And, behold, on a day certain men journeyed toward Egypt, and this was
that land of Egypt that should thereafter be mighty exceedingly; for
these were the days before the First Dynasty--yea, many thousands of
years before. And, it being nigh unto the time of the setting of the
sun, they happened, by adventure, upon a cavern.
And they that journeyed toward the land of Egypt spake, saying, Shall we
not lay down our burthens, and shall we not take the burthens from off
our camels and from off our asses in this place, and abide for the day
in this place, even here?
And they lay down their burthens even as they had spoken, saying, Shall
we not lay them down? Also they took the burthens from off their camels
and from off the backs of their asses, yea, and even from off the backs
of their wives; and did tether them, even their camels and their asses
and their wives, round about the cavern; and the men that journeyed
toward the land of Egypt entered in unto the cavern, where there was
shade, and washed their feet, and rested in the heat of the day.
And it came to pass, while they that journeyed toward the land of Egypt
rested in the cavern in the heat of the day, that they found a bowl in
the cavern, and the bowl was of hard stone; even hewn from the hardest
rock; and in the base of the bowl was a hole; and they that journeyed
toward the land of Egypt marvelled at the bowl.
[Illustration: "They marvelled at the bowl."]
And behold, a certain man of them that was a wise man spake, saying,
This is a clock at which ye marvel; for hath it not marks upon the inner
side, even on the inward surface thereof, and were these marks not made
to show the hours, by the dripping of the water from the hole that is at
the bottom of the bowl, even the under side thereof?
But they cried out upon him, saying, This is no true thing that you
speak, neither is it the fact: for the water would abide in the bowl,
between one mark and another, for the space of more than an hour; yea,
even more than two or three hours!
Then they cried out all together that the bowl should be filled with
water; howbeit they said, Behold there is not in this cavern water
sufficient to fill the bowl; for have we not emptied the water-skins
that the women did fill at the well and did carry here; and is not the
well distant from this place, even many paces of a camel?
And there was none among them that would arise and go in the heat of the
day to fetch the water that was in the well; but he that was wise among
them spake, saying:--
Shall not our wives, even those that are tethered outside the cavern
round about it--shall not one of these go unto the well and fill the
bowl at the well, and bring it hither filled with the water that is in
the well?
So they that journeyed toward the land of Egypt called out to the wives
that they should enter in and fetch the bowl; and should fill it at the
well, even as they had spoken.
And it came to pass when the bowl was filled and set in their midst,
that the water that was in the bowl, by reason of its dripping so slowly
from the hole that was at the bottom of the bowl, abode in the bowl
between one mark and another the space of three hours by the shadow of a
spear that was set up outside the cavern.
So they that journeyed toward the land of Egypt, even they that lay in
the cavern, cried, saying, Behold, is it not even as we said, saying,
The water will abide in the bowl between one mark and another for the
space of more than an hour; and hath it not abode there the space of
three hours?
But he that was wise among them said unto them, Nay, but for a certainty
these marks that are in the bowl were made for the marking of the space
of an hour; howbeit the hours that were at the time of the making of
this bowl, were they not of the space of three hours, even of three of
the hours of the present time?
Then they that were aged and well stricken in years among them that lay
in the cavern in the heat of the day, these communed with themselves for
a space; and they spake, saying, Verily thus, and thus it seemeth unto
us; that the space of the passing of the hours that behold the whiteness
of our beards is verily shorter than the space of the passing of the
hours that did behold the increasing of our statures in the tents of our
fathers! And it seemed unto them even so, that this saying was true.
[Illustration: _Honour to thee, King Ammon, mighty as Pthah the god, son
of Osiris, to whom libations! A bowl wrought of hard stone set up at the
temple of Isis marking the time._]
But they that were young among them, even the young men, scoffed,
saying, The hole that is at the bottom of the bowl is clogged by reason
of dirt that is within the hole: shall we not, therefore, bore out the
hole, to the end that the water that is within the bowl shall drip
faster, even three times as fast; and shall set forth the hours?
So they that were young did according to that saying; and they bored the
hole round about, until the water that was within the bowl dripped out
three times as fast.
And they rejoiced, saying, Behold, now it is a good and useful clock!
And they bore the bowl with them into the land of Egypt; four wives and
an ass carried the bowl in their turns--the four women for a space, and
the ass for a space--until they came to the land of Egypt; and the clock
was set up in the land of Egypt. And this was in the days before the
First Dynasty; yea, many thousands of years before. And behold, the
spirit of him that had wrought the bowl followed after the bowl, even
unto the land of Egypt; for the spirit was filled with a great and
exceeding desire to speak those things that were known unto it; yet the
time of its speaking was not yet.