Читать книгу The Pharaoh and the Priest - Bolesław Prus - Страница 20

“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 kish! a kish!” 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 kish! a kish! 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 goddess Astoreth. Thou wouldst have to love my guardian goddess 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 Phœnician 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 Phœnician 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.