The weird of the wanderer Being the papyrus records of some incidents in one of the previous lives of Mr. Nicholas Crabbe
the yellow and the grey, frisking round my tame white peacocks trailing
pearl-like prides indignantly across the pleasaunces and neatly cobbled
paths which lead down to the boat-house. There also, I saw my electric
gondogla, and my flat-bottomed huge-ruddered sailing bragozzetto. And,
too, I saw my sailors, John Marcus and Ermenegildo Falier by name, the
last telling horrible Venetian tales to my three servants, Bob and Bill
and Roddy, having finished their day’s work in my house and gardens.
But I swam in the air round and about the place, so near to the flag
of Saint George and the ensign of the Cinque Ports which flew from my
battlements that I could have touched the bunting with my hand; and yet
I was unseen by any mortal eye. Wherefore I flew back to the Treasury
of Dreams.[24]
And I saw the Master of Dreams summoning a certain blameless Dream,
to whom he said: “Go thou to such and such a priest of Isis, who
sleeps in a barge, near Koptos, on River Nile; and try whether he will
receive thee.” And the Dream, having wrapped a cloak of pink and tinsel
falsehood about him, leaped out through an ivory gate; and dived down
toward me, asleep, in the cabin of my barge. But, because he could not
find a foothold there (though he fought like a dog for it), he slank
back to the Dream-Master, to whom he sulkily snarled: “Lord, there
is that on that barge which prevents me.” Whereat, the Dream-Master
(having smiled and having dismissed him to his place) summoned another
Dream, to whom he gave a similar charge. And the second Dream donned
a cloak which seemed to be woven of dewdrops and the eyes of kittens
or babies; and he leaped out of another gate, and pounced like a robin
on my brow. And, with him, there entered to me Belmarduk the god of
Assyria, very brave with fringed vestments and well-curled love-locks,
attended by winged bulls and sphynxes and cherubs; and the heroes
Gilgamish and Eabani came flatly smirking sideways in his train. But
Belmarduk addressed me, saying: “By favour of the gods of Khem, I
come to thee in a land which is not mine; and my message is that thou
shalt be a king in Armenia, that is to say in Moxoene which is called
Magurturgadash in Naïri.” And, when he had said this, the traveller-god
departed as he came. But, in my dream, I wondered very greatly, being
overwhelmed with wave after wave of astonishment: even as a stranded
ship is washed by waves pushed by azure-haired earth-shaking Nun, the
lord of the ocean. For I was ignorant of the cause why any gods should
visit me, specially a strange god, or why Assyrian gods should visit
an Egyptian priest. And other doubts also assailed me. Wherefore, in
my dream, I mentioned my perplexity to our holy Mother Isis, the wise
goddess, whose priest I was, asking for news of these matters; and she
instantly answered me by the mouth of Tefeu her messenger, saying:
“_The god of Assyria came to thee: because the word hath gone forth
in the hall of fate from the abode of The Supreme, the Dweller in the
Innermost, Whose decrees nor god nor hero nor mortal can evade._” And
the scorpion-headed god shewed the _Sign of Life_ in token that the
Lady of the Marsh indeed had sent him. But, having done this, he fled
on uplifting wings to Duät of the gods which is above Amentet. Whereat
I awakened from my sleep.
Such was the dream which I dreamed in my barge on sacred Sihor.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] The title of this ballad is written in the French tongue in what
I take to be Mr. Crabbe’s own hand. “Galatia” is rather interesting,
perhaps. A. H.
[23] Of course I suppose that it is fairly well known, now, that Mr.
C. was the first living man of our era actually to fly of himself like
a bird or an angel, and not like a libellulan insect in an Antoinette.
The story of his (shall we say--are we quite justified in saying)
accidental discovery of the slight physical development which enables
this, need not be iterated here, I fancy. A. H.
[24] There is quite a considerable number of words in this really
singularly and exquisitely lovely pen-picture of the home of a hungry
heart, of a lonely soul, which are written in English in what I
unhesitatingly pronounce to be Mr. Crabbe’s own hand. It is quite
unnecessary for me to indicate them. A. H.
THE SEVENTH PAPYRUS
But now the sun was near his setting, swathing the vast dome of heaven
with arras of green and lilac and rose and burning gold. And, on the
floor by my couch, the slave had fallen asleep, with the fan still in
his hand, and his gleaming limbs stretched out, smooth, brick-red,
decently folded. But, the air being cooler, I did not disturb him,
but remained lying on the couch, pondering my dream. And, the more I
pondered, the less I knew of the manner in which I might assist the
fulfilment of the Supreme Decree. But, above all things, I was anxious
to avoid the vulgar error of confusing particulars with universals, so
as not to lose the fruit of any revelations which the gods had intended.
And, while I was thus meditating, suddenly I remembered a certain
magic, by which one may learn a very great deal of the future; and
it seemed to me that, in this way, I might test the prediction of my
dream. But, indeed, it was the well-made body of my slave, straight,
quickening, and apparently spotless, meeting my eyes while I thought
on these matters, which recalled this magic from my memory: for it
may only be done with just such an innocent one. Wherefore, being
awakened, Yokkho opened his fearless black eyes and listened: whom I
commanded to slip into the river, and to return to me fresh and clean.
This he did. But I inspected him with the most careful minuteness from
head to foot; and, having found neither speck nor blemish anywhere upon
him, and his teeth sound and perfect, then I knew that he was worthy of
my purpose.
But, having seated him on the edge of the cabin roof, with his legs
hanging down, for there the light was strongest, I placed his right
hand on his knee, the palm being upward: whereon, with my Waterman’s
Ideal Fountain Pen,[25] I drew two squares, a lesser inside a greater;
and, in each corner of the outer square, I wrote the arabic numbers,
Four Two Eight Six, with a Three between the Four and the Eight, and a
One between the Eight and the Six, and a Seven between the Six and the
Two, and a Nine between the Two and the Four; and, in the top of the
inner square, I wrote the arabic number Five: but, under it, I put a
fair large drop of pure dichroic ink, purple-black, having unscrewed
the top of my pen. And, when all this had been well-done, I bade Yokkho
to bend the ridge of his supple back, looking attentively into the drop
of ink, and telling me what he should see therein. But, standing below
him in the waist of the barge, I looked up into his downcast eyes, very
long and lucid and fixed upon the drop of ink. And the black-fringed
eyelids gently winked from time to time in the ordinary manner: but,
being a very obedient slave, his gaze did not waver from the palm of
his hand.
Then, there came a moment when the winking ceased, and the eyes became
fixed wide open but still looking downward. And, when I, with a low
voice, bade him again to speak, telling the things which he saw in
the drop of ink, then, indeed, he spoke as one who at a long distance
speaks to himself, very gravely, very slowly, very solemnly, saying:
“_The silver god, pointing at the galley, slays._” Then his eyes
wavered, and again became fixed. And his voice continued, speaking
single sets of words divided by intervals as before; and he thus said:
_The silver god, in the temple, taking the bow which sings.... The
silver god, in the ship, speaking with the azure-haired god, on the
white horses.... The silver god leading the golden goddess, from the
dark.... The silver god, and the golden goddess, before many gods and
goddesses.... The silver god, and the golden goddess on a throne....
The silver god, following the star._ Having said these words, which
seemed to be nonsensical, he tired me. Whereat I smacked him, shaking
his hand till the dark ink trickled over his thighs; and so I dismissed
him to relieve Nesamun at the steering-oar.
Thus I did with Yokkho, without gaining the wisdom which I expected.
But, during the rest of the evening, while the boatman was sleeping,
I made no more attempts at explaining the past or foreseeing the
future: for it seemed that this was not permitted. But I myself took
the steering-oar, dismissing the slave to seek more sleep in the waist,
by the boatman. And, as we sailed along, I watched the sky turning
violet with an after-glow of rose-colour fretted with green, which
deepened into the clear dark heliotrope of night sown with innumerable
constellations, surrounding the white-blazing serene moon. But, when
the slaves had finished sleeping, they prepared a meal, and I refreshed
my body with food and wine, while Yokkho returned to the steering-oar.
But I inquired of Nesamun the name of the city which we were passing on
the right hythe, having seen a cluster of temples with their pylons and
flagstaves and very many houses there.
“Lord,” he answered, “it is the city of Khenoboskis; and, on the left,
should be the lesser Diospolis of the Lagidai which we used to call
Mutio. But, in the morning we shall water at Ptolemais Hermii, another
city of the Lagidai.”
“Our stay,” I said, “must be a short one: for I wish to come to Tanis
without delay.”
“Lord, hast thou not heard of the mutineers at Antaiopolis, who bar the
way?”
“Not my way, nor the way of the barge which bears me.”
“Nor the way of thy slaves, then, who attend thee:” added Nesamun very
quietly.
“Thou art not afraid?” I responded, inquiring.
“Nay, lord, for who can see with his eyes a god, unwilling, going
either here or there. But I also can fight, if fighting be toward.”
Now, when he spoke thus, I laughed without letting my memory be seen.
For I remembered that his brother-in-law and partner had taken me
for wing-footed Hermes, because of my strange aspect and the magic
inchantment which I did with obsequious crocodiles; and I considered
that the reputation of godship would do me no harm. But, looking also
upon Nesamun, as he crouched before me in the open waist of the barge,
more closely than I had looked hitherto, I was ware that he would
fight well, as one born for fighting, being of a species different
from that of other Egyptians. For he was a very mighty youth, in his
prime, and his four bones were large and very long; and, although he
had no muscles as youths of other races have, nevertheless his flesh
was extremely firm and sinewy, and his skin healthily tanned and as
smooth and polished as fine linen. Furthermore, I marked the immense
force of his supple shoulders and thighs, and the strength of his loins
and arms and deep-breathing breast. But, above all, I could read an
indomitable character in the poise of his head and the carriage of his
body, and specially in his fierce young eyes, which flashed so blackly
and so whitely when his mind looked out on me. For which causes, I was
not unwilling to have such an one on my side. And I opined that my own
not-inconsiderable strength, and my wiliness, together with my magic
and my arms, all assisted by the fearless obedience of little Yokkho
and the intelligent force of Nesamun, needed not to worry about the
resistance to be encountered.
But, nevertheless, I made my preparations. And, seeing another vessel
coming up the river toward us, I bade my boatman to hail her and to ask
for news of the rebels. Whereby I learned that, having been driven from
Antaiopolis by Psalkos Memmaïdes (the Pharoah’s general and governour
of the lower Thebaid), they had sacked Hisoris, and were now holding