The weird of the wanderer Being the papyrus records of some incidents in one of the previous lives of Mr. Nicholas Crabbe
And he answered me: “After many lives thou shalt be once more Nicholas,
called the Crab.”
Wherefore I knew that these things were somehow so. And I gave him
leave to continue. He, then, said: “O Very Wily One, proofs thou
desirest; and proofs thou shalt have, of a sort. Dost thou remember thy
bow, the black bow of Eyrytos, which none can bend save thyself or a
god? And dost thou remember thy sword, the sword of Eyryalos? I ask,
for reasons. For, after thy death near Sihormouth, thy weapons were
placed on the breast of thy corpse to go with thee to the netherworld;
and, when thy funeral-pyre was lighted, the flames leaped up, and
blazed, and died to embers: but thy deathless soul was departed (where,
I know not, nor dost thou definitely); and there were no ashes of thy
body: which things are a mystery all. But thine arms and thy bow and
thine armour, having been forged by a god, could not perish. And, now,
thou art here; and they too rest here in the secret treasury, waiting
for thee to assume them again, O much-contriving King Odysseys, Sacker
of Cities.”
But, indeed, if any mind-perplexing doubt had remained to me, this
would have sufficed to dismiss it. For I was aware that the prediction
of my slave, Yokkho, when he said: _The silver god, in the temple,
taking the bow which sings_, was about to be fulfilled. And I arose,
following Amenemhat with a joyful mind.
But he led me into a yet larger hall, having row upon row of ungraven
columns. And everywhere there were vast heaps of gold and silver
ingots well-builded, with vases and cups and tripods of gold and
silver and Korinthic bronze, which is platinum,[34] and sheaves of
ivory-handed spears with adornments gold and chrysoprase, armour and
shields of gold, elephants’ tusks of monstrous dimensions, fillets of
gems, and ropes of pearls. But we passed through, into a smaller hall
of a circular shape, having an altar in the centre, whereon lay an
enormous shield of silver, carved with various devices and set with
crabs and moons in very pure nonagonal prismatic rock-crystals with
balls of rock-crystal and blue moonstone. There, also, was a mighty
helmet of the same, plumed with the lofty-waving prides of nine white
peacocks. There, also, was a short sword, in a silver scabbard inlaid
with similar rock-crystals and blue moonstones. There, also, was a vast
black bow of a totally unheard-of material, with a quiver decorated
like the scabbard and full of fear-inspiring arrows. There, also,
on the altar-steps, were greaves of silver gloriously carven, with
adornments of rock-crystals and blue moonstones, and a breast-plate
with the back-plate and shoulder-pieces of the same so bespattered with
moony gems that they resembled gigantic dewdrops on a frosty field seen
in the clear of the full moon. And, also, a large bundle wrapped in
white buckskin was lying at the foot of the altar.
And, when I had looked upon these things, Amenemhat thus addressed me,
saying: “These are thy god-forged silver armour and thy god-carven bow
and sword, O Odysseys. Take then thy bow and make a trial.”
But, when I took the great bow in my hand, it quivered and thrilled,
singing a marvellous mystic melody; and thus it sang:
“_Hail King Odysseys,
long hast thou left me,
long have I lain here
waiting in silence:
wars loom before us:
blood will pour over us:
death flieth with us:
take me, O Master,
and slay as of yore._”
But, having drawn a well-winged arrow from the quiver, I passed again
into the great hall of the secret treasury; and Amenemhat followed
me, holding aloft his lanthorn; and rays of light from it flamed upon
a shield of burnished gold at the far end of the hall. But, though
never (to my remembrance) had I handled a bow since I, a little eager
scolded and mocked-at child, played my own solitary fantastic games
in the kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans,
nevertheless I bended and strang the huge black bow of Eyrytos with the
skilful ease of an expert. And the back-bent bow throbbed in my hand as
though it were alive, itself taking aim at the shield-navel. And the
shaft sped forth, shrieking and humming in the air, till it buried its
length in the boss of the burnished shield. And, having done what no
man but one man can do, I doubted no long but that I actually was King
Odysseys, the Wily One, Sacker of Cities, the Wanderer, the grandson of
Divine Wing-footed Hermes.
Amenemhat said: “Verily, thou art the lord of rocky Ithaka.”
And to him I answered, saying: “Yea: that I am.”
But, returning to the inner treasury, I stripped myself all stark, and
put on the god-forged armour of yellow-haired great-hearted Akhilleys,
which, formerly, my agile feet had won from Aias son of Telamon,
arming myself with the glittering silver.[35] First, indeed, I put
on the beautiful greaves round my legs, well-fitting to the clasps.
Next, I covered my body with the white leathern kirtle having taslets
of carven silver about my loins, which Ares himself had worn. But I
clothed myself over it with a kirtle of silver mail. Next, I placed on
my breast and back and shoulders the corslet of swift-footed Akhilleys,
wrought by Hephaistos himself at the behest of Thetis of the sea; and
the silver-shining of it went to a great distance, as of the moon. And
I hanged from my shoulders the silver-sheathed sword, gleaming with
moony gems, and also the well-carven quiver of arrows. And, on my head,
I set the well-made helmet, crested with the lofty-waving prides of
nine white peacocks; and dreadfully the plumage nodded from above. And
I took, beside, the bow which sings, well-fitted to my hand, and then
the huge and sturdy shield, whereon Hephaistos had wrought, in silver
and rock-crystals and blue moonstones, earth, and heaven, and sea,
and the unwearied sun, and the full moon, and all the constellations
crowning heaven, the Pleiades, the Hyades, and the strength of Orion,
and the Bear or the Wain which there revolves watching Orion, but it
alone descends not into the baths of the ocean. But Amenemhat shod my
feet with sandals of white leather, buckled with silver studded with
moony gems. And he covered me with a great trailing mantle, of silver
tissue lined with white fur, having a huge silver clasp of the crab
and the moon. And the sheen of me reached to heaven; and all the earth
around smiled in the splendour of the silver; and a sound like the
trampling of men’s feet arose. But I stood in the midst, gnashing my
teeth; and my eyes shone like a blaze of white fire.
These things having been duly accomplished, Amenemhat left me while he
went about my business: for, indeed, the occasion was one for operating
very mighty and singular magic, whereby I, King Odysseys, might be
sent on my new quest suitably attended and in kingly fashion, and not
without my gear. But, when it was night, the priest returned to me
contriving wiles; and he said that all things were ready. For he had
prepared for me one of the temple-galleys, a stout ship builded in
the yards of Alexandria, pierced for forty oars, twenty a side in a
single old-fashioned bank. And he had manned the galley with rowers and
slaves, whom he gave to me as a sweet guest-gift: but one Deythes was
the master-mariner. And the galley rode at anchor in mid-stream, ready
to sail.
But, at midnight, having gathered all my goods which were in
the temple, and having rubbed my necklace of bloodstones with
marigold-juice so that I became invisible, I went down with Amenemhat
to my barge by the desolate quay; and I shewed myself without warning
in my brilliant panoply to Nesamun and Yokkho. And, when they had
finished their adorations (for they naturally adored the silver god),
then, indeed, I and Amenemhat did the magic which we had prepared,
giving to my two slaves new forms with new names, whereby Nesamun came
out of his Egyptian body, becoming Neandros, an Argive, and squire to
me, and Yokkho came in turn out of his Egyptian body, becoming Thalos,
an Argive also, and foot-boy to me. And the magic was done perfectly,
nor was there any unusual noise.
But, when we had bestowed the evacuated Egyptian bodies upon the
inchanted sons of slime, the mind in my dear breast was perplexing me
concerning two further matters. For, I knew not what worthy gift I
could give to Amenemhat as a parting blessing; and, also, I was aware
that I desired to have something more in my slaves than that which
they already possessed, to wit, their ingenious minds, faithful and
fearless, which the gods of their stars had bestowed upon them, and the
comely Argive forms wherewith I myself by my magic art had endowed
them. But then, indeed, suddenly, a very singular and unheard-of
thought illumined my noble mind, which bade me to use a most potent
magic inchantment of another age (and I never had used it before,
though I was fully competent in the circumstances), performing a sacred
lavation, pouring a handful of Nile-water upon Amenemhat, and upon
Neandros, and upon Thalos, saying over each in turn the _Spell of the
Three Who are One_. Thus, then, I did. And the faces of the priest
and of the slaves whitened, becoming strangely purified and thankful,
unknowing. But I know all.
And, now that the time was come when I must part from Amenemhat, we
two drew away to a darker corner of the desolate quay. But the haughty
wise eyes of the priest were full of unshed tears; and he spoke in the
secret tongue of the priests of Khem, saying: “Never, O Odysseys, shall
we meet again, neither in this life nor in another, till the cycles of
our opportunities shall be fulfilled. But to thee I give the galley
and her crew, slaves; and I have placed a certain treasure in the hold
for thy use and comfort. Take them, O friend, as a sweet guest-gift.
And, so, fare thee well, O King Odysseys, whom may all gods of sea and
land and air and sky have in prime and perpetual favour. And this is
the message which I have in charge to give thee at parting: _From the
Depths of the Dead thou shalt win back the Treasure of Hades_.”
Thus he spoke; and, having embraced me, he went his own way.
But I ascended my barge; and, when Neandros and Thalos had rowed me to
my galley, I mounted the lofty poop, to see my goods brought aboard,
and the empty barge sent adrift, for it was no longer useful to me. But
I gave commands to Deythes, my shipman, that he should shape a course
for Sihormouth and, so, out to the open sea.
Thus I did, leaving the land of Khem, and beginning a new quest.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] This is rather worrying. Everyone knows that, before the reign
of David, there was in Asia a plenty of a third precious and perfect
metal: that Tyrians and Phoinikians founded and worked it till the
reign of Salomon: that there were rich deposits of it in the Atlantis,
where it was excavated, founded, and worked: that it was heavier and
more valuable than either gold or silver: that it had most of the
qualities of gold, but was something of the colour of silver: that it
was capable of high polish, the Romans using it for lamp-reflectors:
that the Hebrews called it _Khasmal_ = White Metal, and the Greeks
called it _Elektron_ or _Khalkolibanon_, or _Orikhalkon_: that it
became rare through barbarian incursion and the submergence of the
Atlantis: that it was imitated by a mixture of gold and silver by the
Korinthians, the native metal (which they originally manipulated)
being practically lost. Strabo (III.) and Pliny (Proem. xxxiii.) say
that there was enough of this metal found in the sands of the Po in
Trajan’s time to form a statue of Augustus. Many other writers preserve
its memory, _e.g._ Saint Ezekhiel Prophet, i. 4, 7: Homer, _Od._ IIII.
71, XV. 458: Vergil, _Georg._ III. 521: _Æn._ VIII. 402, V. 624: