" You
deprived
me of my growth, and reduced me to a"cripple.
Universal Anthology - v01
" 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 ! The little daughter of the house made a doll of me, laid me in the cradle, and made me shut my eyes and pretend to sleep, while love and hatred, and great projects were strong within me. If I tried to resist they beat me with rods; and when once, in a rage, I forgot myself, and hit little Mertitefs hard, Mena, who came in, hung me up in the storeroom to a nail by my girdle, and left me to swing there; he said he had for gotten to take me down again. The rats fell upon me; here are the scars, these little white spots here — look! They per haps will some day wear out, but the wounds that my spirit received in those hours have not yet ceased to bleed. Then Mena married Nefert, and, with her, his mother-in-law Katuti came into the house. She took me from the steward, I became indispensable to her; she treats me like a man, she values my
intelligence and listens to my advice — therefore I will make her great, and with her, and through her, I will wax mighty. If Ani mounts the throne, we will guide him — you, and I, and she! Rameses must fall, and with him Mena, the boy who de graded my body and poisoned my soul ! "
During this speech the old woman had stood in silence oppo site the dwarf. Now she sat down on her rough wooden seat, and said, while she proceeded to pluck a lapwing: —
" Now I understand you ; you wish to be revenged. You hope to rise high, and I am to whet your knife, and hold the ladder for you. Poor little man ! There, sit down — drink a gulp of milk to cool you, and listen to my advice. Katuti wants a great deal of money to escape dishonor. She need only pick it up — it lies at her door. "
The dwarf looked at the witch in astonishment. " " The Mohar Paaker is her sister Setchem's son, is he not ? "As you say. "
" Katuti's daughter Nefert is the wife of your master Mena,
and another would like to tempt the neglected little hen into his yard. "
" You mean Paaker, to whom Nefert was promised before she went after Mena. "
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 145
" Paaker was with me the day before yesterday. "
"With you? "
" Yes, with me, with old Hekt — to buy a love philter. I
gave him one, and as I was curious I went after him, saw him give the water to the little lady, and found out her name. "
" And Nefert drank the magic drink ? " asked the dwarf, horrified.
"Vinegar and turnip juice," laughed the old witch. "A lord who comes to me to win a wife is ripe for anything. Let Nefert ask Paaker for the money, and the young scapegrace's debts are paid. "
"Katuti is proud, and repulsed me severely when I pro posed this. "
" Then she must sue to Paaker herself for the money. Go back to him, make him hope that Nefert is inclined to him, tell him what distresses the ladies, and if he refuses, but only if he refuses, let him see that you know something of the little dose. "
The dwarf looked meditatively on the "ground, and then said, looking admiringly at the old woman, That is the right thing. "
" You will find out the lie without my telling you," mumbled the witch ; " your business is not perhaps such a bad one as it seemed to me at first. Katuti may thank the ne'er-do-well who staked his father's corpse. You don't understand me ? Well, if you are really the sharpest of them all over there, what must the others be ? "
" You mean that people will speak well " of my mistress for sacrificing so large a sum for the sake
"Whose sake? why speak well of her? " cried the old woman, impatiently. " Here we deal with other things, with actual facts. There stands Paaker — there the wife of Mena. If the Mohar sacrifices a fortune for Nefert, he will be her master, and Katuti will not stand in his way ; she knows well enough why her nephew pays for her. But some one else stops the way, and that is Mena. It is worth while to get him out of the way. The charioteer stands close to the Pharaoh, and the noose that is flung at one may easily fall round the neck of the other too. Make the Mohar your ally, and it may easily happen that your rat bites may be paid for with mortal wounds, and Rameses who, if you marched against him openly, might blow you to the ground, may be hit by a lance thrown
146 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
from an ambush. When the throne is clear, the weak legs of the regent may succeed in clamoring up to it with the help of the priests. Here you sit — open-mouthed ; and I have told you nothing that you might not have found out for yourself. "
" You are a perfect cask of wisdom ! " exclaimed the dwarf.
" And now you will go away," said Hekt, " and reveal your schemes to your mistress and the regent, and they will be astonished at your cleverness. To-day you still know that I have shown you what you have to do ; to-morrow you will have forgotten it ; and the day after to-morrow you will be lieve yourself possessed by the inspiration of the nine great gods. I know that ; but I cannot give anything for nothing. You live by your smallness, another makes his living with his hard hands, I earn my scanty bread by the thoughts of my brain. Listen ! when you have half won Paaker, and Ani shows himself inclined to make use of him, then say to him that I may know a secret —and I do know one, I alone — which may make the Mohar the sport of his wishes, and that I may be disposed to sell it. "
" That shall be done ! " certainly, mother," cried the dwarf. " What do you wish for ?
"Very little," said the old woman. "Only a permit that makes me free to do and to practice whatever I please, un molested even by the priests, and to receive an honorable burial after my death. "
" The regent will hardly agree to that ; for he must avoid everything that may offend the servants of the gods. "
" And do everything," retorted the old woman, " that can degrade Rameses in their sight. Ani, do you hear, need not write me a new license, but only renew the old one granted to me by Rameses when I cured his favorite horse. They burnt it with my other possessions, when they plundered my house, and denounced me and my belongings for sorcery. The permit of Rameses is what I want, nothing more. "
" You shall have it," said the dwarf. " Good-by ; charged to look into the tomb of our house, and see whether the offerings for the dead are regularly set out ; to pour out fresh essences and have various things renewed. When Sechet has ceased to rage and it is cooler, I shall come by here again, for I should like to call on the paraschites and see how the poor child is. "
I am
ADDRESS TO A MUMMY. 147
ADDRESS TO THE MUMMY IN BELZONI'S EXHIBITION.
By HORACE SMITH.
[English : 1779-1849 ; joint author with his brother James of "Rejected Addresses. "]
And thou hast walked about (how strange a story ! ) In Thebes' streets three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium was in all its glory, And time had not begun to overthrow
Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which the very ruins are tremendous !
Speak ! for thou long enough hast acted dummy ; Thou hast a tongue, come, let us hear its tune ;
Thou'rt standing on thy legs above ground, mummy ! Revisiting the glimpses of the moon.
Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures,
But with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and features.
Tell us — for doubtless thou canst recollect —
To whom should we assign the Sphinx's fame ?
Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect
Of either pyramid that bears his name ?
Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer ?
Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer ?
Perhaps thou wert a mason, and forbidden— By oath to tell the secrets of thy trade, Then say, what secret melody was hidden
In Memnon's statue, which at sunrise played ? Perhaps thou wert a priest, — if so, my struggles Are vain, for priestcraft never owns its juggles.
Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat,
Has hob-a-nobbed with Pharaoh, glass to glass ;
Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat,
Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass,
Or held, by Solomon's own invitation,
A torch at the great Temple's dedication.
I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled, For thou wert dead, and buried, and embalmed,
Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled : Antiquity appears to have begun
Long after thy primeval race was run.
148
ADDRESS TO A MUMMY.
Thou couldst develop, if that withered tongue Might tell us what those sightless orbs have seen,
How the world looked when it was fresh and young, And the great deluge still had left it green ;
Or was it then so old, that history's pages Contained no record of its early ages ?
Still silent, incommunicative elf !
Art sworn to secrecy ? then keep thy vows ;
But prithee tell us something of thyself; Reveal the secrets of thy prison house ;
Since in the world of spirits thou hast slumbered,
What hast thou seen, — what strange adventures numbered ?
Since first thy form was in this box extended,
We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations ;
The Roman empire has begun and ended,
New worlds have risen, — we have lost old nations,
And countless kings have into dust been humbled, Whilst not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled.
Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head, When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses,
Marched armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread, O'erthrew Osiris, Orus, Apis, Isis,
And shook the pyramids with fear and wonder, When the gigantic Memnon fell asunder ?
If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed, The nature of thy private life unfold :
A heart has throbbed beneath that leathern breast, And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled :
Have children climbed those knees, and kissed that face ? What was thy name and station, age and race ?
Statue of flesh, — immortal of the dead ! Imperishable type of evanescence !
Posthumous man, who quittest thy narrow bed, And standest undecayed within our presence,
Thou wilt hear nothing till the judgment morning, When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning.
Why should this worthless tegument endure, If its undying guest be lost forever ?
O, let us keep the soul embalmed and pure
In living virtue, that, when both must sever,
Although corruption may our frame consume, The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.
SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK. 149
SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK.
From the Egyptian; translated by W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
The mighty King User-maat-ra (Rameses the Great) had a son named Setna Kha-em-uast, who was a great scribe and very learned in all the ancient writings. And he heard that the magic book of Thoth — by which a man may enchant heaven and earth, and know the language of all birds and beasts — was buried in the cemetery of Memphis. And he went to search for it with his brother An-he-hor-eru ; and when they found the tomb of the king's son, Na-nefer-ka- ptah, son of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Mer-neb- ptah, Setna opened it and went in.
Now in the tomb was Na-nefer-ka-ptah, and with him was the ka of his wife, Ahura ; for though she was buried at Kop- tos, her ka dwelt at Memphis with her husband, whom she loved. And Setna saw them seated before their offerings, and the book lay between them. And Na-nefer-ka-ptah said to Setna, "Who are you that break into my tomb in this way ? " He said, " I am Setna, son of the great King User- maat-ra, living forever ; and I come for that book which I see between you. " And Na-nefer-ka-ptah said, "It cannot be given to you. " Then said Setna, " But I will carry it away by force. " Then Ahura said to Setna: "Do not take this book, for it will bring trouble on you as it has upon us. Listen to what we have suffered for it. "
Ahura's Tale.
" We were the two children of the King Mer-neb-ptah, and he loved us very much, for he had no others ; and Na-nefer- ka-ptah was in his palace as heir over all the land. And when we were grown, the king said to the queen, ' I will marry Na-nefer-ka-ptah to the daughter of a general, and Ahura to the son of another general. ' And the queen said, ' No, he is the heir : let him marry his sister, like the heir of a king ; none other is fit for him. ' And the king said, 'That is not fair : they had better be married to the children of the general. ' And the queen said, 'It is you who are not dealing rightly with me. ' And the king answered: 'If I have no more than these two children, is it right that they should
150 SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK.
marry one another? I will marry Na-nefer-ka-ptah to the daughter of an officer, and Ahura to the son of another offi cer. " It has often been done so in our family. '
And at a time when there was a great feast before the king, they came to fetch me to the feast. And I was very troubled, and did not behave as I used to do. And the king said to me, 'Ahura, have you sent some one to me about this sorry matter, saying, "Let me be married to my elder brother? "' Isaid to him, 'Well, let me marry the son of an officer, and he marry the daughter of another officer, as it often happens so in our family. ' I laughed and the king laughed. And the king told the steward of the palace, 'Let them take Ahura to the house of Na-nefer-ka-ptah to-night, and all kinds of good things with her. ' So they brought me as a wife to the house of Na-nefer-ka-ptah; and the king ordered them to give me presents of silver and gold and things from the palace.
" And Na-nefer-ka-ptah passed a happy time with me, and received all the presents from the palace, and we loved one another. And when I expected a child, they told the king, and he was most heartily glad ; and he sent me many things, and a present of the best silver and gold and linen. And when the time came, I bore this little child that is before you. And they gave him the name of Mer-ab, and registered him in the book of the ' House of life. '
"And when my brother Na-nefer-ka-ptah went to the cemetery of Memphis, he did nothing on earth but read the writings that are in the catacombs of the kings, and the tab lets of the ' House of life,' and the inscriptions that are seen on the monuments ; and he worked hard on the writings. And there was a priest there called Nesi-ptah ; and as Na-nefer-ka- ptah went into a temple to pray, it happened that he went behind this priest, and was reading the inscriptions that wei i on the chapels of the gods. And the priest mocked him and laughed. So Na-nefer-ka-ptah said to him, 'Why are you laughing at me? ' And he replied, 'I was not laughing at you, or if I happened to do so, it was at your reading writ ings that are worthless. If you wish so much to read writ ings, come to me, and I will bring you to the place where
the book is which Thoth himself wrote with his own hand, and which will bring you to the gods. When you read but two pages in this, you will enchant the heaven, the earth, the
SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK. 151
abyss, the mountains, and the sea ; you shall know what the birds of the sky and the crawling things are saying ; you shall see the fishes of the deep, for a divine power is there to bring them up out of the depth. And when you read the second page, if you are in the world of ghosts, you will become again in the shape you were in on earth. You will see the sun shin ing in the sky, with all the gods, and the full moon. '
" And Na-nefer-ka-ptah said, ' By the life of the king ! tell me of anything you want done and I'll do it for you, if you will only send me where this book is. ' And the priest an swered Na-nefer-ka-ptah, 'If you want to go to the place where the book is, you must give me a hundred pieces of silver for my funeral, and provide that they shall bury me as a rich priest. ' So Na-nefer-ka-ptah called his lad and told him to give the priest a hundred pieces of silver ; and he made them do as he wished, even everything that he asked for. Then the priest said to Na-nefer-ka-ptah: 'This book is in the middle of the river at Koptos, in an iron box ; in the iron box is a bronze box ; in the bronze box is a sycamore box ; in the sycamore box is an ivory and ebony box ; in the ivory and ebony box is a silver box; in the silver box is a golden box, and in that is the book. It is twisted all round with snakes and scorpions and all the other crawling things around the box in which the book is ; and there is a deathless snake by the box. ' And when the priest told Na-nefer-ka-ptah, he did not know where on earth he was, he was so much delighted.
" And when he came from the temple, he told me all that had happened to him. And he said, 'I shall go to Koptos,
I will not stay any longer in the
for I must fetch this book ;
north. ' And I said, 'Let me dissuade you, for you prepare sorrow, and you will bring me into trouble in the Thebaid. ' And I laid my hand on Na-nefer-ka-ptah to keep him from going to Koptos, but he would not listen to me ; and he went to the king and told the king all that the priest had said. The king asked him, ' What is it that you want ? ' and he replied, 'Let them give me the royal boat with its belongings, for I will go to the south with Ahura and her little boy Mer-ab, and fetch this book without delay. ' So they gave him the royal boat with its belongings ; and we went with him to the haven, and sailed from there up to Koptos.
"Then the priests of Isis of Koptos and the high priest of Isis came down to us without waiting to meet Na-nefer
152 SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK.
ka-ptah and their wives also came to me. We went into the temple of Isis and Harpokrates ; and Na-nefer-ka-ptah brought an ox, a goose, and some wine, and made a burnt offering and a drink offering before Isis of Koptos and Harpokrates. They brought us to a very fine house with all good things ; and Na-nefer-ka-ptah spent four days there, and feasted with the priests of Isis of Koptos, and the wives of the priests of Isis also" made holiday with me.
And the morning of the fifth day came ; and Na-nefer- ka-ptah called a priest to him, and made a magic cabin that was full of men and tackle. He put the spell upon it, and put life in it, and gave them breath, and sank it in the water. He filled the royal boat with sand, and took leave of me, and sailed from the haven ; and I sat by the river at Koptos that I might see what would become of him. And he said, ' Work men, work for me, even at the place where the book is. ' And they toiled by night and by day ; and when they had reached it in three days, he threw the sand out, and made a shoal in the river. And then he found on it entwined serpents and scorpions and all kinds of crawling things around the box in which the book was; and by it he found a deathless snake around the box. And he laid the spell upon the entwined serpents and scorpions and all kinds of crawling things which were around the box, that they should not come out. And he went to the deathless snake, and fought with him, and killed him ; but he came to life again and took a new form. He then fought again with him a second time ; but he came to life again and took a third form. He then cut him in two parts and put sand between the parts, that he should not "appear again.
Na-nefer-ka-ptah then went to the place where he found the box. He uncovered a box of iron and opened it ; he found then a box of bronze and opened that; then he found a box of sycamore wood and opened that; again, he found a box of ivory and ebony and opened that; yet he found a box of silver and opened that; and then he found a box of gold ; he opened that and found the book in it. He took the book from the golden box, and read a page of spells from it.
" 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
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it
it
I
a
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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 ! The little daughter of the house made a doll of me, laid me in the cradle, and made me shut my eyes and pretend to sleep, while love and hatred, and great projects were strong within me. If I tried to resist they beat me with rods; and when once, in a rage, I forgot myself, and hit little Mertitefs hard, Mena, who came in, hung me up in the storeroom to a nail by my girdle, and left me to swing there; he said he had for gotten to take me down again. The rats fell upon me; here are the scars, these little white spots here — look! They per haps will some day wear out, but the wounds that my spirit received in those hours have not yet ceased to bleed. Then Mena married Nefert, and, with her, his mother-in-law Katuti came into the house. She took me from the steward, I became indispensable to her; she treats me like a man, she values my
intelligence and listens to my advice — therefore I will make her great, and with her, and through her, I will wax mighty. If Ani mounts the throne, we will guide him — you, and I, and she! Rameses must fall, and with him Mena, the boy who de graded my body and poisoned my soul ! "
During this speech the old woman had stood in silence oppo site the dwarf. Now she sat down on her rough wooden seat, and said, while she proceeded to pluck a lapwing: —
" Now I understand you ; you wish to be revenged. You hope to rise high, and I am to whet your knife, and hold the ladder for you. Poor little man ! There, sit down — drink a gulp of milk to cool you, and listen to my advice. Katuti wants a great deal of money to escape dishonor. She need only pick it up — it lies at her door. "
The dwarf looked at the witch in astonishment. " " The Mohar Paaker is her sister Setchem's son, is he not ? "As you say. "
" Katuti's daughter Nefert is the wife of your master Mena,
and another would like to tempt the neglected little hen into his yard. "
" You mean Paaker, to whom Nefert was promised before she went after Mena. "
CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY. 145
" Paaker was with me the day before yesterday. "
"With you? "
" Yes, with me, with old Hekt — to buy a love philter. I
gave him one, and as I was curious I went after him, saw him give the water to the little lady, and found out her name. "
" And Nefert drank the magic drink ? " asked the dwarf, horrified.
"Vinegar and turnip juice," laughed the old witch. "A lord who comes to me to win a wife is ripe for anything. Let Nefert ask Paaker for the money, and the young scapegrace's debts are paid. "
"Katuti is proud, and repulsed me severely when I pro posed this. "
" Then she must sue to Paaker herself for the money. Go back to him, make him hope that Nefert is inclined to him, tell him what distresses the ladies, and if he refuses, but only if he refuses, let him see that you know something of the little dose. "
The dwarf looked meditatively on the "ground, and then said, looking admiringly at the old woman, That is the right thing. "
" You will find out the lie without my telling you," mumbled the witch ; " your business is not perhaps such a bad one as it seemed to me at first. Katuti may thank the ne'er-do-well who staked his father's corpse. You don't understand me ? Well, if you are really the sharpest of them all over there, what must the others be ? "
" You mean that people will speak well " of my mistress for sacrificing so large a sum for the sake
"Whose sake? why speak well of her? " cried the old woman, impatiently. " Here we deal with other things, with actual facts. There stands Paaker — there the wife of Mena. If the Mohar sacrifices a fortune for Nefert, he will be her master, and Katuti will not stand in his way ; she knows well enough why her nephew pays for her. But some one else stops the way, and that is Mena. It is worth while to get him out of the way. The charioteer stands close to the Pharaoh, and the noose that is flung at one may easily fall round the neck of the other too. Make the Mohar your ally, and it may easily happen that your rat bites may be paid for with mortal wounds, and Rameses who, if you marched against him openly, might blow you to the ground, may be hit by a lance thrown
146 CONSPIRACY AND SORCERY.
from an ambush. When the throne is clear, the weak legs of the regent may succeed in clamoring up to it with the help of the priests. Here you sit — open-mouthed ; and I have told you nothing that you might not have found out for yourself. "
" You are a perfect cask of wisdom ! " exclaimed the dwarf.
" And now you will go away," said Hekt, " and reveal your schemes to your mistress and the regent, and they will be astonished at your cleverness. To-day you still know that I have shown you what you have to do ; to-morrow you will have forgotten it ; and the day after to-morrow you will be lieve yourself possessed by the inspiration of the nine great gods. I know that ; but I cannot give anything for nothing. You live by your smallness, another makes his living with his hard hands, I earn my scanty bread by the thoughts of my brain. Listen ! when you have half won Paaker, and Ani shows himself inclined to make use of him, then say to him that I may know a secret —and I do know one, I alone — which may make the Mohar the sport of his wishes, and that I may be disposed to sell it. "
" That shall be done ! " certainly, mother," cried the dwarf. " What do you wish for ?
"Very little," said the old woman. "Only a permit that makes me free to do and to practice whatever I please, un molested even by the priests, and to receive an honorable burial after my death. "
" The regent will hardly agree to that ; for he must avoid everything that may offend the servants of the gods. "
" And do everything," retorted the old woman, " that can degrade Rameses in their sight. Ani, do you hear, need not write me a new license, but only renew the old one granted to me by Rameses when I cured his favorite horse. They burnt it with my other possessions, when they plundered my house, and denounced me and my belongings for sorcery. The permit of Rameses is what I want, nothing more. "
" You shall have it," said the dwarf. " Good-by ; charged to look into the tomb of our house, and see whether the offerings for the dead are regularly set out ; to pour out fresh essences and have various things renewed. When Sechet has ceased to rage and it is cooler, I shall come by here again, for I should like to call on the paraschites and see how the poor child is. "
I am
ADDRESS TO A MUMMY. 147
ADDRESS TO THE MUMMY IN BELZONI'S EXHIBITION.
By HORACE SMITH.
[English : 1779-1849 ; joint author with his brother James of "Rejected Addresses. "]
And thou hast walked about (how strange a story ! ) In Thebes' streets three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium was in all its glory, And time had not begun to overthrow
Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which the very ruins are tremendous !
Speak ! for thou long enough hast acted dummy ; Thou hast a tongue, come, let us hear its tune ;
Thou'rt standing on thy legs above ground, mummy ! Revisiting the glimpses of the moon.
Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures,
But with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and features.
Tell us — for doubtless thou canst recollect —
To whom should we assign the Sphinx's fame ?
Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect
Of either pyramid that bears his name ?
Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer ?
Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer ?
Perhaps thou wert a mason, and forbidden— By oath to tell the secrets of thy trade, Then say, what secret melody was hidden
In Memnon's statue, which at sunrise played ? Perhaps thou wert a priest, — if so, my struggles Are vain, for priestcraft never owns its juggles.
Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat,
Has hob-a-nobbed with Pharaoh, glass to glass ;
Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat,
Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass,
Or held, by Solomon's own invitation,
A torch at the great Temple's dedication.
I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled, For thou wert dead, and buried, and embalmed,
Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled : Antiquity appears to have begun
Long after thy primeval race was run.
148
ADDRESS TO A MUMMY.
Thou couldst develop, if that withered tongue Might tell us what those sightless orbs have seen,
How the world looked when it was fresh and young, And the great deluge still had left it green ;
Or was it then so old, that history's pages Contained no record of its early ages ?
Still silent, incommunicative elf !
Art sworn to secrecy ? then keep thy vows ;
But prithee tell us something of thyself; Reveal the secrets of thy prison house ;
Since in the world of spirits thou hast slumbered,
What hast thou seen, — what strange adventures numbered ?
Since first thy form was in this box extended,
We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations ;
The Roman empire has begun and ended,
New worlds have risen, — we have lost old nations,
And countless kings have into dust been humbled, Whilst not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled.
Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head, When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses,
Marched armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread, O'erthrew Osiris, Orus, Apis, Isis,
And shook the pyramids with fear and wonder, When the gigantic Memnon fell asunder ?
If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed, The nature of thy private life unfold :
A heart has throbbed beneath that leathern breast, And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled :
Have children climbed those knees, and kissed that face ? What was thy name and station, age and race ?
Statue of flesh, — immortal of the dead ! Imperishable type of evanescence !
Posthumous man, who quittest thy narrow bed, And standest undecayed within our presence,
Thou wilt hear nothing till the judgment morning, When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning.
Why should this worthless tegument endure, If its undying guest be lost forever ?
O, let us keep the soul embalmed and pure
In living virtue, that, when both must sever,
Although corruption may our frame consume, The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.
SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK. 149
SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK.
From the Egyptian; translated by W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
The mighty King User-maat-ra (Rameses the Great) had a son named Setna Kha-em-uast, who was a great scribe and very learned in all the ancient writings. And he heard that the magic book of Thoth — by which a man may enchant heaven and earth, and know the language of all birds and beasts — was buried in the cemetery of Memphis. And he went to search for it with his brother An-he-hor-eru ; and when they found the tomb of the king's son, Na-nefer-ka- ptah, son of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Mer-neb- ptah, Setna opened it and went in.
Now in the tomb was Na-nefer-ka-ptah, and with him was the ka of his wife, Ahura ; for though she was buried at Kop- tos, her ka dwelt at Memphis with her husband, whom she loved. And Setna saw them seated before their offerings, and the book lay between them. And Na-nefer-ka-ptah said to Setna, "Who are you that break into my tomb in this way ? " He said, " I am Setna, son of the great King User- maat-ra, living forever ; and I come for that book which I see between you. " And Na-nefer-ka-ptah said, "It cannot be given to you. " Then said Setna, " But I will carry it away by force. " Then Ahura said to Setna: "Do not take this book, for it will bring trouble on you as it has upon us. Listen to what we have suffered for it. "
Ahura's Tale.
" We were the two children of the King Mer-neb-ptah, and he loved us very much, for he had no others ; and Na-nefer- ka-ptah was in his palace as heir over all the land. And when we were grown, the king said to the queen, ' I will marry Na-nefer-ka-ptah to the daughter of a general, and Ahura to the son of another general. ' And the queen said, ' No, he is the heir : let him marry his sister, like the heir of a king ; none other is fit for him. ' And the king said, 'That is not fair : they had better be married to the children of the general. ' And the queen said, 'It is you who are not dealing rightly with me. ' And the king answered: 'If I have no more than these two children, is it right that they should
150 SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK.
marry one another? I will marry Na-nefer-ka-ptah to the daughter of an officer, and Ahura to the son of another offi cer. " It has often been done so in our family. '
And at a time when there was a great feast before the king, they came to fetch me to the feast. And I was very troubled, and did not behave as I used to do. And the king said to me, 'Ahura, have you sent some one to me about this sorry matter, saying, "Let me be married to my elder brother? "' Isaid to him, 'Well, let me marry the son of an officer, and he marry the daughter of another officer, as it often happens so in our family. ' I laughed and the king laughed. And the king told the steward of the palace, 'Let them take Ahura to the house of Na-nefer-ka-ptah to-night, and all kinds of good things with her. ' So they brought me as a wife to the house of Na-nefer-ka-ptah; and the king ordered them to give me presents of silver and gold and things from the palace.
" And Na-nefer-ka-ptah passed a happy time with me, and received all the presents from the palace, and we loved one another. And when I expected a child, they told the king, and he was most heartily glad ; and he sent me many things, and a present of the best silver and gold and linen. And when the time came, I bore this little child that is before you. And they gave him the name of Mer-ab, and registered him in the book of the ' House of life. '
"And when my brother Na-nefer-ka-ptah went to the cemetery of Memphis, he did nothing on earth but read the writings that are in the catacombs of the kings, and the tab lets of the ' House of life,' and the inscriptions that are seen on the monuments ; and he worked hard on the writings. And there was a priest there called Nesi-ptah ; and as Na-nefer-ka- ptah went into a temple to pray, it happened that he went behind this priest, and was reading the inscriptions that wei i on the chapels of the gods. And the priest mocked him and laughed. So Na-nefer-ka-ptah said to him, 'Why are you laughing at me? ' And he replied, 'I was not laughing at you, or if I happened to do so, it was at your reading writ ings that are worthless. If you wish so much to read writ ings, come to me, and I will bring you to the place where
the book is which Thoth himself wrote with his own hand, and which will bring you to the gods. When you read but two pages in this, you will enchant the heaven, the earth, the
SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK. 151
abyss, the mountains, and the sea ; you shall know what the birds of the sky and the crawling things are saying ; you shall see the fishes of the deep, for a divine power is there to bring them up out of the depth. And when you read the second page, if you are in the world of ghosts, you will become again in the shape you were in on earth. You will see the sun shin ing in the sky, with all the gods, and the full moon. '
" And Na-nefer-ka-ptah said, ' By the life of the king ! tell me of anything you want done and I'll do it for you, if you will only send me where this book is. ' And the priest an swered Na-nefer-ka-ptah, 'If you want to go to the place where the book is, you must give me a hundred pieces of silver for my funeral, and provide that they shall bury me as a rich priest. ' So Na-nefer-ka-ptah called his lad and told him to give the priest a hundred pieces of silver ; and he made them do as he wished, even everything that he asked for. Then the priest said to Na-nefer-ka-ptah: 'This book is in the middle of the river at Koptos, in an iron box ; in the iron box is a bronze box ; in the bronze box is a sycamore box ; in the sycamore box is an ivory and ebony box ; in the ivory and ebony box is a silver box; in the silver box is a golden box, and in that is the book. It is twisted all round with snakes and scorpions and all the other crawling things around the box in which the book is ; and there is a deathless snake by the box. ' And when the priest told Na-nefer-ka-ptah, he did not know where on earth he was, he was so much delighted.
" And when he came from the temple, he told me all that had happened to him. And he said, 'I shall go to Koptos,
I will not stay any longer in the
for I must fetch this book ;
north. ' And I said, 'Let me dissuade you, for you prepare sorrow, and you will bring me into trouble in the Thebaid. ' And I laid my hand on Na-nefer-ka-ptah to keep him from going to Koptos, but he would not listen to me ; and he went to the king and told the king all that the priest had said. The king asked him, ' What is it that you want ? ' and he replied, 'Let them give me the royal boat with its belongings, for I will go to the south with Ahura and her little boy Mer-ab, and fetch this book without delay. ' So they gave him the royal boat with its belongings ; and we went with him to the haven, and sailed from there up to Koptos.
"Then the priests of Isis of Koptos and the high priest of Isis came down to us without waiting to meet Na-nefer
152 SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK.
ka-ptah and their wives also came to me. We went into the temple of Isis and Harpokrates ; and Na-nefer-ka-ptah brought an ox, a goose, and some wine, and made a burnt offering and a drink offering before Isis of Koptos and Harpokrates. They brought us to a very fine house with all good things ; and Na-nefer-ka-ptah spent four days there, and feasted with the priests of Isis of Koptos, and the wives of the priests of Isis also" made holiday with me.
And the morning of the fifth day came ; and Na-nefer- ka-ptah called a priest to him, and made a magic cabin that was full of men and tackle. He put the spell upon it, and put life in it, and gave them breath, and sank it in the water. He filled the royal boat with sand, and took leave of me, and sailed from the haven ; and I sat by the river at Koptos that I might see what would become of him. And he said, ' Work men, work for me, even at the place where the book is. ' And they toiled by night and by day ; and when they had reached it in three days, he threw the sand out, and made a shoal in the river. And then he found on it entwined serpents and scorpions and all kinds of crawling things around the box in which the book was; and by it he found a deathless snake around the box. And he laid the spell upon the entwined serpents and scorpions and all kinds of crawling things which were around the box, that they should not come out. And he went to the deathless snake, and fought with him, and killed him ; but he came to life again and took a new form. He then fought again with him a second time ; but he came to life again and took a third form. He then cut him in two parts and put sand between the parts, that he should not "appear again.
Na-nefer-ka-ptah then went to the place where he found the box. He uncovered a box of iron and opened it ; he found then a box of bronze and opened that; then he found a box of sycamore wood and opened that; again, he found a box of ivory and ebony and opened that; yet he found a box of silver and opened that; and then he found a box of gold ; he opened that and found the book in it. He took the book from the golden box, and read a page of spells from it.
