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Morning Star 2722.txt
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Morning Star 2722.txt
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Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding; David Widger
MORNING STAR
by H. Rider Haggard
DEDICATION
My dear Budge,--
Only a friendship extending over many years emboldened me, an amateur,
to propose to dedicate a Romance of Old Egypt to you, one of the world's
masters of the language and lore of the great people who in these
latter days arise from their holy tombs to instruct us in the secrets of
history and faith.
With doubt I submitted to you this story, asking whether you wished
to accept pages that could not, I feared, be free from error, and with
surprise in due course I read, among other kind things, your advice to
me to "leave it exactly as it is." So I take you at your word, although
I can scarcely think that in paths so remote and difficult I have not
sometimes gone astray.
Whatever may be the shortcomings, therefore, that your kindness has
concealed from me, since this tale was so fortunate as to please and
interest you, its first critic, I offer it to you as an earnest of my
respect for your learning and your labours.
Very sincerely yours,
H. Rider Haggard.
Ditchingham.
To Doctor Wallis Budge,
Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
It may be thought that even in a story of Old Egypt to represent a "Ka"
or "Double" as remaining in active occupation of a throne, while the
owner of the said "Double" goes upon a long journey and achieves sundry
adventures, is, in fact, to take a liberty with Doubles. Yet I believe
that this is scarcely the case. The Ka or Double which Wiedermann
aptly calls the "Personality within the Person" appears, according to
Egyptian theory, to have had an existence of its own. It did not die
when the body died, for it was immortal and awaited the resurrection
of that body, with which, henceforth, it would be reunited and dwell
eternally. To quote Wiedermann again, "The Ka could live without the
body, but the body could not live without the Ka . . . . . it was
material in just the same was as the body itself." Also, it would seem
that in certain ways it was superior to and more powerful than the body,
since the Egyptian monarchs are often represented as making offerings to
their own Kas as though these were gods. Again, in the story of "Setna
and the Magic Book," translated by Maspero and by Mr. Flinders Petrie
in his "Egyptian Tales," the Ka plays a very distinct part of its own.
Thus the husband is buried at Memphis and the wife in Koptos, yet the
Ka of the wife goes to live in her husband's tomb hundreds of miles
away, and converses with the prince who comes to steal the magic book.
Although I know no actual precedent for it, in the case of a
particularly powerful Double, such as was given in this romance to Queen
Neter-Tua by her spiritual father, Amen, the greatest of the Egyptian
gods, it seems, therefore, legitimate to suppose that, in order to save
her from the abomination of a forced marriage with her uncle and her
father's murderer, the Ka would be allowed to anticipate matters a
little, and to play the part recorded in these pages.
It must not be understood, however, that the fact of marriage with an
uncle would have shocked the Egyptian mind, since these people, and
especially their royal Houses, made a habit of wedding their own
brothers and sisters, as in this tale Mermes wed his half sister Asti.
I may add that there is authority for the magic waxen image which the
sorcerer Kaku and his accomplice used to bewitch Pharaoh. In the days of
Rameses III., over three thousand years ago, a plot was made to murder
the king in pursuance of which such images were used. "Gods of wax . .
. . . . for enfeebling the limbs of people," which were "great crimes of
death, the great abomination of the land." Also a certain "magic roll"
was brought into play which enabled its user to "employ the magic powers
of the gods."
Still, the end of these wizards was not encouraging to others, for they
were found guilty and obliged to take their own lives.
But even if I am held to have stretched the prerogative of the Ka,
or of the waxen image which, by the way, has survived almost to our own
time, and in West Africa, as a fetish, is still pierced with pins or
nails, I can urge in excuse that I have tried, so far as a modern may,
to reproduce something of the atmosphere and colour of Old Egypt, as
it has appeared to a traveller in that country and a student of its
records. If Neter-Tua never sat upon its throne, at least another
daughter of Amen, a mighty queen, Hatshepu, wore the crown of the Upper
and the Lower Lands, and sent her embassies to search out the mysteries
of Punt. Of romance also, in high places, there must have been
abundance, though the short-cut records of the religious texts of the
priests do not trouble themselves with such matters.
At any rate, so believing, in the hope that it may interest readers
of to-day, I have ventured to discover and present one such romance,
whereof the motive, we may be sure, is more ancient, by far, than the
old Egyptians, namely, the triumph of true love over great difficulties
and dangers. It is pleasant to dream that the gods are on the side of
such lovers, and deign for their sakes to work the miracles in which for
thousands of years mankind has believed, although the scientist tells us
that they do not happen.
How large a part marvel and magic of the most terrible and exalted kind
played in the life of Old Egypt and of the nations with which she fought
and traded, we need go no further than the Book of Exodus to learn.
Also all her history is full of it, since among the Egyptians it was an
article of faith that the Divinity, which they worshipped under so many
names and symbols, made use of such mysterious means to influence or
direct the affairs of men and bring about the accomplishment of Its
decrees.
H. R. H.
MORNING STAR
by H. Rider Haggard
CHAPTER I
THE PLOT OF ABI
It was evening in Egypt, thousands of years ago, when the Prince Abi,
governor of Memphis and of great territories in the Delta, made fast his
ship of state to a quay beneath the outermost walls of the mighty city
of Uast or Thebes, which we moderns know as Luxor and Karnac on the
Nile. Abi, a large man, very dark of skin, for his mother was one of the
hated Hyksos barbarians who once had usurped the throne of Egypt, sat
upon the deck of his ship and stared at the setting sun which for a few
moments seemed to rest, a round ball of fire, upon the bare and rugged
mountains, that ring round the Tombs of the Kings.
He was angry, as the slave-women, who stood on either side fanning him,
could see well enough by the scowl on his coarse face and the fire in
his large black eyes. Presently they felt it also, for one of them,
staring at the temples and palaces of the wonderful city made glorious
by the light of the setting sun, that city of which she had heard so
often, touched his head with the feathers of her fan. Thereon, as though
glad of an excuse to express his ill-humour, Abi sprang up and boxed her
ears so heavily that the poor girl fell to the deck.
"Awkward cat," he cried, "do that again and you shall be flogged until
your robe sticks to your back!"
"Pardon, mighty Lord," she said, beginning to weep, "it was an accident;
the wind caught my fan."
"So the rod shall catch your skin, if you are not more careful, Merytra.
Stop that snivelling and go send Kaku the Astrologer here. Go, both, I
weary of the sight of your ugly faces."
The girl rose, and with her fellow slave ran swiftly to the ladder that
led to the waist of the ship.
"He called me a cat," Merytra hissed through her white teeth to her
companion. "Well, if so, Sekhet the cat-headed is my godmother, and she
is the Lady of Vengeance."
"Yes," answered the other, "and he said that we were both ugly--we, whom
every lord who comes near the Court admires so much! Oh! I wish a holy
crocodile would eat him, black pig!"
"Then why don't they buy us? Abi would sell his daughters, much more his
fan-bearers--at a price."
"Because they hope to get us for nothing, my dear, and what is more,
if I can manage it one of them shall, for I am tired of this life. Have
your fling while you can, I say. Who knows at which corner Osiris, Lord
of Death, is waiting."
"Hush!" whispered Merytra, "there is that knave of an astrologer, and he
looks cross, too."
Then, hand in hand, they went to this lean and learned man and humbly
bowed themselves before him.
"Master of the Stars," said Merytra, "we have a message for you. No, do
not look at my cheek, please, the marks are not magical, only those of
the divine fingers of the glorious hand of the most exalted Prince Abi,
son of the Pharaoh happily ruling in Osiris, etc., etc., etc., of the
right, royal blood of Egypt--that is on one side, and on the other of
a divine lady whom Khem the Spirit, or Ptah the Creator, thought fit to
dip in a vat of black dye."
"Hem!" said Kaku glancing nervously over his shoulder. Then, seeing that
there was no one near, he added, "you had better be careful what you
say, my dear. The royal Abi does not like to hear the colour of his late
mother defined so closely. But why did he slap your face?"
She told him.
"Well," he answered, "if I had been in his place I would rather have
kissed it, for it is pretty, decidedly pretty," and this learned man
forgot himself so far as to wink at Merytra.
"There, Sister," said the girl, "I always told you that rough shells
have sweet nuts inside of them. Thank you for your compliment, Master of
learning. Will you tell us our fortune for nothing?"
"Yes, yes," he answered; "at least the fee I want will cost you nothing.
Now stop this nonsense," he added, anxiously, "I gather that he is
cross."
"I never saw him crosser, Kaku. I am glad it is you who reads the stars,
not I. Listen!"
As he spoke an angry roar reached them from the high deck above.
"Where is that accursed astrologer?" said the roar.
"There, what did I tell you? Oh! never mind the rest of the papers, go
at once. Your robe is full of rolls as it is."
"Yes," answered Kaku as he ran to the ladder, "but the question is, how
will he like what is in the rolls?"
"The gods be with you!" cried one of the girls after him, "you will need
them all."
"And if you get back alive, don't forget your promise about the
fortunes," said the other.
A minute later this searcher of the heavens, a tall, hook-nosed man, was
prostrating himself before Abi in his pavilion on the upper deck, so low
that his Syrian-shaped cap fell from his bald head.
"Why were you so long in coming?" asked Abi.
"Because your slaves could not find me, royal Son of the Sun. I was at
work in my cabin."
"Indeed, I thought I heard them giggling with you down there. What did
you call me? Royal Son of the Sun? That is Pharaoh's name! Have the
stars shown you----?" and he looked at him eagerly.
"No, Prince, not exactly that. I did not think it needful to search them
on a matter which seems established, more or less."
"More or less," answered Abi gloomily. "What do you mean by your 'more
or less'? Here am I at the turning-point of my fortunes, not knowing
whether I am to be Pharaoh of the Upper and Lower Lands, or only the
petty lord of a city and a few provinces in the Delta, and you satisfy
my hunger for the truth with an empty dish of 'more or less.' Man, what
do you mean?"
"If your Majesty will be pleased to tell his servant exactly what you
desire to know, perhaps I may be able to answer the question," replied
Kaku humbly.
"Majesty! Well, I desire to know by what warrant you call me 'Majesty,'
who am only Prince of Memphis. Did the stars give it to you? Have you
obeyed me and asked them of the future?"
"Certainly, certainly. How could I disobey? I observed them all last
night, and have been working out the results till this moment; indeed,
they are not yet finished. Question and I will answer."
"You will answer, yes, but what will you answer? Not the truth, I fancy,
because you are a coward, though if anyone can read the truth, it is
you. Man," he added fiercely, "if you dare to lie to me I will cut your
head off and take it to Pharaoh as a traitor's; and your body shall
lie, not in that fine tomb which you have made, but in the belly of a
crocodile whence there is no resurrection. Do you understand? Then
let us come to the point. Look, the sun sets there behind the Tombs of
Kings, where the departed Pharaohs of Egypt take their rest till the Day
of Awakening. It is a bad omen for me, I know, who wished to reach this
city in the morning when Ra was in the House of Life, the East, and not
in the House of Death, the West; but that accursed wind sent by Typhon,
held me back and I could not. Well, let us begin at the end which must
come after all. Tell me, you reader of the heavens, shall I sleep at
last in that valley?"
"I think so, Prince; at least, so says your planet. Look, yonder, it
springs to life above you," and he pointed to an orb that appeared at
the topmost edge of the red glow of the sunset.
"You are keeping something back from me," said Abi, searching Kaku's
face with his fierce eyes. "Shall I sleep in the tomb of Pharaoh, in my
own everlasting house that I shall have made ready to receive me?"
"Son of Ra, I cannot say," answered the astrologer. "Divine One, I will
be frank with you. Though you be wrath, yet will I tell you the truth
as you command me. An evil influence is at work in your House of Life.
Another star crosses and re-crosses your path, and though for a long
time you seem to swallow it up, yet at the last it eclipses you--it and
one that goes with it."
"What star?" asked Abi hoarsely, "Pharaoh's?"
"Nay, Prince, the star of Amen."
"Amen! What Amen?"
"Amen the god, Prince, the mighty father of the gods."
"Amen the god," repeated Abi in an awed voice. "How can a man fight
against a god?"
"Say rather against two gods, for with the star of Amen goes the star of
Hathor, Queen of Love. Not for many periods of thousands of years have
they been together, but now they draw near to each other, and so will
remain for all your life. Look," and Kaku pointed to the Eastern horizon
where a faint rosy glow still lingered reflected from the western sky.
As they watched this glow melted, and there in the pure heavens, lying
just where it met the distant land, seeming to rest upon the land,
indeed, appeared a bright and beautiful star, and so close to it that,
to the eye, they almost touched, a twin star. For a few minutes only
were they seen; then they vanished beneath the line of the horizon.
"The morning star of Amen, and with it the star of Hathor," said the
astrologer.
"Well, Fool, what of it?" exclaimed Abi. "They are far enough from
my star; moreover, it is they that sink, not I, who ride higher every
moment."
"Aye, Prince, but in a year to come they will certainly eclipse that
star of yours. Prince, Amen and Hathor are against you. Look, I will
show you their journeyings on this scroll and you shall see where they
eat you up yonder, yes, yonder over the Valley of dead Kings, though
twenty years and more must go by ere then, and take this for your
comfort, during those years you shine alone," and he began to unfold a
papyrus roll.
Abi snatched it from him, crumpled it up and threw it in his face.
"You cheat!" he said. "Do you think to frighten me with this nonsense
about stars? Here is my star," and he drew the short sword at his side
and shook it over the head of the trembling Kaku. "This sharp bronze
is the star I follow, and be careful lest it should eclipse you, you
father of lies."
"I have told the truth as I see it," answered the poor astrologer with
some dignity, "but if you wish, O Prince, that in the future I should
indeed prophesy pleasant things to you, why, it can be done easily
enough. Moreover, it seems to me that this horoscope of yours is not so
evil, seeing that it gives to you over twenty years of life and power,
more by far than most men can expect--at your age. If after that come
troubles and the end, what of it?"
"That is so," replied Abi mollified. "It was my ill-temper, everything
has gone cross to-day. Well, a gold cup, my own, shall pay the price of
it. Bear me no ill-will, I pray you, learned scribe, and above all tell
me no falsehood as the message of the stars you serve. It is the truth
I seek, the truth. If only she may be seen, and clasped, I care not how
ill-favoured is her face."
Rejoicing at the turn which things had taken, and especially at the
promise of the priceless cup which he had long coveted, Kaku bowed
obsequiously. He picked up his crumpled roll and was about to retire
when through the gloom of the falling night, some men mounted upon asses
were seen riding over the mud flats that border the Nile at this spot,
towards that bank where the ship was moored.
"The captain of my guard," said Abi, who saw the starlight gleam upon
a bronze helmet, "who brings me Pharaoh's answer. Nay, go not, bide and
hear it, Kaku, and give us your counsel on it, your true counsel."
So the astrologer stood aside and waited, till presently the captain
appeared saluting.
"What says Pharaoh, my brother?" asked the Prince.
"Lord, he says that he will receive you, though as he did not send for
you, he thinks that you can scarcely come upon any necessary errand,
as he has heard long ago of your victory over the desert-dwelling
barbarians, and does not want the offering of the salted heads of their
officers which you bring to him."
"Good," said Abi contemptuously. "The divine Pharaoh was ever a woman in
such matters, as in others. Let him be thankful that he has generals who
know how to make war and to cut off the heads of his enemies in defence
of the kingdom. We will wait upon him to-morrow."
"Lord," added the captain, "that is not all Pharaoh's message. He says
that it has been reported to him that you are accompanied by a guard of
three hundred soldiers. These soldiers he refuses to allow within the
gates. He directs that you shall appear before his Majesty attended by
five persons only."
"Indeed," answered Abi with a scornful laugh. "Does Pharaoh fear, then,
lest I should capture him and his armies and the great city with three
hundred soldiers?"
"No, Prince," answered the captain bluntly; "but I think he fears lest
you should kill him and declare yourself Pharaoh as next in blood."
"Ah!" said Abi, "as next of blood. Then I suppose that there are still
no children at the Court?"
"None, O Prince. I saw Ahura, the royal wife, the Lady of the Two Lands,
that fairest of women, and other lesser wives and beautiful slave girls
without number, but never a one of them had an infant on her breast or
at her knee. Pharaoh remains childless."
"Ah!" said Abi again. Then he walked forward out of the pavilion whereof
the curtains were drawn back, and stood a while upon the prow of the
vessel.
By now night had fallen, and the great moon, rising from the earth as it
were, poured her flood of silver light over the desert, the mountains,
the limitless city of Thebes, and the wide rippling bosom of the Nile.
The pylons and obelisks, glittering with copper and with gold, towered
to the tender sky. In the window places of palaces and of ten thousand
homes lamps shone like stars. From gardens, streets and the courts of
temples floated the faint sound of singing and of music, while on the
great embattled walls the watchmen called the hour from post to post.
It was a wondrous scene, and the heart of Abi swelled as he gazed upon
it. What wealth lay yonder, and what power. There was the glorious house
of his brother, Pharaoh, the god in human form who for all his godship
had never a child to follow after him when he ascended to Osiris, as he
who was sickly probably must do before so very long.
Yes, but before then a miracle might happen; in this way or in that a
successor to the throne might be found and acknowledged, for were not
Pharaoh and his House beloved by all the priests of Amen, and by the
people, and was not he, Abi, feared and disliked because he was fierce,
and the hated savage blood flowed in his veins? Oh! what evil god had
put it in his father's heart to give him a princess of the Hyksos for a
mother, the Hyksos, whom the Egyptians loathed, when he had the fairest
women of the world from whom to choose? Well, it was done and could
not be undone, though because of it he might lose his heritage of the
greatest throne in all the earth. Also was it not to this fierce Hyksos
blood that he owed his strength and vigour?
Why should he wait? Why should he not set his fortune on a cast? He had
three hundred soldiers with him, picked men and brave, children of the
sea and the desert, sworn to his House and interests. It was a time of
festival, those gates were ill-guarded. Why should he not force them
at the dead of night, make his way to the palace, cause Pharaoh to be
gathered to his fathers, and at the dawn discover himself seated upon
Pharaoh's throne? At the thought of it Abi's heart leapt in his breast,
his wide nostrils spread themselves, and he erected his strong head as
though already he felt upon it the weight of the double crown. Then he
turned and walked back to the pavilion.
"I am minded to strike a blow," he said. "Say now, my officer, would you
and the soldiers follow me into the heart of yonder city to-night to win
a throne--or a grave? If it were the first, you should be the general
of all my army, and you, astrologer, should become vizier, yes, after
Pharaoh you two should be the greatest men in all the land."
They looked at him and gasped.
"A venturesome deed, Prince," said the captain at length; "yet with such
a prize to win I think that I would dare it, though for the soldiers
I cannot speak. First they must be told what is on foot, and out of so
many, how know we that the heart of one or more would not fail? A word
from a traitor and before this time to-morrow the embalmers, or the
jackals, would be busy."
Abi heard and looked from him to his companion.
"Prince," said Kaku, "put such thoughts from you. Bury them deep. Let
them rise no more. In the heavens I read something of this business,
but then I did not understand, but now I see the black depths of hell
opening beneath our feet. Yes, hell would be our home if we dared to
lift hand against the divine person of the Pharaoh. I say that the gods
themselves would fight against us. Let it be, Prince, let it be, and you
shall have many years of rule, who, if you strike now, will win nothing
but a crown of shame, a nameless grave, and the everlasting torment of
the damned."
As he spoke Abi considered the man's face and saw that all craft had
left it. This was no charlatan that spoke to him, but one in earnest who
believed what he said.
"So be it," he answered. "I accept your judgment, and will wait upon my
fortune. Moreover, you are both right, the thing is too dangerous,
and evil often falls on the heads of those who shoot arrows at a god,
especially if they have not enough arrows. Let Pharaoh live on while I
make ready. Perhaps to-morrow I may work upon him to name me his heir."
The astrologer sighed in relief, nor did the captain seem disappointed.
"My head feels firmer on my shoulders than it did just now," he said:
"and doubtless there are times when wisdom is better than valour.
Sleep well, Prince; Pharaoh will receive you to-morrow two hours after
sunrise. Have we your leave to retire?"
"If I were wise," said Abi, fingering the hilt of his sword as he spoke,
"you would both of you retire for ever who know all the secret of my
heart, and with a whisper could bring doom upon me."
Now the pair looked at each other with frightened eyes, and, like his
master, the captain began to play with his sword.
"Life is sweet to all men, Prince," he said significantly, "and we have
never given you cause to doubt us."
"No," answered Abi, "had it been otherwise I should have struck first
and spoken afterwards. Only you must swear by the oath which may not be
broken that in life or death no word of this shall pass your lips."
So they swore, both of them, by the holy name of Osiris, the judge and
the redeemer.
"Captain," said Abi, "you have served me well. Your pay is doubled, and
I confirm the promise that I made to you--should I ever rule yonder you
shall be my general."
While the soldier bowed his thanks, the prince said to Kaku,
"Master of the stars, my gold cup is yours. Is there aught else of mine
that you desire?"
"That slave," answered the learned man, "Merytra, whose ears you boxed
just now----"
"How do you know that I boxed her ears?" asked Abi quickly. "Did the
stars tell you that also? Well, I am tired of the sly hussy--take her.
Soon I think she will box yours."
But when Kaku sought Merytra to tell her the glad tidings that she was
his, he could not find her.
Merytra had disappeared.
CHAPTER II
THE PROMISE OF THE GOD
It was morning at Thebes, and the great city glowed in the rays of
the new-risen sun. In a royal barge sat Abi the prince, splendidly
apparelled, and with him Kaku, his astrologer, his captain of the guard
and three other of his officers, while in a second barge followed slaves
who escorted two chiefs and some fair women captured in war, also the
chests of salted heads and hands, offerings to Pharaoh.
The white-robed rowers bent to their oars, and the swift boat shot
forward up the Nile through a double line of ships of war, all of them
crowded with soldiers. Abi looked at these ships which Pharaoh had
gathered there to meet him, and thought to himself that Kaku had given
wise counsel when he prayed him to attempt no rash deed, for against
such surprises clearly Pharaoh was well prepared. He thought it again
when on reaching the quay of cut stones he saw foot and horse-men
marshalled there in companies and squadrons, and on the walls above
hundreds of other men, all armed, for now he saw what would have
happened to him, if with his little desperate band he had tried to
pierce that iron ring of watching soldiers.
At the steps generals met him in their mail and priests in their full
robes, bowing and doing him honour. Thus royally escorted, Abi passed
through the open gates and the pylons of the splendid temple dedicated
to the Trinity of Thebes, "the House of Amen in the Southern Apt,"
where gay banners fluttered from the pointed masts, up the long street
bordered with tall houses set in their gardens, till he came to the
palace wall. Here more guards rolled back the brazen gates which in
his folly of a few hours gone he had thought that he could force, and
through the avenues of blooming trees he was led to the great pillared
hall of audience.
After the brightness without, that hall seemed almost dark, only a ray
of sunshine flowing from an unshuttered space in the clerestory above,
fell full on the end of it, and revealed the crowned Pharaoh and his
queen seated in state upon their thrones of ivory and gold. Gathered
round and about him also were scribes and councillors and captains, and
beyond these other queens in their carved chairs and attended, each of
them, by beautiful women of the household in their gala dress. Moreover,
behind the thrones, and at intervals between the columns, stood the
famous Nubian guard of two hundred men, the servants of the body of
Pharaoh as they were called, each of them chosen for faithfulness and
courage.
The centre of all this magnificence was Pharaoh, on him the sunlight
beat, to him every eye was turned, and where his glance fell there heads
bowed and knees were bent. A small thin man of about forty years of age
with a puckered, kindly and anxious face, and a brow that seemed to
sink beneath the weight of the double crown that, save for its royal
snake-crest of hollow gold, was after all but of linen, a man with
thin, nervous hands which played amongst the embroideries of his golden
robe--such was Pharaoh, the mightiest monarch in the world, the ruler
whom millions that had never seen him worshipped as a god.
Abi, the burly framed, thick-lipped, dark-skinned, round-eyed Abi, born
of the same father, stared at him with wonderment, for years had passed
since last they met, and in the palace when they were children a gulf
had been set between the offspring of a royal mother and the child of a
Hyksos concubine taken into the Household for reasons of state. In his
vigour, and the might of his manhood, he stared at this weakling, the
son of a brother and a sister, and the grandson of a brother and a
sister. Yet there was something in that gentle eye, an essence of
inherited royalty, before which his rude nature bowed. The body might be
contemptible, but within it dwelt the proud spirit of the descendant of
a hundred kings.
Abi advanced to the steps of the throne and knelt there, till after a
little pause Pharaoh stretched out the sceptre in his hand for him to
kiss. Then he spoke in his light, quick voice.
"Welcome, Prince and my brother," he said. "We quarrelled long ago,
did we not, and many years have passed since we met, but Time heals all
wounds and--welcome, son of my father. I need not ask if you are well,"
and he glanced enviously at the great-framed man who knelt before him.
"Hail to your divine Majesty!" answered Abi in his deep voice. "Health
and strength be with you, Holder of the Scourge of Osiris, Wearer of the
Feathers of Amen, Mortal crowned with the glory of Ra."
"I thank you, Prince," answered Pharaoh gently, "and that health and
strength I need, who fear that I shall only find them when I have
yielded up the Scourge of Osiris whereof you speak to him who lent it
me. But enough of myself. Let us to business, afterwards we will talk
of such matters together. Why have you left your government at Memphis
without leave asked, to visit me here in my City of the Gates?"
"Be not wrath with me," answered Abi humbly. "A while ago, in obedience
to your divine command, I attacked the barbarians who threatened your
dominions in the desert. Like Menthu, god of war, I fell upon them.
I took them by surprise, I smote them, thousands of them bit the dust
before me. Two of their kings I captured with their women--they wait
without, to be slain by your Majesty. I bring with me the heads of
a hundred of their captains and the hands of five hundred of their
soldiers, in earnest of the truth of my word. Let them be spread out
before you. I report to your divine Majesty that those barbarians are no
more, that for a generation, at least, I have made the land safe to your
uttermost dominions in the north. Suffer that the heads and the hands be
brought in and counted out before your Majesty, that the smell of them
may rise like incense to your divine nostrils."
"No, no," said Pharaoh, "my officers shall count them without, for I
love not such sights of death, and I take your word for the number. What
payment do you ask for this service, my brother, for with great gifts
would I reward you, who have done so well for me and Egypt?"
Before he answered Abi looked at the beautiful queen, Ahura, who sat at
Pharaoh's side, and at the other royal consorts and women.
"Your Majesty," he said, "I see here many wives and ladies, but royal
children I do not see. Grant--for doubtless they are in their own
chambers--grant, O Pharaoh, that they may be led hither that my eyes may
feed upon their loveliness, and that I may tell of them, each of them,
to their cousins who await me at Memphis."
At these words a flush as of shame spread itself over the lovely face of
Ahura, the royal wife, the Lady of the Two Lands; while the women turned
their heads away whispering to each other bitterly, for the insult hurt
them. Only Pharaoh set his pale face and answered with dignity.
"Prince Abi, to affront those whom the gods have smitten, be they kings
or peasants, is an unworthy deed which the gods will not forget. You
know well that I have no children. Why then do you ask me to show you
their loveliness?"
"I had heard rumours, O Pharaoh," answered the Prince, "no more. Indeed,
I did not believe them, for where there are so many wives I was certain
that there would be some mothers. Therefore I asked to be sure before
I proffered a petition which now I will make to you not for my own sake
but for Egypt's and yours, O Pharaoh. Have I your leave to speak here in
public?"
"Speak on," said Pharaoh sternly. "Let aught that is for the welfare of
Egypt be heard by Egypt."
"Your Majesty has told me," replied Abi bowing, "that the gods, being
wrath, have denied you children. Not so much as one girl of your blood
have they given to you to fill your throne after you when in due season
it pleases you to depart to Osiris. Were it otherwise, were there even
but a single woman-child of your divine race, I would say nothing, I
would be silent as the grave. But so it is, and though your queens be
fair and many, so it would seem that it must remain, since the ears of
the gods having been deaf to your pleadings for so long, although you
have built them glorious temples and made them offerings without count,
will scarcely now be opened. Even Amen your father, Amen, whose name you
bear, will perform no miracle for you, O Pharaoh, who are so great that
he has decreed that you shall shine alone like the full moon at night,
not sharing your glory with a single star."
Now Ahura the Queen, who all this while had been listening intently,
spoke for the first time in a quick angry voice, saying,
"How know you that, Prince of Memphis? Sometimes the gods relent and
that which they have withheld for a space, they give. My lord lives, and
I live, and a child of his may yet fill the throne of Egypt."
"It may be so, O Queen," said Abi bowing, "and for my part I pray that
it will be so, for who am I that I should know the purpose of the kings
of heaven? If but one girl be born of you and Pharaoh, then I take
back my words and give to you that title which for many years has been
written falsely upon your thrones and monuments, the title of Royal
Mother."
Now Ahura would have answered again, for this sneering taunt stung her
to the quick. But Pharaoh laid his hand upon her knee and said,
"Continue, Prince and brother. We have heard from you that which we
already know too well--that I am childless. Tell us what we do not know,
the desire of your heart which lies hid beneath all these words."
"Pharaoh, it is this--I am of your holy blood, sprung of the same divine
father----"
"But of a mother who was not divine," broke in Ahura; "of a mother taken
from a race that has brought many a curse upon Khem, as any mirror will
show you, Prince of Memphis."
"Pharaoh," went on Abi without heeding her, "you grow weak; heaven
desires you, the earth melts beneath you. In the north and in the south
many dangers threaten Egypt. Should you die suddenly without an heir,
barbarians will flow in from the north and from the south, and the great
ones of the land will struggle for your place. Pharaoh, I am a warrior;
I am built strong; my children are many; my house is built upon a rock;
the army trusts me; the millions of the people love me. Take me then to
rule with you and in the hearing of all the earth name me and my sons
as your successors, so that our royal race may continue for generation
after generation. So shall you end your days in peace and hope. I have
spoken."
Now, as the meaning of this bold request sank into their hearts, all the
court there gathered gasped and whispered, while the Queen Ahura in her
anger crushed the lotus flower which she held in her hand and cast it to
the floor. Only Pharaoh sat still and silent, his head bent and his eyes
shut as though in prayer. For a minute or more he sat thus, and when he
lifted his pale, pure face, there was a smile upon it.
"Abi, my brother," he said in his gentle voice, "listen to me. There are
those who filled this throne before me, who on hearing such words would
have pointed to you with their sceptres, whereon, Abi, those lips of
yours would have grown still for ever, and you and your name and the
names of all your House would have been blotted out by death. But, Abi,
you were ever bold, and I forgive you for laying open the thoughts of
your heart to me. Still, Abi, you have not told us all of them. You have
not told us, for instance," he went on slowly, and in the midst of an
intense silence, "that but last night you debated whether it would not
be possible with that guard of yours to break into my palace and put me
to the sword and name yourself Pharaoh--by right of blood, Abi; yes, by
right of blood--my blood shed by you, my brother."
As these words left the royal lips a tumult arose in the hall, the women
and the great officers sprang up, the captains stepped forward drawing
their swords to avenge so horrible a sacrilege. But Pharaoh waved his
sceptre, and they were still, only Abi cried in a great voice.
"Who has dared to whisper a lie so monstrous?" And he glared first at
Kaku and then at the captain of his guard who stood behind him, and
choked in wrath, or fear, or both.
"Suspect not your officers, Prince," went on the Pharaoh, still smiling,
"for on my royal word they are innocent. Yet, Abi, a pavilion set upon
the deck of a ship is no good place to plot the death of kings. Pharaoh
has many spies, also, at times, the gods, to whom as you say he is so
near, whisper tidings to him in his sleep. Suspect not your officers,
Abi, although I think that to yonder Master of the Stars who stands
behind you, I should be grateful, since, had you attempted to execute
this madness, but for him I might have been forced to kill you, Abi,
as one kills a snake that creeps beneath his mat. Astrologer, you shall
have a gift from me, for you are a wise man. It may take the place,
perhaps, of one that you have lost; was it not a certain woman slave
whom your master gave to you last night--after he had punished her for
no fault?"
Kaku prostrated himself before the glory of Pharaoh, understanding at
last that it was the lost girl Merytra who had overheard and betrayed
them. But heeding him no more, his Majesty went on.
"Abi, Prince and brother, I forgive you a deed that you purposed but
did not attempt. May the gods and the spirits of our fathers forgive
you also, if they will. Now as to your demand. You are my only living
brother, and therefore I will weigh it. Perchance, if I should die
without issue, although you are not all royal, although there flows in
your veins a blood that Egypt hates; although you could plot the murder
of your lord and king, it may be well that when I am gone you should
fill my place, for you are brave and of the ancient race on one side,
if base-born on the other. But I am not yet dead, and children may still
come to me. Abi, will you be a prisoner until Osiris calls me, or will
you swear an oath?"
"I will swear an oath," answered the Prince hoarsely, for he knew his
shame and danger.
"Then kneel here, and by the dreadful Name swear that you will lift no
hand and plot no plot against me. Swear that if a child, male or female,
should be given to me, you will serve such a child truly as your lord
and lawful Pharaoh. In the presence of all this company, swear, knowing
that if you break the oath in letter or in spirit, then all the gods of
Egypt shall pour their curse upon your head in life, and in death shall
give you over to the everlasting torments of the damned."
So, having little choice, Abi swore by the Name and kissed the sceptre
in token of his oath.
It was night. Dark and solemn was the innermost shrine of the vast
temple, the "House of Amen in the Northern Apt," which we call Karnak,
the very holy of holies where, fashioned of stone, and with the
feathered crown upon his head, stood the statue of Amen-ra, father of
the gods. Here, where none but the high-priest and the royalties of
Egypt might enter, Pharaoh and his wife Ahura, wrapped in brown cloaks
like common folk, knelt at the feet of the god and prayed. With tears
and supplications did they pray that a child might be given to them.
There in the sacred place, lit only by a single lamp which burned from
age to age, they told the story of their grief, whilst high above them
the cold, calm countenance of the god seemed to stare through the gloom,
as for a thousand years, in joy or sorrow, it had stared at those that
went before them. They told of the mocking words of Abi who had demanded
to see their children, the children that were not; they told of their
terror of the people who demanded that an heir should be declared; they
told of the doom that threatened their ancient house, which from Pharaoh
to Pharaoh, all of one blood, for generations had worshipped in this
place. They promised gifts and offerings, stately temples and wide
lands, if only their desire might be fulfilled.
"Let me no more be made a mock among men," cried the beautiful queen,
beating her forehead upon the stone feet of the god. "Let me bear a
child to fill the seat of my lord the King, and then if thou wilt, take
my life in payment."
But the god made no answer, and wearied out at length they rose and
departed. At the door of the sanctuary they found the high-priest
awaiting them, a wizened, aged man.
"The god gave no sign, O High-priest," said Pharaoh sadly; "no voice
spoke to us."
The old priest looked at the weeping queen, and a light of pity crept
into his eyes.
"To me, watching without," he said, "a voice seemed to speak, though
what it said I may not reveal. Go to your palace now, O Pharaoh, and O
Queen Ahura, and take your rest side by side. I think that in your sleep
a sign will come to you, for Amen is pitiful, and loves his children
who love him. According to that sign so speak to the Prince Abi, speak
without fear or doubt, since for good or ill it shall be fulfilled."
Then like shadows, hand in hand, this royal pair glided down the vast,
pillared halls till at the pylon gates, which were opened for them, they
found their litters, and were borne along the great avenue of ram-headed
sphinxes back to a secret door in the palace wall.
It was past midnight. Deep darkness and heavy silence lay upon Thebes,
broken only by dogs howling at the stars and the occasional challenge
of soldiers on the walls. Side by side in their golden bed the wearied
Pharaoh and his queen slept heavily. Presently Ahura woke. She started
up in the bed; she stared at the darkness about her with frightened
eyes; she stretched out her hand and clasping Pharaoh by the arm,
whispered in a thrilling voice,
"Awake, awake! I have that which I must tell you."
Pharaoh roused himself, for there was something in Ahura's voice which
swept away the veils of sleep.
"What has chanced, Ahura?" he asked.
"O Pharaoh, I have dreamed a dream, if indeed it were but a dream. It
seemed to me that the darkness opened, and that standing in the darkness
I saw a Glory which had neither shape nor form. Yet a voice spoke from
the Glory, a low, sweet voice: 'Queen Ahura, my daughter,' it said, 'I
am that Spirit to whom thou and thy husband did pray this night in
the sanctuary of my temple. It seemed to both of you that your prayers
remained unheard, yet it was not so, as my priest knew well. Queen
Ahura, thou and Pharaoh thy husband have put your trust in me these many
years, and not in vain. A daughter shall be given to thee and Pharaoh,
and my Spirit shall be in that child. She shall be beautiful and
glorious as no woman was before her, for I clothe her with health and
power and wisdom. She shall rule over the Northern and the Southern
Lands; yea, for many years the double crown shall rest upon her brow,
and no king that went before her, and no king that follows after her,
shall be more great in Egypt. Troubles and dangers shall threaten her,
but the Spirit that I give to her shall protect her in them all, and she
shall tread her enemy beneath her feet. A royal lover shall come to her
also, and she shall rejoice in his love and from it shall spring many
kings and princes. Neter-Tua, Morning Star, shall be her name, and
high-priestess of Amen--no less--shall be her office, for she is my
child whom I have taken from heaven and sent down to earth; the child
that I have given to Pharaoh and to thee, and I love her and appoint the
good goddesses to be her companions, and command Osiris to receive her
at the last.
"'Behold, in token of these things I lay my symbol on thy breast, and on
her breast also shall that symbol be. When I lift it from thee and thou
dost open thy eyes, then awaken Pharaoh at thy side and let these my
words be written in a roll, so that none of them are forgotten.'
"Then, O Pharaoh," went on Ahura, "from the Glory there came forth a
hand, and in the hand was the Symbol of Life shining as though with
fire, and the hand laid it upon my breast and it burned me as though
with fire, and I awoke and lo! darkness was all about me, nothing but
darkness, and at my side I heard you sleeping."
Now when Pharaoh had listened to this dream, he kissed the queen and
blessed her because of its good omen, and clapped his hands to summon
the women of honour who slept without. They ran in bearing lights, and
by the lights he saw that beneath the throat of the Queen upon her fair
skin, appeared a red mark, and the shape of it was the shape of the Sign
of Life; yes, there was the loop, and beneath the loop the cross.
Then Pharaoh commanded that the chief of his scribes should come to him
with papyrus and writing tools, and that the high-priest of Amen
should be brought swiftly from the temple. So the scribe came to the
bed-chamber of the King, and in the presence of the high-priest all
the words of Amen were written down, not one of them was omitted, and
Pharaoh and the Queen signed the roll, and the high-priest witnessed
it and, copies having been made, bore it away to hide it in the secret
treasury of Amen. But the mark of the Cross of Life remained upon the
breast of the Queen Ahura till the day that she died.
Now in the morning Pharaoh summoned his Court and commanded that the
Prince Abi should be brought before him. So the Prince came and Pharaoh
addressed him kindly.
"Son of my father," he said, "I have considered your request that I
should take you to rule with me on the throne of Egypt, and name you and
your sons to be Pharaohs after me, and it is refused. Know that it has
been revealed to me and to the royal wife, Ahura, by the greatest of the
gods, that a daughter shall be born to us in due season, who shall be
called Morning Star of Amen, and that she and her seed shall be Pharaohs
after me. Therefore rejoice with us and return to your government,
Prince Abi, and be happy in our love, and in the goods and greatness
that the gods have given you."
Now Abi shook with anger, for he thought that all this tale was a trick
and a snare. But knowing that his peril was great there in the hand of
Pharaoh, he answered only that when this Morning Star arose, his
star should do it reverence, though as the words passed his lips he
remembered the prophecy of his astrologer Kaku, that the Morning Star of
Amen should blot out that star of his.
"You think that I speak falsely, Prince Abi, yes, that I stain my lips
with lies," said Pharaoh with indignation. "Well, I forgive you this
also. Go hence and await the issue and know by this sign that truth is
in my heart. When the Princess Neter-Tua is born, upon her breast shall
be seen the symbol of the Sign of Life. Depart now, lest I grow angry.
The gifts I have promised shall follow you to Memphis."
So Abi returned to the white-walled city of Memphis and sat there
sullenly, putting it about that a plot was on foot to deprive him of
his heritage. But Kaku shook his head, saying in secret that the Star,
Neter-Tua, would arise, for so it was decreed by Amen, father of the
gods.
CHAPTER III
RAMES, THE PRINCESS, AND THE CROCODILE
At the appointed time to Ahura, the royal wife, was born a child, a
girl with a fresh and lovely face and waving hair and eyes that from the
first were blue like the summer sky at even. Also on her breast was a
mole of the length of a finger nail, which mole was shaped like the holy
Sign of Life.
Now Pharaoh and his house and the priests in every temple, and indeed
all Egypt went mad with joy, though there were many who in secret
mourned over the sex of the infant, whispering that a man and not a
woman should wear the Double Crown. But in public they said nothing,
since the story of this child had gone abroad and folk declared that it
was sent by the gods, and divine, and that the goddesses, Isis, Nepthys,
and Hathor, with Khemu, the Maker of Mankind, were seen in the birth
chamber, glowing like gold.
Also Pharaoh issued a decree that wherever the name of the Queen Ahura
was graven in all the land, to it should be added the title "By the
will of Amen, Mother of his Morning Star," and that a new hall should be
built in the temple of Amen in the Northern Apt, and all about it carved
the story of the coming of Prince Abi and of the vision of the Queen.
But Ahura never lived to see this glorious place, since from the hour of
her daughter's birth she began to sink. On the fourteenth day, the day
of purification, she bade the nurse bring the beautiful babe, and gazed
at it long and blessed it, and spoke with the Ka or Double of the child,
which she said she saw lying on her arm beside it, bidding that Ka
protect it well through the dangers of life and death until the hour of
resurrection. Then she said that she heard Amen calling to her to pay