Read Ebook: Hatsu: A Story of Egypt by Fessenden Laura Dayton

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Ebook has 846 lines and 94140 words, and 17 pages

"My lord, it is not courteous to be mirthful or scornful over that which the King you serve holds so sacred," and she pointed to the niched wall where, in gaudily painted wooden cases, the faces of cats, birds, and other creatures of the animal kingdom, grinning of jaw and glassy of eye, looked down upon them.

"Perhaps," replied the captain, "if you, my pretty Miriam, had been selected to go from one end of the kingdom to the other to act as escort to dead cats, and dogs, oxen, and birds, and so bring them to this their final resting place, perhaps, I say, if you had been selected and then detailed to instruct the natives as to the salting and other disgusting mortuary preparations, you would have come in time to regard these things as I do, as only powerful through their offensiveness to one's nostrils! as only capable of working harm, when as decaying animal matter they are allowed to pollute the otherwise pure atmosphere."

"I do not understand how you dare to say all this to me, my lord," said Miriam, "for unbelievers though we be, you, a Syrian, I an Israelite, we are now in the most sacred sepulchre of Osirus. We both know what the speaking ill of a living sacred animal may cost. We know what the wilful killing of any of these forms of life means for him who does the deed. How often have you and I, suddenly coming by the way upon some dead thing, fallen upon our knees and plucked from out our heads a few hairs to propitiate the anger of Deity?"

"But, my lord, what will all this avail? The mother of our new King holds the controlling power in the councils of state, and well you know, she has for our late King's daughter a bitter and relentless hate."

My lord Alric studied the smoothly worn stone path under foot, pushing with the toe of his sandal some imaginary straw aside, ere he made answer.

"Our Sainted King's most noble and gracious mother hath become too sacred a thing to be put in daily and hourly contact with the naughty world. Be it known to you, O Miriam, that the mother of Tothmes the Second will hereafter be powerless to do aught but pray, since she has this day been received into the cloistered nunnery of the Sisterhood of Perpetual Silence."

"To our One God, Jehovah, I offer my thanks," said Miriam fervently, "but, my lord, do you not fear to speak thus openly to me, for it must surely be known to you that from my mistress I will keep no word?"

With a cry, Miriam rose to her feet and stood before Alric, moved by an anger quite unknown to her in any hour of her past life.

The Captain had moved a pace or two back from Miriam as she spoke, and as he listened to her every word he put one of his hands into the folds of his toga and drew from thence a small disk of glass. He never took his eyes from Miriam's eyes; his gaze was fixed, and intense, and as she had gone on with her speech, it was perceptible that all unconsciously a subtle power was weaving itself about her. A sense, not of faintness, but rather of pleasant numbness stole slowly and softly over Miriam, mind and nerves, and a sweet peace that stayed the angry torrent of her blood, and brought a smile to her lips came, when she heard these words.

A change was passing over the girl's face. She still stood before him, erect, and calm, but expression was fading out. The look that the dead wear was with her. Her color had fled, giving place to ashen wanness, and the light in her beautiful eyes was dimmed. Her mouth grew set, her nostrils pinched, and her breathing came in great waves of effort. Alric now raised his other hand and moved it to and fro above the girl's head, to a sort of measured time, repeating slowly, crooningly, and softly:

"Go to sleep! G-o t-o s-l-e-e-p. G--o t--o s--l--e--e--p."

Then he lowered the hand above her, gently pushed her back onto the stone bench from which she had risen, and rested her rigid head against the wall.

Then it was that her sob-like breathing ceased and, save that her eyes were widely open and staring, one would have said that Miriam had found her way into slumberland.

Keeping the disk of glass before her eyes, Alric spoke:

"Spirit," he said softly, "spirit, what dost thou here?"

And from the white lips came the answer:

"I wait to do thy bidding, my Lord."

"Spirit," he said, "give me the name of thy master."

"My earthly master," she made answer, "is one Alric, the grandson of Emil, who was called the wise man of Damascus."

"It is well, oh spirit. And although now, thou dost abide in a clay tenement, that the humanity of this generation, name Miriam, the Israelitish maiden, I know full well that thou, the soul, the life principal, can in memory go so far back, through eons of time, that its mention would be meaningless to the world of to-day; yet, because thou hast responded to my power, I know, oh spirit, that we have met before, that we came close in love, or hate, and that in the evolution of law, and order, we have met again. Tell me of that time. Speak of our past, oh spirit, it is my will."

"My name was Gweneth," answered a voice . "In that fleshly captivity I abode far to the westward. My land was over many leagues of immeasureable water. The nation, powerful then, is forgotten; its people are dust; its cities buried in the bowels of the earth.

"You were my father's favorite knight--and his two daughters loved you; you were bold, and wooed them both in secret, and apart; but one that watched, made speed to tell the King! And it was so grave a crime that naught but life, could be its expiation, and yet, you had said no word; had only looked into her eyes and mine.

"The day of doom came, and all were gathered to see the archer twang his bow, and mark how surely the sharp arrow should find your heart; but they who watched, saw a stranger sight. Behold! one arrow did set free three souls.

"The winds of destiny parted us asunder; and through a dreary, dreary length of time, have I wandered. A myriad times have I been born, and lived, and died, and never in this infinite migration once beheld the soul I sought, until in Egypt's land, a slave, a bondmaid, I serve my sister now the Princess Hatsu. I kneel, to do the bidding of my father's knight who is called Alric now."

"It is well, sweet Gweneth, we are met again. Now tell me all thou dost know concerning the life of Hatsu the Egyptian Princess?"

"Alas, beloved, thou canst gain no secret knowledge concerning the Princess Hatsu from me, for the God to whom Miriam, the Israelitish maiden, prays is mightier than all the gods of Egypt. All thought, beloved, is of the soul, and I, Gweneth, dare not approach to read what is written in the mind of this Heaven-guarded maid, Miriam."

An exclamation of irritation escaped from Alric's lips; and in that moment Miriam stirred, as one does who is about to awake; but he hastily made some passes above her head with his hand, and once more acknowledging his hypnotic power, she grew still.

"Come, sweet Gweneth," he said gently, "time flies and thou must follow Hatsu on her way. Tell me what thou seest?"

Miriam raised her head, and lifted her arm, placing her hand above her eyes, as one does who peers into the distance.

"She is wending her way along a road," she said, "a narrow road, walled in and lighted by lamps, enclosed in globes of dull red glass, thus giving, if it were possible, a more grewsome effect to the creatures sepulchered there; but Hatsu has no dread, she has been used to count these things when living, as her friends, so she does not fear them dead! Neither does Hatsu's heart tremble, at the thought of meeting the great High Priest, although she knows that no woman has ever before beheld his face. Although she knows that when he ministers to the people, it is always behind the Temple's silken veil."

"It is truth that thou speaketh, fair spirit, so lead on."

"She is pausing," said Miriam, "for there has come to her ears the sound of voices. They the voices of a great company of priests, and they are repeating in low, even tones the prayers for the dead. She has prostrated herself upon the earth, and the priests forming in two lines, walk past her, swinging their golden censers right and left, and I can hear the voice of the Princess, joining in the petition, for the soul of her father--still on its journey to the kingdom that lies beyond the tomb. Now the sound of the singing grows fainter, the silence comes again, and Hatsu rises and goes on her way. She has reached a flight of broad stone steps. She is weary and the steps are many, but she presses on. She has reached the great door. She timidly touches it with her finger tips, but it swings noiselessly open, and she enters and finds herself within the temple."

"Tell me of this temple."

"It is a great hall, lofty and spacious, and it shines from floor to dome, with gold and silver and jewels. Panels of delicate yellow amber, give a satin-like touch of softness to the cold stone. The recesses that hold the cages of the sacred birds and beasts, are veiled by curtains of heavily embroidered silken stuffs, and all this splendor is added to by the brilliant lights that are set into the walls. Through the centre of the temple, and at intervals along its sides, are massive pillars of yellow and rose colored sand-stone. Beyond is the great altar, brilliant with lights, heavy with the fragrance of burning incense and of the sacred blossoms.

"No human thing is in sight. The tame beasts and birds are wandering about the temple. They have noted the Princess's entrance, and are hastening to surround her.

"Thus accompanied she is nearing the altar.

"The heavy silken curtains are parting, and from between them there comes, not a man! but a god! the Sun God! in man's stature! He is exceeding tall and lithe and sinewy. He is in the zenith of manhood, neither young nor old.

"His flesh is firm and white and colorless. His eyes are large and bright, and deeply blue, and his hair is as yellow as the sunbeam, and it falls in waves of glory about his shoulders.

"His robe of blue and gold, is sprinkled with jewels as the dew sprinkles the green sward in the early morning time. He speaks, and his voice is like the tenderest note of music.

"'Hatsu,' he says; 'Hatsu.' And the birds at the sound of his voice fly to him, and nestle against him, as children nestle close to a mother.

"'Hatsu,' he says, 'daughter of Tothmes the First, draw near without fear, and mount the steps of the altar, and pass under the folds of the divine wings, into the sanctuary--the Holy of the Holies--and be thou not consumed.' With a cry Miriam rose and stretched out her arms.

"God of my fathers," she wailed. "Save her! save Hatsu! Let no vengeance from any heathen god fall upon her, because in the madness of her grief, she has said defiant words! Stay their power, oh God, to turn Egypt's hope into the semblance of some defiled beast or bird.

"She will not ask mercy from them, my strong, proud Princess! She knows not what fear may mean! Her eyes are calm, her lips are parted in a quiet smile; no fate can daunt her!

"As I speak, lo! following the Sun God, she has passed through the folds! she stands on the other side of the curtain. It is a bare, plain room. In the centre of the apartment is set a rude table and a few chairs. The man with the golden hair speaks.

"'Princess,' he says, 'I have bidden that you come thither, that I may speak in your ear, concerning that, which can no longer be cherished by me alone. I am, Princess, Zelas, the High Priest of Osirus.

"'I am, at your father's behest, left to guide, and to guard you, I am left with the power to place you on the throne of Egypt, a virgin queen.

"'Full well our late King knew, that his people could not be ruled over by his eldest son who has not so much wisdom as yonder gibbering ape, and Ashel, Tothmes the Second's mother, the King had discovered to be a creature of mean cunning, and low covetuousness, and he saw in your second brother, an artful and ambitious plotter. Listen, oh Princess, while I rehearse to you the earth story of Tothmes the first. He was a born King, a statesman, and a diplomat, from the earliest day of his reign, Egypt was his constant and absorbing thought, Her power, Her glory, Her advancement, his waking theme.

"'He revolutionized the army, added ships to the depleted squadrons on the sea, enlarged and beautified the temple of Ammon, and built the pyramid of Cheops--thus enabling the Scientists of his day, to bring to a completion, much that had never before been deemed possible of demonstration, in electricity, astronomy, and mathematics.

"'It was at his bidding, that Egypt, after ten centuries of isolation, flung wide her gates, and welcomed to the marts of trade, the commerce of the outer world.

"'He encouraged his people to export all their various manufactured and agricultural products, urging upon them the wisdom of learning from other nations, all that was best and most progressive in the arts and sciences.

"'Thus it came to pass, that the King took small heed to his personal surroundings.

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