The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 23

"I will tell thee the truth, as if thou wert Tamara, my wife, who, a real daughter of Sidon, though she brought me a large dowry, is old now and not worthy to take off thy sandals."

"In the honey flowing from thy lips there is much wormwood," put in Sarah.

"Let the honey," replied Dagon, sitting down, "be for thee and let the wormwood poison my heart. Our lord Prince Rameses--may he live through eternity!--has the mouth of a lion and the keenness of a vulture. He has seen fit to rent his estate to me. This has filled my stomach with delight; but he does not trust me, so I lay awake whole nights from anxiety, I only sigh and cover my bed with tears, in which bed would that thou wert resting with me, O Sarah, instead of my wife Tamara, who cannot rouse desire in me any longer."

"That is not what thou wishest to say," interrupted the blus.h.i.+ng Sarah.

"I know not what I wish to say, since I have looked on thee, and since our lord, examining my activity on his estates, struck with a cane and took health from my scribe who was collecting dues there from tenants.

And these dues were not for me. Sarah, but for our lord. It is not I who will eat the figs and wheaten bread from those lands, but thou and our lord. I have given money to our lord and jewels to thee. Why then should the low Egyptian rabble impoverish our lord and thee, Sarah? To show how greatly thou rousest my desire and that from these estates I wish nothing but reserve all for thee and our lord, I give this goblet of pure gold set with jewels and covered with carving at which the G.o.ds themselves would be astonished."

Then Dagon drew forth from the cloth the goblet refused by Prince Rameses.

"I do not even wish that thou shouldst have the goblet in the house and give the prince to drink from it. Give this goblet of pure gold to Gideon, whom I love as my own brother. And thou, Sarah, tell thy father these words: 'Thy twin brother Dagon, the unfortunate tenant on the lands of Prince Rameses, is ruined. Drink then, my father, from this goblet, think of thy twin brother, and beg Jehovah that our lord, Prince Rameses, may not beat his scribes, and bring to revolt tenants who even now have no wish to pay tribute.' And know this, Sarah, that if thou wouldst admit me to confidence I would give thee two talents, and thy father one talent, and, besides, I should be ashamed of giving thee so little, for thou deservest that the pharaoh himself should fondle thee, and the heir of the throne, and the worthy minister Herhor, and the most valiant Nitager, and the richest bankers of the Phnicians. There is such a taste in thee that I grow faint when I gaze at thee, and when I see thee not, I close my eyes and lick my lips. Thou art sweeter than figs, more fragrant than roses. I would give thee five talents. Take this goblet, Sarah."

Sarah drew back with drooping eyes.

"I will not take the goblet," answered she; "my lord forbade me to take gifts from any one."

Dagon was astonished, and looked with widely opened eyes at her.

"Then it must be that thou knowest not, Sarah, the value of this goblet. But I give it to thy father, who is my brother."

"I cannot take it," whispered Sarah.

"Oh!" cried Dagon. "Then thou, Sarah, wilt pay me for this goblet in another way, without speaking to thy lord. But a woman as beautiful as thou must have gold and jewels, and should have her own banker to bring her money when she pleases, not alone when her lord likes."

"I cannot!" whispered Sarah, without concealing her repulsion for the banker.

The Phnician changed his tone in the twinkle of an eye, and said laughing,--

"Very good, Sarah! I only wished to convince myself that thou art faithful to our lord. I see that thou art faithful, though foolish, as people say."

"What?" burst out Sarah, rus.h.i.+ng at Dagon with clinched fist.

"Ha! ha!" laughed the Phnician. "What a pity that our lord could not hear and see thee this moment! But I will tell him, when he is in good humor, that thou art not only as faithful as a dog to him, but even that thou wouldst not accept a gold goblet because he has not permitted thee to take presents. And this goblet, believe me, Sarah, has tempted more than one woman, and women who were not of small importance."

Dagon sat awhile admiring the virtue and obedience of Sarah; at last he took farewell of her with much feeling, sat down in his tented boat, and sailed away toward Memphis. When the boat had pushed off from the country house, the smile vanished from the banker's face, and an expression of anger came out thereon. When Sarah's house was hidden behind the trees, Dagon stood up and raised his hands.

"O Baal of Sidon, O Astoreth!" said he, "avenge my insult on this cursed daughter of a Jew. Let her treacherous beauty perish as a drop of rain in the desert! May disease devour her body, and madness bind her soul! May her lord hunt her out of his house like a mangy swine!

And as to-day she pushed my goblet aside, may the hour come when people will push her withered hand aside, when in thirst she begs them for a cup of dirty water."

Then he spat and muttered words with hidden and dreadful meaning; a black cloud covered the sun for a while, and the water near the side of the boat began to grow muddy and rise in a mighty wave. When he finished, the sun had grown bright again; but the river was disturbed, as if a new inundation were moving it.

Dagon's rowers were frightened, and ceased their singing; but separated from their master by the side of the boat, they could not see his ceremonies.

Thenceforth the Phnician did not appear before Prince Rameses. But on a certain day when the prince came to his residence, he found in his bedchamber a beautiful Phnician dancer, sixteen years of age, whose entire dress was a golden circlet on her head, and a shawl, as delicate as spider webs, thrown across her shoulders.

"Who art thou?" asked the prince.

"I am a priestess, and thy servant; the lord Dagon has sent me to frighten away thy anger against him."

"How wilt thou do that?"

"Oh, in this way--sit down there," said she, seating him in an armchair. "I will stand on tiptoe, so as to grow taller than thy anger, and with this shawl, which is sacred, I will drive evil spirits from thee. A kis.h.!.+ a kis.h.!.+" whispered she, dancing in a circle.

"Rameses, let my hands remove gloom from thy hair, let my kisses bring back to thy eyes their bright glances. Let the beating of my heart fill thy ears with music, lord of Egypt.--A kis.h.!.+ a kis.h.!.+ he is not yours, but mine.--Love demands such silence that in its presence even anger must grow still."

While dancing, she played with the prince's hair, put her arms around his neck, kissed him on the eyes. At last she sat down wearied at his feet, and, resting her head on his knees, turned her face toward him quickly, panting with parted lips.

"Thou art no longer angry with thy servant Dagon?" whispered she, stroking his face.

Rameses wished to kiss her on the lips, but she sprang away from his knees, crying,--

"Oh, that is not possible!"

"Why so?"

"I am a virgin and priestess of the great G.o.ddess Astoreth. Thou wouldst have to love my guardian G.o.ddess greatly, and honor her before thou couldst kiss me."

"But is it permitted thee?"

"All things are permitted me, for I am a priestess, and have sworn to preserve my virginity."

"Why hast thou come hither, then?"

"To drive out thy anger. I have done so, I depart. Be well and kind always," added she, with a piercing glance.

"Where dost thou dwell? What is thy name?" asked Rameses.

"My name is Fondling, and I dwell-- Ei, why should I tell? Thou wilt not come soon to me."

She waved her hand and vanished. The prince, as if stunned, did not move from his chair. When after a while he looked through the window, he saw a rich litter which four Nubians bore toward the Nile swiftly.

Rameses was not sorry for the departing woman; she astonished, but did not attract him.

"Sarah is calmer," thought he, "and more beautiful. Moreover, it seems to me that that Phnician must be cold, and her fondlings are studied."

But from that time the prince ceased to be angry at Dagon, all the more since on a day when he was at Sarah's earth-tillers came to him, and thanking him for protection declared that the Phnician forced them to pay new rents no longer.

That was the case close to Memphis, but on other lands the prince's tenants made good Dagon's losses.

CHAPTER XIV

In the month of Choeak (from the middle of September to the middle of October), the waters of the Nile were highest, and began to fall slightly. In the gardens people gathered tamarinds, dates, olives; and trees blossomed a second time.

At this juncture his holiness Rameses XII. left his sun-bright palace in Memphis, and with a grand suite on some tens of stately barges sailed to Thebes, to thank the G.o.ds there for the bounteous inundation, and also to place offerings on the tombs of his eternally living ancestors.