THE DREAM OF MERAPI
A while went by; it may have been fourteen days, during which we heard
that the Israelites had started on their journey. They were a mighty
multitude who bore with them the coffin and the mummy of their prophet,
a man of their blood, Vizier, it is reported, to that Pharaoh who
welcomed them to Egypt hundreds of years before. Some said they went
this way and some that, but Bakenkhonsu, who knew everything, declared
that they were heading for the Lake of Crocodiles, which others name
Sea of Reeds, whereby they would cross into the desert beyond, and
thence to Syria. I asked him how, seeing that at its narrowest part,
this lake was six thousand paces in width, and that the depth of its mud
was unfathomable. He replied that he did not know, but that I might do
well to inquire of the lady Merapi.
“So you have changed your mind, and also think her a witch,” I
said, to which he answered:
“One must breathe the wind that blows, and Egypt is so full of
witchcraft that it is difficult to say. Also it was she and no other
who destroyed the ancient statue of Amon. Oh! yes, witch or no witch,
it might be well to ask her how her people purpose to cross the Sea of
Reeds, especially if Pharaoh’s chariots chance to be behind them.”
So I did ask her, but she answered that she knew nothing of the matter,
and wished to know nothing, seeing that she had separated from her
people, and remained in Egypt.
Then Ki came, I know not whence, and having made his peace with Seti as
to the dressing of Merapi in the robes of Isis which, he vowed, was
done by the priests against his wish, told us that Pharaoh and a great
host had started to pursue the Israelites. The Prince asked him why he
had not gone with the host, to which he replied that he was no soldier,
also that Pharaoh hid his face from him. In return he asked the Prince
why _he_ had not gone.
Seti answered, because he had been deprived of his command with his
other officers and had no wish to take share in this business as a
private citizen.
“You are wise, as always, Prince,” said Ki.
It was on the following night, very late, while the Prince, Ki,
Bakenkhonsu and I, Ana, sat talking, that suddenly the lady Merapi
broke in upon us as she had risen from her bed, wild-eyed, and with her
hair flowing down her robes.
“I have dreamed a dream!” she cried. “I dreamed that I saw
all the thousands of my people following after a flame that burned from
earth to heaven. They came to the edge of a great water and behind them
rushed Pharaoh and all the hosts of the Egyptians. Then my people ran
on to the face of the water, and it bore them as though it were sound
land. Now the soldiers of the Pharaoh were following, but the gods of
Egypt appeared, Amon, Osiris, Horus, Isis, Hathor, and the rest, and
would have turned them back. Still they refused to listen, and dragging
the gods with them, rushed out upon the water. Then darkness fell, and
in the darkness sounds of wailing and of a mighty laughter. It passed,
the moon rose, shining upon emptiness. I awoke, trembling in my limbs.
Interpret me this dream if you can, O Ki, Master of Magic.”
“Where is the need, Lady,” he answered, awaking as though from
sleep, “when the dreamer is also the seer? Shall the pupil venture to
instruct the teacher, or the novice to make plain the mysteries to the
high-priestess of the temple? Nay, Lady, I and all the magicians of
Egypt are beneath your feet.”
“Why will you ever mock me?” she said, and as she spoke, she
shivered.
Then Bakenkhonsu opened his lips, saying:
“The wisdom of Ki has been buried in a cloud of late, and gives no
light to us, his disciples. Yet the meaning of this dream is plain,
though whether it be also true I do not know. It is that all the host
of Egypt, and with it the gods of Egypt, are threatened with
destruction because of the Israelites, unless one to whom they will
hearken can be found to turn them from some purpose that I do not
understand. But to whom will the mad hearken, oh! to whom will they
hearken?” and lifting his great head, he looked straight at the
Prince.
“Not to me, I fear, who now am no one in Egypt,” said Seti.
“Why not to you, O Prince, who to-morrow may be everyone in Egypt?”
asked Bakenkhonsu. “Always you have pleaded the cause of the Hebrews,
and said that naught but evil would befall Egypt because of them, as
has happened. To whom, then, will the people and the army listen more
readily?”
“Moreover, O Prince,” broke in Ki, “a lady of your household
has dreamed a very evil dream, of which, if naught be said, it might be
held that it was no dream, but a spell of power aimed against the
majesty of Egypt; such a spell as that which cast great Amon from his
throne, such a spell as that which has set a magic fence around this
house and field.”
“Again I tell you that I weave no spells, O Ki, who with my own child
have paid the price of them.”
“Yet spells were woven, Lady, and as has been known from of old,
strength is perfected in sacrifice alone,” Ki answered darkly.
“Have done with your talk of spells, Magician,” exclaimed the
Prince, “or if you must speak of them, speak of your own, which are
many. It was Jabez who protected us here against the plagues, and the
statue of Amon was shattered by some god.”
“I ask your pardon, Prince,” said Ki bowing, “it was
_not_ this lady but her uncle who fenced your house against the plagues
which ravaged Egypt, and it was _not_ this lady but some god working in
her which overthrew Amon of Tanis. The Prince has said it. Yet this lady
has dreamed a certain dream which Bakenkhonsu has interpreted although
I cannot, and I think that Pharaoh and his captains should be told of
the dream, that on it they may form their own judgment.”
“Then why do you not tell them, Ki?”
“It has pleased Pharaoh, O Prince, to dismiss me from his service as
one who failed and to give my office of Kherheb to another. If I appear
before the face of Pharaoh I shall be killed.”
Now I, Ana, listening, wished that Ki would appear before the face of
Pharaoh, although I did not believe that he could be killed by him or
by anybody else, since against death he had charms. For I was afraid of
Ki, and felt in myself that again he was plotting evil to Merapi whom I
knew to be innocent.
The Prince walked up and down the chamber as was his fashion when lost
in thought. Presently he stopped opposite to me and said:
“Friend Ana, be pleased to command that my chariots be made ready with
a general’s escort of a hundred men and spare horses to each chariot.
We ride at dawn, you and I, to seek out the army of Pharaoh and pray
audience of Pharaoh.”
“My lord,” said Merapi in a kind of cry, “I pray you go not,
leaving me alone.”
“Why should I leave you, Lady? Come with me if you will.” She shook
her head, saying:
“I dare not. Prince, there has been some charm upon me of late that
draws me back to my own people. Twice in the night I have awakened and
found myself in the gardens with my face set towards the north, and
heard a voice in my ears, even that of my father who is dead, saying:
“‘Moon of Israel, thy people wander in the wilderness and need thy
light.’
“It is certain therefore that if I came near to them I should be
dragged down as wood is dragged of an eddy, nor would Egypt see me any
more.”
“Then I pray you bide where you are, Merapi,” said the Prince,
laughing a little, “since it is certain that where you go I must
follow, who have no desire to wander in the wilderness with your Hebrew
folk. Well, it seems that as you do not wish to leave Memphis and will
not come with me, I must stay with you.”
Ki fixed his piercing eyes upon the pair of them.
“Let the Prince forgive me,” he said, “but I swear it by the
gods that never did I think to live to hear the Prince Seti Meneptah set
a woman’s whims before his honour.”
“Your words are rough,” said Seti, drawing himself up, “and
had they been spoken in other days, mayhap, Ki——”
“Oh! my lord,” said Ki prostrating himself till his forehead
touched the ground, “bethink you then how great must be the need which
makes me dare to speak them. When first I came hither from the court of
Tanis, the spirit that is within me speaking through my lips gave
certain titles to your Highness, for which your Highness was pleased to
reprove me. Yet the spirit in me cannot lie and I know well, and bid
all here make record of my words, that to-night I stand in the presence
of him who ere two moons have passed will be crowned Pharaoh.”
“Truly you were ever a bearer of ill-tidings, Ki, but if so, what of
it?”
“This your Highness: Were it not that the spirits of Truth and Right
compel me for their own reasons, should I, who have blood that can be
shed or bones that can be broken, dare to hurl hard words at him who
will be Pharaoh? Should I dare to cross the will of the sweet dove who
nestles on his heart, the wise, white dove that murmurs the mysteries
of heaven, whence she came, and is stronger than the vulture of Isis
and swifter than the hawk of Ra; the dove that, were she angry, could
rend me into more fragments than did Set Osiris?”
Now I saw Bakenkhonsu begin to swell with inward laughter like a frog
about to croak, but Seti answered in a weary voice:
“By all the birds of Egypt with the sacred crocodiles thrown in, I do
not know, since that mind of yours, Ki, is not an open writing which
can be read by the passer-by. Still, if you would tell me what is the
reason with which the goddesses of Truth and Justice have inspired
you——”
“The reason is, O Prince, that the fate of all Egypt’s army may be
hidden in your hand. The time is short and I will be plain. Deny it as
she will this lady here, who seems to be but a thing of love and
beauty, is the greatest sorceress in Egypt, as I whom she has mastered
know well. She matched herself against the high god of Egypt and smote
him to the dust, and has paid back upon him, his prophets, and his
worshippers the ills that he would have worked to her, as in the like
case any of our fellowship would do. Now she has dreamed a dream, or
her spirit has told her that the army of Egypt is in danger of
destruction, and I know that this dream is true. Hasten then, O Prince,
to save the hosts of Egypt, which you will surely need when you come to
sit upon its throne.”
“I am no sorceress,” cried Merapi, “and yet—alas! that
I must say it—this smiling-featured, cold-eyed wizard’s words are
true. _The sword of death hangs over the hosts of Egypt!_”
“Command that the chariots be made ready,” said Seti again.
Eight days had gone by. It was sunset and we drew rein over against the
Sea of Reeds. Day and night we had followed the army of Pharaoh across
the wilderness on a road beaten down by his chariot wheels and
soldiers, and by the tens of thousands of the Israelites who had passed
that way before them. Now from the ridge where we had halted we saw it
encamped beneath us, a very great army. Moreover, stragglers told us
that beyond, also encamped, was the countless horde of the Israelites,
and beyond these the vast Sea of Reeds which barred their path. But we
could not see them for a very strange reason. Between these and the
army of Pharaoh rose a black wall of cloud, built as it were from earth
to heaven. One of those stragglers of whom I have spoken, told us that
this cloud travelled before the Israelites by day, but at night was
turned into a pillar of fire. Only on this day, when the army of
Pharaoh approached, it had moved round and come between the people of
Israel and the army.
Now when the Prince, Bakenkhonsu, and I heard these things we looked at
each other and were silent. Only presently the Prince laughed a little,
and said:
“We should have brought Ki with us, even if we had to carry him bound,
that he might interpret this marvel, for it is sure that no one else
can.”
“It would be hard to keep Ki bound, Prince, if he wished to go
free,” answered Bakenkhonsu. “Moreover, before ever we entered the
chariots at Memphis he had departed south for Thebes. I saw him go.”
“And I gave orders that he should not be allowed to return, for I hold
him an ill guest, or so thinks the lady Merapi,” replied Seti with a
sigh.
“Now that we are here what would the Prince do?” I asked.
“Descend to the camp of Pharaoh and say what we have to say, Ana.”
“And if he will not listen, Prince?”
“Then cry our message aloud and return.”
“And if he will not suffer us to return, Prince?”
“Then stand still and live or die as the gods may decree.”
“Truly our lord has a great heart!” exclaimed Bakenkhonsu,
“and though I feel over young to die, I am minded to see the end of
this matter with him,” and he laughed aloud.
But I who was afraid thought that _O-ho-ho_ of his, which the sky seemed
to echo back upon our heads, a strange and indeed a fearful sound.
Then we put on robes of ceremony that we had brought with us, but
neither swords nor armour, and having eaten some food, drove on with
the half of our guard towards the place where we saw the banners of
Pharaoh flying about his pavilion. The rest of our guard we left
encamped, bidding them, if aught happened to us, to return and make
report at Memphis and in the other great cities. As we drew near to the
camp the outposts saw us and challenged. But when they perceived by the
light of the setting sun who it was that they challenged, a murmur went
through them, of:
“The Prince of Egypt! The Prince of Egypt!” for so they had never
ceased to name Seti, and they saluted with their spears and let us pass.
So at length we came to the pavilion of Pharaoh, round about which a
whole regiment stood on guard. The sides of it were looped up high
because of the heat of the night which was great, and within sat
Pharaoh, his captains, his councillors, his priests, his magicians, and
many others at meat or serving food and drink. They sat at a table that
was bent like a bow, with their faces towards the entrance, and Pharaoh
was in the centre of the table with his fan-bearers and butlers behind
him.
We advanced into the pavilion, the Prince in the centre, Bakenkhonsu
leaning on his staff on the right hand, and I, wearing the gold chain
that Pharaoh Meneptah had given me, on the left, but those with us
remained among the guard at the entrance.
“Who are these?” asked Amenmeses, looking up, “who come here
unbidden?”
“Three citizens of Egypt who have a message for Pharaoh,” answered
Seti in his quiet voice, “which we have travelled fast and far to
speak in time.”
“How are you named, citizens of Egypt, and who sends your message?”
“We are named, Seti Meneptah aforetime Prince of Egypt, and heir to
its crown; Bakenkhonsu the aged Councillor, and Ana the scribe and
King’s Companion, and our message is from the gods.”
“We have heard those names, who has not?” said Pharaoh, and as he
spoke all, or very nearly all, the company rose, or half rose, and bowed
towards the Prince. “Will you and your companions be seated and eat,
Prince Seti Meneptah?”
“We thank the divine Pharaoh, but we have already eaten. Have we
Pharaoh’s leave to deliver our message?”
“Speak on, Prince.”
“O Pharaoh, many moons have gone by, since last we looked upon each
other face to face, on that day when my father, the good god Meneptah,
disinherited me, and afterwards fled hence to Osiris. Pharaoh will
remember why I was thus cut off from the royal root of Egypt. It was
because of the matter of these Israelites, who in my judgment had been
evilly dealt by, and should be suffered to leave our land. The good god
Meneptah, being so advised by you and others, O Pharaoh, would have
smitten the Israelites with the sword, making an end of them, and to
this he demanded my assent as the Heir of Egypt. I refused that assent
and was cast out, and since then, you, O Pharaoh, have worn the double
crown, while I have dwelt as a citizen of Memphis, living upon such
lands and revenues as are my own. Between that hour and this, O
Pharaoh, many griefs have smitten Egypt, and the last of them cost you
your first-born, and me mine. Yet through them all, O Pharaoh, you have
refused to let these Hebrews go, as I counselled should be done at the
beginning. At length after the death of the first-born, your decree was
issued that they might go. Yet now you follow them with a great army
and purpose to do to them what my father, the good god Meneptah, would
have done, had I consented, namely—to destroy them with the sword.
Hear me, Pharaoh!”
“I hear; also the case is well if briefly set. What else would the
Prince Seti say?”
“This, O Pharaoh. That I pray you to return with all your host from
the following of these Hebrews, not to-morrow or the next day, but at
once—this night.”
“Why, O Prince?”
“Because of a certain dream that a lady of my household who is Hebrew
has dreamed, which dream foretells destruction to you and the army of
Egypt, unless you hearken to these words of mine.”
“I think that we know of this snake whom you have taken to dwell in
your bosom, whence it may spit poison upon Egypt. It is named Merapi,
Moon of Israel, is it not?”
“That is the name of the lady who dreamed the dream,” replied Seti
in a cold voice, though I felt him tremble with anger at my side, “the
dream that if Pharaoh wills my companions here shall set out word for
word to his magicians.”
“Pharaoh does not will it,” shouted Amenmeses smiting the board
with his fist, “because Pharaoh knows that it is but another trick to
save these wizards and thieves from the doom that they have earned.”
“Am I then a worker of tricks, O Pharaoh? If I had been such, why have
I journeyed hither to give warning, when by sitting yonder at Memphis
to-morrow, I might once more have become heir to the double crown? For
if you will not hearken to me, I tell you that very soon you shall be
dead, and with you these”—and he pointed to all those who sat at
table—“and with them the great army that lies without. Ere you
speak, tell me, what is that black cloud which stands before the camp of
the Hebrews? Is there no answer? Then I will give you the answer. It is
the pall that shall wrap the bones of every one of you.”
Now the company shivered with fear, yes, even the priests and the
magicians shivered. But Pharaoh went mad with rage. Springing from his
seat, he snatched at the double crown upon his head, and hurled it to
the ground, and I noted that the golden uræus band about it, rolled
away, and rested upon Seti’s sandalled foot. He tore his robes and
shouted:
“At least our fate shall be your fate, Renegade, who have sold Egypt
to the Hebrew witch in payment of her kisses. Seize this man and his
companions, and when we go down to battle against these Israelites
to-morrow after the darkness lifts, let them be set with the captains
of the van. So shall the truth be known at last.”
Thus Pharaoh commanded, and Seti, answering nothing, folded his arms
upon his breast and waited.
Men rose from their seats as though to obey Pharaoh and sank back to
them again. Guards started forward and yet remained standing where they
were. Then Bakenkhonsu burst into one of his great laughs.
“O-ho-ho,” he laughed, “Pharaohs have I seen come and go, one
and two and three, and four and five, but never yet have I seen a
Pharaoh whom none of his councillors or guards could obey however much
they willed it. When you are Pharaoh, Prince Seti, may your luck be
better. Your arm, Ana, my friend, and lead on, Royal Heir of Egypt. The
truth is shown to blind eyes that will not see. The word is spoken to
deaf ears that will not hearken, and the duty done. Night falls. Sleep
ye well, ye bidden of Osiris, sleep ye well!”
Then we turned and walked from that pavilion. At its entrance I looked
back, and in the low light that precedes the darkness, it seemed to me
as though all seated there were already dead. Blue were their faces and
hollow shone their eyes, and from their lips there came no word. Only
they stared at us as we went, and stared and stared again.
Without the door of the pavilion, by command of the Prince, I called
aloud the substance of the lady Merapi’s dream, and warned all within
earshot to cease from pursuing the people of Israel, if they would
continue to live to look upon the sun. Yet even now, although to speak
thus was treason against Pharaoh, none lifted a hand against the
Prince, or against me his servant. Often since then I have wondered why
this was so, and found no answer to my questionings. Mayhap it was
because of the majesty of my master, whom all knew to be the true
Pharaoh, and loved at heart. Mayhap it was because they were sure that
he would not have travelled so far and placed himself in the power of
Amenmeses save to work the armies of Egypt good, and not ill, and to
bring them a message that had been spoken by the gods themselves.
Or mayhap it was because he was still hedged about by that protection
which the Hebrews had vowed to him through their prophets with the
voice of Jabez. At least so it happened. Pharaoh might command, but his
servants would not obey. Moreover, the story spread, and that night
many deserted from the host of Pharaoh and encamped about us, or fled
back towards the cities whence they came. Also with them were not a few
councillors and priests who had talked secretly with Bakenkhonsu. So it
chanced that even if Pharaoh desired to make an end of us, as perhaps
he purposed to do in the midnight watches, he thought it wisest to let
the matter lie until he had finished with the people of Israel.
It was a very strange night, silent, with a heavy, stirless air. There
were no stars, but the curtain of black cloud which seemed to hang
beyond the camp of the Egyptians was alive with lightnings which
appeared to shape themselves to letters that I could not read.
“Behold the Book of Fate written in fire by the hand of God!” said
Bakenkhonsu, as he watched.
About midnight a mighty east wind began to blow, so strongly that we
must lie upon our faces under the lea of the chariots. Then the wind
died away and we heard tumult and shoutings, both from the camp of
Egypt, and from the camp of Israel beyond the cloud. Next there came a
shock as of earthquake, which threw those of us who were standing to
the ground, and by a blood-red moon that now appeared we perceived that
all the army of Pharaoh was beginning to move towards the sea.
“Whither go they?” I asked of the Prince who clung to my arm.
“To doom, I think,” he answered, “but to what doom I do not
know.”
After this we said no more, because we were too much afraid.
Dawn came at last, showing the most awful sight that was ever beheld by
the eye of man.
The wall of cloud had disappeared, and in the clear light of the
morning, we perceived that the deep waters of the Sea of Reeds had
divided themselves, leaving a raised roadway that seemed to have been
cleared by the wind, or perchance to have been thrown up by the
earthquake. Who can say? Not I who never set foot upon that path of
death. Along this wide road streamed the tens of thousands of the
Israelites, passing between the water on the right hand, and the water
on the left, and after them followed all the army of Pharaoh, save
those who had deserted, and stood or lay around us, watching. We could
even see the golden chariots that marked the presence of Pharaoh
himself, and of his bodyguard, deep in the heart of the broken host
that struggled forward without discipline or order.
“What now? Oh! what now?” murmured Seti, and as he spoke there was
a second shock of earthquake. Then to the west on the sea there arose a
mighty wave, whereof the crest seemed to be high as a pyramid. It
rolled forward with a curved and foaming head, and in the hollow of it
for a moment, no more, we saw the army of Egypt. Yet in that moment I
seemed to see mighty shapes fleeing landwards along the crest of the
wave, which shapes I took to be the gods of Egypt, pursued by a form of
light and glory that drove them as with a scourge. They came, they
went, accompanied by a sound of wailing, and the wave fell.
But beyond it, the hordes of Israel still marched—upon the further
shore.
Dense gloom followed, and through the gloom I saw, or thought I saw,
Merapi, Moon of Israel, standing before us with a troubled face and
heard or thought I heard her cry:
“_Oh! help me, my lord Seti! Help me, my lord Seti!_”
Then she too was gone.
“Harness the chariots!” cried Seti, in a hollow voice.