Lamekis
Page 13
After this the High Priestess lowered her head and went back into the sanctuary. The Council of Seven, scared of the oracle, left the temple and announced to the people, who were stunned at its convocation,93 the anger, threats and commands of the god they revered.
Like a subtle, vile poison rebellion infected the hearts of the people. The crowd rushed to the palace and tried to storm in, shouting out for the Princess. The Council of Seven would not let them enter, reminding them to respect the sanctuary of their Kings. One of the Seven said that the Council would ask the Monarch for the grace that his subjects longed for. This guarantee calmed the people down and they waited more patiently for what would happen next.
While this was going on, I waited here for my Sovereign’s orders. After he left you, seeing him overwhelmed by the extraordinary measures he took to grant you something expressly forbidden by law, I was afraid of the consequences if they got wind of this secret deal between you and the King. I was thinking about the risks we were all running when the Council of Seven came to the door. I got flustered at the sight of them. You know I’m the only one allowed to enter the chamber; anyone else will pay with their life if they try. In spite of my anxiety I ran up to them, presented the sacred Ki-argouh94 and asked the wise men how they became so reckless as to disobey the customs that their own vows had consecrated. At the sight of the formidable sign, they humbly closed their eyes and said that they knew that death was the price of disobedience, but their role was to sacrifice their lives when it concerned the glory of the Sovereign and the safety of his people and if they were doing their duty, they were ready to die. With that they started moaning and crying out so loudly that the King soon heard it in his room.
I was doing my best to convince the Council of Seven to go away when the Lindiagar showed up. We all closed our eyes at his sudden appearance. The Seven held their breath, put a finger in their mouths95 and turned their backs. The King took two steps back.
“What’s this?” he yelled. “Has Fulghane come down from his eternal throne? Is he here in these regions? Has he broken the great bronze book?96 Are the laws destroyed and am I deposed?”
The Council of Seven got worried and did not know what to say.
“Speak,” the King continued, “and confess yourselves before I let you breathe.”97
The youngest of the Seven98 fell on his back and started shouting the troubling news about the capital being shaken up by Fulghane’s oracle. When the sage had finished, the Lindiagar ripped off his left babouche99 and gave it to the oldest of the Seven,100 who lifted it up at the end of his sankdakhar.101 The six other Council members, who were listening to what was happening, lifted the King102 and on his order carried him to the temple of Fulghane, preceded by the one holding up the royal babouche according to custom.
The people surrounding the palace were not expecting to see their King carried by the venerable Council of Seven.103 They turned their backs in resentful respect and followed them backwards to the temple of Fulghane where they expected to see a strange uproar. The Bouch-chouk-chou’s cries104 had warned the priestesses of the King’s coming and they came before him dumbfounded both by his coming and by the way he was being transported. The sight of the royal babouche held them in respect and as was right, they went back into the temple where I followed in order to inform the High Priestess of the King’s arrival.
When I told her, she turned pale and staggered, but trying to hide it, she asked me very nicely why the King made such an outrageous breach of their rights105 and what important affair could make him appear before the divinity, notwithstanding the law that forbid him to be in the temple except on the designated days.106 The Lindiagar, showing up just then, spared me the embarrassment of answering the High Priestess and as soon as she saw him, she went back into the sanctuary and placed herself first at the foot of the statue. Nobody spoke while the King ascended his throne. Here was where that conniving woman waited to assault the King. Without his diplomacy and profound understanding, he would have been lost. The High Priestess had power over the throne in that she represented the god of the Amphicleocles, but on the High Throne107 the Lindiagar was her equal and only the people could upset the balance on one side or another, as they chose.
The High Priestess trembled when the guards at the pulleys were ordered to take down the Glis-koar.108 She tried in vain to shout out against what she called an obvious attack on the laws of the kingdom. Since the Lindiagar was treated so magnanimously on this important occasion, the Priestess’s protests sounded frivolous. The Sovereign was already on the High Throne—that’s all that mattered.
The Bouch-chouk-chou had barely finished their extraordinary announcements109 when the people there turned around, filled with emotion, and lifted their eyes to the Monarch. Only the old men had the honor of seeing him on the High Throne and as all the young people were denied this wonderful privilege, there was a great cheer by everyone. The King’s majesty uprooted the rebellion in an instant and engraved respect and love on their hearts.
In his great wisdom the Lindiagar did not want to let the positive momentum die down; he thought it best to take advantage of it to reach his goals. As soon as he made the sign, all the leaders of the state gathered around the royal cap110 and silence fell over all. The High Priestess was at their head and bent her nose to the ground.111
When all these things were arranged, the King turned his back to the statue112 and spoke to it, explaining everything after dropping the big Tak-lak-lak ball:113
“O Fulghane, it is to you I speak. You see before you a King whose authority comes from your immutable decree that cannot, according to the rules of your divine justice, be taken away from him undeservedly. I call upon you, Divinity, forever revered by my people, to judge me according to the dignity that I deserve and that has brought me to the eminent position I occupy. I also appear before you as a submissive slave. As such my eyes are closed and respect your luminous rays. Allow me, Sovereign, to justify myself. Exonerate or fulminate, but speak through your mouth.”
After saying this with determination but respect, the King was quiet and looked like he was meditating. Then he put on the royal cap114 and spoke to the High Priestess.
“Oh Magna Fakhaldak, raise your head, breathe and heed my words. Who are you? High Priestess of Fulghane, the divinity we revere, were you put in your eminent position for the growth or the destruction of the kingdom? You fire up rebellion, set my people against me, accuse me of breaking the laws, the oracles speak and thunder through your mouth, they judge me and condemn me in my innermost heart. Are your accusations well founded? Am I guilty? Is it you or Fulghane that condemns me? Now we have to accuse each other in front of this divinity and in the presence of the people gathered together. High Priestess of Fulghane, it is up to you to make him speak. Me, the Ruler of the Amphicleocles according to the Heavens, I know where to find my judge and chief. Woe upon the proud and insolent! Woe upon the rebellion and the guilty.”
When the King finished speaking, a frightful yell rose up to the sacred vaults. The Priestesses got scared and started screaming, obviously following the feeble voice of their leader shouting out that they were disrespecting the statue and wrath would fall upon this attack in no time. The people got worried by the threat and it seemed like the rebellion was about to break out again, but the King on his High Throne put a stop to the revolt by shaking his head three times and pronouncing the terrible Fazakmalodzi.115
The power of this sacred word brought on silence right away. The Lindiagar shouted at the High Priestess again. “Magna Fakhaldak, since Fulghane is silent, the holy bronze book will speak and decide which of us has broken the good laws that are written there.”
After this the King threw out the ball116 on which was inscribed the order to open the sacred case.117 As soon as I reached the venerable cabinet, the astonished people turned their backs, closed their eyes and struck their pose of submission.118 The four Foukhouourkou119 each opened their side of the cabinet and befo
re bringing it down they blindfolded me.120 Then I started singing the canticle of Tulkoë121 and the priestesses finished it. The Kriskrougandil122 took out his Loushaikis123 and using a gold stylus124 read aloud the founding laws of the kingdom, which were brought from the Heavens by the Kirkirkantal.125
When the Reading Minister got to the article about the High Priestess, the King clapped his hands126 and ordered me to have him look for the passage concerning her. I informed the Kriskrougandil that after he found it he should read aloud the article, which ran something like this:
“If somehow by the maliciousness of human nature our Magna Fakhaldak is ever in opposition to the Ruler of our dear people and a fundamental disagreement follows or because of concealed hatred or personal interests the kingdom is put in danger of ruin, we order them both to step down from their thrones and after invoking us to bow down before our divine image and holy laws. Then they will stand up at the same time, put their foreheads together and after stepping away from each other the distance of one body127 they will both hit each other. Then our justice will be shown and the guilty will be punished.”
At the end of this passage the Reading Minister clapped his hands and informed me that there was a reference at the end of the article. I told the King and he ordered that it be found and read. It was explained in the following terms:
“In order that all equality be observed in this formidable decree and that the people always have reason to praise our wisdom let the High Priestess accuse the King in person of breaking our laws and voice her complaints about him. We grant her the right to speak first unless the sovereign is not on our High Throne, then he is allowed the first word. After the accusation the guilty party will speak in defense and for judgment will use our laws that mention the crime concerned. If the article of law cannot settle the matter, then we grant the people assembled together to make a definitive judgment and the Council of Seven will register it as a duly authorized law.”
The Kriskrougandil stopped there, lowered his head and closed his eyes. Taking advantage of the right granted him by the law, the Lindiagar spoke out and accused the High Priestess of using her sovereign power to destroy the crown’s heiress and of leading the people to rebellion. Worse than that he backed everything up by saying that the solemn Priestess caused all this through a lack of respect for the sanctuary of his palace when she entered without observing the formal law that forbids it under penalty of death and that is so firmly and expressly worded that the Karveder himself can enter only by backing in.
To these terrible accusations the King added that of having induced the Council of Seven to profane his palace, an even more serious crime because she knew very well that this infraction would be the cause of the venerable Council’s destruction,128 which might take a long time to restore.
The King finished his speech earnestly praying by the sacred heel129 of Fulghane that the High Priestess, before heaven and earth, confess the secret motives that led her to these odious crimes. The Magna Fakhaldak, before answering, wanted to accuse him in turn, but the order coming from the High Throne was without appeal. She would have to break her word and face the people’s fury. So, she yelled loudly130 and explained herself as follows.
“May Fulghane be forever blessed. May his High Priestess die because her virtue is suspect and you, Monarch, may the highest justice pay you according to your deeds. Oh Chief of the Amphicleocles, dear people whose divinity I serve, breathe131 now and heed the motives that forced me to mix up spiritual and civil matters. Let Great Being strike me down even if the truth comes out of my mouth. Why, Fulghane, do you abandon me?”
When the High Priestess had finished she came down from the Throne, threw herself at the foot of the statue and soaked it in tears. After a few minutes she tore off the sacred headband132 hiding her white hair which otherwise would have aroused pity and respect. It was lucky that the law forbidding the people to look upon her was in effect because her venerable appearance could have affected them and made them revolt again, which would have been even more dangerous since religion would have been at the heart of it. The King himself was touched by the sight. In fact I saw133 that he was so touched that he covered his face and turned his head away. We are not safe from first impressions.
The Magna Fakhaldak dried her tears and spoke. “Now I am ready, Lindiagar, to respond to your accusations. Why have you beseeched me? What forces you to make me reveal secrets before the people that they should be ignorant of and that ought to be buried in deep silence? Wouldn’t it be better that the death of your daughter bury them with her in the grave? Oh, you are going to be tremble. The Princess who has been handed over as heiress of this empire is not the one who should reign. By confessing this I am condemning myself. The priestesses who were responsible for raising the infant, the one lawfully called to the throne, when making her pass through the flames of purification according to custom,134 unfortunately let her slip out of their hands. They tried hard to save her life, but oh harsh fate, all their efforts could do nothing to prevent her face from being totally disfigured. And the poor priestesses were afraid of being punished, so they concealed the tragedy; they substituted the oldest for the youngest135 and thus, in time, I delivered that child to the general assembly as the heiress of the throne.
“That’s my crime, people, which I would never have known about if one of the priestesses hadn’t been angry and resentful enough to take revenge for a well-deserved punishment and tell the Princess about the real heiress and the secret of her birth136 and about the changeling, obviously making her think about the laws of the throne, which legitimately belonged to the other, and the harsh fate that was in store for the consequences of this baneful substitution. The Princess was astonished to find herself the innocent victim of a secret ploy and deeply affected by everything she would lose. Having no stomach for the never-ending duress she was about to suffer and scared of the death destined for the prince or princess who owed their life to their sister, the proud Princess announced herself the reason for her presence in the temple—she revealed the cruel secrets. She found willing minds, touched by these offenses, and arranged such dangerous stunts that in fear of the deadly results she might cause I thought I should convene the High Council of Virgins137 to clean up the emergency. I was terribly worried and got wind that the impending decision leaned toward sentencing the Princess to be killed in the temple and announcing it as such to the people. I was afraid of the possibly tragic results of this double election of Princesses,138 not to mention my other fear of scandalizing the kingdom by showing that in the midst of peace a war was brewing. Struck, I say, by all these righteous considerations, I broke up the Council as was my incontestable right139 and made the priestesses follow me to the sanctuary.
“When we got there I had recourse to the divinity, but I prayed in vain; it was deaf to my voice. Three times I tried to utter an oracle and three times the divine spirit withdrew and cast me into lethargy. Fulghane was angry and gone from the sanctuary. Moaning because of his constant refusal, I ordered the Sacred Vigil.140 Every organ in my grieving body fell into a deep sleep. A cold sweat, chilled by some mysterious dream, seeped out of my pores, announcing the presence of the god I served. I saw him. He came to me.
“You try in vain to appease me,” he said in wrath. “You are breaking my laws. Discord reigns. The crime has been committed. Tremble, Priestess, for my temple is about to collapse on your head. The foundations of the kingdom are going to fall and everything will perish.”
“My fears multiplied at these words and I think I fell at the feet of Fulghane while the guardian spirit141 begged him to have mercy on the Amphicleocles.
“Go,” the god continued, “and pour the blood of Princess Nasilaë142 on my altars;143 only that can appease my anger.”
“Overwhelmed by the grace that Fulghane had deigned to grant, I woke with a start and told the frightened priestesses both the dream and the oracle. The doors of the temple were opened on my orders and the judgment of the div
inity proclaimed before the assembled people.144
“Those are my crimes, King, and here are yours. You transgressed the divine and human laws at the same time: you entered the holy temple without being purified. And how? Being carried,145 oh profanity, by men who, in spite of the purity of their rank,146 are excluded from our mysteries. You invited them in without the supreme will and glorified yourself for no reason, with no order, against the law. You sat on the High Throne and from this holy seat you accused me and in the heart of this sanctuary you usurped a power that emanates only from the Heavens and belongs only to me. You distort your oaths and open the sacred book without mystical counsel. These are your crimes against the divinity.
“As for the civil, you broke the law that forbids you having any contact with your children, profane King. I call Fulghane as witness to this and the Lea-Minska and the Karveder, that cowardly, conceited minister. Didn’t you see your daughter? And don’t you know that for this awful crime the people and their descendants have to be forever outlawed.
“Were the priestesses of Kaiocles informed according to custom? Isn’t it the rule that after Princess Cleannes left the temple your first order should have been to inform them so they could prepare the Kails for the sacred ceremony?147 Am I being stupid? King, I call you to witness that you’re trying to destroy the custom of holy marriage. Blind Prince, until now you have proven worthy of the throne, your birthright that you upheld so virtuously. Why do you want to give it up through impiety? Oh King of the Amphicleocles, pull yourself together and don’t leave the temple until you have gratified Fulghane. Sacrifice a vain affection to him. Bring out Nasilaë so that she can atone for her crimes on the altar; so that Cleannes, the only heiress, can go from the temple to the palace; so that the second order of the priestesses be carried out and to satisfy both, since the statue is angry, we will cross our thumbs148 and cut them with the sacred knife and let the fire consume them149 and along with them the crime and anger. Oh Fulghane, power of life, absolve and punish.”