Читать книгу The Pharaoh and the Priest - Bolesław Prus - Страница 14

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ON the right bank of the Nile, on the edge of the northern suburb of Memphis, was that land which the heir to the throne had given as place of residence to Sarah the daughter of Gideon.

That was a possession thirty-five acres in area, forming a quadrangle which was seen from the house-top as something on the palm of the hand. The land was on a hill and was divided into four elevations. The two lowest and widest, which the Nile always flooded, were intended for grain and for vegetables. The third, which at times was untouched by the overflow, produced palms, figs, and other fruit-trees. On the fourth, the highest, was a garden planted with olives, grapes, nuts, and sweet chestnuts; in the middle garden stood the dwelling.

This dwelling was of wood, one story, as usual, with a flat roof on which was a tent made of canvas. On the ground dwelt the prince’s black slave; above Sarah with her relative and serving-woman Tafet. The place was surrounded by a wall of partially burnt brick, beyond which at a certain distance were houses for cattle, workmen, and overseers.

Sarah’s chambers were not large, but they were elegant. On the floor were divans, at the doors and windows were curtains with stripes of various colors. There were armchairs and a carved bed, inlaid boxes for clothing, three-legged and one-legged tables on which were pots with flowers, a slender pitcher for wine, boxes and bottles of perfume, golden and silver cups and goblets, porcelain vases and dishes, bronze candlesticks. Even the smallest furniture or vessel was ornamented with carving or with a colored drawing; every piece of clothing with lace or bordering.

Sarah had dwelt ten days in this retreat, hiding herself before people from fear and shame, so that almost no one of the servants had seen her. In the curtained chamber she sewed, wove linen on a small loom, or twined garlands of living flowers for Rameses. Sometimes she went out on the terrace, pushed apart the sides of the tent with care, and looked at the Nile covered with boats in which oarsmen were singing songs joyfully. On raising her eyes she looked with fear at the gray pylons of the pharaoh’s palace, which towered silent and gloomy above the other bank of the river. Then she ran again to her work and called Tafet.

“Sit here, mother,” said she; “what art thou doing down there?”

“The gardener has brought fruit, and they have sent bread, wine, and game from the city; I must take them.”

“Sit here and talk, for fear seizes me.”

“Thou art a foolish child,” said Tafet, smiling. “Fear looked at me too the first day from every corner; but when I went out beyond the wall, there was no more of it. Whom have I to fear here? All fall on their knees before me. Before thee they would stand on their heads even! Go to the garden; it is as beautiful as paradise. Look out at the field, see the wheat harvest; sit down in the carved boat the owner of which is withering from anxiety to see thee and take thee out on the river.”

“I am afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Do I know? While I am sewing, I think that I am in our valley and that my father will come right away; but when the wind pushes the curtain aside from the window and I look on this great country it seems to me,—knowest what?—that some mighty vulture has caught and borne me to his nest on a mountain, whence I have no power to save myself.”

“Ah, thou—thou! If thou hadst seen what a bathtub the prince sent this morning, a bronze one; and what a tripod for the fire, what pots and spits! And if thou knew that to-day I have put two hens to set, and before long we shall have little chicks here.”

Sarah was more daring after sunset, when no one could see her. She went out on the roof and looked at the river. And when from afar a boat appeared, flaming with torches, which formed fiery and bloody lines along the dark water, she pressed with both hands her poor heart, which quivered like a bird caught that instant. Rameses was coming, and she could not tell what had seized her,—delight because that beautiful youth was approaching whom she had seen in the valley, or dread because she would see again a great lord and ruler who made her timid.

One Sabbath evening her father came for the first time since she had settled in that villa. Sarah rushed to him with weeping; she washed his feet herself, poured perfumes on his head, and covered him with kisses. Gideon was an old man of stern features. He wore a long robe reaching his feet and edged at the bottom with colored embroidery; over this he wore a yellow sleeveless kaftan. A kind of cape covered his breast and shoulders. On his head was a smallish cap, growing narrow toward the top.

“Thou art here! thou art here!” exclaimed Sarah; and she kissed his head again.

“I am astonished myself at being here,” said Gideon, sadly. “I stole to the garden like a criminal; I thought, along the whole way from Memphis, that all the Egyptians were pointing me out with their fingers and that each Jew was spitting.”

“But thou didst give me thyself to the prince, father.”

“I did, for what could I do? Of course it only seems to me that they point and spit. Of Egyptians, whoever knows me bows the lower the higher he is himself. Since thou art here our lord Sesofris has said that he must enlarge my house; Chaires gave me a jar of the best wine, and our most worthy nomarch himself has sent a trusty servant to ask if thou art well, and if I will not become his manager.”

“But the Jews?” inquired Sarah.

“What of the Jews! They know that I did not yield of my own will. Every one of them would wish to be constrained in like manner. Let the Lord God judge us all. Better tell how thou art feeling.”

“In Abraham’s bosom she will not have more comfort,” said Tafet. “Every day they bring us fruit, wine, bread, meat, and whatever the soul wishes. And such baths as we have, all bronze, and such kitchen utensils!”

“Three days ago,” interrupted Sarah, “the Phœnician Dagon was here. I did not wish to see him, but he insisted.”

“He gave me a gold ring,” added Tafet.

“He told me,” continued Sarah, “that he was a tenant of my lord; he gave me two anklets, pearl earrings, and a box of perfumes from the land of Punt.”

“Why did he give them to thee?” asked her father.

“For nothing. He simply begged that I would think well of him, and tell my lord sometimes that Dagon was his most faithful servant.”

“Very soon thou wilt have a whole box of earrings and bracelets,” said Gideon, smiling. But after a moment he added: “Gather up a great property quickly and let us flee back to our own land, for here there is misery at all times, misery when we are in trouble, and still more of it when we are prosperous.”

“And what would my lord say?” asked Sarah, with sadness.

Her father shook his head.

“Before a year passes thy lord will cast thee aside, and others will help him. Wert thou an Egyptian, he would take thee to his palace; but a Jewess—”

“He will cast aside?” said Sarah, sighing.

“Why torment one’s self with days to come, which are in the hand of God? I am here to pass the Sabbath with thee.”

“I have splendid fish, meat, cakes, and wine of the Jews,” put in Tafet, quickly. “I have bought also, in Memphis, a seven-branched candlestick and wax tapers. We shall have a better supper than has Lord Chaires.”

Gideon went out on the flat roof with his daughter.

“Tafet tells me,” said he, when they were alone, “that thou art always in the house. Why is this? Thou shouldst look at least on the garden.”

“I am afraid,” whispered Sarah.

“Why be afraid of thy own garden? Here thou art mistress, a great lady.”

“Once I went out in the daytime. People of some sort stared at me, and said to one another, ‘Look! that is the heir’s Jewess; she delays the overflow.’”

“They are fools!” interrupted Gideon. “Is this the first time that the Nile is late in its overflow? But go out in the evening.”

Sarah shook her head with greater vigor.

“I do not wish, I do not wish. Another time I went out in the evening. All at once two women pushed out from a side path. I was frightened and wished to flee, when one of them, the younger and smaller, seized my hands, saying, ‘Do not flee, we must look at thee;’ the second, the elder and taller, stood some steps in front and looked me in the eyes directly. Ah, father, I thought that I should turn into stone. What a look, what a woman!”

“Who could she be?” asked Gideon.

“The elder woman looked like a priestess.”

“And did she say anything?”

“Nothing. But when going and they were hidden behind trees, I heard surely the voice of the elder say these words: ‘Indeed she is beautiful!’”

Gideon fell to thinking.

“Maybe they were great ladies from the court.”

The sun went down, and on both banks of the Nile dense crowds of people collected waiting impatiently for the signal of the overflow, which in fact was belated. For two days the wind had been blowing from the sea and the river was green; the sun had passed the star Sothis already, but in the well of the priest in Memphis the water had not risen even the breadth of a finger. The people were alarmed, all the more since in Upper Egypt, according to signals, the overflow proceeded with regular increase and even promised to be perfect.

“What detains it at Memphis then?” asked the anxious earth-tillers waiting for the signal in disquiet.

When the stars had appeared in the sky, Tafet spread a white cloth on the table, placed on it the candlestick with seven lighted torches, pushed up three armchairs, and announced that the Sabbath supper would be served immediately.

Gideon covered his head then, and raising both hands above the table, said with his eyes looking heavenward,—

“God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Thou who didst lead our people out of Egypt, who didst give a country to the slave and exile, who didst make with the sons of Judah an eternal covenant, O Jehovah, O Adonai, permit us to enjoy without sin the fruits of the enemies’ country. Bring us out of sorrow and fear in which we are buried, and restore us to the banks of the Jordan, which we left for Thy glory.”

At the moment a voice was heard from beyond the wall,—

“His worthiness Tutmosis, the most faithful servant of his holiness and of his son Prince Rameses!”

“May he live through eternity!” called a number of voices from the garden.

“His worthiness,” said a single voice again, “sends greeting to the most beautiful rose of Lebanon.”

When the voice ceased, the sound of harps and flutes was heard.

“That is music!” exclaimed Tafet, clapping her hands. “We shall pass the Sabbath with music.”

Sarah and her father, frightened at first, began to laugh, and sat down again at the table.

“Let them play,” said Gideon; “their music is not bad for the appetite.”

The flute and harp played, then a tenor voice sang,—

“Thou art more beautiful than all the maidens who look at themselves in the Nile. Thy hair is blacker than the feathers of a raven, thy eyes have a milder glance than the eyes of a deer which is yearning for its fawn. Thy stature is the stature of a palm, and the lotus envies thee thy charm. Thy bosoms are like grape clusters with the juice of which kings delight themselves.”

Again the flute and harp were heard, and next a song,—

“Come and repose in the garden. The servants which belong to thee will bring various vessels and beer of all kinds. Come, let us celebrate this night and the dawn which will follow it. In my shadow, in the shadow of the fig, giving sweet fruit, thy lover will rest at thy right hand; and thou wilt give him to drink and consent to all his wishes—”

Next came the flutes and harps, and after them a new song,—

“I am of a silent disposition, I never tell what I see, I spoil not the sweetness of my fruits with vain tattling.”[4]