The Pharaoh and the Priest. Bolesław Prus

How then could we rely on their judgment?

      "In the days of the Theban dynasty, far away toward the north, was the little town of Troy. We have in Egypt twenty thousand as large as it. Various Greek vagrants laid siege to that hamlet, and so annoyed its few inhabitants that after ten years of trouble they burned their little fortress and moved to other places. An every-day robber narrative! Meanwhile just see what songs the Greeks sing of the Trojan combats. We laugh at those wonders and heroisms, for our government had accurate information of events there. We see the lies which strike any one, but still we listen to those songs, as a child does to tales which its nurse tells, and we cannot tear ourselves free from them.

      "Such are the Greeks: born liars, but fascinating; yes, and valiant. Every man of them would rather die than tell truth. They do not lie for profit, as do the Phoenicians, but because their mind constrains them."

      "Well, what am I to think of the Phoenicians?"

      "They are wise people of mighty industry and daring, but hucksters: for them life means profit, be it great or the greatest. The Phoenicians are like water: they bring much with them, but bear away much, and push in at all points. One must give them the least possible, and above all watch that they enter not through hidden crannies into Egypt. If Thou pay them well and offer hope of still greater profit, they will be excellent assistants. What we know today of secret movements in Assyria we know through Phoenicians."

      "And the Jews?" asked the prince, dropping his eyes.

      "A quick people, but gloomy fanatics and born enemies of Egypt. Only when they feel on their necks the iron-shod sandal of the Assyrian, will they turn to us. May that time not come too late to them! It is possible to use their services, not here, of course, but in Nineveh and Babylon."

      The pharaoh was wearied now. Hence the prince fell on his face before him, and when he had received the paternal embrace he went to his mother.

      The lady, sitting in her study, was weaving delicate linen to make garments for the gods, and her ladies in waiting were sewing and embroidering robes or making bouquets. A young priest was burning incense before the statue of Isis.

      "I come," said the prince, "to thank thee, my mother, and take farewell."

      The queen rose and putting her arms around her son's neck, said to him tearfully,

      "Hast Thou changed so much? Thou art a man now! I meet thee so rarely that I might forget thy features did I not see them in my heart every moment. Thou art unkind. How many times have I gone with the first dignitary of the state toward thy villa, thinking that at last Thou wouldst cease to be offended, but Thou didst bring out thy favorite in my presence."

      "I beg thy pardon I beg thy pardon!" said Ramses, kissing his mother.

      She conducted him to a garden in which peculiar flowers grew, and when they were without witnesses, she said,

      "I am a woman, so a woman and a mother has interest for me. Dost Thou wish to take that girl with thee on thy journey? Remember that the tumult and the movement which will surround thee may harm her, for in her condition calm and quiet are needed."

      "Art Thou speaking of Sarah?" inquired Ramses, astonished. "She has said nothing to me of that condition."

      "She may be ashamed; perhaps she does not herself know," replied the queen. "In every case the journey."

      "I have no intention of taking her!" exclaimed Ramses. "But why does she hide this from me as if the child were not mine?"

      "Be not suspicious," chided the lady. "This is the usual timidity of young women. Moreover, she may be hiding her condition from fear lest Thou cast her away from thee."

      "For that matter, I shall not take her to my court!" broke out the prince, so impatiently that the queen's eyes were smiling, but she covered them with their long lashes.

      "It is not well to be over-harsh with a woman who loved thee. I know that Thou hast given an assured support to her. We will give her something also. And a child of the royal blood must be reared well, and have property."

      "Naturally," answered Ramses. "My first son, though without princely rights, must be so placed that I may not be ashamed of him, and he must not regret separation from me."

      After parting with the queen, Ramses wished to go to Sarah, and with that object returned to his chambers.

      Two feelings were roused in him, anger at Sarah for hiding the cause of her weakness, and pride that he was going to be a father.

      He a father! This title gave him an importance which, as it were, supported his titles of commander and viceroy. Father! that did not mean a stripling who must look perforce with reverence on older people.

      He was roused and enraptured. He wished to see Sarah, to scold, then embrace her and give her presents.

      But when he returned to his part of the palace he found there two nomarchs from Lower Egypt who had come to report on their provinces, and when he had heard them out, he was wearied. Besides, he was to hold an evening reception and did not wish to be late in beginning.

      "And again I shall not be with her," thought he. "Poor girl! for twenty days she has not seen me."

      He summoned the negro.

      "Hast Thou that cage which Sarah gave thee when we went to greet his holiness?"

      "I have."

      "Take a pigeon from it, and let the bird loose."

      "The pigeons are eaten."

      "Who ate them?"

      "Thou. I told the cook that those birds came from the Lady Sarah; so he made a roast and pies out of them for thee, worthiness."

      "May the crocodiles eat you both!" cried the prince, in anger.

      He sent for Tutmosis and dispatched him immediately to Sarah. He explained to him the history of the pigeons, and said,

      "Give her emerald earrings, bracelets, anklets, and two talents. Say that I am angry because she concealed her condition, but that I will forgive her if the child is healthy and handsome. Should she have a boy, I will give her another place," finished he, with a smile. "But but persuade her to put away even a few Jews, and to take even a few Egyptian men and women. I do not wish my son to be born into such company; besides, he might play with Jew children. They would teach him to give his father the worst dates of the harvest."

CHAPTER XIX

       Table of Contents

      THE foreign quarter in Memphis lay on the northeastern extremity of the city near the river. There were several hundred houses in that place and many thousand people, Assyrians, Greeks, Jews, most of all, Phoenicians.

      That was a wealthy quarter. A street thirty paces in width formed its leading artery. This street was rather straight, and paved with flat stones. On both sides were houses of sandstone, brick, or limestone, varying in height from three to five stories. In the cellars were stores of raw materials; on the ground floors were arched rooms; on the first stories dwellings of wealthy people; higher were the workshops of weavers, tailors, jewelers; highest of all, the crowded dwellings of laborers.

      The buildings of this quarter, like those in the whole city, were mainly white; but one might see stone houses as green as a meadow, as yellow as a wheat-field, as blue as the sky. or as red as blood.

      The front walls of many houses were ornamented with pictures representing the occupations of people who dwelt in them. On the house of a jeweler long rows of pictures announced that its owner sold to foreign kings chains and bracelets of his own making which roused their amazement. The immense palace of a merchant was covered with pictures representing the labors and perils of a trafficker: on the sea dreadful monsters with fish tails were seizing the man; in the desert winged dragons breathing fire were grasping after him, and on distant islands he was