Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt — Complete

by Georg Ebers

  CHAPTER XII.

  Before the sun had risen the next morning, Nemu got himself ferriedover the Nile, with the small white ass which Mena's deceased father hadgiven him many years before. He availed himself of the cool hour whichprecedes the rising of the sun for his ride through the Necropolis.

  Well acquainted as he was with every stock and stone, he avoided thehigh roads which led to the goal of his expedition, and trotted towardsthe hill which divides the valley of the royal tombs from the plain ofthe Nile.

  Before him opened a noble amphitheatre of lofty lime-stone peaks, thebackground of the stately terrace-temple which the proud ancestress oftwo kings of the fallen family, the great Hatasu, had erected to theirmemory, and to the Goddess Hathor.

  Nemu left the sanctuary to his left, and rode up the steep hill-pathwhich was the nearest way from the plain to the valley of the tombs.

  Below him lay a bird's eye view of the terrace-building of Hatasu, andbefore him, still slumbering in cool dawn, was the Necropolis with itshouses and temples and colossal statues, the broad Nile glistening withwhite sails under the morning mist; and, in the distant east, rosy withthe coming sun, stood Thebes and her gigantic temples.

  But the dwarf saw nothing of the glorious panorama that lay at his feet;absorbed in thought, and stooping over the neck of his ass, he let thepanting beast climb and rest at its pleasure.

  When he had reached half the height of the hill, he perceived the soundof footsteps coming nearer and nearer to him.

  The vigorous walker had soon reached him, and bid him good morning,which he civilly returned.

  The hill-path was narrow, and when Nemu observed that the man whofollowed him was a priest, he drew up his donkey on a level spot, andsaid reverently:

  "Pass on, holy father; for thy two feet carry thee quicker than myfour."

  "A sufferer needs my help," replied the leech Nebsecht, Pentaur'sfriend, whom we have already seen in the House of Seti, and by the bedof the paraschites' daughter; and he hastened on so as to gain on theslow pace of the rider.

  Then rose the glowing disk of the sun above the eastern horizon, andfrom the sanctuaries below the travellers rose up the pious many-voicedchant of praise.

  Nemu slipped off his ass, and assumed an attitude of prayer; the priestdid the same; but while the dwarf devoutly fixed his eyes on the newbirth of the Sun-God from the eastern range, the priest's eyes wanderedto the earth, and his raised hand fell to pick up a rare fossil shellwhich lay on the path.

  In a few minutes Nebsecht rose, and Nemu followed him.

  "It is a fine morning," said the dwarf; "the holy fathers down thereseem more cheerful to-day than usual."

  The surgeon laughed assent. "Do you belong to the Necropolis?" he said."Who here keeps dwarfs?"

  "No one," answered the little man. "But I will ask thee a question. Whothat lives here behind the hill is of so much importance, that a leechfrom the House of Seti sacrifices his night's rest for him?"

  "The one I visit is mean, but the suffering is great," answeredNebsecht.

  Nemu looked at him with admiration, and muttered, "That is noble,that is----" but he did not finish his speech; he struck his brow andexclaimed, "You are going, by the desire of the Princess Bent-Anat, tothe child of the paraschites that was run over. I guessed as much. Thefood must have an excellent after-taste, if a gentleman rises so earlyto eat it. How is the poor child doing?"

  There was so much warmth in these last words that Nebsecht, who hadthought the dwarf's reproach uncalled for, answered in a friendly tone:

  "Not so badly; she may be saved."

  "The Gods be praised!" exclaimed Nemu, while the priest passed on.

  Nebsecht went up and down the hillside at a redoubled pace, and had longtaken his place by the couch of the wounded Uarda in the hovel of theparaschites, when Nemu drew near to the abode of his Mother Hekt, fromwhom Paaker had received the philter.

  The old woman sat before the door of her cave. Near her lay a board,fitted with cross pieces, between which a little boy was stretched insuch a way that they touched his head and his feet.

  Hekt understood the art of making dwarfs; playthings in human form werewell paid for, and the child on the rack, with his pretty little face,promised to be a valuable article.

  As soon as the sorceress saw some one approaching, she stooped over thechild, took him up board and all in her arms, and carried him into thecave. Then she said sternly:

  "If you move, little one, I will flog you. Now let me tie you."

  "Don't tie me," said the child, "I will be good and lie still."

  "Stretch yourself out," ordered the old woman, and tied the child witha rope to the board. "If you are quiet, I'll give you a honey-cakeby-and-bye, and let you play with the young chickens."

  The child was quiet, and a soft smile of delight and hope sparkled inhis pretty eyes. His little hand caught the dress of the old woman, andwith the sweetest coaxing tone, which God bestows on the innocent voicesof children, he said:

  "I will be as still as a mouse, and no one shall know that I am here;but if you give me the honeycake you will untie me for a little, and letme go to Uarda."

  "She is ill!--what do you want there?"

  "I would take her the cake," said the child, and his eyes glistened withtears.

  The old woman touched the child's chin with her finger, and somemysterious power prompted her to bend over him to kiss him. But beforeher lips had touched his face she turned away, and said, in a hard tone:

  "Lie still! by and bye we will see." Then she stooped, and threw a brownsack over the child. She went back into the open air, greeted Nemu,entertained him with milk, bread and honey, gave him news of the girlwho had been run over, for he seemed to take her misfortune very much toheart, and finally asked:

  "What brings you here? The Nile was still narrow when you last foundyour way to me, and now it has been falling some time.

  [This is the beginning of November. The Nile begins slowly to rise early in June; between the 15th and 20th of July it suddenly swells rapidly, and in the first half of October, not, as was formerly supposed, at the end of September, the inundation reaches its highest level. Heinrich Barth established these data beyond dispute. After the water has begun to sink it rises once more in October and to a higher level than before. Then it soon falls, at first slowly, but by degrees quicker and quicker.]

  Are you sent by your mistress, or do you want my help? All the world isalike. No one goes to see any one else unless he wants to make use ofhim. What shall I give you?"

  "I want nothing," said the dwarf, "but--"

  "You are commissioned by a third person," said the witch, laughing. "Itis the same thing. Whoever wants a thing for some one else only thinksof his own interest."

  "May be," said Nemu. "At any rate your words show that you have notgrown less wise since I saw you last--and I am glad of it, for I wantyour advice."

  "Advice is cheap. What is going on out there?" Nemu related to hismother shortly, clearly, and without reserve, what was plotting inhis mistress's house, and the frightful disgrace with which she wasthreatened through her son.

  The old woman shook her grey head thoughtfully several times: but shelet the little man go on to the end of his story without interruptinghim. Then she asked, and her eyes flashed as she spoke:

  "And you really believe that you will succeed in putting the sparrow onthe eagle's perch--Ani on the throne of Rameses?"

  "The troops fighting in Ethiopia are for us," cried Nemu. "The priestsdeclare themselves against the king, and recognize in Ani the genuineblood of Ra."

  "That is much," said the old woman.

  "And many dogs are the death of the gazelle," said Nemu laughing.

  "But Rameses is not a gazelle to run, but a lion," said the old womangravely. "You are playing a high game."

  "We know it," answered Nemu. "But it is for high stakes--there is muchto win."

  "And all to lose," muttered the old woman, passing her fin
gers round herscraggy neck. "Well, do as you please--it is all the same to me who itis sends the young to be killed, and drives the old folks' cattle fromthe field. What do they want with me?"

  "No one has sent me," answered the dwarf. "I come of my own free fancyto ask you what Katuti must do to save her son and her house fromdishonor."

  "Hm!" hummed the witch, looking at Nemu while she raised herself onher stick. "What has come to you that you take the fate of these greatpeople to heart as if it were your own?"

  The dwarf reddened, and answered hesitatingly, "Katuti is a goodmistress, and, if things go well with her, there may be windfalls foryou and me."

  Hekt shook her head doubtfully.

  "A loaf for you perhaps, and a crumb for me!" she said. "There is morethan that in your mind, and I can read your heart as if you were aripped up raven. You are one of those who can never keep their fingersat rest, and must knead everybody's dough; must push, and drive and stirsomething. Every jacket is too tight for you. If you were three feettaller, and the son of a priest, you might have gone far. High you willgo, and high you will end; as the friend of a king--or on the gallows."

  The old woman laughed; but Nemu bit his lips, and said:

  "If you had sent me to school, and if I were not the son of a witch,and a dwarf, I would play with men as they have played with me; for I amcleverer than all of them, and none of their plans are hidden from me.A hundred roads lie before me, when they don't know whether to go outor in; and where they rush heedlessly forwards I see the abyss that theyare running to."

  "And nevertheless you come to me?" said the old woman sarcastically.

  "I want your advice," said Nemu seriously. "Four eyes see more than one,and the impartial looker-on sees clearer than the player; besides youare bound to help me."

  The old woman laughed loud in astonishment. "Bound!" she said, "I? andto what if you please?"

  "To help me," replied the dwarf, half in entreaty, and half in reproach."You deprived me of my growth, and reduced me to a cripple."

  "Because no one is better off than you dwarfs," interrupted the witch.

  Nemu shook his head, and answered sadly--

  "You have often said so--and perhaps for many others, who are born inmisery like me--perhaps-you are right; but for me--you have spoilt mylife; you have crippled not my body only but my soul, and have condemnedme to sufferings that are nameless and unutterable."

  The dwarf's big head sank on his breast, and with his left hand hepressed his heart.

  The old woman went up to him kindly.

  "What ails you?" she asked, "I thought it was well with you in Mena'shouse."

  "You thought so?" cried the dwarf. "You who show me as in a mirror whatI am, and how mysterious powers throng and stir in me? You made me whatI am by your arts; you sold me to the treasurer of Rameses, and he gaveme to the father of Mena, his brother-in-law. Fifteen years ago! I wasa young man then, a youth like any other, only more passionate, morerestless, and fiery than they. I was given as a plaything to the youngMena, and he harnessed me to his little chariot, and dressed me out withribbons and feathers, and flogged me when I did not go fast enough. Howthe girl--for whom I would have given my life--the porter's daughter,laughed when I, dressed up in motley, hopped panting in front of thechariot and the young lord's whip whistled in my ears wringing the sweatfrom my brow, and the blood from my broken heart. Then Mena's fatherdied, the boy, went to school, and I waited on the wife of his steward,whom Katuti banished to Hermonthis. That was a time! The little daughterof the house made a doll of me,

  [Dolls belonging to the time of the Pharaohs are preserved in the museums, for instance, the jointed ones at Leyden.]

  laid me in the cradle, and made me shut my eyes and pretend to sleep,while love and hatred, and great projects were strong within me. IfI tried to resist they beat me with rods; and when once, in a rage, Iforgot myself, and hit little Mertitefs hard, Mena, who came in, hung meup in the store-room to a nail by my girdle, and left me to swing there;he said he had forgotten to take me down again. The rats fell upon me;here are the scars, these little white spots here--look! They perhapswill some day wear out, but the wounds that my spirit received in thosehours have not yet ceased to bleed. Then Mena married Nefert, and, withher, his mother-in-law, Katuti, came into the house. She took me fromthe steward, I became indispensable to her; she treats me like a man,she values my intelligence and listens to my advice,--therefore I willmake her great, and with her, and through her, I will wax mighty. If Animounts the throne, we wilt guide him--you, and I, and she! Rameses mustfall, and with him Mena, the boy who degraded my body and poisoned mysoul!"

  During this speech the old woman had stood in silence opposite thedwarf. Now she sat down on her rough wooden seat, and said, while sheproceeded to pluck a lapwing:

  "Now I understand you; you wish to be revenged. You hope to rise high,and I am to whet your knife, and hold the ladder for you. Poor littleman! there, sit down-drink a gulp of milk to cool you, and listen to myadvice. Katuti wants a great deal of money to escape dishonor. She needonly pick it up--it lies at her door." The dwarf looked at the witch inastonishment.

  "The Mohar Paaker is her sister Setchem's son. Is he not?"

  "As you say."

  "Katuti's daughter Nefert is the wife of your master Mena, and anotherwould like to tempt the neglected little hen into his yard."

  "You mean Paaker, to whom Nefert was promised before she went afterMena."

  "Paaker was with me the day before yesterday."

  "With you?"

  "Yes, with me, with old Hekt--to buy a love philter. I gave him one, andas I was curious I went after him, saw him give the water to the littlelady, and found out her name."

  "And Nefert drank the magic drink?" asked the dwarf horrified. "Vinegarand turnip juice," laughed the old witch. "A lord who comes to me to wina wife is ripe for any thing. Let Nefert ask Paaker for the money, andthe young scapegrace's debts are paid."

  "Katuti is proud, and repulsed me severely when I proposed this."

  "Then she must sue to Paaker herself for the money. Go back to him, makehim hope that Nefert is inclined to him, tell him what distresses theladies, and if he refuses, but only if he refuses, let him see that youknow something of the little dose."

  The dwarf looked meditatively on the ground, and then said, lookingadmiringly at the old woman: "That is the right thing."

  "You will find out the lie without my telling you," mumbled the witch;"your business is not perhaps such a bad one as it seemed to me atfirst. Katuti may thank the ne'er-do-well who staked his father'scorpse. You don't understand me? Well, if you are really the sharpest ofthem all over there, what must the others be?"

  "You mean that people will speak well of my mistress for sacrificing solarge a sum for the sake--?"

  "Whose sake? why speak well of her?" cried the old woman impatiently."Here we deal with other things, with actual facts. There standsPaaker--there the wife of Mena. If the Mohar sacrifices a fortune forNefert, he will be her master, and Katuti will not stand in his way; sheknows well enough why her nephew pays for her. But some one else stopsthe way, and that is Mena. It is worth while to get him out of the way.The charioteer stands close to the Pharaoh, and the noose that is flungat one may easily fall round the neck of the other too. Make the Moharyour ally, and it may easily happen that your rat-bites may be paid forwith mortal wounds, and Rameses who, if you marched against him openly,might blow you to the ground, may be hit by a lance thrown from anambush. When the throne is clear, the weak legs of the Regent maysucceed in clambering up to it with the help of the priests. Here yousit-open-mouthed; and I have told you nothing that you might not havefound out for yourself."

  "You are a perfect cask of wisdom!" exclaimed the dwarf.

  "And now you will go away," said Hekt, "and reveal your schemes to yourmistress and the Regent, and they will be astonished at your cleverness.To-day you still know that I have shown you what you have to do;to-morrow you will have forgott
en it; and the day after to-morrow youwill believe yourself possessed by the inspiration of the nine greatGods. I know that; but I cannot give anything for nothing. You live byyour smallness, another makes his living with his hard hands, I earn myscanty bread by the thoughts of my brain. Listen! when you have half wonPaaker, and Ani shows himself inclined to make use of him, then say tohim that I may know a secret--and I do know one, I alone--which may makethe Mohar the sport of his wishes, and that I may be disposed to sellit."

  "That shall be done! certainly, mother," cried the dwarf. "What do youwish for?"

  "Very little," said the old woman. "Only a permit that makes me free todo and to practise whatever I please, unmolested even by the priests,and to receive an honorable burial after my death."

  "The Regent will hardly agree to that; for he must avoid everything thatmay offend the servants of the Gods."

  "And do everything," retorted the old woman, "that can degrade Ramesesin their sight. Ani, do you hear, need not write me a new license,but only renew the old one granted to me by Rameses when I cured hisfavorite horse. They burnt it with my other possessions, when theyplundered my house, and denounced me and my belongings for sorcery. Thepermit of Rameses is what I want, nothing more."

  "You shall have it," said the dwarf. "Good-by; I am charged to look intothe tomb of our house, and see whether the offerings for the dead areregularly set out; to pour out fresh essences and have various thingsrenewed. When Sechet has ceased to rage, and it is cooler, I shall comeby here again, for I should like to call on the paraschites, and see howthe poor child is."