Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe Part 39

PAKH. Not yet.

SOKITI. But he was brought up in the temple ... 'tis to the temple he will go.

PAKH. He will come here ... because he would see his father and mother once more.

SOKITI. And Yaouma his betrothed.

PAKH. And Yaouma his betrothed.

_He goes R. Bitiou approaches the statue timidly, and stops some way off._

SOKITI. There is nothing in sight.

PAKH. No.... [_suddenly_] You saw the crocodile?

SOKITI. Yes.... There is a woman going to the Nile with her pitcher on her head.

PAKH. That is my wife, that is Kirjipa, that is mine. She seeks with her eyes the boat that bears her son--Satni.

SOKITI. She is going into the stream.

PAKH. How else can she draw clear water?

SOKITI. But at the very spot where the crocodile plunged.

PAKH. What matter? She wears the feather of an ibis ... and I know a magic spell. [_He begins to chant_] Back, son of Sitou! Dare not! Seize not! Open not thy jaws! Let the water become a sheet of flame before thee! The spell of thirty-seven G.o.ds is in thine eye. Thou art bound, thou art bound! Stay, son of Sitou! Ammon, spouse of thy mother, protect her!

SOKITI [_without surprise_] It is gone.

PAKH [_without surprise_] It could not do otherwise.

_Bitiou, now close to the statue, touches it furtively with a finger tip, then runs, falls, and picks himself up. He comes up to Pakh and Sokiti._

SOKITI [_pointing to the statue_] She is dry now, perhaps?

PAKH. Yes, come.

SOKITI. I am afraid still.

PAKH. So am I, but come and help me.

_They replace the statue on its pedestal, then step back to look at it._

SOKITI. She has done us no harm.

PAKH. No.

SOKITI. Ha! ha!

PAKH. Ha! ha! ha! ha! [_Bitiou laughs with them. A distant sound of trumpets is heard. Sokiti and Pakh go to the terrace to look_] It is the chief of the Nome. They are bearing him to the city of the dead. At this moment his soul is before the tribunal, where Osiris sits with the two and forty judges.

SOKITI. May they render unto him all the evil he has done!...

PAKH. The evil he has done will be rendered unto him a thousand fold....

He will pa.s.s first into the lake of fire.

SOKITI [_laughing_] Pakh! Pakh! picture him in Amenti--in the hidden place--

PAKH. I see him ... the pivot of the gate of Amenti set upon his eye, turns upon his right eye, and turns on that eye whether in opening or in shutting, and his mouth utters loud cries.

SOKITI [_doubling up with delight_] And he who ate so much!... He who ate so much! He will have his food, bread and water, hung above his head, and he will leap to get it down, whilst others will dig holes beneath his feet to prevent his touching it.

PAKH. Because his crimes are found to outnumber his merits....

SOKITI. And we--we--say--what will happen to us?

PAKH. We shall be found innocent by the two and forty judges.

SOKITI. And after?--after?

PAKH. We shall go to the island of the souls--in Amenti--

SOKITI. Yes, where there will be.... Speak. What shall we have in the island of the souls?

PAKH. Baths of clear water....

SOKITI [_with loud laughter_] What else ... what else?

PAKH. Ears of corn of two arms' length.... [_Laughing_].

SOKITI [_laughing_] Yes, ears of corn, of two arms' length.

PAKH. And bread of maize, and beans....

SOKITI. And blows of the stick--say, will there be blows of the stick?

PAKH. Never again.

SOKITI. Never again....

PAKH. I shall forget all I have endured.

SOKITI. I shall be famished; and I shall be able to eat until my hunger is gone ... every day!

BITIOU. And I--I shall be tall, with straight strong legs, like the rest of the world.

PAKH. That will be better than having been prince on the earth.

_They laugh. The Steward appears._