Moon of Israel: A Tale of the Exodus

  On the following day, by her invitation, I walked with the lady Merapiin the garden, the head nurse following us, bearing the royal child inher arms.

  "I wish to ask you about Ki, friend Ana," she said. "You know he is myenemy, for you must have heard the words he spoke to me in the templeof Amon at Tanis. It seems that my lord has made him the guest of thishouse--oh look!" and she pointed before her.

  I looked, and there a few paces away, where the shadow of theoverhanging palms was deepest, stood Ki. He was leaning on his staff,the same that had turned to a snake in my hand, and gazing upwards likeone who is lost in thought, or listens to the singing of birds. Merapiturned as though to fly, but at that moment Ki saw us, although he stillseemed to gaze upwards.

  "Greeting, O Moon of Israel," he said bowing. "Greeting, O Conqueror ofKi!"

  She bowed back, and stood still, as a little bird stands when it sees asnake. There was a long silence, which he broke by asking:

  "Why seek that from Ana which Ki himself is eager to give? Ana islearned, but is his heart the heart of Ki? Above all, why tell him thatKi, the humblest of your servants, is your enemy?"

  Now Merapi straightened herself, looked into his eyes, and answered:

  "Have I told Ana aught that he did not know? Did not Ana hear the lastwords you said to me in the temple of Amon at Tanis?"

  "Doubtless he heard them, Lady, and therefore I am glad that he is hereto hear their meaning. Lady Merapi, at that moment, I, the Sacrificer toAmon, was filled--not with my own spirit, but with the angry spirit ofthe god whom you had humbled as never before had befallen him inEgypt. The god through me demanded of you the secret of your magic, andpromised you his hate, if you refused. Lady, you have his hate, but mineyou have not, since I also have his hate because I, and he through me,have been worsted by your prophets. Lady, we are fellow-travellers inthe Valley of Trouble."

  She gazed at him steadily, and I could see that of all that passed hislips she believed no one word. Making no answer to him and his talk ofAmon, she asked only:

  "Why do you come here to do me ill who have done you none?"

  "You are mistaken, Lady," he replied. "I come here to refuge from Amon,and from his servant Pharaoh, whom Amon drives on to ruin. I know wellthat, if you will it, you can whisper in the ear of the Prince andpresently he will put me forth. Only then----" and he looked over herhead to where the nurse stood rocking the sleeping child.

  "Then what, Magician?"

  Giving no answer, he turned to me.

  "Learned Ana, to you remember meeting me at Tanis one night?"

  I shook my head, though I guessed well enough what night he meant.

  "Your memory weakens, learned Ana, or rather is confused, for we metoften, did we not?"

  Then he stared at the staff in his hand. I stared also, because I couldnot help it, and saw, or thought I saw, the dead wood begin to swell andcurve. This was enough for me and I said hastily:

  "If you mean the night of the Coronation, I do recall----"

  "Ah! I thought you would. You, learned Ana, who like all scribes observeso closely, will have noted how little things--such as the scent of aflower, or the passing of a bird, or even the writhing of a snake in thedust--often bring back to the mind events or words it has forgotten longago."

  "Well--what of our meeting?" I broke in hastily.

  "Nothing at all--or only this. Just before it you were talking with theHebrew Jabez, the lady Merapi's uncle, were you not?"

  "Yes, I was talking with him in an open place, alone."

  "Not so, learned Scribe, for you know we are never alone--quite. Couldyou but see it, every grain of sand has an ear."

  "Be pleased to explain, O Ki."

  "Nay, Ana, it would be too long, and short jests are ever the best. As Ihave told you, you were not alone, for though there were some words thatI did not catch, _I_ heard much of what passed between you and Jabez."

  "What did you hear?" I asked wrathfully, and next instant wished that Ihad bitten through my tongue before it shaped the words.

  "Much, much. Let me think. You spoke about the lady Merapi, and whethershe would do well to bide at Memphis in the shadow of the Prince, or toreturn to Goshen into the shadow of a certain--I forget the name. Jabez,a well-instructed man, said he thought that she might be happier atMemphis, though perhaps her presence there would bring a great sorrowupon herself and--another."

  Here again he looked at the child, which seemed to feel his glance, forit woke up and beat the air with its little hands.

  The nurse felt it also, although her head was turned away, for shestarted and then took shelter behind the bole of one of the palm-trees.Now Merapi said in a low and shaken voice:

  "I know what you mean, Magician, for since then I have seen my uncleJabez."

  "As I have also, several times, Lady, which may explain to you what Anahere thinks so wonderful, namely that I should have learned what theysaid together when he thought they were alone, which, as I have toldhim, no one can ever be, at least in Egypt, the land of listeninggods----"

  "And spying sorcerers," I exclaimed.

  "----And spying sorcerers," he repeated after me, "and scribes who takenotes, and learn them by heart, and priests with ears as large as asses,and leaves that whisper--and many other things."

  "Cease your gibes, and say what you have to say," said Merapi, in thesame broken voice.

  He made no answer, but only looked at the tree behind which the nurseand child had vanished.

  "Oh! I know, I know," she exclaimed in tones that were like a cry. "Mychild is threatened! You threaten my child because you hate me."

  "Your pardon, Lady. It is true that evil threatens this royal babe,or so I understood from Jabez, who knows so much. But it is not I thatthreaten it, any more than I hate you, in whom I acknowledge a fellow ofmy craft, but one greater than myself that it is my duty to obey."

  "Have done! Why do you torment me?"

  "Can the priests of the Moon-goddess torment Isis, Mother of Magic, withtheir prayers and offerings? And can I who would make a prayer and anoffering----"

  "What prayer, and what offering?"

  "The prayer that you will suffer me to shelter in this house from themany dangers that threaten me at the hands of Pharaoh and the prophetsof your people, and an offering of such help as I can give by my artsand knowledge against blacker dangers which threaten--another."

  Here once more he gazed at the trunk of the tree beyond which I heardthe infant wail.

  "If I consent, what then?" she asked, hoarsely.

  "Then, Lady, I will strive to protect a certain little one against acurse which Jabez tells me threatens him and many others in whom runsthe blood of Egypt. I will strive, if I am allowed to bide here--I donot say that I shall succeed, for as your lord has reminded me, and asyou showed me in the temple of Amon, my strength is smaller than that ofthe prophets and prophetesses of Israel."

  "And if I refuse?"

  "Then, Lady," he answered in a voice that rang like iron, "I am surethat one whom you love--as mothers love--will shortly be rocked in thearms of the god whom we name Osiris."

  "_Stay_," she cried and, turning, fled away.

  "Why, Ana, she is gone," he said, "and that before I could bargainfor my reward. Well, this I must find in your company. How strange arewomen, Ana! Here you have one of the greatest of her sex, as you learnedin the temple of Amon. And yet she opens beneath the sun of hope andshrivels beneath the shadow of fear, like the touched leaves of thattender plant which grows upon the banks of the river; she who, with hereyes set on the mystery that is beyond, whereof she hears the whisperingwinds, should tread both earthly hope and fear beneath her feet, or makeof them stepping stones to glory. Were she a man she would do so, buther sex wrecks her, she who thinks more of the kiss of a babe thanof all the splendours she might harbour in her breast. Yes, a babe, asingle wretched little babe. You had one once, did you not, Ana?"

  "Oh! to Set and his fires with you and your evil talk," I said,
and lefthim.

  When I had gone a little way, I looked back and saw that he waslaughing, throwing up his staff as he laughed, and catching it again.

  "Set and his fires," he called after me. "I wonder what they are like,Ana. Perhaps one day we shall learn, you and I together, Scribe Ana."

  So Ki took up his abode with us, in the same lodgings as Bakenkhonsu,and almost every day I would meet them walking in the garden, since I,who was of the Prince's table, except when he ate with the lady Merapi,did not take my food with them. Then we would talk together about manysubjects. On those which had to do with learning, or even religion, Ihad the better of Ki, who was no great scholar or master of theology.But always before we parted he would plant some arrow in my ribs, atwhich old Bakenkhonsu laughed, and laughed again, yet ever threw over methe shield of his venerable wisdom, just because he loved me I think.

  It was after this that the plague struck the cattle of Egypt, so thattens of thousands of them died, though not all as was reported. But, asI have said, of the herds of Seti none died, nor, as we were told, didany of those of the Israelites in the land of Goshen. Now there wasgreat distress in Egypt, but Ki smiled and said that he knew it wouldbe so, and that there was much worse to come, for which I could havesmitten him over the head with his own staff, had I not feared that, ifI did so, it might once more turn to a serpent in my hand.

  Old Bakenkhonsu looked upon the matter with another face. He said thatsince his last wife died, I think some fifty years before, he had foundlife very dull because he missed the exercises of her temper, and herhabit of presenting things as these never had been nor could possiblyever be. Now, however, it grew interesting again, since the marvelswhich were happening in Egypt, being quite contrary to Nature, remindedhim of his last wife and her arguments. All of which was his way ofsaying that in those years we lived in a new world, whereof for theEgyptians Set the Evil One seemed to be the king.

  But still Pharaoh would not let the Hebrews go, perhaps because he hadvowed as much to Meneptah who set him on the throne, or perhaps forthose other reasons, or one of them, which Ki had given to the Prince.

  Then came the curse of sores afflicting man, woman, and child throughoutthe land, save those who dwelt in the household of Seti. Thus thewatchman and his family whose lodge was without the gates suffered, butthe watchman and his family who lived within the gates, not twenty pacesaway, did not suffer, which caused bitterness between their women.In the same way Ki, who resided as a guest of the Prince at Memphis,suffered from no sores, whereas those of his College who remained atTanis were more heavily smitten than any others, so that some of themdied. When he heard this, Ki laughed and said that he had told themit would be so. Also Pharaoh himself and even her Highness Userti weresmitten, the latter upon the cheek, which made her unsightly for awhile. Indeed, Bakenkhonsu heard, I know not how, that so great was herrage that she even bethought her of returning to her lord Seti, in whosehouse she had learned people were safe, and the beauty of her successor,Moon of Israel, remained unscarred and was even greater than before,tidings that I think Bakenkhonsu himself conveyed to her. But in the endthis her pride, or her jealousy, prevented her from doing.

  Now the heart of Egypt began to turn towards Seti in good earnest.The Prince, they said, had opposed the policy of the oppression of theHebrews, and because he could not prevail had abandoned his right to thethrone, which Pharaoh Amenmeses had purchased at the price of acceptingthat policy whereof the fruits had been proved to be destruction.Therefore, they reasoned, if Amenmeses were deposed, and the Princereigned, their miseries would cease. So they sent deputations to himsecretly, praying him to rise against Amenmeses and promising himsupport. But he would listen to none of them, telling them that he washappy as he was and sought no other state. Still Pharaoh grew jealous,for all these things his spies reported to him, and set about plots todestroy Seti.

  Of the first of these Userti warned me by a messenger, but the secondand worse Ki discovered in some strange way, so that the murderer wastrapped at the gate and killed by the watchman, whereon Seti said thatafter all he had been wise to give hospitality to Ki, that is, if tocontinue to live were wisdom. The lady Merapi also said as much to me,but I noted that always she shunned Ki, whom she held in mistrust andfear.