of her husband.
Like all the Egyptian women of good family she could read, and during the first two years of her married life she had often — very often — had the opportunity of puzzling, and yet re joicing, over the feeble signs which the iron hand of the charioteer had scrawled on the papyrus for her whose slender fingers could guide the reed pen with firmness and decision.
She examined the letter, and at last said, with tears in her eyes : — I will go to my room, mother. "
"Nothing ! "
Katuti kissed her and said, writes. "
Hear first what your brother
But Nefert shook her head, turned away in silence, and disappeared into the house.
Katuti was not very friendly to her son-in-law, but her heart clung to her handsome, reckless son, the very image of her lost husband, the favorite of women, and the gayest youth among the young nobles who composed the chariot guard of the king. —
How fully he had written to-day reed pen so laboriously.
he who wielded the
This really was a letter ; while usually he only asked in the fewest words for fresh funds for the gratification of his extrava gant tastes.
This time she might look for thanks, for not long since he must have received a considerable supply, which she had
134 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
abstracted from the income of the possessions intrusted to her by her son-in-law.
She began to read.
The cheerfulness with which she had met the dwarf was insincere, and had resembled the brilliant colors of the rainbow, which gleam over the stagnant waters of a bog. A stone falls into the pool, the colors vanish, dim mists rise up, and it be comes foul and cloudy.
The news which her son's letter contained fell, indeed, like a block of stone on Katuti's soul.
Our deepest sorrows always flow from the same source as might have filled us with joy, and those wounds burn the fiercest which are inflicted by a hand we love.
The further Katuti went in the lamentably incorrect epistle — which she could only decipher with difficulty — which her darling had written to her, the paler grew her face, which she several times covered with the trembling hands, from which the letter dropped.
Nemu squatted on the earth near her, and followed all her movements.
When she sprang forward with a heart-piercing scream, and pressed her forehead to a rough palm trunk, he crept up to her, kissed her feet, and exclaimed, with a depth of feeling that overcame even Katuti, who was accustomed to hear only gay or bitter speeches from the lips of her jester : —
" Mistress ! lady ! what has happened? "
Katuti collected herself, turned to him, and tried to speak ; but her pale lips remained closed, and her eyes gazed dimly into vacancy as though a catalepsy had seized her.
" Mistress ! Mistress ! " cried the dwarf again, with growing agitation. " What is the matter ? shall I call thy daughter ? " Katuti made a sign with her hand, and cried feebly, " The
wretches ! the reprobates ! "
Her breath began to come quickly, the blood mounted to
her cheeks and her flashing eyes ; she trod upon the letter, and wept so loud and passionately that the dwarf, who had never before seen tears in her eyes, raised himself timidly, and said in mild reproach, " Katuti ! "
" Why do you call my name so loud ; it is disgraced and degraded. How the nobles and the ladies will rejoice ! Now envy can point at us with spiteful joy — and a minute ago I
She laughed bitterly, and said with a trembling voice :
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 135
was praising this day ! They say one should exhibit one's happiness in the streets, and conceal one's misery ; on the con trary, on the contrary ! Even the gods should not know" of one's hopes and joys, for they too are envious and spiteful !
" Thou speakest of shame, and not of death," said Nemu, " and I learned from thee that one should give nothing up for lost excepting the dead. "
These words had a powerful effect on the agitated woman. Quickly and vehemently she turned upon the dwarf, saying : — "You are clever, and faithful too, so listen! but"if you
were Amon himself there is nothing to be done
" We must try," said Nemu, and his sharp eyes met those
Again she leaned her head against the palm tree.
of his mistress.
" Speak," he said, " and trust me. Perhaps I can be of no
use ; but that I can be silent thou knowest. "
" Before long the children in the streets will talk of what
this tells me," said Katuti, laughing with bitterness, "only Nefert must know nothing of what has happened — nothing, mind ; what is that ? the regent coming ! quick, fly ; tell him
I cannot see him, not now ! I am suddenly taken ill, very ill ; "
No one is to be admitted — no one, do you hear ?
The dwarf went.
When he came back after he had fulfilled his errand, he
found his mistress still in a fever of excitement.
"Listen," she said; "first the smaller matter, then the
frightful, the unspeakable. Rameses loads Mena with marks of his favor. It came to a division of the spoils of war, for the year; a great heap of treasure lay ready for each of his followers, and the charioteer had to choose before all the others. " "
" Well ! echoed Katuti. " Well ! how did the worthy householder care for his belongings at home, how did he seek to relieve his indebted estate ? It is disgraceful, hideous ! He passed by the silver, the gold, the jewels, with a laugh ; and took the captive daughter of the Danaid princes, and led her into his tent. "
" Well? " said the dwarf.
" Shameful ! " muttered the dwarf.
" Poor, poor Nefert ! " cried Katuti, covering her face with
her hands. " " And what more ?
asked Nemu, hastily.
136 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
"That," said Katuti, "that is — but I will keep calm— quite calm and quiet. You know my son. He is heedless, but he loves me and his sister more than anything in the world. I, fool as I was, to persuade him to economy, had vividly described our evil plight, and after that disgraceful conduct of Mena he thought of us and of our anxieties. His share of the booty was small, and could not help us.
His comrades threw dice for the shares they had obtained — he staked his to win more for us. He lost — all — all — and at last against an enor mous sum, still thinking of us, and only of us, he staked the mummy of his dead father. He lost. If he does not redeem the pledge before the expiration of the third month, he will fall into infamy, the mummy will belong to the winner, and disgrace and ignominy will be my lot and his. "
Katuti pressed her hands on her face,"the dwarf muttered
to himself, " The gambler and hypocrite ! —
When his mistress had grown calmer, he said:
" It is horrible, yet all is not lost. How much is the"debt ? It sounded like a heavy curse, when Katuti replied, Thirty
Babylonian talents! "
The dwarf cried out, as if an asp had stung him, " Who
dared to bid against such a mad stake ? "
" The Lady Hathor's son, Antef," answered Katuti, " who has
already gambled away the inheritance of his fathers in Thebes. " " He will not remit one"grain of wheat of his claim," cried
the dwarf. " And Mena ?
" How could my son turn to him after what has happened ?
The poor child implores me to ask the assistance of the regent. " " Of the regent ? " said the dwarf, shaking his big head.
" Impossible ? "
" I know, as matters now stand; but his place, his name. "
" Mistress," said the dwarf, and deep purpose rang in the
words, "do not spoil the future for the sake of the present. If thy son loses his honor under King Rameses, the future king, Ani, may restore it to him. If the regent now renders you all an important service, he will regard you as amply paid when our efforts have succeeded, and he sits on the throne. He lets himself be led by thee now because thou hast no need of his help, and dost seem to work only for his sake, and for his elevation. As soon as thou hast appealed to him, and he has assisted thee, all thy confidence and freedom will be gone, and the more difficult he finds it to raise so large a sum of
"
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 137
money at once, the angrier he will be to think that thou art making use of him. Thou knowest his circumstances. "
" He is in debt," said Katuti. " I know that. "
" Thou shouldst know it," cried the dwarf, " for thou thy self hast forced him to enormous expenses. He has won the people of Thebes with dazzling festive displays; as guardian of Apis he gave a large donation to Memphis; he bestowed thousands on the leaders of the troops sent into Ethiopia, which were equipped by him; what his spies cost him at the camp of the king thou knowest. He has borrowed sums of money from most of the rich men in the country, and that is well, for so many creditors are so many allies. The regent is a bad debtor; but the King Ani, they reckon, will be a grateful payer. "
Katuti looked at the dwarf in astonishment.
"You know men! " she said.
" To my sorrow ! " replied Nemu. " Do not apply to the
regent, and before thou dost sacrifice the labor of years, and thy future greatness, and that of those near to thee, sacrifice thy son's honor. "
"And my husband's and my own? " exclaimed Katuti. "How can you know what that is! Honor is a word that the slave may utter, but whose meaning he can never comprehend; you rub the weals that are raised on you by blows; to me every finger pointed at me in scorn makes a wound like an ash-wood lance with a poisoned tip of brass. Oh, ye holy gods! who can help us? "
The miserable woman pressed her hands over her eyes, as if to shut out the sight of her own disgrace.
The dwarf looked up at her compassionately, and said, in a changed tone : —
" Dost thou remember the diamond which fell out of Nefert's handsomest ring? We hunted for it, and could not find it. Next day, as I was going through the room, I trod on some
I stooped down and found the stone. What the noble organ of sight, the eye, overlooked, the callous despised sole of the foot found; and perhaps the small slave, Nemu, who knows nothing of honor, may succeed in finding a mode of escape which is not revealed to the lofty soul of his mistress ! "
thing hard ;
" What are you thinking of ? " asked Katuti.
" Escape," answered the dwarf. " Is it true that thy sister Setchem has visited thee, and that you are reconciled? "
138 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
" Then go to her. Men are never more helpful than after a reconciliation. The enmity they have driven out seems to leave, as it were, a freshly healed wound which must be touched with caution; and Setchem is of thy own blood, and kind-hearted. "
" She offered me her hand, and I took it ! "
"She is not rich," replied Katuti. "Every palm in her garden comes from her husband, and belongs to her children. "
" Paaker, too, was with you ? "
" Certainly only by the entreaty of his mother — he hates my son-in-law. "
" I know it," muttered the dwarf, " but if Nefert would ask him? "
The widow drew herself up indignantly. She felt that she had allowed the dwarf too much freedom, and ordered him to leave her alone. —
Nemu kissed her robe and asked, timidly :
" Shall I forget that thou hast trusted me, or am I permitted to consider further as to thy son's safety ? "
Katuti stood for a moment undecided, then she said : —
" You were clever enough to find what I carelessly dropped ; perhaps some god may show you what I ought to do. Now leave me. " "
" Wilt thou want me early to-morrow ?
" No. "
" Then" I will go to the Necropolis, and offer a sacrifice. "
" Go ! said Katuti, and went toward the house with the
fatal letter in her hand.
Nemu stayed behind alone ; he looked thoughtfully at the
ground, murmuring to himself : —
" She must not lose her honor ; not at present, or indeed all
will be lost. What is this honor ? We all come into the world without and most of us go to the grave without knowing it, and very good folks notwithstanding. Only few who are rich and idle weave in with the homely stuff of their souls, as the Kuschites do their hair with grease and oils, till forms a cap of which, though disfigures them, they are so proud that they would rather have their ears cut off than the mon strous thing. see, see — but before open my mouth will go to my mother. She knows more than twenty prophets. "
Before the sun had risen the next morning, Nemu got him self ferried over the Nile, with the small white ass which Mena's
it, I
I
it
it
I
a
I
it
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 139
deceased father had given him many years before. He availed himself of the cool hour which precedes the rising of the sun for his ride through the Necropolis.
Well acquainted as he was with every stock and stone, he avoided the highroads which led to the goal of his expedition, and trotted toward the hill which divides the valley of the royal tombs from the plain of the Nile.
Before him opened a noble amphitheater of lofty limestone peaks, the background of the stately terrace-temple which the proud ancestress of two kings of the fallen family, the great Ha- tasu, had erected to their memory, and to the Goddess Hathor.
Nemu left the sanctuary to his left, and rode up the steep hill path which was the nearest way from the plain to the valley of the tombs.
Below him lay a bird's eye view of the terrace building of Hatasu, and before him, still slumbering in cool dawn, was the Necropolis with its houses and temples and colossal statues, the broad Nile glistening with white sails under the morning mist ; and, in the distant east, rosy with the coming sun, stood Thebes and her gigantic temples.
But the dwarf saw nothing of the glorious panorama that lay at his feet ; absorbed in thought, and stooping over the neck of his ass, he let the panting beast climb and rest at its pleasure.
When he had reached half the height of the hill, he perceived the sound of footsteps coming nearer and nearer to him.
The vigorous walker had soon reached him, and bid him good morning, which he civilly returned.
The hill path was narrow, and when Nemu observed that the man who followed him was a priest, he drew up his donkey on a level spot, and said reverently: —
" Pass on, holy father ; for thy two feet carry thee quicker than my four. "
"A sufferer needs my help," replied the leech Nebsecht, Pentaur's friend, whom we have already seen in the House of Seti, and by the bed of the paraschites' daughter ; and he has tened on so as to gain on the slow pace of the rider.
Then rose the glowing disk of the sun above the eastern horizon, and from the sanctuaries below the travelers rose up the pious, many- voiced chant of praise.
Nemu slipped off his ass, and assumed an attitude of prayer ; the priest did the same ; but while the dwarf devoutly fixed his
140 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
eyes on the new birth of the Sun god from the eastern range, the priest's eyes wandered to the earth, and his raised hand fell to pick up a rare fossil shell which lay on the path.
In a few minutes Nebsecht rose, and Nemu followed him.
" It is a fine morning," said the dwarf ; " the holy fathers down there seem more cheerful to-day than usual. "
The surgeon laughed assent. " Do you belong to the Ne cropolis ? " he said. " Who here keeps dwarfs ? "
" No one," answered the little man. " But I will ask thee a question. Who that lives here behind the hill is of so much importance that a leech from the House of Seti sacrifices his night's rest for him ? "
" The one I visit is mean, but the suffering is great," an swered Nebsecht.
Nemu looked at him with admiration, and muttered : —
" That is noble, that is " but he did not finish his speech ; he struck his brow, and exclaimed : —
" You are going, by the desire of the Princess Bent-Anat, to the child of the paraschites that was run over. I guessed as much. The food must have an excellent aftertaste, if a gentle man rises so early to eat it. How is the poor child doing ? "
There was so much warmth in these last words that Neb secht, who had thought the dwarf's reproach uncalled for, an swered, in a friendly tone : —
" Not so badly ; she may be saved. "
" The gods be praised ! " exclaimed Nemu, while the priest
passed on.
Nebsecht went up and down the hillside at a redoubled pace,
and had long taken his place by the couch of the wounded Uarda in the hovel of the paraschites, when Nemu drew near to the abode of his Mother Hekt, from whom Paaker had received the philter.
The old woman sat before the door of her cave.
Near her lay a board, fitted with crosspieces, between which a little boy was stretched in such a way that they touched his head and his feet.
Hekt understood the art of making dwarfs ; playthings in human form were well paid for, and the child on the rack, with his pretty little face, promised to be a valuable article.
As soon as the sorceress saw some one approaching she stooped over the child, took him up, board and all, in her arms, and carried him into the cave. Then she said sternly : —
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 141
" If you move, little one, I will flog you ; now let me tie you. "
" Don't tie me," said the child ; " I will be good, and lie still. "
" Stretch yourself out," ordered the old woman, and tied the child with a rope to the board. " If you are quiet, I'll give you a honey cake by and by, and let you play with the young chickens. "
The child was quiet, and a soft smile of delight and hope sparkled in his pretty eyes. His little hand caught the dress of the old woman, and with the sweetest coaxing tone, which God bestows on the innocent voices of children, he said : —
" I will be as still as a mouse, and no one shall know that I am here ; but if you give me the honey cake you will untie me for a little, and let me go to Uarda. " "
" She is ill—what do you want there ?
" I would take her the cake," said the child, and his eyes glistened with tears.
The old woman touched the child's chin with her finger, and some mysterious power prompted her to bend over him to kiss him. But before her lips had touched his face she turned away, and said, in a hard tone : —
" Lie still ! by and by we will see. " Then she stooped, and threw a brown sack over the child. She went back into the open air, greeted Nemu, entertained him with milk, bread, and honey, gave him news of the girl who had been run over, for he seemed to take her misfortune very much to heart, and finally asked : —
" What brings you here ? The Nile was still narrow when you last found your way to me, and now it has been falling some time [beginning of November]. Are you sent by your mistress, or do you want my help ? All the world is alike. No one goes to see any one else unless he wants to make use of him. What shall I give you ? "
" I want nothing," said the dwarf, " but
"
" You are commissioned by a third person," said the witch, laughing. " It is the same thing. Whoever wants a thing for some one else only thinks of his own interest. "
"May be," said Nemu. "At any rate your words show that yob have- not grown unwiser since I saw you last — and I
am glad of it, for I want your advice. " " "Advice is cheap. What is going on out there ?
Nemu telated - to his mother shortly, clearly, and without reserve,
142 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
what was plotting in his mistress' house, and the frightful disgrace with which she was threatened through her son.
The old woman shook her gray head thoughtfully several times ; but she let the little man go on to the end of his story without interrupting him. Then she asked, and her eyes flashed as she spoke : —
" And you really believe that you will succeed in putting the sparrow on the eagle's perch — Ani on the throne of Rameses ! "
" The troops fighting in Ethiopia are for us," cried Nemu. " The priests declare themselves against the king, and recog nize"in Ani the genuine blood of Ra. "
" That is much," said the old woman.
And many dogs are the death of the gazelle," said Nemu,
laughing.
" But Rameses is not a gazelle to run, but a lion," said the
old woman, gravely. " You are playing a high game. "
" We know it," answered Nemu. " But it is for high stakes
— there is much to win. "
" And all to lose," muttered the old woman, passing her
fingers round her scraggy neck. " Well, do as you please — it is all the same to me who it is sends the young to be killed, and drives the old folks' cattle from the field. What do they want with me ? "
" No one has sent me," answered the dwarf. " I come of my own free fancy to ask you what Katuti must do to save her son and her house from dishonor. "
" Hm ! " hummed the witch, looking at Nemu while she
raised herself on her stick. " What has come to you that you
take the fate of these great people to heart as if it were your own ? "
The dwarf reddened, and answered hesitatingly, "Katuti is a good mistress, and, if things go well with her, there may be windfalls for you and me. "
" A loaf for you, perhaps, and a crumb for me ! " she said. " There is more than that in your mind, and I can read your heart as if you were a ripped-up raven. You are one of those who can never keep their fingers at rest, and must knead every body's dough ; must push, and drive and stir something. Every jacket is too tight for you. If you were three feet taller, and the son of a priest, you might have gone far. High you will
Hekt shook her head doubtfully.
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 143
go, and high you will end ; as the friend of a king— or on the gallows. "
"Ifyou had sent me to school, and if Iwere not the son of a witch, and a dwarf, I would play with men as they played with me ; for I am cleverer than all of them, and none of their plans are hidden from me. A hundred roads lie before me, when they don't know whether to go out or in; and where they rush heedlessly forward I see the abyss that they are run ning to. " "
said the old woman,
The old woman laughed ; but Nemu bit his lips, and said : —
" And nevertheless you come to me ? sarcastically.
" I want your advice," said Nemu, seriously. " Four eyes see more than one, and the impartial looker-on sees clearer than the player; besides, you are bound to help me. " "
The old woman laughed loud in astonishment. "Bound! she said, " I? and to what, if you please ? "
" To help me," replied the dwarf, half in entreaty, and half in reproach. " You deprived me of my growth, and reduced me to a"cripple. "
Because no one is better off than you dwarfs," interrupted the witch.
" You have often said so — and perhaps for many others, who are born in misery like me — perhaps — you are right; but for me — you have spoiled my life; you have crippled not my body only, but my soul, and have condemned me to sufferings that are nameless and unutterable. "
The dwarf's big head sank on his breast, and with his left hand he pressed his heart.
" What ails you ? " she asked. " I thought it was well with you in Mena's house. " "
father of Mena, his brother-in-law. Fifteen years ago !
a young man then, a youth like any other, only more passionate, more restless and fiery than they. I was given as a plaything to the young Mena, and he harnessed me to his little chariot, and dressed me out with ribbons and feathers, and flogged me
Nemu shook his head, and answered sadly : —
The old woman went up to him kindly.
" You thought so ? cried the dwarf. " You who show me as in a mirror what I am, and how mysterious powers throng and stir in me? You made me what Iam by your arts; you sold me to the treasurer of Rameses, and he gave me to the
I was
144 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
when I did not go fast enough. How the girl — for whom I would have given my life — the porter's daughter, laughed when I, dressed up in motley, hopped panting in front of the chariot, and the young lord's whip whistled in my ears, wringing the sweat from my brow, and the blood from my broken heart. Then Mena's father died, the boy went to school, and I waited on the wife of his steward, whom Katuti banished to Hermonthis. That was a time !
And yet Katuti had long lived in need ; ay, at the very hour when we first make her acquaintance she had little of her own, but lived on the estate of her son-in-law as his guest, and as the administrator of his possessions ; and before the marriage of her daughter she had lived with her children in a house belonging to her sister Setchem.
She had been the wife of her own brother, who had died young, and who had squandered the greatest part of the pos sessions which had been left to him by the new royal family, in an extravagant love of display.
When she became a widow, she was received as a sister, with her children, by her brother-in-law, Paaker's father. She lived in a house of her own, enjoyed the income of an estate assigned to her by the old Mohar, and left to her son-in-law the care of educating her son, a handsome and overbearing lad, with all the claims and pretensions of a youth of distinc tion.
128 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
Such great benefits would have oppressed and disgraced the proud Katuti, if she had been content with them and in every way agreed with the giver. But this was by no means the case ; rather, she believed that she might pretend to a more brilliant outward position, felt herself hurt when her heedless son while he attended school was warned to work more seri ously, as he would by and by have to rely on his own skill and his own strength. And it had wounded her when occa sionally her brother-in-law had suggested economy, and had reminded her, in his straightforward way, of her narrow means, and the uncertain future of her children.
At this she was deeply offended, for she ventured to say that her relatives could never, with all their gifts, compensate for the insults they heaped upon her ; and thus taught them by experience that we quarrel with no one more readily than with the benefactor whom we can never repay for all the good he bestows on us.
Nevertheless, when her brother-in-law asked the hand of her daughter for his son, she willingly gave her consent.
Nefert and Paaker had grown up together, and by this union she foresaw that she could secure her own future and that of her children.
Shortly after the death of the Mohar, the charioteer Mena had proposed for Nefert's hand, but would have been refused if the king himself had not supported the suit of his favorite officer. After the wedding, she retired with Nefert to Mena's house, and undertook, while he was at the war, to manage his great estates, which, however, had been greatly burdened with debt by his father.
Fate put the means into her hands of indemnifying herself and her children for many past privations, and she availed her self of them to gratify her innate desire to be esteemed and admired ; to obtain admission for her son, splendidly equipped, into a company of chariot warriors of the highest class ; and to surround her daughter with princely magnificence.
When the regent, who had been a friend of her late hus band, removed into the palace of the Pharaohs, he made her advances, and the clever and decided woman knew how to make herself at first agreeable, and finally indispensable, to the vacillating man.
She availed herself of the circumstance that she, as well as he, was descended from the old royal house to pique his ambi
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. ] 129
tion, and to open to him a view, which, even to think of, he would have considered forbidden as a crime, before he became intimate with her.
Ani's suit for the hand of the Princess Bent-Anat was Katuti's work. She hoped that the Pharaoh would refuse, and personally offend the regent, and so make him more inclined to tread the dangerous road which she was endeavoring to smooth for him. The dwarf Nemu was her pliant tool.
She had not initiated him into her projects by any words ; he, however, gave utterance to every impulse of her mind in free language, which was punished only with blows from a fan, and, only the day before, had been so audacious as to say that if the Pharaoh were called Ani instead of Rameses, Katuti would be not a queen but a goddess, for she would then have not to obey, but rather to guide, the Pharaoh, who indeed him self was related to the immortals.
Katuti did not observe her daughter's blush, for she was looking anxiously out at the garden gate, and said : —
" Where can Nemu be ? There must be some news arrived for us from the army. "
" "Mena has not written for so long," Nefert said softly.
Ah ! here is the steward. "
Katuti turned to the officer, who had entered the veranda
through a side door. "
" What do you bring ?
"The dealer Abscha," was the answer, "presses for pay
"
and already so much has been delivered to the dealers that scarcely enough remains over for the maintenance of the house hold and for sowing. "
" But, madam," said the steward, sorrowfully, " only yester day we again sold a herd to the Mohar ; and the water wheels must be turned, and the corn must be thrashed, and we need beasts for sacrifice, and milk, butter, and cheese for the use of the house, and dung for firing. "
" It must be," she said presently. " Ride to Hermonthis, and say to the keeper of the stud that he must have ten of Mena's golden bays driven over here. "
" Then pay with beasts. "
Katuti looked thoughtfully at the ground.
she asked.
ment. The new Syrian chariot and the purple cloth
" Sell some corn," ordered Katuti.
" Impossible, for the tribute to the temples is not yet paid,
130 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
" I have already spoken to him," said the steward, " but he maintains that Mena strictly forbade him to part with even one of the horses, for he is proud of the stock. Only for the chariot
"
of the lady Nefert
"I require obedience," said Katuti, decidedly, and cut
ting short the steward's words, "and I expect the horses to morrow. "
" But the stud master is a daring man, whom Mena looks
upon as indispensable, and he
" I command here, and not the absent," cried Katuti, en
raged, " and I require the horses in spite of the former orders of my son-in-law. "
Nefert, during this conversation, pulled herself up from her indolent attitude. On hearing the last words she rose from her couch, and said, with a decision which surprised even her mother : —
"
" The orders of my husband must be obeyed. The horses that Mena loves shall stay in their stalls. Take this armlet that the king gave me ; it is worth more than twenty horses. "
The steward examined the trinket, richly set with precious stones, and looked inquiringly at Katuti. She shrugged her shoulders, nodded consent, and said : —
" Abscha shall hold it as a pledge till Mena's booty arrives. For a year your husband has sent nothing of importance. "
When the steward was gone, Nefert stretched herself again on her couch and said, wearily : —.
"I thought we were rich. "
" We might be," said Katuti, bitterly ; but as she perceived that Nefert's cheeks were again glowing, she said amiably : " Our high rank imposes great duties on us. Princely blood flows in our veins, and the eyes of the people are turned on the wife of the most brilliant hero in the king's army. They shall not say that she is neglected by her husband. How long Mena remains away ! "
" I hear a noise in the court," said Nefert. '* The regent is coming. "
Katuti turned again toward the garden.
A breathless slave rushed in, and announced that Bent- Anat, the daughter of the king, had dismounted at the gate, and was approaching the garden with the Prince Rameri. . . .
Katuti looked down reflectively. Then she said, "The regent certainly likes very well to pass his hours of leisure
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
131
with me, gossiping or playing draughts, but I do not know that I should dare to speak to him of so grave a matter. "
"Marriage projects are women's affairs," said Bent-Anat, smiling.
" But the marriage of a princess is a state event," replied the widow. " In this case, it is true, the uncle only courts his niece, who is dear to him, and who he hopes will make the sec ond half of his life the brightest. Ani is kind and without severity. Thou wouldst win in him a husband who would wait on thy looks, and bow willingly to thy strong will. ""
Bent-Anat's eyes flashed, and she hastily exclaimed : That is exactly what forces the decisive, irrevocable ' no ' to my lips. Do you think that because I am as proud as my mother, and resolute like my father, that I wish for a husband whom I could
govern and lead as I would ? How little you know me ! will be obeyed by my dogs, my servants, my officers, if the gods so will it, by my children. Abject beings, who will kiss my feet, I meet on every road, and can buy by the hundred, if I wish it, in the slave market. I may be courted twenty times, and reject twenty suitors, but not because I fear that they might bend my pride and my will; on the contrary, because I feel them increased. The man to whom I could wish to offer my hand must be of a loftier stamp, must be greater, firmer, and
I
; and I will flutter after the mighty wing strokes of his spirit, and smile at my own weakness, and glory in admir ing his superiority. "
better than I
Katuti listened to the maiden with the smile by which the experienced love to signify their superiority over the visionary. " "Ancient times may have produced such men," she said.
But if in these days thou thinkest to find one, thou wilt wear the lock of youth till thou art gray. Our thinkers are no he roes, and our heroes are no sages. Here come thy brother and Nefert. "
"Will you persuade Ani to give up his suit? " said the princess, urgently.
"I will endeavor to do so, for thy sake," replied Katuti. Then, turning half to the young Rameri and half to his sister, she said : —
" The chief of the House of Seti, Ameni, was in his youth such a man as thou paintest, Bent-Anat. Tell us, thou son of Rameses, that art growing up under the young sycamores, which shall some day overshadow the land — whom dost thou
132 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
esteem the highest among thy companions ? Is there one among them who is conspicuous above them all for a lofty spirit and the strength of intellect? "
The young Rameri looked gayly at the speaker, and said, laughing: —
"We are all much alike, and do more or less willingly what we are compelled, and by preference everything we ought
not.
"A mighty soul — a youth who promises to be a second Snefru, a Thotmes, or even an Ameni? Dost thou know none such in the House of Seti ? " asked the widow.
" Oh, yes ! " cried Rameri, with eager certainty.
" And he is ? " asked Katuti.
" Pentaur, the poet," exclaimed the youth. Bent-Anat's
face glowed with scarlet color, while her brother went on to explain.
" He is noble and of a lofty soul, and all the gods dwell in him when he speaks. Formerly we used to go to sleep in the lecture hall ; but his words carry us away, and if we do not take in the full meaning of his thoughts, yet we feel that they are genuine and noble. "
Bent-Anat breathed quicker at these words, her eyes hung on the boy's lips.
" You know him, Bent-Anat," continued Rameri. " He was with you at the paraschites' house, and in the temple court when Ameni pronounced you unclean. He is as tall and handsome as the god Menth, and I feel that he is one of those whom we can never forget when once we have seen them. Yesterday, after you had left the temple, he spoke as he never spoke before ; he
I feel it burning still. This morning we were informed that he had been sent from the temple, who knows where — and had left us a message of farewell. It was not thought at all necessary to
poured fire into our souls. Do not laugh, Katuti ;
communicate the reason to us ; but we know more than the masters think. He did not reprove you strongly enough, Bent- Anat, and therefore he is driven out of the House of Seti. We have agreed to combine to ask for him to be recalled ; Anana is drawing up a letter to the chief priest, which we shall all sub scribe. It would turn out badl^foi; one alone, but they cannot be at all of us at once. Very likely they will have the sense to recall him. If not, we shall all complain to our fathers, and they are not the meanest in the land. " . . . . ? -. .
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 133
As soon as Bent-Anat had quitted Mena's domain, the dwarf Nemu entered the garden with a letter, and briefly related his adventures ; but in such a comical fashion that both the ladies laughed, and Katuti, with a lively gayety, which was usually foreign to her, while she warned him, at the same time praised his acuteness. She looked at the seal of the letter, and said, —
" This is a lucky day ; it has brought us great things, and
the promise of greater things in the future. " " Nefert came close up to her and said imploringly,
Open
the letter, and see if there is nothing in it from him. "
Katuti unfastened the wax, looked through the letter with
a hasty glance, stroked the cheek of her child, andIsaid, —
" Perhaps your brother has written for him ; see no line
in his handwriting. "
Nefert on her side glanced at the letter, but not to read it,
only to seek some trace of the well-known handwriting of her husband.
Like all the Egyptian women of good family she could read, and during the first two years of her married life she had often — very often — had the opportunity of puzzling, and yet re joicing, over the feeble signs which the iron hand of the charioteer had scrawled on the papyrus for her whose slender fingers could guide the reed pen with firmness and decision.
She examined the letter, and at last said, with tears in her eyes : — I will go to my room, mother. "
"Nothing ! "
Katuti kissed her and said, writes. "
Hear first what your brother
But Nefert shook her head, turned away in silence, and disappeared into the house.
Katuti was not very friendly to her son-in-law, but her heart clung to her handsome, reckless son, the very image of her lost husband, the favorite of women, and the gayest youth among the young nobles who composed the chariot guard of the king. —
How fully he had written to-day reed pen so laboriously.
he who wielded the
This really was a letter ; while usually he only asked in the fewest words for fresh funds for the gratification of his extrava gant tastes.
This time she might look for thanks, for not long since he must have received a considerable supply, which she had
134 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
abstracted from the income of the possessions intrusted to her by her son-in-law.
She began to read.
The cheerfulness with which she had met the dwarf was insincere, and had resembled the brilliant colors of the rainbow, which gleam over the stagnant waters of a bog. A stone falls into the pool, the colors vanish, dim mists rise up, and it be comes foul and cloudy.
The news which her son's letter contained fell, indeed, like a block of stone on Katuti's soul.
Our deepest sorrows always flow from the same source as might have filled us with joy, and those wounds burn the fiercest which are inflicted by a hand we love.
The further Katuti went in the lamentably incorrect epistle — which she could only decipher with difficulty — which her darling had written to her, the paler grew her face, which she several times covered with the trembling hands, from which the letter dropped.
Nemu squatted on the earth near her, and followed all her movements.
When she sprang forward with a heart-piercing scream, and pressed her forehead to a rough palm trunk, he crept up to her, kissed her feet, and exclaimed, with a depth of feeling that overcame even Katuti, who was accustomed to hear only gay or bitter speeches from the lips of her jester : —
" Mistress ! lady ! what has happened? "
Katuti collected herself, turned to him, and tried to speak ; but her pale lips remained closed, and her eyes gazed dimly into vacancy as though a catalepsy had seized her.
" Mistress ! Mistress ! " cried the dwarf again, with growing agitation. " What is the matter ? shall I call thy daughter ? " Katuti made a sign with her hand, and cried feebly, " The
wretches ! the reprobates ! "
Her breath began to come quickly, the blood mounted to
her cheeks and her flashing eyes ; she trod upon the letter, and wept so loud and passionately that the dwarf, who had never before seen tears in her eyes, raised himself timidly, and said in mild reproach, " Katuti ! "
" Why do you call my name so loud ; it is disgraced and degraded. How the nobles and the ladies will rejoice ! Now envy can point at us with spiteful joy — and a minute ago I
She laughed bitterly, and said with a trembling voice :
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 135
was praising this day ! They say one should exhibit one's happiness in the streets, and conceal one's misery ; on the con trary, on the contrary ! Even the gods should not know" of one's hopes and joys, for they too are envious and spiteful !
" Thou speakest of shame, and not of death," said Nemu, " and I learned from thee that one should give nothing up for lost excepting the dead. "
These words had a powerful effect on the agitated woman. Quickly and vehemently she turned upon the dwarf, saying : — "You are clever, and faithful too, so listen! but"if you
were Amon himself there is nothing to be done
" We must try," said Nemu, and his sharp eyes met those
Again she leaned her head against the palm tree.
of his mistress.
" Speak," he said, " and trust me. Perhaps I can be of no
use ; but that I can be silent thou knowest. "
" Before long the children in the streets will talk of what
this tells me," said Katuti, laughing with bitterness, "only Nefert must know nothing of what has happened — nothing, mind ; what is that ? the regent coming ! quick, fly ; tell him
I cannot see him, not now ! I am suddenly taken ill, very ill ; "
No one is to be admitted — no one, do you hear ?
The dwarf went.
When he came back after he had fulfilled his errand, he
found his mistress still in a fever of excitement.
"Listen," she said; "first the smaller matter, then the
frightful, the unspeakable. Rameses loads Mena with marks of his favor. It came to a division of the spoils of war, for the year; a great heap of treasure lay ready for each of his followers, and the charioteer had to choose before all the others. " "
" Well ! echoed Katuti. " Well ! how did the worthy householder care for his belongings at home, how did he seek to relieve his indebted estate ? It is disgraceful, hideous ! He passed by the silver, the gold, the jewels, with a laugh ; and took the captive daughter of the Danaid princes, and led her into his tent. "
" Well? " said the dwarf.
" Shameful ! " muttered the dwarf.
" Poor, poor Nefert ! " cried Katuti, covering her face with
her hands. " " And what more ?
asked Nemu, hastily.
136 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
"That," said Katuti, "that is — but I will keep calm— quite calm and quiet. You know my son. He is heedless, but he loves me and his sister more than anything in the world. I, fool as I was, to persuade him to economy, had vividly described our evil plight, and after that disgraceful conduct of Mena he thought of us and of our anxieties. His share of the booty was small, and could not help us.
His comrades threw dice for the shares they had obtained — he staked his to win more for us. He lost — all — all — and at last against an enor mous sum, still thinking of us, and only of us, he staked the mummy of his dead father. He lost. If he does not redeem the pledge before the expiration of the third month, he will fall into infamy, the mummy will belong to the winner, and disgrace and ignominy will be my lot and his. "
Katuti pressed her hands on her face,"the dwarf muttered
to himself, " The gambler and hypocrite ! —
When his mistress had grown calmer, he said:
" It is horrible, yet all is not lost. How much is the"debt ? It sounded like a heavy curse, when Katuti replied, Thirty
Babylonian talents! "
The dwarf cried out, as if an asp had stung him, " Who
dared to bid against such a mad stake ? "
" The Lady Hathor's son, Antef," answered Katuti, " who has
already gambled away the inheritance of his fathers in Thebes. " " He will not remit one"grain of wheat of his claim," cried
the dwarf. " And Mena ?
" How could my son turn to him after what has happened ?
The poor child implores me to ask the assistance of the regent. " " Of the regent ? " said the dwarf, shaking his big head.
" Impossible ? "
" I know, as matters now stand; but his place, his name. "
" Mistress," said the dwarf, and deep purpose rang in the
words, "do not spoil the future for the sake of the present. If thy son loses his honor under King Rameses, the future king, Ani, may restore it to him. If the regent now renders you all an important service, he will regard you as amply paid when our efforts have succeeded, and he sits on the throne. He lets himself be led by thee now because thou hast no need of his help, and dost seem to work only for his sake, and for his elevation. As soon as thou hast appealed to him, and he has assisted thee, all thy confidence and freedom will be gone, and the more difficult he finds it to raise so large a sum of
"
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 137
money at once, the angrier he will be to think that thou art making use of him. Thou knowest his circumstances. "
" He is in debt," said Katuti. " I know that. "
" Thou shouldst know it," cried the dwarf, " for thou thy self hast forced him to enormous expenses. He has won the people of Thebes with dazzling festive displays; as guardian of Apis he gave a large donation to Memphis; he bestowed thousands on the leaders of the troops sent into Ethiopia, which were equipped by him; what his spies cost him at the camp of the king thou knowest. He has borrowed sums of money from most of the rich men in the country, and that is well, for so many creditors are so many allies. The regent is a bad debtor; but the King Ani, they reckon, will be a grateful payer. "
Katuti looked at the dwarf in astonishment.
"You know men! " she said.
" To my sorrow ! " replied Nemu. " Do not apply to the
regent, and before thou dost sacrifice the labor of years, and thy future greatness, and that of those near to thee, sacrifice thy son's honor. "
"And my husband's and my own? " exclaimed Katuti. "How can you know what that is! Honor is a word that the slave may utter, but whose meaning he can never comprehend; you rub the weals that are raised on you by blows; to me every finger pointed at me in scorn makes a wound like an ash-wood lance with a poisoned tip of brass. Oh, ye holy gods! who can help us? "
The miserable woman pressed her hands over her eyes, as if to shut out the sight of her own disgrace.
The dwarf looked up at her compassionately, and said, in a changed tone : —
" Dost thou remember the diamond which fell out of Nefert's handsomest ring? We hunted for it, and could not find it. Next day, as I was going through the room, I trod on some
I stooped down and found the stone. What the noble organ of sight, the eye, overlooked, the callous despised sole of the foot found; and perhaps the small slave, Nemu, who knows nothing of honor, may succeed in finding a mode of escape which is not revealed to the lofty soul of his mistress ! "
thing hard ;
" What are you thinking of ? " asked Katuti.
" Escape," answered the dwarf. " Is it true that thy sister Setchem has visited thee, and that you are reconciled? "
138 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
" Then go to her. Men are never more helpful than after a reconciliation. The enmity they have driven out seems to leave, as it were, a freshly healed wound which must be touched with caution; and Setchem is of thy own blood, and kind-hearted. "
" She offered me her hand, and I took it ! "
"She is not rich," replied Katuti. "Every palm in her garden comes from her husband, and belongs to her children. "
" Paaker, too, was with you ? "
" Certainly only by the entreaty of his mother — he hates my son-in-law. "
" I know it," muttered the dwarf, " but if Nefert would ask him? "
The widow drew herself up indignantly. She felt that she had allowed the dwarf too much freedom, and ordered him to leave her alone. —
Nemu kissed her robe and asked, timidly :
" Shall I forget that thou hast trusted me, or am I permitted to consider further as to thy son's safety ? "
Katuti stood for a moment undecided, then she said : —
" You were clever enough to find what I carelessly dropped ; perhaps some god may show you what I ought to do. Now leave me. " "
" Wilt thou want me early to-morrow ?
" No. "
" Then" I will go to the Necropolis, and offer a sacrifice. "
" Go ! said Katuti, and went toward the house with the
fatal letter in her hand.
Nemu stayed behind alone ; he looked thoughtfully at the
ground, murmuring to himself : —
" She must not lose her honor ; not at present, or indeed all
will be lost. What is this honor ? We all come into the world without and most of us go to the grave without knowing it, and very good folks notwithstanding. Only few who are rich and idle weave in with the homely stuff of their souls, as the Kuschites do their hair with grease and oils, till forms a cap of which, though disfigures them, they are so proud that they would rather have their ears cut off than the mon strous thing. see, see — but before open my mouth will go to my mother. She knows more than twenty prophets. "
Before the sun had risen the next morning, Nemu got him self ferried over the Nile, with the small white ass which Mena's
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it
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 139
deceased father had given him many years before. He availed himself of the cool hour which precedes the rising of the sun for his ride through the Necropolis.
Well acquainted as he was with every stock and stone, he avoided the highroads which led to the goal of his expedition, and trotted toward the hill which divides the valley of the royal tombs from the plain of the Nile.
Before him opened a noble amphitheater of lofty limestone peaks, the background of the stately terrace-temple which the proud ancestress of two kings of the fallen family, the great Ha- tasu, had erected to their memory, and to the Goddess Hathor.
Nemu left the sanctuary to his left, and rode up the steep hill path which was the nearest way from the plain to the valley of the tombs.
Below him lay a bird's eye view of the terrace building of Hatasu, and before him, still slumbering in cool dawn, was the Necropolis with its houses and temples and colossal statues, the broad Nile glistening with white sails under the morning mist ; and, in the distant east, rosy with the coming sun, stood Thebes and her gigantic temples.
But the dwarf saw nothing of the glorious panorama that lay at his feet ; absorbed in thought, and stooping over the neck of his ass, he let the panting beast climb and rest at its pleasure.
When he had reached half the height of the hill, he perceived the sound of footsteps coming nearer and nearer to him.
The vigorous walker had soon reached him, and bid him good morning, which he civilly returned.
The hill path was narrow, and when Nemu observed that the man who followed him was a priest, he drew up his donkey on a level spot, and said reverently: —
" Pass on, holy father ; for thy two feet carry thee quicker than my four. "
"A sufferer needs my help," replied the leech Nebsecht, Pentaur's friend, whom we have already seen in the House of Seti, and by the bed of the paraschites' daughter ; and he has tened on so as to gain on the slow pace of the rider.
Then rose the glowing disk of the sun above the eastern horizon, and from the sanctuaries below the travelers rose up the pious, many- voiced chant of praise.
Nemu slipped off his ass, and assumed an attitude of prayer ; the priest did the same ; but while the dwarf devoutly fixed his
140 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
eyes on the new birth of the Sun god from the eastern range, the priest's eyes wandered to the earth, and his raised hand fell to pick up a rare fossil shell which lay on the path.
In a few minutes Nebsecht rose, and Nemu followed him.
" It is a fine morning," said the dwarf ; " the holy fathers down there seem more cheerful to-day than usual. "
The surgeon laughed assent. " Do you belong to the Ne cropolis ? " he said. " Who here keeps dwarfs ? "
" No one," answered the little man. " But I will ask thee a question. Who that lives here behind the hill is of so much importance that a leech from the House of Seti sacrifices his night's rest for him ? "
" The one I visit is mean, but the suffering is great," an swered Nebsecht.
Nemu looked at him with admiration, and muttered : —
" That is noble, that is " but he did not finish his speech ; he struck his brow, and exclaimed : —
" You are going, by the desire of the Princess Bent-Anat, to the child of the paraschites that was run over. I guessed as much. The food must have an excellent aftertaste, if a gentle man rises so early to eat it. How is the poor child doing ? "
There was so much warmth in these last words that Neb secht, who had thought the dwarf's reproach uncalled for, an swered, in a friendly tone : —
" Not so badly ; she may be saved. "
" The gods be praised ! " exclaimed Nemu, while the priest
passed on.
Nebsecht went up and down the hillside at a redoubled pace,
and had long taken his place by the couch of the wounded Uarda in the hovel of the paraschites, when Nemu drew near to the abode of his Mother Hekt, from whom Paaker had received the philter.
The old woman sat before the door of her cave.
Near her lay a board, fitted with crosspieces, between which a little boy was stretched in such a way that they touched his head and his feet.
Hekt understood the art of making dwarfs ; playthings in human form were well paid for, and the child on the rack, with his pretty little face, promised to be a valuable article.
As soon as the sorceress saw some one approaching she stooped over the child, took him up, board and all, in her arms, and carried him into the cave. Then she said sternly : —
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 141
" If you move, little one, I will flog you ; now let me tie you. "
" Don't tie me," said the child ; " I will be good, and lie still. "
" Stretch yourself out," ordered the old woman, and tied the child with a rope to the board. " If you are quiet, I'll give you a honey cake by and by, and let you play with the young chickens. "
The child was quiet, and a soft smile of delight and hope sparkled in his pretty eyes. His little hand caught the dress of the old woman, and with the sweetest coaxing tone, which God bestows on the innocent voices of children, he said : —
" I will be as still as a mouse, and no one shall know that I am here ; but if you give me the honey cake you will untie me for a little, and let me go to Uarda. " "
" She is ill—what do you want there ?
" I would take her the cake," said the child, and his eyes glistened with tears.
The old woman touched the child's chin with her finger, and some mysterious power prompted her to bend over him to kiss him. But before her lips had touched his face she turned away, and said, in a hard tone : —
" Lie still ! by and by we will see. " Then she stooped, and threw a brown sack over the child. She went back into the open air, greeted Nemu, entertained him with milk, bread, and honey, gave him news of the girl who had been run over, for he seemed to take her misfortune very much to heart, and finally asked : —
" What brings you here ? The Nile was still narrow when you last found your way to me, and now it has been falling some time [beginning of November]. Are you sent by your mistress, or do you want my help ? All the world is alike. No one goes to see any one else unless he wants to make use of him. What shall I give you ? "
" I want nothing," said the dwarf, " but
"
" You are commissioned by a third person," said the witch, laughing. " It is the same thing. Whoever wants a thing for some one else only thinks of his own interest. "
"May be," said Nemu. "At any rate your words show that yob have- not grown unwiser since I saw you last — and I
am glad of it, for I want your advice. " " "Advice is cheap. What is going on out there ?
Nemu telated - to his mother shortly, clearly, and without reserve,
142 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
what was plotting in his mistress' house, and the frightful disgrace with which she was threatened through her son.
The old woman shook her gray head thoughtfully several times ; but she let the little man go on to the end of his story without interrupting him. Then she asked, and her eyes flashed as she spoke : —
" And you really believe that you will succeed in putting the sparrow on the eagle's perch — Ani on the throne of Rameses ! "
" The troops fighting in Ethiopia are for us," cried Nemu. " The priests declare themselves against the king, and recog nize"in Ani the genuine blood of Ra. "
" That is much," said the old woman.
And many dogs are the death of the gazelle," said Nemu,
laughing.
" But Rameses is not a gazelle to run, but a lion," said the
old woman, gravely. " You are playing a high game. "
" We know it," answered Nemu. " But it is for high stakes
— there is much to win. "
" And all to lose," muttered the old woman, passing her
fingers round her scraggy neck. " Well, do as you please — it is all the same to me who it is sends the young to be killed, and drives the old folks' cattle from the field. What do they want with me ? "
" No one has sent me," answered the dwarf. " I come of my own free fancy to ask you what Katuti must do to save her son and her house from dishonor. "
" Hm ! " hummed the witch, looking at Nemu while she
raised herself on her stick. " What has come to you that you
take the fate of these great people to heart as if it were your own ? "
The dwarf reddened, and answered hesitatingly, "Katuti is a good mistress, and, if things go well with her, there may be windfalls for you and me. "
" A loaf for you, perhaps, and a crumb for me ! " she said. " There is more than that in your mind, and I can read your heart as if you were a ripped-up raven. You are one of those who can never keep their fingers at rest, and must knead every body's dough ; must push, and drive and stir something. Every jacket is too tight for you. If you were three feet taller, and the son of a priest, you might have gone far. High you will
Hekt shook her head doubtfully.
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 143
go, and high you will end ; as the friend of a king— or on the gallows. "
"Ifyou had sent me to school, and if Iwere not the son of a witch, and a dwarf, I would play with men as they played with me ; for I am cleverer than all of them, and none of their plans are hidden from me. A hundred roads lie before me, when they don't know whether to go out or in; and where they rush heedlessly forward I see the abyss that they are run ning to. " "
said the old woman,
The old woman laughed ; but Nemu bit his lips, and said : —
" And nevertheless you come to me ? sarcastically.
" I want your advice," said Nemu, seriously. " Four eyes see more than one, and the impartial looker-on sees clearer than the player; besides, you are bound to help me. " "
The old woman laughed loud in astonishment. "Bound! she said, " I? and to what, if you please ? "
" To help me," replied the dwarf, half in entreaty, and half in reproach. " You deprived me of my growth, and reduced me to a"cripple. "
Because no one is better off than you dwarfs," interrupted the witch.
" You have often said so — and perhaps for many others, who are born in misery like me — perhaps — you are right; but for me — you have spoiled my life; you have crippled not my body only, but my soul, and have condemned me to sufferings that are nameless and unutterable. "
The dwarf's big head sank on his breast, and with his left hand he pressed his heart.
" What ails you ? " she asked. " I thought it was well with you in Mena's house. " "
father of Mena, his brother-in-law. Fifteen years ago !
a young man then, a youth like any other, only more passionate, more restless and fiery than they. I was given as a plaything to the young Mena, and he harnessed me to his little chariot, and dressed me out with ribbons and feathers, and flogged me
Nemu shook his head, and answered sadly : —
The old woman went up to him kindly.
" You thought so ? cried the dwarf. " You who show me as in a mirror what I am, and how mysterious powers throng and stir in me? You made me what Iam by your arts; you sold me to the treasurer of Rameses, and he gave me to the
I was
144 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
when I did not go fast enough. How the girl — for whom I would have given my life — the porter's daughter, laughed when I, dressed up in motley, hopped panting in front of the chariot, and the young lord's whip whistled in my ears, wringing the sweat from my brow, and the blood from my broken heart. Then Mena's father died, the boy went to school, and I waited on the wife of his steward, whom Katuti banished to Hermonthis. That was a time !
