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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76242 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE BELOVED OF HATHOR
+ AND THE SHRINE OF THE
+ GOLDEN HAWK. ❦ BY
+ FLORENCE FARR AND
+ O. SHAKESPEAR. ❦ ❦
+
+
+
+
+ ALL COPYRIGHTS AND ACTING RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHORS
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+ THE BELOVED OF HATHOR, AND
+ THE SHRINE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK.
+
+ BY FLORENCE FARR, AUTHOR OF “THE DANCING
+ FAUN,” &c., AND O. SHAKESPEAR, AUTHOR OF
+ “RUPERT ARMSTRONG,” “LOVE ON A MORTAL
+ LEASE,” &c. ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦
+
+ ------------------------------------------------
+
+❦ The action takes place in the first play on the roof of the Temple of
+Hathor, and in the second in a cave of Mount Bakhua, the home of the
+Metal-working Fire Magicians near Sinai. But the Authors wish the plays
+to be represented, not scenically but decoratively, with a simple white
+background or pale sienna hangings, so arranged that the figures of the
+actors, moving across the stage, may reproduce the effect of the ancient
+frescoes or illuminated papyri.
+
+
+ _THE ARGUMENT OF THE BELOVED OF HATHOR._
+
+❦ The scene is in the Temple of Hathor, at the time of the expulsion of
+the Hyksos, about 1500 B.C. Aahmes, the beloved of Hathor, has for many
+years been watched over by her High Priestess, in order that through him
+the great spiritual kingdom of Egypt might be restored. His final choice
+is between this great destiny and the mere splendour of material
+victory.
+
+
+ _CHARACTERS IN THE BELOVED OF HATHOR._
+
+❦ _Ranoutet_, the chief priestess of Hathor, and of royal blood, aged
+thirty-five. She wears a long black wig with a double fillet; a large
+square of cloth of gold is wound closely round her figure under the
+arms; she also wears a thin striped gauze overdress, an enamelled and
+beaded collar, sandals, and armlets. She puts on a vulture-crown during
+the war dance.
+
+❦ _Nouferou_, the daughter of a man of noble rank and of a wandering
+woman, who deserted him after the birth of her child. Nouferou inherits
+the wild instincts of her mother. She is seventeen years old. Her dress
+is white and gold. The wig is short and surmounted by a cone and lily.
+
+❦ _Aahmes_, a warrior chief of the Red Race, afterwards becomes king. He
+is in the prime of life. He wears an embroidered waistcloth over a thin
+cotton shirt, a cloth helmet, and carries a spear.
+
+❦ _Ouny_, a child attendant of the Temple of Hathor. Dressed in white.
+
+❦ The Chanters and Musicians do not appear.
+
+ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦
+
+
+ _THE ARGUMENT OF THE SHRINE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK._
+
+❦ The scene is in a cave on Mount Bakhua, near Sinai, about 4000 B.C.
+Gebuel, the Magician of Fire and Metals, makes a talisman to Heru in the
+form of a Golden Hawk, in the hope of overwhelming the power of Zozer,
+King of Egypt, builder of the Step-pyramid at Sakkara. Zozer finds this
+out, and sends his daughter, who is skilled in the sombre mysteries of
+Isis, to win for Egypt the Golden Hawk, giver of exultation of heart.
+
+
+ _CHARACTERS IN THE SHRINE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK._
+
+❦ _Gebuel_, a magician who has earned a great reputation for power in
+the brotherhood. He wears a richly decorated robe of red and gold,
+sandals, and a conical headdress with hawks’ eyes on either side of it.
+His age is forty-five.
+
+❦ _The Priest of the Floods and Storms_ wears a robe and symbolic
+headdress of blue and green.
+
+❦ _The Priest of the Harvests and Famines_ is also dressed symbolically.
+
+❦ _Nectoris_, daughter of Zozer, King of Egypt, is dressed as a member
+of a religious order; her undergarment and wig are of the ancient
+Egyptian pattern, but she is completely veiled in a thick gauze drapery.
+She is twenty-six years old.
+
+❦ _The Ka_ has the same kind of dress. She is the double or other self
+of Nectoris. The Ka is frequently represented on ancient frescoes as a
+smaller figure walking behind the king or queen. It represents the
+subtle body, and supports and strengthens the more material body.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+ THE BELOVED OF HATHOR
+
+
+❦ _The play is to be acted against a plain white backcloth with pale
+brown hangings on either side, striped to resemble the decoration of a
+papyrus roll._
+
+❦ _Ranoutet is lying on a couch with lions’ heads. L., an altar with
+cauldron, crown, and incense spoon. A long fan in corner. Ranoutet holds
+some lotuses in Egyptian fashion._
+
+❦ _Ouny enters with a festival basket on her head containing lotuses and
+conical loaves._
+
+ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Here are the offerings to the setting sun. (_She places offerings
+ on altar and comes forward._) It is the last many brave men will
+ see.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Has news arrived? Has the great Aahmes carried out his plan? Has
+ our mighty leader drawn the foes of Egypt into his net?
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Lady of wisdom, it is so. They have bidden me tell you that
+ victory comes with the dawn. The Hyksos, hateful in our land,
+ know nought of our armed men, who lie in wait for them, by order
+ of great Aahmes, along the road which they will follow to reach
+ our city. With the dawn the soldiers of Egypt will rise from
+ their hiding places and slay the Hyksos, and they shall be swept
+ from our land. This is the message of Aahmes to you, O lady of
+ wisdom.
+
+ (_Ouny kneels and touches the earth with her head. Ranoutet
+ rises and blesses her._)
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Dear messenger from the greatest in Egypt, may the gods protect
+ you, and may the gods protect Aahmes, now warrior, priest in
+ future years, the light of all our hearts.
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Great Aahmes is indeed a king of men. The leaders of the people
+ love him above all others. He stands almost as near their hearts
+ as you do, lady.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Ah, yes, he is blessed from his birth. The foretelling of this
+ victory has been long in our ears; when it comes to pass we of
+ the temple will receive him with great honour. He is the beloved
+ of Hathor, and her will has been his pleasure. If he can
+ withstand temptation in the supreme hour of earthly triumph, she
+ will receive him into the great mysteries.
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Can Aahmes still be tempted—Aahmes, the lover of Hathor?
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ The hour is at hand which is to try his strength of purpose. The
+ goddess will give us the victory, that our sacred land may be
+ purged of the people of Asia, who have worked in her evil and
+ uncleanness; but the soul of Aahmes stands alone in the last
+ trial, and can know no strength but its own. No name but the name
+ of Aahmes can be invoked; no power but the power of Aahmes can
+ prevail.
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Lady of wisdom, terror pierces me like a spear. Can it be that
+ the goddess will take back her great gift even after his hands
+ are raised to receive it? Can the goddess turn from her beloved?
+ and can Aahmes be an outcast from the sanctuary?
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ These things are hidden in the heart of Hathor—the heart of mercy
+ and justice. To her mercy we commend him; to her justice we give
+ him up without fear. O Hathor, great diviner of beauty, who
+ rulest in those places where desire fails, and the substance of
+ human life fades and passes into eternal truth; O Hathor, guard
+ thy servant and do well to him.
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Will you not aid him, mighty priestess?
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ I will do all that is permitted. Bring me the secret mirror and
+ the Lybian wax, the holy herbs and oil. I will burn incense from
+ all the corners of the world, and I will have lustral water and
+ the holy wands of power, the sacred Natron essence of the gods,
+ who alone can purify all shameful things by their touch. With
+ these I will bless great Aahmes and all his works once more. And
+ I will send up an incantation in the hour of battle, before which
+ all the dreadful gods of Asia shall be bound because their
+ worshippers have made our land unclean with going to and fro.
+
+ _Ouny goes, saluting and muttering the formula_,
+ I go in peace; may peace go with me!
+
+ (_Ranoutet puts on a crown bound with Urcari snakes and
+ faces the place of the sun. She pours out a libation._)
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ O Ra Toum, thou enterest the kingdom of our Lady of the West
+ beyond the holy mountain Mannu amid flaming orisons. Thou fallest
+ into peace between the guardian serpents who are on either side
+ of thee. Thou art one with the sun-disk in the West, and its
+ powers have their place behind thee. Thy way divides the heavens,
+ and the gods of the North and the South bow before thee. I, too,
+ bow before thee, O creator of the gods; before thee who art king
+ over the souls dwelling in the circle of thy path. The blessed
+ one receives thee into the deep shadows of her embrace as thou
+ enterest into the mountain of the West.
+
+ (_She burns incense. Ouny returns with a magic mirror, wax,
+ cymbals, and serpent wands. Ranoutet takes beeswax and begins
+ to model it into shape._)
+
+ _Voice outside._
+ Will the great priestess Ranoutet receive the warrior chief
+ Aahmes?
+
+ (_Ranoutet hastily takes off the ceremonial crown, and
+ directs Ouny to cover the altar, and goes out. She re-enters,
+ after Ouny has done what is necessary, followed by Aahmes
+ carrying Nouferou. Ranoutet helps him lay her on the couch._)
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ Her heart is silent, she has seen men slain.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ She seems of noble birth; how is it that she went unattended?
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ The gods alone can tell. She is the Lady Nouferou. I found her
+ helpless in the hands of ruffians far from her home. Her father’s
+ palace is an hour’s journey hence. I cannot take her there
+ to-night, and I come to ask you to shelter her.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ She is known to you?
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ I have fought under her father’s leadership; and she was still a
+ child when I last feasted at his palace. How she came to this
+ adventure I can in no way tell.
+
+ (_Ranoutet restores Nouferou. Nouferou recovers and holds
+ out her hands to Aahmes, not seeing Ranoutet._)
+
+ _Nouferou_ (_to Aahmes, who kneels by her side_).
+ You killed men for my sake. Oh, I am afraid! I see their hideous
+ faces like beasts of prey! their claws clutch at my heart! Oh,
+ save me from this horror!
+
+ (_She throws herself into his arms._)
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_with anxiety_).
+ Are the dead men still lying in the street?
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ I had no eyes to see what the crowd did with them.
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_crosses to the door_).
+ I will send mourners to give notice of the dead. Until they have
+ been purified no help can come to Lady Nouferou. (_Exit
+ muttering_) I go in peace; may peace go with me!
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Where am I? Who is that stern-faced priestess?
+
+ _Aahmes_ (_rising_).
+ She is the great Priestess Ranoutet, of the blood royal—the
+ wisest of the devotees. She is so near the hearts of the gods
+ that they will do all things at her behest, and Egypt has never
+ known famine, plague, or defeat since she first served them; and
+ when the war is over and the new dynasty established she will be
+ queen.
+
+ _Nouferou_ (_sadly_).
+ She will be queen and you will be king. She can choose no other
+ consort.
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ No man may dare desire such a fate unless the gods decree it.
+
+ _Nouferou_ (_walks across_).
+ Ah, no! I was forgetting. Love is not love among the priests. I
+ was forgetting the fierce laws of the gods, who stand between the
+ lovers holding the sceptre of ritual, and at each cry of nature
+ sternly denying!
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ And yet they say that the divine love which is given to the
+ Children of Wisdom, that their hearts may lie poised between the
+ two infinities of life and death, is greater than the earthly
+ love, for it is the servant of life and the lord of death. (_He
+ sits on the end of the couch._) But tell me how you left your
+ home and came unattended to the city.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ I was forbidden to leave the palace. My father punishes—punishes
+ like the gods—and stands always denying me all joy in life. I was
+ a rebel and ran out alone, evading my old nurse. I longed to see
+ the soldiers and hear the clash of arms, and hear the war chant;
+ for I am told, before a battle there is a wonderous dance no
+ woman may see, when those about to die deliver up their souls to
+ Maut, the Vulture-Mother and Avenger.
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ Hush, these are mysteries of which none may speak.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ I burn for knowledge, for the freedom of a bird upon the wing. I
+ am weary of the speech of the wise, who have not wisdom; who
+ would tell me that Egyptian women must always be discreet and
+ secret. I hear crying in me the blood of my mother, who was no
+ Egyptian, but a wanderer. It spoke in her, and she listened to
+ its wooing as to a lover; and she forsook my father, and, leaving
+ me with him, she came back no more.
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ Do you forget what fate awaited the wanderer?
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ A short life my mother had. I, too, would live here for a little
+ while, then go to join the shining spirits outside the walls of
+ heaven. I do not desire old age and ugliness in Egypt, nor the
+ great wisdom of the gods in heaven. To be always beautiful and
+ young is enough.
+
+ (_Aahmes rises, works round the back to R._)
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_re-enters, muttering_).
+ I come in peace; may peace come with me. (_Comes forward._) The
+ rites for the slain are being carried out. Rest now, Lady
+ Nouferou, and let the little Ouny fan you and call about you your
+ own attendant spirits; for the spirits of the dead have passed to
+ their own place.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ I am well; I need no rest.
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_firmly_).
+ Rest, Lady Nouferou.
+
+ (_Nouferou lies on the couch, and Ouny fans her with long
+ feather fan._)
+
+ _Aahmes_ (_to himself_).
+ It were easy to die young, and live among the golden nets of
+ heaven—to die and drift like the Hammametu dancing in the rays of
+ the sun—to have neither thought nor human care, nor the stress of
+ human life.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Do you forget Egypt, Aahmes? Would you have the destiny of those
+ formless souls, whose little light flickers through the one short
+ life they know, and then the rest is darkness? Is it in vain you
+ have become part of your country, dedicated to her tradition;
+ dedicated for ever to her destiny? Egypt has claimed her son, and
+ Egypt is no foster-mother whose claim can be put lightly aside.
+ There is no choice for her worshippers, for to fail in her
+ service means death to the soul.
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ Ah! Ranoutet, I know the terror of the second death, and my heart
+ is Egypt’s! My heart longs for Egypt! As I have fought for Egypt
+ in the past, so I will live for Egypt in the future! Is not such
+ service easy when she speaks to me through you, the greatest
+ priestess within the memory of the most ancient scribes? Give me
+ your blessing, for we have to do great work to-night.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Let us go into the sanctuary together, for Hathor has heard my
+ invocation. She will receive you as her minister. After the
+ battle fought for Egypt comes the enlightenment. Then comes the
+ supreme vision. This flesh shall fall from you. You shall be no
+ more the warrior of Egypt, but shall know yourself to be the Lord
+ of Space and Being! Your soul shall tremble and rejoice at her
+ own image looming out of the darkness of what you now call life!
+ The light of the world shall be revealed to you amid the clash of
+ the worlds which shall own you their master, O lord of that which
+ has no end and no beginning!
+
+ _A Priest chanting without._
+
+ Flame round my crown the fiery snakes
+ About me and around.
+ The chantress sings, the sistrum shakes,
+ In symphony of sound.
+ Fire from the gods a lightning makes,
+ Earth’s thundrous depths resound.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Accept the portent and receive the Yeoiret crown.
+
+ (_Aahmes kneels and is crowned by Ranoutet._)
+
+ To thee the earth, to thee the power,
+ The life and strength be given!
+ The scarab rests upon the flower!
+ The veil of the shrine is riven!
+ The stars are falling, for the hour
+ Sounds when the earth meets heaven.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ You hear the sacred hymn. The moment is propitious. Come to the
+ shrine of the goddess. To-night the battle for your soul must be
+ fought and won!
+
+ (_Aahmes follows her out. In the meantime Nouferou has been
+ watching them intently. She springs up and seizes the child,
+ gazing intently into its face as she speaks._)
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Ouny, Ouny, do you love me?
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Yes.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Listen now, Ouny; my little Ouny. Do you love me very much?
+
+ (_She takes it in her arms._)
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Yes.
+
+ _Nouferou_ (_covers it with kisses_).
+ Now tell me how much you love me.
+
+ _Ouny._
+ I think you a very pretty lady.
+
+ _Nouferou_ (_laughs and clasps the child_).
+ Quick! now tell me what is the ceremony the great Priestess
+ Ranoutet performs to-night. Tell me, where will it take place?
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Here.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Tell me, will she make images of the enemies of Aahmes, and so
+ contrive by her magical arts that Aahmes shall overcome the
+ hateful Hyksos?
+
+ (_Ouny nods._)
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Will she make a mighty image of Aahmes and small images of the
+ Hyksos, and will she place the foot of Aahmes on their heads, and
+ will she place nooses round their necks, and give the cords into
+ the hands of Aahmes, that he may hold their lives in the hollow
+ of his hands?
+
+ (_Ouny nods again._)
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Fetch me some sacred wax, dear little Ouny, and I will help in
+ the ceremony. I am well skilled in magic, and would gladly aid
+ the mighty priestess in these simple arts.
+
+ _Ouny_ (_rises and goes to the covered altar_).
+ All things await the Lady Ranoutet. There is much wax, and I will
+ light the fire; it will help you to do the work more quickly.
+
+ (_The child lights the cauldron from the lamp which Ranoutet
+ brings in with her. Ranoutet returns wearily. It is dark. She
+ sinks on couch in profound thought._)
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Lady, I have some simple skill in magic, and if you work to-night
+ in the sacred Libyan wax, I pray you let me help you. I long to
+ try, and in some measure repay the noble warrior chief.
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_carelessly_).
+ Hush! I am thinking. Anything you will. But I must rest in peace,
+ to be ready for work at the hour of battle. The soldiers have
+ performed the sacred dance: the final preparations are going on:
+ they are stealing silently out of the town to reinforce the
+ leading troops, which even now surround the Hyksos. Aahmes will
+ lead the attack at dawn; and dawn will be the signal for the
+ watchers of the night!
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Sleep, lady, and I will mould the waxen images. One, half a cubit
+ high for Aahmes; and two, one finger’s breadth in height to
+ represent the Hyksos leaders.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ That is the right proportion. I thank you for your service.
+
+ (_Goes out with lamp, which Ouny gives her, in opposite
+ direction to main entrance._)
+
+ _Nouferou_
+ (_takes wax and gives a small portion of it to Ouny_). Go, child,
+ and make two little images of the hideous Hyksos chiefs: copy
+ them from the walls in the great court of the Temple and bind
+ them with cords. Then sit at the foot of the stairs and play your
+ psaltery softly, and I will call you when your mistress wakes.
+
+ _Ouny._
+ Thanks, noble lady! I go in peace; may peace go with me! (_Goes
+ out._)
+
+ (_Nouferou takes cauldron of fire; and wax. She kneels by
+ the altar and models the form of a man; as she does so she
+ says_:—)
+
+ O noble Aahmes, may Nou protect thy hair!
+ O noble Aahmes, may Ra protect thine eyes!
+
+ (_Soft music begins._)
+
+ O noble Aahmes, may Anubis protect thy lips!
+ O noble Aahmes, may Isis protect thy neck!
+ O noble Aahmes, may Selket protect thy body!
+ O noble Aahmes, may Neith protect thine arms!
+ O noble Aahmes, may Nut protect thy legs!
+ O noble Aahmes, may Ptah protect thy feet!
+
+ I mould thee, Knoume moulds thee in beauty and strength, and
+ nourishes thee in the fields of the blessed! Heart of Aahmes,
+ thou art the dwelling of the creator of Aahmes. What thou doest,
+ he will do; what thou lovest, he will love!
+
+ (_She places statue on altar, and slowly moves round it,
+ waving her arms. She stands before the wax image and chants_:)
+
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, follow me
+ Where the poppy fields are white.
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, sleep the sleep
+ Deep with dreams of love’s delight.
+
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, follow me
+ Where there shines a hidden star.
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, turn thy feet
+ Where the golden dreamings are.
+
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, follow me
+ To the magic fields of sleep.
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, pluck the flower
+ That it work a spell more deep.
+
+ (_Dances round the altar, then says_:)
+
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, I am love,
+ Calling loudly in thy heart.
+ Aahmes, Aahmes, I am love;
+ Never more shall I depart.
+
+ _Ouny_ (_running in_).
+ I must awake the noble Ranoutet. Great Aahmes is below.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Hush! I will awaken her. Go you and bid him enter.
+
+ (_Ouny goes out. Nouferou puts out the fires. It gets very
+ dark. Aahmes enters, and she meets him._)
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ The Priestess Ranoutet bid me watch that none disturbed her body,
+ while she, in sleep, sought counsel of the great Ancestral One,
+ the ancient power that watches over Egypt.
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ No matter—I came drawn by some desire—I would speak to you, I
+ know not why.
+
+ _Nouferou_ (_puts out brazier_).
+ Come rest a little, you cannot start till dawn. Your senses
+ wander for want of sleep. Sit here. (_Business. She presently
+ walks round him, humming the air of the incantation softly, and
+ moving her arms as in the dance._)
+
+ Sleep, Aahmes, sleep and dream. (_He sleeps._)
+ Dream, Aahmes, dream and love. (_He gazes at her._)
+
+ (_She kneels on the end of the couch._)
+
+ Love, Aahmes, love and live.
+
+ (_He holds out his arms._)
+
+ Live, Aahmes, live and dream.
+
+ (_She flings herself into his arms._)
+
+ _Aahmes_ (_embracing her_).
+ Nouferou!
+
+ (_Men-at-arms chanting: the sound of marching troops._)
+
+ Gather the men-at-arms! the battle breaks,
+ The weary waiting days are over.
+ Let each man rush to battle as a lover.
+ The dawn with clarion note awakes.
+ Crowned with her radiance on our earth we stand,
+ Tried warriors of a sacred land,
+ Which trampling thunder shakes.
+
+ (_Ranoutet enters; goes towards the altar; sees Aahmes and
+ Nouferou on the couch._)
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_in a loud voice_).
+ Aahmes! the dawn! the dawn!
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ What is the dawn to me? My life is here.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Egypt is crying to her son!
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ Egypt is here.
+
+ (_Ranoutet wrings her hands._)
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ I am the dawn, and I am Egypt! Beyond the circle of my arms lies
+ the night. I am the dawn, and I am Egypt! When I speak with my
+ beloved the voices of all the world are hushed, and he hears me
+ only.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ O Hathor, look upon this image which I hold in the flames, that
+ the spell may fall from him in whose semblance it is made, and he
+ may be undefiled before thee.
+
+ (_The chant continues._)
+
+ Drums batter, cymbals clash, our hearts and feet
+ Responding to one splendid measure,
+ Wrapt with the glory of our mighty pleasure!
+ Standards on high our enemies to greet!
+ Answering the dawn’s light with our eyes aglow,
+ Serene and proud and passionate we go,
+ Treading the pasture sweet.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ The banners are unfurled, standards are raised on high.
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ Who is it that cries in the night?
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Listen to my voice, O my beloved!
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ O Hathor, let the spells woven by this woman dissolve before
+ thee, thou flaming eye of Heru. Let them fall from thy servant,
+ that he may stand upright and cast them away as the soul casts
+ away mortality.
+
+ (_She reverses the dance. The chant continues_:)
+
+ No man of us can be disheartened now;
+ Death have we challenged by this trial;
+ Before the hosts of death we dare denial.
+ Swift mother of our arms, do thou,
+ Who gavest us our land and the bright sun,
+ Give us the perfecting of work begun;
+ Only to thee we bow.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ The troops are in array!
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ What am I dreaming?
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ The glamour of the witch-girl is upon you; your eyes are sealed
+ by her kiss. She has breathed the spirit of her dream into you.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ I am the dawn, and I am Egypt. Sleep on, beloved, for our dreams
+ are a reality and the world a shadow.
+
+ (_The chant continues._)
+
+ O heart’s blood of remembrance! Long ago
+ This land upheld our ancient fathers,
+ And for this land, your land, our land now gathers
+ One fellowship against the foe.
+ The spears flash! Be they as your mothers’ eyes.
+ The trump sounds! Hearken to your fathers’ cries!
+ March you to battle so![1]
+
+-----
+
+Footnote 1:
+
+ N.B.—This poem is largely quoted from “The Coming of War,” by Lionel
+ Johnson.
+
+-----
+
+ _Aahmes_
+ (_starting away while Nouferou clings to him_). Your eyes are
+ demon’s eyes! Your arms are chains about my neck! I am lost!
+
+ (_He shakes her off._)
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ The spirit of Temptation has awakened in this girl. Through her
+ Hathor has tried your strength of purpose, and it has failed you.
+ Go now to the battle, and pray to the mercy of Hathor that she
+ may use your arm to strike the Hyksos, so that you fail not in
+ this also.
+
+ _Aahmes_
+ (_cries_) I am lost! I am lost! (_As he goes voices outside._)
+ Aahmes! mighty Aahmes!
+
+ _Ranoutet_
+ (_prays_). May Aahmes go forth like the panther of the South! May
+ Aahmes go forth under the ægis of Hathor in the radiance of her
+ light! May Aahmes not forget Egypt, Egypt the mother of the
+ mighty! May Aahmes remember her in her need, that she may requite
+ him!
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Woe, woe unto Egypt for the pain she has wrought!
+ She has warred against love, and love shall abandon her!
+ Wisdom is very powerful, but she cannot conquer love!
+ Wisdom is immortal, but love will destroy her works!
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Silence! before the sacrilege of your speech reaches to heaven
+ and awakes the wrath of Hathor, which, shaking the four pillars
+ of the world, would crush you into dust. Love must serve and
+ wisdom rule; but you would put love above all! Your love would
+ have put out the light that shines from the glory of Egypt, and
+ serve the cause of Egypt’s foes! You would have shamed Aahmes to
+ all time that love might rule his soul one little hour!
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ I would see Aahmes dead—dead and dishonoured before I’d give him
+ up to you, Ranoutet!
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Hush, hush! even now the battle begins! (_Enter Ouny._) Give me
+ the magic mirror. (_She looks in it._) Aahmes is in his chariot
+ leading the attack. Help me, Ouny.
+
+ (_Nouferou sits on the couch with her head bowed._)
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_to Ouny_).
+ Lay the Hyksos’ chiefs under Aahmes’ feet, and when the sistrum
+ is shaken and the lute is plucked by the chanters and musicians
+ in the temple court, the Lady Nouferou will help you wave the
+ holy wands around him, so that the immortal serpents, guardians
+ of our land, may weave the web of protection round him and round
+ our troops.
+
+ (_Ouny arranges the images as in Egyptian triumphs described
+ above by Nouferou. Ranoutet holds out serpent wands to
+ Nouferou, who refuses with a gesture._)
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_pleadingly_).
+ To-night the goddess strives with the destroyer for Aahmes’ soul!
+ Think! even now the Threefold Terror may devour him!
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ If Aahmes dies now he is mine—mine on the golden borders of
+ heaven; if he lives he is yours and Hathor’s.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ If Aahmes dies in sin, faithless to Hathor, his soul must die the
+ second death! There will be no light life for him on the horizons
+ with you for playfellow.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ I will not believe it!
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ That is the law of Hathor. Her servant must be faithful, or he
+ dies body and soul, and his name is trodden out by the Sebau in
+ the deepest cavern of Duat.
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Woe! woe! Desolation, oh desolation! Has Hathor no mercy?
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Have you had mercy in your jealous rage? To the battle! to the
+ battle! Do as I do, and lift up your heart in prayer that Egypt
+ may conquer, and that Aahmes may conquer in his mortal combat!
+ (_pause_). And listen to my voice, if Aahmes dies your life shall
+ be the forfeit! (_Seizes her throat._) The traitress has short
+ trial in time of war!
+
+ _Nouferou._
+ Mercy! mercy!
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_contemptuously_).
+ Mercy! see that your actions are fit for justice. (_The music in
+ the temple court is heard._) Quick, to the serpent dance!
+ (_Holding out the serpent wands._) Here, take the wands of power
+ and weave the magic cord.
+
+ _The priests chant outside._ Yeioret!
+
+ (_Nouferou and Ouny perform a dance._)
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Now call the spirits of the earth and sky!
+
+ _The priests chant._ Yakhu pout! Yakhu taw!
+
+ (_Nouferou and Ouny dance._)
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ Now clash the cymbals (_presents them ceremonially_), and I will
+ call on the vultures of death—swift servants of the mother of our
+ arms!
+
+ _The priests chant._ Maut! Maut!
+
+ (_Nouferou and Ouny dance and clash cymbals. Drums,
+ sistrums, and cries of victory rising to a great clamour
+ without._)
+
+ _Nouferou_
+ (_seizes the image of Aahmes and shrieks_). Then let Aahmes die!
+
+ (_She shatters it on the ground and rushes out, Ouny hastens
+ to replace it._)
+
+ _Ranoutet_ (_sternly_).
+ Go, bring the meaning of this clamour. (_Ouny goes._)
+
+ _Ranoutet_
+ (_gathering together the pieces of the image_). This deed brings
+ judgment, for it shows that the hour is come when the Truth that
+ is eternal and the Truth that is of time will divide the ways of
+ Aahmes. As the semblance of Aahmes is broken, so shall the soul
+ of Aahmes be broken, and the victory be to the flesh alone. O
+ Lady Hathor! thou hast given this deed as a sign and an omen.
+ Nouferou has shattered the semblance of Aahmes, and has broken up
+ the waters of his soul! They no longer reflect the divine image;
+ but the troubled fantasies of love and human life. Verily Thy
+ judgments are keen and sudden as the lightnings in heaven, and
+ the thunders of Thy punishments make the earth shake in fear! The
+ ways wherein Thou comest and goest are tremendous, and no foot
+ but Thine may tread them!
+
+ _Ouny_ (_returning_).
+ Through the crowd I saw the father of Nouferou driving in his
+ chariot with white horses, and he stopped before the gates of the
+ temple and asked for her, and she came out from between the gates
+ doing obeisance to him. She is white and tall, and the crowd
+ rejoiced to see her; but her father had no smile for her, and
+ took her into his chariot and made his way through the people,
+ the horses plunging and scattering them; and I saw her no more.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ That is well; let him look to her.
+
+ (_Shouts of_ Aahmes! _outside_.)
+
+ _Ouny._
+ The people shout because great Aahmes is in the midst of them.
+ Their voice is like the hoarse note of the marsh-birds. He comes
+ that you should bless the victory.
+
+ (_Enter Aahmes. Kneels at Ranoutet’s feet._)
+
+ _Aahmes._
+ O Priestess of Hathor, smite me across the mouth that I may be
+ dumb, for I am not worthy to speak in the temple! Take away my
+ ears from me, that I may no longer hear the voice of Hathor; that
+ terrible voice which carries judgment: for I have failed in the
+ great trial.
+
+ _Ranoutet._
+ This plant of failure, Aahmes, which you have sown, bears a
+ flower which to the outward seeming is of splendid colour and a
+ sweet smell, and its name is Power. Put it upon your heart, and
+ be strong to rule our people; but know that such a blossom is
+ arid, and holds no promise of immortal fruit. Have power and the
+ ruling of the kingdom, but have sorrow also, and eternal grief;
+ because the doors of Hathor’s sanctuary open to you no more.
+
+
+ SLOW CURTAIN.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+ THE SHRINE OF THE
+ GOLDEN HAWK. ❦ ❦
+
+❦ _The Priest of the Waters is seated. Enter the Priest of the
+Harvests._
+
+ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ Our Master finishes his work to-night.
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._
+ At last! Each day his spirit becomes more charged with lonely
+ suspicion. I doubt sometimes if this act of faith will bear good
+ fruit for us.
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ Do not fear. Gebuel, being a great magician and our master, has
+ promised us the victory. Even the Majesty of Egypt, whose name
+ shakes our land, is to be overcome.
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._
+ Gebuel shall overcome Zozer, the enemy of our arts.
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ Hark! did you not hear the distant thunder? Which of us has dared
+ name the king of Egypt for these many years?
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._
+ Pah! He, whom I have named, is the enemy of our arts. When
+ I cursed the land of Egypt with a great flood, he opened
+ watercourses, and the evil became a good, and the desert
+ was no longer waste.
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ The curse of famine, which I laid upon the land of Egypt, was
+ unavailing. I cursed the land when he, whom you have named, was
+ using the strength of his people to build the pyramid of six
+ heights and four sides as a tower of magic; for it is raised
+ above that chamber which lies empty, hidden deep in the earth,
+ waiting for the divine secret which is to manifest in its depths
+ and make full its vacancy.
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._
+ Curse the king over Egypt, for he has wrought so that our power
+ falls from us.
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ Curse the king over Egypt, for he has annulled the ancient law to
+ which all the works of men have been obedient! He has made bread
+ from the substance of heaven; wherewith he fed his people when it
+ was my will that they should starve.
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._
+ To-night great Gebuel will bless the talisman of Heru, for the
+ power of Heru is supreme: and if his godhead is on our side, not
+ even the Egyptian himself can work against our will.
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ The fire of Heru will take the form of the Golden Hawk; and his
+ wings shall stretch out, and he shall hover over the secret place
+ which Gebuel, blessed be he, has made of precious stones and rare
+ metals. And our ancient glory shall be given to us once more.
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._
+ So long as the Golden Hawk is with us, victory is with us.
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ Only the taking from us of the Golden Hawk can take victory from
+ us.
+
+ _Gebuel_ (_without_).
+ Ruler of the rivers and the floods, prepare for the coming of the
+ Hawk of the North!
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._
+ Here I obey, great Gebuel.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Ruler of the Harvests and the Famines, prepare for the coming of
+ the Hawk of the North!
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._
+ Here I obey, great Gebuel.
+
+ (_Gebuel enters, carrying the enamelled pectoral of the
+ Golden Hawk._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Let the ruler of the floods and of the storms stand on my right
+ hand.
+
+ (_The Priest of Waters brings libation vase to his right._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Let the ruler of the harvest and the famines stand on my left
+ hand.
+
+ (_The Priest of Harvests brings corn and a cone of bread to
+ his left._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Take the perfected talisman of the Golden Hawk between your hands
+ while I invoke Heru, who rests upon the central pillar of the
+ world! Heru, whose four servers uphold the shining adamantine
+ heavens! Heru, who has sent forth his retinue to the uttermost
+ limits of the earth, and remains solitary in the midst whilst
+ they wind the magic cord on the circle of the wheel. Heru, the
+ axletree of flame, the source of the fire of life!
+
+ (_The priests each hold one side of the pectoral while
+ Gebuel rests his hands on their shoulders and prays._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ O Ancient, before all time! Supreme Ruler over the work of That
+ Mighty Countenance which speaks the Word of Life! Pour thy golden
+ fire into this Golden Hawk now coming into being. I have made
+ thee in the image of the mountain hawk which thou hast chosen to
+ be thy symbol because of his fearless eye, which alone can
+ affront the eye of heaven. Thou hast commanded, and I have made
+ thy visible image in unchanging gold. May thy chosen ones rejoice
+ in its presence, feeling the spirit of peace resting upon them.
+ (_Removes his hands from the shoulders of the priests._) Lift the
+ bolt of the doors of the sanctuary.
+
+ (_Priests go out. Gebuel holds the pectoral on high. Priests
+ return._)
+
+ _Priests._
+ It is done, mighty one.
+
+ (_Gebuel stands before the door. The priests kneel on either
+ side of him._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Hail in the holy place of thine Epiphany, solitary one! O thou
+ who restest on the star in the centre of the Northern heavens!
+ That star which alone is immovable. Thou art the celestial abode
+ of our god, Star of the North! Divine Hawk, hovering in the blue
+ night, dark as lapis lazuli! Immovable eye, in the midst of the
+ wheel of the stars, send down a ray from thy splendid solitude
+ upon this hawk—image of thee, thou solitary one, resting upon the
+ empty air, immovable as thou art in the midst of heaven. Let the
+ Priest of the Harvest and the Famine do homage before Heru! (_He
+ prostrates himself._) Let the Priest of the Floods and the Storms
+ do homage before Heru! (_He prostrates himself._) Hail, Hawk of
+ Gold! I give thy symbol into thine own keeping. Hail to thee,
+ resting over the Star of the North!
+
+ (_Veils himself and enters the sanctuary. The priests rise
+ and replace their symbols upon the altar._)
+
+ _The Priest of Harvests._ So long as Heru in the form of the
+ Golden Hawk is hidden within the shrine, victory is hidden
+ between our hands.
+
+ _The Priest of Waters._ The Golden Hawk is hidden within the
+ shrine; and victory is hidden between our hands.
+
+ (_Gebuel re-enters trembling. The priests support him._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ I am stricken by his eyes; I am stricken by the eyes of Heru.
+
+ (_They lead him to the seat._)
+
+ _Gebuel_ (_staring in front of him_).
+ The Star of the North shines beyond the open gates; but some
+ strong hand holds me back. I have a strange knowledge of one
+ coming—whose coming will bring darkness. (_Tries to stand._) I
+ cannot stand. Close the doors quickly. Drop the bolt. (_This is
+ done._) Bring me the sweet-smelling fire that I may breathe it
+ and find strength. (_They burn incense. He gradually recovers._)
+ Bring me the stones of wisdom, that I may understand this
+ portent. (_They bring two stones._) Let the secret be read and
+ the sign given. Speak! let me know the riddle. (_He holds the
+ stones to his ears. He says to the priests_) Leave me, for the
+ answer is adverse. There is a secret evil even at the doors of
+ this holy place. Go cleanse yourselves with rites till I summon
+ you again before me. (_The attendant priests go out._) O Heru,
+ dost thou demand that a victim should be sacrificed? How have I
+ unwittingly sinned against thee? Thou sayest, “One must be made
+ desolate.” Someone is to be made desolate.
+
+ (_Nectoris knocks outside._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Who is there?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ A wanderer.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ There is food and shelter for all a little to the westward of
+ this place.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I ask no food for the body. I come to feed the soul on wisdom.
+ (_Gebuel opens the door._) Hail to you, guardian of the
+ mysteries.
+
+ (_She salutes him in the Egyptian manner._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ What wisdom do you seek?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ The wisdom of the Golden Hawk.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Who told you of this place?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ In my dreams I went into the forest where the bronze and gold
+ serpents coil like flames amid the leaves, and they made me wise
+ with great sayings, and the spirits of power passed into my
+ spirit; for the forest was the forest of knowledge. But when I
+ held the image of the Hawk exalted on the standard of the crossed
+ pole before the serpents, they paled and grew dim in the presence
+ of a strength greater than theirs; and as I looked the wood
+ became silent and empty, and the creatures of the wisdom, which
+ is of time, faded away.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ The serpent is wisdom from the beginning of time, but the Golden
+ Hawk is poised in the immensities between that which has been and
+ the revelation of the last secret.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Even so. I saw before me the Hawk brooding with spread wings in
+ space beyond the worlds, in the midst of the network of the
+ stars; and as its wings moved they fanned the golden denseness of
+ the air, and sparks arose and came and went like luminous winged
+ creatures.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ They are the flames of life.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I saw three towers rising from the head of the bird like a great
+ crown, and from them sprang the souls of the heroes.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Even so. This is one of the greater mysteries.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ From the wings and the heart sprang the souls of the workers, who
+ make beautiful all they touch.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ The heart is the kindling will of the golden one.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ From the feet of the bird came the workers of less skill and
+ cunning, and these make the foundations of the works of beauty,
+ and drift onwards, without the inspiration and the kindling fire.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Where did you learn to discern these mysteries, my daughter?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Since my childhood I have lived among strangers in a place of
+ dreams. I have wandered from land to land searching for wisdom. I
+ have but the sombre knowledge born of time, which is shattered
+ before the final ecstacy. Now my footsteps have brought me to
+ you, O great magician.
+
+ _Gebuel_ (_kindly_).
+ You are welcome.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I have been guided by some star that smiled on my nativity, which
+ was darkened until this day in obedience to a wisdom higher than
+ its own.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Why did you seek for me?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Your spirit springs from the triple crown. You alone can fill my
+ soul, hungering for satisfaction in that wisdom which is beyond,
+ hidden behind the veil. (_Gebuel sighs, feeling conscious of his
+ own difficulties. He is genuine in his interest in Nectoris._)
+ Will you not let me follow you one step beyond the threshold of
+ the golden sanctuary?
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ O child of the serpent wisdom, do you not know that no mortal may
+ look upon the face of Heru and live? Only after the purifications
+ of long silences, long fasts, and constant uplifting of the
+ heart, may one born of the human race purge himself of the
+ perishable substance of the life we know, and exchange it for the
+ imperishable essence of the shining ones. Only after such rites
+ have been performed may you hope to pass through the closed doors
+ of the sanctuary.
+
+ _Nectoris_ (_with passion_).
+ Let me but look upon the door.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ The door is there—your first duty is to keep vigil. But beware of
+ the brightness hidden in the heart of the shrine. To look upon it
+ is to be blind; to be enfolded by its heat is to pass through
+ fires too potent for any human soul.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I will keep vigil.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ You are rash! being young, and do not know that there is a wisdom
+ before which the sun pales and the stars are put out.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Let me begin the vigil that it may be the sooner ended!
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ To watch from this day until your span of earthly life is ended
+ would not be long enough. Be warned, let the shut door remain
+ closed.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Father of Wisdom, put me to the test. I will endure all
+ hardships.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ No hardship is before those who worship Heru. I ask nothing but
+ obedience to my warning. Keep vigil before the door of the
+ sanctuary; the bolts are easy, the secret of secrets is within,
+ but remember the light of flame brings desolation. You are
+ warned.
+
+ _Nectoris_ (_as if in a dream_).
+ “The light shines forth and leaves you desolate.”
+
+ _Gebuel_ (_suddenly becoming suspicious_).
+ The words that were spoken to me out of the stones! Desolate—one
+ to be made desolate! Where have you heard those words?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ They passed through the air as you were speaking.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ The warning is given for the second time! To you the unseen
+ spirits are not dumb. How have you this power?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Great Master, I am but a little child in the presence of your
+ wisdom. I come not to show that I have knowledge, but to gain it
+ by your aid. I have heard the voices of the unseen ones since I
+ was a child, and taken no thought of it.
+
+ (_Gebuel claps his hands. The priests enter._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Set guards about the door, and see that none go in or out this
+ day.
+
+ (_The priests salute and go out._)
+
+ _Gebuel_ (_sardonically_).
+ The secret of all knowledge is within the shrine. The vigil must
+ be long. You will be alone for many hours, and none will enter in
+ to disturb you. Have courage!
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Your look upon me is heavy and cold as stone. O Master, do you
+ deny me the wisdom of the Golden Hawk, for which I ask in all
+ humility?
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Again I say the secret is within the shrine. Keep vigil!
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I am afraid! Your face has become like a mask of stone. The human
+ face is hidden behind it. I am afraid!
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ The secret is within the shrine. Keep vigil till I come again.
+ (_He goes._)
+
+ _Nectoris_ (_shrieks_).
+ This terror kills me! (_She throws off her veil._) Spirit of
+ Zozer my father, I call on you for help! My flesh fails—I cannot
+ move, Father in thy magic shrine, save me! Father in thy magic
+ shrine, reign over me! Father in thy magic shrine, pour thy will
+ into me, for I am powerless alone! Spirit of Zozer my father,
+ help thy child!
+
+ (_She sinks on the floor. The Ka glides in and covers
+ herself with the veil._)
+
+ _The Ka._
+ Look upon me. I am with you. You have begun well, and are worthy
+ of your inheritance. Do not fail now. Have you forgotten your
+ father’s words?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Sister of my soul! they are in my heart for ever.
+
+ _The Ka._
+ Speak them.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ He said, a Golden Hawk has been fashioned by the magicians of
+ Mount Bakhua, and will be hidden by them in a sanctuary. Its
+ capture would bring joy and great knowledge to Egypt. If you, a
+ woman wise with the serpent wisdom, should gain that sanctuary
+ and bring back the amulet, I will give the throne of Egypt to you
+ and to your daughters for ever; that honour may be paid to the
+ woman of splendid courage. And no man shall reign over Egypt, in
+ his own right, from that day.
+
+ _The Ka._
+ So he swore to you. You know what is within this shrine; enter
+ and take the Golden One for your people.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ The face of the Guardian was terrible when he left me, as though
+ he knew I were tempting the gods to my ruin. Can a mortal look on
+ that hidden brightness and live?
+
+ _The Ka._
+ You are not mortal. The pure essence of the gods, whereof your
+ spirit is made, is but veiled with a gossamer of substance. Have
+ not we, O my sister soul, passed together through the flames
+ which cleanse us from mortality? Have I not stripped you naked of
+ that mortal flesh, which gives terror to the whirl of time and to
+ the immensity of the abyss, when your mortal heart died in you,
+ and your spirit dared greatly in those spaces beyond knowledge?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I will cast out trembling from my heart in this hour, and take
+ the strong soul which no passion can shake; that I may enter into
+ the shrine and win the Golden One for my people and the throne of
+ Egypt for myself and my daughters.
+
+ _The Ka._
+ Egypt is great and skilled in august mysteries; and to reign over
+ her and to follow her wisdom is to become equal with the gods;
+ and when the last mysteries are won, even greater than they.
+ Kneel with me, that we may together call the powers forth from
+ their hidingplace, for the great Heru is not without us. We shall
+ find him in ourselves.
+
+ (_They kneel._)
+ O thou whose wings cover the earth! cover the body of thy
+ servant, that she may find the living flame within herself, and
+ enter without fear before thee! O Hawk of the North, whose secret
+ places are paved with fire which consumeth time and the substance
+ thereof! bless the feet of thy servant that she may pass
+ unscathed to thy throne. O Heru, whose eye pierces the earth and
+ the heavens, bless the eyes of thy servant that she may look upon
+ thee and live. O Heru, on whose brow lies the weight of wisdom,
+ bless the brow of thy servant, that she may bind upon it the
+ triple crown of glory; and that she may win the wisdom of the
+ Golden Hawk, and give it to her people.
+
+ (_Nectoris rises and enters the shrine. The Ka looks after
+ her._)
+
+ _The Ka._
+ The bolts are lifted and the doors turn in their sockets. She
+ kneels, and fear wraps her round as a grey garment. O sister, let
+ the light of Heru pierce you. She rises, and her fear is rent
+ upon her as lightning rends the flesh. She is clothed in the cold
+ fires of the Northern Star. She flings her arms to the air, and a
+ wild joy is in her heart. The spirit and the flesh wrestle for
+ victory, for she has yet some part in what is mortal. She cannot
+ breathe—she speaks at last!
+
+ _Nectoris_ (_within_).
+ Let my feet move now in triumph to the music of the worlds beyond
+ space, where thy mighty heart beats out the rhythm, making the
+ worlds to fall and rise in their order, and the stars to follow
+ in their courses! I am drunk with conquest, and I shake the
+ sistrum and dance with my naked feet unscathed upon thy golden
+ floor! And the measures I dance are to me as the movement of a
+ great army which has scaled the awful walls of thy majesty, and
+ taken the fortress of thy wisdom!
+
+ _The Ka._
+ She moves in the dance as one who sees a splendour which is
+ beyond the eye of man. Her limbs shine in the nimbus of the Hawk
+ of Glory. She is more golden than the talisman upon her breast.
+ She is here! (_Dances._) She is around me! (_Dances._) Her
+ substance is not mortal! (_Dances._) She is around me; the flames
+ sweep over me, and the shadows of time pass away! (_Dances._)
+ Nectoris, my sister soul, the victory is won! (_Dances, and
+ passes into the shrine._)
+
+ _Gebuel_ (_enters and looks round_).
+ Yet another vigil broken! Heru has chosen his victim. He has
+ called her into the shrine that he may slay her. One more mortal
+ light put out by the light of the gods!
+
+ (_Nectoris appears at the door of the shrine, radiant,
+ looking younger and full of exultation. The amulet is on her
+ breast._)
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ You are not slain before the face of Heru?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I am not slain!
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ How have you, being unveiled, looked upon his face?
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I look unharmed upon the face of the god because his eyes are my
+ eyes, and his power is my power, his spirit is my spirit. I am an
+ Egyptian and mistress of the mysteries. I have become one with
+ Heru, for I have eaten of his substance and I have drunk of his
+ spirit, and I am henceforth ruler of the holy places. Whoso is
+ made one with the gods makes their holy places desolate, and
+ himself becomes their sanctuary; and his being is greater than
+ theirs, being made of their own substance. For he has devoured
+ their mystical rites and symbols, he has swallowed their shining
+ forms, he has eaten the power and wisdom of every god, and the
+ period of his life is eternity!
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Let the presence of Heru seal your blasphemous lips!
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Yes, you are in the presence of the Flame of Life. I, a woman of
+ Egypt, have been chosen to pierce this mystery, and have entered
+ into the shrine of the Golden One, and his fires have not burned,
+ neither has his eye wounded me. The wise sister of my spirit
+ enfolded me in safety, and gathered about me the shining garment
+ of Heru. Enter in, O magician, and look upon the place of flame.
+ Enter into the empty shrine which has yielded its treasure to me.
+ The Golden Hawk is on my breast as a sign. Heru has put his
+ finger upon me and marked me for his own, and I am Egypt. I go to
+ my own country that I may sit on the throne and give wisdom and
+ exultation of heart to my people.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Desolation has fallen upon me! I am myself the victim of Heru.
+ Verily it is true, “In his shining I have seen darkness, and the
+ light of mine eyes has been put out.” You are stronger than I;
+ the amulet of the god lies upon your heart and does not strike
+ you dead. You have won it; let your triumph be enough. Give me
+ back my Golden Hawk, which I have made of the imperishable
+ substance of the earth!
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ I carry the Golden Hawk to my father, wise and beautiful Zozer,
+ builder of the pyramid of six heights and four sides, that he may
+ place it in the secret sanctuary under the bolt of granite that
+ will answer to the touch of his finger, but takes the strength of
+ a hundred men to lift.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ Daughter of Zozer, wise and beautiful, let the spirit of your
+ victory remain with you, and give me back my image of the god;
+ that I, who am less than you, may see and worship with mine eyes,
+ which may only look upon the god in his semblance.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ You can follow Heru into Egypt, O magician, and so long the
+ secret lord of this place! Your day is darkened. Come with your
+ god into Egypt, and serve him in that new land which is thirsty
+ for him; you shall see the dawn again when his light rises in a
+ great country, and you shall teach his wisdom.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ And if I follow you, will it be to forsake this shrine which I
+ have made of precious stones and metals, each stone with its own
+ secret?—in chrysoprase the secret of vision, in amethyst the
+ inner fire of the soul, in chrysolyte the secret of seership, in
+ lapis lazuli the hidden wisdom, and in cornelian the secret of
+ ritual.
+
+ _Nectoris._
+ Bring the dwellingplace of Heru with you, for it is sacred; and
+ you are the master of these things. And my people shall hold you
+ in high honour, and your works shall live after you, wrought in
+ amethyst and in cornelian, in chrysoprase and in chrysolyte, and
+ in lapis lazuli. Bring the shrine of Heru, for his spirit goes
+ before. And put chains on the necks of your priests, and bend
+ their wills to the will of the great one who rules in Egypt, that
+ there may be no more floods or famines in the land.
+
+ _Gebuel._
+ O wearer of the Golden Hawk! Daughter of Zozer of whom prophecy
+ has spoken! Daughter of Zozer, builder of the pyramid of which
+ the six heights are the steps of wisdom, I follow you, and my
+ priests shall follow you; we are the victims upon his altar. Is
+ not the dwelling of Heru my dwelling? and shall not the shrine of
+ Heru be the eternal resting-place of my spirit? I follow you, O
+ great among women, for you are the will of Heru made manifest.
+
+ _Chorus of Priests._
+ Immovable in heaven, we adore thee. Heru, Hawk of Gold, we adore
+ thee.
+
+
+ CURTAIN.
+
+
+NOTE.—It is interesting to point out that the final ecstasy of Nectoris
+is quoted thought for thought from the earliest Egyptian texts which
+have yet been discovered. Just as the Modern World has come to think of
+Heaven as a state rather than as a place, so we learn from these texts
+that the wise men of the Ancient World had gone a step farther, and knew
+the gods to be states and not persons.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+[Illustration: Logo for F. F., printer, Croydon]
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+ Transcriber’s Notes
+
+
+This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text, except on the
+title page, where quotation marks were used for improved readability.
+
+The text uses the terms “Yeoiret” and “Yeioret” once each. These are
+likely supposed to be the same, but since it was not clear which was
+correct, they have been left as printed.
+
+Itemized changes from the original text:
+
+ In _The Beloved of Hathor_:
+
+ • Changed “Mout” to “Maut” in line: Maut, the Vulture-Mother
+ • Adjusted final punctuation in stage direction: (_re-enters,
+ muttering_).
+ • Supplied missing opening parentheses in stage direction: (_The chant
+ continues._)
+ • Added period after stage direction: _Aahmes_ (_cries_).
+ • Added period after stage direction: (_As he goes voices outside._)
+ • Added period after stage direction: _Ranoutet_ (_prays_).
+
+ In _The Shrine of the Golden Hawk_:
+
+ • Supplied missing opening parentheses in stage direction: (_The Priest
+ of Harvests brings corn...._
+ • “Priests” changed to “Priest” in line: Let the Priest of the Harvest
+ and the Famine do homage before Heru!
+ • “_Priest of the Harvests._” changed to “_The Priest of Harvests._” to
+ match other occurrences before line: So long as Heru in the form of
+ the Golden Hawk....
+ • “_Priest of the Waters._” changed to “_The Priest of Waters._” to
+ match other occurrences before line: The Golden Hawk is hidden within
+ the shrine....
+ • Adjusted final punctuation in stage direction: (_She salutes him in
+ the Egyptian manner._)
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76242 ***
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+ <body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76242 ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter id001">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Front cover of book" class="ig001">
+</div>
+<div class="pbb">
+ <hr class="pb c000">
+</div>
+
+<p class="c001"></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter id001">
+<img src="images/title-block.jpg" alt="" class="ig001">
+</div>
+<div class="center-block">
+
+<div class="title-block">
+
+<p class="c002">THE BELOVED OF HATHOR
+AND THE SHRINE OF THE
+GOLDEN HAWK. ❦ BY
+FLORENCE FARR AND
+O. SHAKESPEAR. <span style="float:right;">❦ ❦</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+<div class="nf-center c003">
+ <div><span class="small">ALL COPYRIGHTS AND ACTING RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHORS</span></div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="pbb">
+ <hr class="pb c000">
+</div>
+
+<div class="center-block">
+
+<div class="wide-block">
+
+<div class="c005"><h1><span class="xlarge">THE BELOVED OF HATHOR, AND
+THE SHRINE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK.</span></h1>
+<span class="large">BY FLORENCE FARR, AUTHOR OF <cite>THE DANCING
+FAUN</cite>, &#38;c., AND O. SHAKESPEAR, AUTHOR OF
+<cite>RUPERT ARMSTRONG</cite>, <cite>LOVE ON A MORTAL
+LEASE</cite>, &#38;c. <span style="float:right;">❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦</span></span></div>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+<hr class="c006">
+<p class="c005">❦ The action takes place in the first play on the roof
+of the Temple of Hathor, and in the second in a cave of
+Mount Bakhua, the home of the Metal-working Fire
+Magicians near Sinai. But the Authors wish the plays
+to be represented, not scenically but decoratively, with
+a simple white background or pale sienna hangings, so
+arranged that the figures of the actors, moving across
+the stage, may reproduce the effect of the ancient frescoes
+or illuminated papyri.</p>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+<div class="nf-center c007">
+ <div><i>THE ARGUMENT OF THE BELOVED OF HATHOR.</i></div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ The scene is in the Temple of Hathor, at the time of
+the expulsion of the Hyksos, about 1500 B.C. Aahmes,
+the beloved of Hathor, has for many years been watched
+over by her High Priestess, in order that through him
+the great spiritual kingdom of Egypt might be restored.
+His final choice is between this great destiny and the
+mere splendour of material victory.</p>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+<div class="nf-center c007">
+ <div><i>CHARACTERS IN THE BELOVED OF HATHOR.</i></div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Ranoutet</i>, the chief priestess of Hathor, and of royal
+blood, aged thirty-five. She wears a long black wig
+with a double fillet; a large square of cloth of gold is
+wound closely round her figure under the arms; she
+also wears a thin striped gauze overdress, an enamelled
+and beaded collar, sandals, and armlets. She puts on a
+vulture-crown during the war dance.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Nouferou</i>, the daughter of a man of noble rank and
+of a wandering woman, who deserted him after the
+birth of her child. Nouferou inherits the wild instincts
+of her mother. She is seventeen years old. Her dress
+is white and gold. The wig is short and surmounted
+by a cone and lily.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Aahmes</i>, a warrior chief of the Red Race, afterwards
+becomes king. He is in the prime of life. He wears an
+embroidered waistcloth over a thin cotton shirt, a cloth
+helmet, and carries a spear.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Ouny</i>, a child attendant of the Temple of Hathor.
+Dressed in white.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ The Chanters and Musicians do not appear.</p>
+
+<div class="c007"></div>
+<div class="center-block">
+<div class="leaf-block">
+<span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+<div class="nf-center c007">
+ <div><i>THE ARGUMENT OF THE SHRINE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK.</i></div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ The scene is in a cave on Mount Bakhua, near
+Sinai, about 4000 B.C. Gebuel, the Magician of Fire
+and Metals, makes a talisman to Heru in the form of a
+Golden Hawk, in the hope of overwhelming the power
+of Zozer, King of Egypt, builder of the Step-pyramid at
+Sakkara. Zozer finds this out, and sends his daughter,
+who is skilled in the sombre mysteries of Isis, to win
+for Egypt the Golden Hawk, giver of exultation of
+heart.</p>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+<div class="nf-center c007">
+ <div><i>CHARACTERS IN THE SHRINE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK.</i></div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Gebuel</i>, a magician who has earned a great reputation
+for power in the brotherhood. He wears a richly
+decorated robe of red and gold, sandals, and a conical
+headdress with hawks’ eyes on either side of it. His
+age is forty-five.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>The Priest of the Floods and Storms</i> wears a
+robe and symbolic headdress of blue and green.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>The Priest of the Harvests and Famines</i> is also
+dressed symbolically.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Nectoris</i>, daughter of Zozer, King of Egypt, is
+dressed as a member of a religious order; her undergarment
+and wig are of the ancient Egyptian pattern,
+but she is completely veiled in a thick gauze drapery.
+She is twenty-six years old.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>The Ka</i> has the same kind of dress. She is the
+double or other self of Nectoris. The Ka is frequently
+represented on ancient frescoes as a smaller figure
+walking behind the king or queen. It represents the
+subtle body, and supports and strengthens the more
+material body.</p>
+
+<div class="pbb">
+ <hr class="pb c000">
+</div>
+
+<div class="center-block">
+
+<div class="h2">
+ <h2 class="c008">THE BELOVED OF HATHOR</h2>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class="c009">❦ <i>The play is to be acted against a plain white backcloth
+with pale brown hangings on either side, striped
+to resemble the decoration of a papyrus roll.</i></p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Ranoutet is lying on a couch with lions’ heads. L.,
+an altar with cauldron, crown, and incense spoon. A
+long fan in corner. Ranoutet holds some lotuses in
+Egyptian fashion.</i></p>
+
+<p class="c002">❦ <i>Ouny enters with a festival basket on her head
+containing lotuses and conical loaves.</i></p>
+
+<div class="c007"></div>
+<div class="center-block">
+<div class="leaf-block">
+<span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span>
+</div></div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Here are the offerings to the setting sun. (<i>She places offerings on altar and comes
+ forward.</i>) It is the last many brave men will see.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Has news arrived? Has the great Aahmes carried out his plan? Has our mighty leader drawn
+ the foes of Egypt into his net?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Lady of wisdom, it is so. They have bidden me tell you that victory comes with the dawn.
+ The Hyksos, hateful in our land, know nought of our armed men, who lie in wait for them,
+ by order of great Aahmes, along the road which they will follow to reach our city.
+ With the dawn the soldiers of Egypt will rise from their hiding places and slay the
+ Hyksos, and they shall be swept from our land. This is the message of Aahmes to you, O
+ lady of wisdom.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ouny kneels and touches the earth with her
+head. Ranoutet rises and blesses her.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Dear messenger from the greatest in Egypt, may the gods protect you, and may the gods
+ protect Aahmes, now warrior, priest in future years, the light of all our hearts.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Great Aahmes is indeed a king of men. The leaders of the people love him above all
+ others. He stands almost as near their hearts as you do, lady.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Ah, yes, he is blessed from his birth. The foretelling of this victory has been long in
+ our ears; when it comes to pass we of the temple will receive him with great honour. He
+ is the beloved of Hathor, and her will has been his pleasure. If he can withstand
+ temptation in the supreme hour of earthly triumph, she will receive him into the great
+ mysteries.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Can Aahmes still be tempted—Aahmes, the lover of Hathor?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ The hour is at hand which is to try his strength of purpose. The goddess will give
+ us the victory, that our sacred land may be purged of the people of Asia, who have worked
+ in her evil and uncleanness; but the soul of Aahmes stands alone in the last trial, and
+ can know no strength but its own. No name but the name of Aahmes can be invoked; no power
+ but the power of Aahmes can prevail.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Lady of wisdom, terror pierces me like a spear. Can it be that the goddess will take back
+ her great gift even after his hands are raised to receive it? Can the goddess turn from
+ her beloved? and can Aahmes be an outcast from the sanctuary?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ These things are hidden in the heart of Hathor—the heart of mercy and justice. To her
+ mercy we commend him; to her justice we give him up without fear. O Hathor, great diviner
+ of beauty, who rulest in those places where desire fails, and the substance of human life
+ fades and passes into eternal truth; O Hathor, guard thy servant and do well to him.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Will you not aid him, mighty priestess?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ I will do all that is permitted. Bring me the secret mirror and the Lybian wax, the holy
+ herbs and oil. I will burn incense from all the corners of the world, and I will
+ have lustral water and the holy wands of power, the sacred Natron essence of the gods,
+ who alone can purify all shameful things by their touch. With these I will bless great
+ Aahmes and all his works once more. And I will send up an incantation in the hour of
+ battle, before which all the dreadful gods of Asia shall be bound because their
+ worshippers have made our land unclean with going to and fro.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny goes, saluting and muttering the formula</i>,</span>
+ I go in peace; may peace go with me!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ranoutet puts on a crown bound with Urcari
+snakes and faces the place of the sun. She pours
+out a libation.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ O Ra Toum, thou enterest the kingdom of our Lady of the West beyond the holy mountain
+ Mannu amid flaming orisons. Thou fallest into peace between the guardian serpents who are
+ on either side of thee. Thou art one with the sun-disk in the West, and its powers have
+ their place behind thee. Thy way divides the heavens, and the gods of the North and the
+ South bow before thee. I, too, bow before thee, O creator of the gods; before thee who
+ art king over the souls dwelling in the circle of thy path. The blessed one receives
+ thee into the deep shadows of her embrace as thou enterest into the mountain of the West.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She burns incense. Ouny returns with a
+magic mirror, wax, cymbals, and serpent wands.
+Ranoutet takes beeswax and begins to model it
+into shape.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Voice outside.</i></span>
+ Will the great priestess Ranoutet receive the warrior chief Aahmes?</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ranoutet hastily takes off the ceremonial
+crown, and directs Ouny to cover the altar, and
+goes out. She re-enters, after Ouny has done
+what is necessary, followed by Aahmes carrying
+Nouferou. Ranoutet helps him lay her on the
+couch.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ Her heart is silent, she has seen men slain.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ She seems of noble birth; how is it that she went unattended?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ The gods alone can tell. She is the Lady Nouferou. I found her helpless in the hands of
+ ruffians far from her home. Her father’s palace is an hour’s journey hence. I cannot take
+ her there to-night, and I come to ask you to shelter her.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ She is known to you?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ I have fought under her father’s leadership; and she was still a child when I last
+ feasted at his palace. How she came to this adventure I can in no way tell.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ranoutet restores Nouferou. Nouferou recovers
+and holds out her hands to Aahmes, not seeing
+Ranoutet.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i> (<i>to Aahmes, who kneels by her side</i>).</span>
+ You killed men for my sake. Oh, I am afraid! I see their hideous faces like beasts of
+ prey! their claws clutch at my heart! Oh, save me from this horror!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She throws herself into his arms.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>with anxiety</i>).</span>
+ Are the dead men still lying in the street?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ I had no eyes to see what the crowd did with them.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>crosses to the door</i>).</span>
+ I will send mourners to give notice of the dead. Until they have been purified no help
+ can come to Lady Nouferou. (<i>Exit muttering</i>) I go in peace; may peace go with me!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Where am I? Who is that stern-faced priestess?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes</i> (<i>rising</i>).</span>
+ She is the great Priestess Ranoutet, of the blood royal—the wisest of the devotees. She
+ is so near the hearts of the gods that they will do all things at her behest, and
+ Egypt has never known famine, plague, or defeat since she first served them; and when the
+ war is over and the new dynasty established she will be queen.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i> (<i>sadly</i>).</span>
+ She will be queen and you will be king. She can choose no other consort.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ No man may dare desire such a fate unless the gods decree it.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i> (<i>walks across</i>).</span>
+ Ah, no! I was forgetting. Love is not love among the priests. I was forgetting the fierce
+ laws of the gods, who stand between the lovers holding the sceptre of ritual, and at each
+ cry of nature sternly denying!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ And yet they say that the divine love which is given to the Children of Wisdom, that
+ their hearts may lie poised between the two infinities of life and death, is greater than
+ the earthly love, for it is the servant of life and the lord of death. (<i>He sits on the
+ end of the couch.</i>) But tell me how you left your home and came unattended to the city.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ I was forbidden to leave the palace. My father punishes—punishes like the gods—and stands
+ always denying me all joy in life. I was a rebel and ran out alone, evading my old nurse.
+ I longed to see the soldiers and hear the clash of arms, and hear the war chant; for
+ I am told, before a battle there is a wonderous dance no woman may see, when those about
+ to die deliver up their souls to <a id="tn-maut"></a>Maut, the Vulture-Mother and Avenger.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ Hush, these are mysteries of which none may speak.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ I burn for knowledge, for the freedom of a bird upon the wing. I am weary of the speech
+ of the wise, who have not wisdom; who would tell me that Egyptian women must always be
+ discreet and secret. I hear crying in me the blood of my mother, who was no Egyptian, but
+ a wanderer. It spoke in her, and she listened to its wooing as to a lover; and she
+ forsook my father, and, leaving me with him, she came back no more.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ Do you forget what fate awaited the wanderer?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ A short life my mother had. I, too, would live here for a little while, then go to join
+ the shining spirits outside the walls of heaven. I do not desire old age and ugliness in
+ Egypt, nor the great wisdom of the gods in heaven. To be always beautiful and young is
+ enough.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Aahmes rises, works round the back to R.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><a id="tn-muttering"></a><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>re-enters, muttering</i>).</span>
+ I come in peace; may peace come with me. (<i>Comes forward.</i>) The rites for the
+ slain are being carried out. Rest now, Lady Nouferou, and let the little Ouny fan you and
+ call about you your own attendant spirits; for the spirits of the dead have passed to
+ their own place.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ I am well; I need no rest.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>firmly</i>).</span>
+ Rest, Lady Nouferou.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nouferou lies on the couch, and Ouny fans
+her with long feather fan.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes</i> (<i>to himself</i>).</span>
+ It were easy to die young, and live among the golden nets of heaven—to die and drift like
+ the Hammametu dancing in the rays of the sun—to have neither thought nor human care, nor
+ the stress of human life.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Do you forget Egypt, Aahmes? Would you have the destiny of those formless souls, whose
+ little light flickers through the one short life they know, and then the rest is
+ darkness? Is it in vain you have become part of your country, dedicated to her tradition;
+ dedicated for ever to her destiny? Egypt has claimed her son, and Egypt is no
+ foster-mother whose claim can be put lightly aside. There is no choice for her
+ worshippers, for to fail in her service means death to the soul.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ Ah! Ranoutet, I know the terror of the second death, and my heart is Egypt’s! My heart
+ longs for Egypt! As I have fought for Egypt in the past, so I will live for Egypt in the
+ future! Is not such service easy when she speaks to me through you, the greatest
+ priestess within the memory of the most ancient scribes? Give me your blessing, for we
+ have to do great work to-night.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Let us go into the sanctuary together, for Hathor has heard my invocation. She will
+ receive you as her minister. After the battle fought for Egypt comes the enlightenment.
+ Then comes the supreme vision. This flesh shall fall from you. You shall be no more the
+ warrior of Egypt, but shall know yourself to be the Lord of Space and Being! Your soul
+ shall tremble and rejoice at her own image looming out of the darkness of what you now
+ call life! The light of the world shall be revealed to you amid the clash of the worlds
+ which shall own you their master, O lord of that which has no end and no beginning!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+ <div class="nf-center">
+ <div><i>A Priest chanting without.</i></div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Flame round my crown the fiery snakes</div>
+ <div class="line">About me and around.</div>
+ <div class="line">The chantress sings, the sistrum shakes,</div>
+ <div class="line">In symphony of sound.</div>
+ <div class="line">Fire from the gods a lightning makes,</div>
+ <div class="line">Earth’s thundrous depths resound.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Accept the portent and receive the <a id="tn-ye1"></a>Yeoiret crown.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Aahmes kneels and is crowned by Ranoutet.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">To thee the earth, to thee the power,</div>
+ <div class="line">The life and strength be given!</div>
+ <div class="line">The scarab rests upon the flower!</div>
+ <div class="line">The veil of the shrine is riven!</div>
+ <div class="line">The stars are falling, for the hour</div>
+ <div class="line">Sounds when the earth meets heaven.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ You hear the sacred hymn. The moment is propitious. Come to the shrine of the goddess.
+ To-night the battle for your soul must be fought and won!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Aahmes follows her out. In the meantime
+Nouferou has been watching them intently. She
+springs up and seizes the child, gazing intently
+into its face as she speaks.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Ouny, Ouny, do you love me?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Yes.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Listen now, Ouny; my little Ouny. Do you love me very much?</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She takes it in her arms.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Yes.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i> (<i>covers it with kisses</i>).</span>
+ Now tell me how much you love me.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ I think you a very pretty lady.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i> (<i>laughs and clasps the child</i>).</span>
+ Quick! now tell me what is the ceremony the great Priestess Ranoutet performs to-night.
+ Tell me, where will it take place?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Here.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Tell me, will she make images of the enemies of Aahmes, and so contrive by her magical
+ arts that Aahmes shall overcome the hateful Hyksos?</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ouny nods.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Will she make a mighty image of Aahmes and small images of the Hyksos, and will she place
+ the foot of Aahmes on their heads, and will she place nooses round their necks, and give
+ the cords into the hands of Aahmes, that he may hold their lives in the hollow of his
+ hands?</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ouny nods again.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Fetch me some sacred wax, dear little Ouny, and I will help in the ceremony. I am well
+ skilled in magic, and would gladly aid the mighty priestess in these simple arts.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny</i> (<i>rises and goes to the covered altar</i>).</span>
+ All things await the Lady Ranoutet. There is much wax, and I will light the fire; it
+ will help you to do the work more quickly.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>The child lights the cauldron from the lamp
+which Ranoutet brings in with her. Ranoutet
+returns wearily. It is dark. She sinks on couch
+in profound thought.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Lady, I have some simple skill in magic, and if you work to-night in the sacred Libyan
+ wax, I pray you let me help you. I long to try, and in some measure repay the noble
+ warrior chief.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>carelessly</i>).</span>
+ Hush! I am thinking. Anything you will. But I must rest in peace, to be ready for work at
+ the hour of battle. The soldiers have performed the sacred dance: the final preparations
+ are going on: they are stealing silently out of the town to reinforce the leading troops,
+ which even now surround the Hyksos. Aahmes will lead the attack at dawn; and dawn will be
+ the signal for the watchers of the night!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Sleep, lady, and I will mould the waxen images. One, half a cubit high for Aahmes; and
+ two, one finger’s breadth in height to represent the Hyksos leaders.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ That is the right proportion. I thank you for your service.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Goes out with lamp, which Ouny gives her,
+in opposite direction to main entrance.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i></span>
+ (<i>takes wax and gives a small portion of it to Ouny</i>). Go, child, and make two
+ little images of the hideous Hyksos chiefs: copy them from the walls in the great court
+ of the Temple and bind them with cords. Then sit at the foot of the stairs and play your
+ psaltery softly, and I will call you when your mistress wakes.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ Thanks, noble lady! I go in peace; may peace go with me! (<i>Goes out.</i>)</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nouferou takes cauldron of fire; and wax.
+She kneels by the altar and models the form of
+a man; as she does so she says</i>:—)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Nou protect thy hair!</div>
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Ra protect thine eyes!</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Soft music begins.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Anubis protect thy lips!</div>
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Isis protect thy neck!</div>
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Selket protect thy body!</div>
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Neith protect thine arms!</div>
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Nut protect thy legs!</div>
+ <div class="line">O noble Aahmes, may Ptah protect thy feet!</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1">&#160;</span>
+ I mould thee, Knoume moulds thee in beauty and strength, and nourishes thee in the fields
+ of the blessed! Heart of Aahmes, thou art the dwelling of the creator of Aahmes.
+ What thou doest, he will do; what thou lovest, he will love!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She places statue on altar, and slowly moves
+round it, waving her arms. She stands before
+the wax image and chants</i>:)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, follow me</div>
+ <div class="line">Where the poppy fields are white.</div>
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, sleep the sleep</div>
+ <div class="line">Deep with dreams of love’s delight.</div>
+ </div>
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, follow me</div>
+ <div class="line">Where there shines a hidden star.</div>
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, turn thy feet</div>
+ <div class="line">Where the golden dreamings are.</div>
+ </div>
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, follow me</div>
+ <div class="line">To the magic fields of sleep.</div>
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, pluck the flower</div>
+ <div class="line">That it work a spell more deep.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Dances round the altar, then says</i>:)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, I am love,</div>
+ <div class="line">Calling loudly in thy heart.</div>
+ <div class="line">Aahmes, Aahmes, I am love;</div>
+ <div class="line">Never more shall I depart.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny</i> (<i>running in</i>).</span>
+ I must awake the noble Ranoutet. Great Aahmes is below.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Hush! I will awaken her. Go you and bid him enter.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ouny goes out. Nouferou puts out the fires.
+It gets very dark. Aahmes enters, and she meets
+him.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ The Priestess Ranoutet bid me watch that none disturbed her body, while she, in sleep,
+ sought counsel of the great Ancestral One, the ancient power that watches over Egypt.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ No matter—I came drawn by some desire—I would speak to you, I know not why.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i> (<i>puts out brazier</i>).</span>
+ Come rest a little, you cannot start till dawn. Your senses wander for want of sleep. Sit
+ here. (<i>Business. She presently walks round him, humming the air of the incantation
+ softly, and moving her arms as in the dance.</i>)</p>
+ </div>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Sleep, Aahmes, sleep and dream. (<i>He sleeps.</i>)</div>
+ <div class="line">Dream, Aahmes, dream and love. (<i>He gazes at her.</i>)</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She kneels on the end of the couch.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Love, Aahmes, love and live.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>He holds out his arms.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Live, Aahmes, live and dream.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She flings herself into his arms.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes</i> (<i>embracing her</i>).</span>
+ Nouferou!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+ <div class="nf-center">
+ <div>(<i>Men-at-arms chanting: the sound of marching troops.</i>)</div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Gather the men-at-arms! the battle breaks,</div>
+ <div class="line">The weary waiting days are over.</div>
+ <div class="line">Let each man rush to battle as a lover.</div>
+ <div class="line">The dawn with clarion note awakes.</div>
+ <div class="line">Crowned with her radiance on our earth we stand,</div>
+ <div class="line">Tried warriors of a sacred land,</div>
+ <div class="line">Which trampling thunder shakes.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ranoutet enters; goes towards the altar; sees
+Aahmes and Nouferou on the couch.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>in a loud voice</i>).</span>
+ Aahmes! the dawn! the dawn!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ What is the dawn to me? My life is here.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Egypt is crying to her son!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ Egypt is here.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ranoutet wrings her hands.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ I am the dawn, and I am Egypt! Beyond the circle of my arms lies the night. I am the
+ dawn, and I am Egypt! When I speak with my beloved the voices of all the world are
+ hushed, and he hears me only.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ O Hathor, look upon this image which I hold in the flames, that the spell may fall from
+ him in whose semblance it is made, and he may be undefiled before thee.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010"><a id="tn-chantcon"></a>(<i>The chant continues.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Drums batter, cymbals clash, our hearts and feet</div>
+ <div class="line">Responding to one splendid measure,</div>
+ <div class="line">Wrapt with the glory of our mighty pleasure!</div>
+ <div class="line">Standards on high our enemies to greet!</div>
+ <div class="line">Answering the dawn’s light with our eyes aglow,</div>
+ <div class="line">Serene and proud and passionate we go,</div>
+ <div class="line">Treading the pasture sweet.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ The banners are unfurled, standards are raised on high.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ Who is it that cries in the night?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Listen to my voice, O my beloved!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ O Hathor, let the spells woven by this woman dissolve before thee, thou flaming eye of
+ Heru. Let them fall from thy servant, that he may stand upright and cast them away as the
+ soul casts away mortality.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She reverses the dance. The chant continues</i>:)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">No man of us can be disheartened now;</div>
+ <div class="line">Death have we challenged by this trial;</div>
+ <div class="line">Before the hosts of death we dare denial.</div>
+ <div class="line">Swift mother of our arms, do thou,</div>
+ <div class="line">Who gavest us our land and the bright sun,</div>
+ <div class="line">Give us the perfecting of work begun;</div>
+ <div class="line">Only to thee we bow.</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ The troops are in array!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ What am I dreaming?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ The glamour of the witch-girl is upon you; your eyes are sealed by her kiss. She has
+ breathed the spirit of her dream into you.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ I am the dawn, and I am Egypt. Sleep on, beloved, for our dreams are a reality and the
+ world a shadow.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>The chant continues.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">O heart’s blood of remembrance! Long ago</div>
+ <div class="line">This land upheld our ancient fathers,</div>
+ <div class="line">And for this land, your land, our land now gathers</div>
+ <div class="line">One fellowship against the foe.</div>
+ <div class="line">The spears flash! Be they as your mothers’ eyes.</div>
+ <div class="line">The trump sounds! Hearken to your fathers’ cries!</div>
+ <div class="line">March you to battle so!<a id="r1"></a><a href="#f1" class="c012"><sup>[1]</sup></a></div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes</i></span>
+ (<i>starting away while Nouferou clings to him</i>). Your eyes are demon’s eyes! Your
+ arms are chains about my neck! I am lost!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>He shakes her off.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ The spirit of Temptation has awakened in this girl. Through her Hathor has tried your
+ strength of purpose, and it has failed you. Go now to the battle, and pray to the mercy
+ of Hathor that she may use your arm to strike the Hyksos, so that you fail not in this
+ also.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><a id="tn-cries"></a><i>Aahmes</i></span>
+ (<i>cries</i>) I am lost! I am lost! (<i>As he goes voices outside.</i>) Aahmes! mighty
+ Aahmes!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><a id="tn-prays"></a><i>Ranoutet</i></span>
+ (<i>prays</i>). May Aahmes go forth like the panther of the South! May Aahmes go forth
+ under the ægis of Hathor in the radiance of her light! May Aahmes not forget Egypt, Egypt
+ the mother of the mighty! May Aahmes remember her in her need, that she may requite him!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span></p>
+<div class="lg-container-l c011">
+ <div class="linegroup">
+ <div class="group">
+ <div class="line">Woe, woe unto Egypt for the pain she has wrought!</div>
+ <div class="line">She has warred against love, and love shall abandon her!</div>
+ <div class="line">Wisdom is very powerful, but she cannot conquer love!</div>
+ <div class="line">Wisdom is immortal, but love will destroy her works!</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Silence! before the sacrilege of your speech reaches to heaven and awakes the wrath of
+ Hathor, which, shaking the four pillars of the world, would crush you into dust. Love
+ must serve and wisdom rule; but you would put love above all! Your love would have put
+ out the light that shines from the glory of Egypt, and serve the cause of Egypt’s foes!
+ You would have shamed Aahmes to all time that love might rule his soul one little hour!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ I would see Aahmes dead—dead and dishonoured before I’d give him up to you, Ranoutet!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Hush, hush! even now the battle begins! (<i>Enter Ouny.</i>) Give me the magic mirror.
+ (<i>She looks in it.</i>) Aahmes is in his chariot leading the attack. Help me, Ouny.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nouferou sits on the couch with her head bowed.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>to Ouny</i>).</span>
+ Lay the Hyksos’ chiefs under Aahmes’ feet, and when the sistrum is shaken and the lute is
+ plucked by the chanters and musicians in the temple court, the Lady Nouferou will help
+ you wave the holy wands around him, so that the immortal serpents, guardians of our land,
+ may weave the web of protection round him and round our troops.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Ouny arranges the images as in Egyptian
+triumphs described above by Nouferou. Ranoutet
+holds out serpent wands to Nouferou, who refuses
+with a gesture.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>pleadingly</i>).</span>
+ To-night the goddess strives with the destroyer for Aahmes’ soul! Think! even now the
+ Threefold Terror may devour him!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ If Aahmes dies now he is mine—mine on the golden borders of heaven; if he lives he is
+ yours and Hathor’s.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ If Aahmes dies in sin, faithless to Hathor, his soul must die the second death!
+ There will be no light life for him on the horizons with you for playfellow.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ I will not believe it!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ That is the law of Hathor. Her servant must be faithful, or he dies body and soul, and
+ his name is trodden out by the Sebau in the deepest cavern of Duat.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Woe! woe! Desolation, oh desolation! Has Hathor no mercy?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Have you had mercy in your jealous rage? To the battle! to the battle! Do as I do, and
+ lift up your heart in prayer that Egypt may conquer, and that Aahmes may conquer in his
+ mortal combat! (<i>pause</i>). And listen to my voice, if Aahmes dies your life shall be
+ the forfeit! (<i>Seizes her throat.</i>) The traitress has short trial in time of war!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou.</i></span>
+ Mercy! mercy!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>contemptuously</i>).</span>
+ Mercy! see that your actions are fit for justice. (<i>The music in the temple court is
+ heard.</i>) Quick, to the serpent dance! (<i>Holding out the serpent wands.</i>) Here,
+ take the wands of power and weave the magic cord.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1">&#160;</span>
+ <i>The priests chant outside.</i> <a id="tn-ye2"></a>Yeioret!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nouferou and Ouny perform a dance.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Now call the spirits of the earth and sky!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1">&#160;</span>
+ <i>The priests chant.</i> Yakhu pout! Yakhu taw!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nouferou and Ouny dance.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ Now clash the cymbals (<i>presents them ceremonially</i>), and I will call on the
+ vultures of death—swift servants of the mother of our arms!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1">&#160;</span>
+ <i>The priests chant.</i> Maut! Maut!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nouferou and Ouny dance and clash cymbals.
+Drums, sistrums, and cries of victory rising to
+a great clamour without.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nouferou</i></span>
+ (<i>seizes the image of Aahmes and shrieks</i>). Then let Aahmes die!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She shatters it on the ground and rushes out,
+Ouny hastens to replace it.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>sternly</i>).</span>
+ Go, bring the meaning of this clamour. (<i>Ouny goes.</i>)</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet</i></span>
+ (<i>gathering together the pieces of the image</i>). This deed brings judgment, for it
+ shows that the hour is come when the Truth that is eternal and the Truth that is of time
+ will divide the ways of Aahmes. As the semblance of Aahmes is broken, so shall the soul
+ of Aahmes be broken, and the victory be to the flesh alone. O Lady Hathor! thou hast
+ given this deed as a sign and an omen. Nouferou has shattered the semblance of Aahmes,
+ and has broken up the waters of his soul! They no longer reflect the divine image;
+ but the troubled fantasies of love and human life. Verily Thy judgments are keen and
+ sudden as the lightnings in heaven, and the thunders of Thy punishments make the earth
+ shake in fear! The ways wherein Thou comest and goest are tremendous, and no foot but
+ Thine may tread them!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny</i> (<i>returning</i>).</span>
+ Through the crowd I saw the father of Nouferou driving in his chariot with white horses,
+ and he stopped before the gates of the temple and asked for her, and she came out from
+ between the gates doing obeisance to him. She is white and tall, and the crowd rejoiced
+ to see her; but her father had no smile for her, and took her into his chariot and made
+ his way through the people, the horses plunging and scattering them; and I saw her no
+ more.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ That is well; let him look to her.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Shouts of</i> Aahmes! <i>outside</i>.)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ouny.</i></span>
+ The people shout because great Aahmes is in the midst of them. Their voice is like the
+ hoarse note of the marsh-birds. He comes that you should bless the victory.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Enter Aahmes. Kneels at Ranoutet’s feet.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Aahmes.</i></span>
+ O Priestess of Hathor, smite me across the mouth that I may be dumb, for I am not
+ worthy to speak in the temple! Take away my ears from me, that I may no longer hear
+ the voice of Hathor; that terrible voice which carries judgment: for I have failed in the
+ great trial.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Ranoutet.</i></span>
+ This plant of failure, Aahmes, which you have sown, bears a flower which to the outward
+ seeming is of splendid colour and a sweet smell, and its name is Power. Put it upon your
+ heart, and be strong to rule our people; but know that such a blossom is arid, and holds
+ no promise of immortal fruit. Have power and the ruling of the kingdom, but have sorrow
+ also, and eternal grief; because the doors of Hathor’s sanctuary open to you no more.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<div class="curtain">
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+<div class="nf-center c007">
+ <div>SLOW CURTAIN.</div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="c013">
+<div class="footnote" id="f1">
+<p class="c002"><span class="label"><a href="#r1">1</a>.&#160;&#160;</span>N.B.—This poem is largely quoted from “The Coming of War,” by
+Lionel Johnson.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="pbb">
+ <hr class="pb c000">
+</div>
+
+<div class="center-block">
+
+<div class="h2">
+ <h2>THE SHRINE OF THE<br>GOLDEN HAWK.</h2><span style="float:right">❦ ❦</span>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class="c009">❦ <i>The Priest of the Waters is seated. Enter the
+Priest of the Harvests.</i></p>
+
+<div class="c007"></div>
+<div class="center-block">
+<div class="leaf-block">
+<span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span><span>❦</span>
+</div></div>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ Our Master finishes his work to-night.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Waters.</i></span>
+ At last! Each day his spirit becomes more charged with lonely suspicion. I doubt
+ sometimes if this act of faith will bear good fruit for us.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ Do not fear. Gebuel, being a great magician and our master, has promised us the victory.
+ Even the Majesty of Egypt, whose name shakes our land, is to be overcome.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Waters.</i></span>
+ Gebuel shall overcome Zozer, the enemy of our arts.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ Hark! did you not hear the distant thunder? Which of us has dared name the king of Egypt
+ for these many years?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Waters.</i></span>
+ Pah! He, whom I have named, is the enemy of our arts. When I cursed the land of
+ Egypt with a great flood, he opened watercourses, and the evil became a good, and the
+ desert was no longer waste.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ The curse of famine, which I laid upon the land of Egypt, was unavailing. I cursed the
+ land when he, whom you have named, was using the strength of his people to build the
+ pyramid of six heights and four sides as a tower of magic; for it is raised above that
+ chamber which lies empty, hidden deep in the earth, waiting for the divine secret which
+ is to manifest in its depths and make full its vacancy.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Waters.</i></span>
+ Curse the king over Egypt, for he has wrought so that our power falls from us.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ Curse the king over Egypt, for he has annulled the ancient law to which all the works of
+ men have been obedient! He has made bread from the substance of heaven; wherewith he fed
+ his people when it was my will that they should starve.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Waters.</i></span>
+ To-night great Gebuel will bless the talisman of Heru, for the power of Heru is supreme:
+ and if his godhead is on our side, not even the Egyptian himself can work against our
+ will.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ The fire of Heru will take the form of the Golden Hawk; and his wings shall stretch
+ out, and he shall hover over the secret place which Gebuel, blessed be he, has made of
+ precious stones and rare metals. And our ancient glory shall be given to us once more.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Waters.</i></span>
+ So long as the Golden Hawk is with us, victory is with us.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ Only the taking from us of the Golden Hawk can take victory from us.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel</i> (<i>without</i>).</span>
+ Ruler of the rivers and the floods, prepare for the coming of the Hawk of the North!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Waters.</i></span>
+ Here I obey, great Gebuel.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Ruler of the Harvests and the Famines, prepare for the coming of the Hawk of the North!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i></span>
+ Here I obey, great Gebuel.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Gebuel enters, carrying the enamelled pectoral
+of the Golden Hawk.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Let the ruler of the floods and of the storms stand on my right hand.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>The Priest of Waters brings libation vase to
+his right.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Let the ruler of the harvest and the famines stand on my left hand.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010"><a id="tn-bringscorn"></a>(<i>The Priest of Harvests brings corn and a cone
+of bread to his left.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Take the perfected talisman of the Golden Hawk between your hands while I invoke Heru,
+ who rests upon the central pillar of the world! Heru, whose four servers uphold the
+ shining adamantine heavens! Heru, who has sent forth his retinue to the uttermost limits
+ of the earth, and remains solitary in the midst whilst they wind the magic cord on the
+ circle of the wheel. Heru, the axletree of flame, the source of the fire of life!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>The priests each hold one side of the pectoral
+while Gebuel rests his hands on their shoulders
+and prays.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ O Ancient, before all time! Supreme Ruler over the work of That Mighty Countenance which
+ speaks the Word of Life! Pour thy golden fire into this Golden Hawk now coming into
+ being. I have made thee in the image of the mountain hawk which thou hast chosen to be
+ thy symbol because of his fearless eye, which alone can affront the eye of heaven. Thou
+ hast commanded, and I have made thy visible image in unchanging gold. May thy chosen ones
+ rejoice in its presence, feeling the spirit of peace resting upon them. (<i>Removes his
+ hands from the shoulders of the priests.</i>) Lift the bolt of the doors of the sanctuary.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Priests go out. Gebuel holds the pectoral on
+high. Priests return.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Priests.</i></span>
+ It is done, mighty one.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Gebuel stands before the door. The priests
+kneel on either side of him.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Hail in the holy place of thine Epiphany, solitary one! O thou who restest on the star in
+ the centre of the Northern heavens! That star which alone is immovable. Thou art the
+ celestial abode of our god, Star of the North! Divine Hawk, hovering in the blue night,
+ dark as lapis lazuli! Immovable eye, in the midst of the wheel of the stars, send down a
+ ray from thy splendid solitude upon this hawk—image of thee, thou solitary one, resting
+ upon the empty air, immovable as thou art in the midst of heaven. Let the <a
+ id="tn-priest"></a>Priest of the Harvest and the Famine do homage before Heru! (<i>He
+ prostrates himself.</i>) Let the Priest of the Floods and the Storms do homage before
+ Heru! (<i>He prostrates himself.</i>) Hail, Hawk of Gold! I give thy symbol into thine
+ own keeping. Hail to thee, resting over the Star of the North!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Veils himself and enters the sanctuary. The
+priests rise and replace their symbols upon the
+altar.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1">&#160;</span>
+ <a id="tn-poh"></a><i>The Priest of Harvests.</i> So long as Heru in the form of the
+ Golden Hawk is hidden within the shrine, victory is hidden between our hands.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1">&#160;</span>
+ <a id="tn-pow"></a><i>The Priest of Waters.</i> The Golden Hawk is hidden within the
+ shrine; and victory is hidden between our hands.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Gebuel re-enters trembling. The priests support
+him.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ I am stricken by his eyes; I am stricken by the eyes of Heru.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>They lead him to the seat.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel</i> (<i>staring in front of him</i>).</span>
+ The Star of the North shines beyond the open gates; but some strong hand holds me back. I
+ have a strange knowledge of one coming—whose coming will bring darkness. (<i>Tries to
+ stand.</i>) I cannot stand. Close the doors quickly. Drop the bolt. (<i>This is
+ done.</i>) Bring me the sweet-smelling fire that I may breathe it and find strength.
+ (<i>They burn incense. He gradually recovers.</i>) Bring me the stones of wisdom, that I
+ may understand this portent. (<i>They bring two stones.</i>) Let the secret be read and
+ the sign given. Speak! let me know the riddle. (<i>He holds the stones to his ears. He
+ says to the priests</i>) Leave me, for the answer is adverse. There is a secret evil even
+ at the doors of this holy place. Go cleanse yourselves with rites till I summon you
+ again before me. (<i>The attendant priests go out.</i>) O Heru, dost thou demand that a
+ victim should be sacrificed? How have I unwittingly sinned against thee? Thou sayest,
+ “One must be made desolate.” Someone is to be made desolate.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nectoris knocks outside.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Who is there?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ A wanderer.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ There is food and shelter for all a little to the westward of this place.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I ask no food for the body. I come to feed the soul on wisdom. (<i>Gebuel opens the
+ door.</i>) Hail to you, guardian of the mysteries.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010"><a id="tn-manner"></a>(<i>She salutes him in the Egyptian manner.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ What wisdom do you seek?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ The wisdom of the Golden Hawk.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Who told you of this place?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ In my dreams I went into the forest where the bronze and gold serpents coil like flames
+ amid the leaves, and they made me wise with great sayings, and the spirits of power
+ passed into my spirit; for the forest was the forest of knowledge. But when I held the
+ image of the Hawk exalted on the standard of the crossed pole before the serpents,
+ they paled and grew dim in the presence of a strength greater than theirs; and as I
+ looked the wood became silent and empty, and the creatures of the wisdom, which is of
+ time, faded away.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ The serpent is wisdom from the beginning of time, but the Golden Hawk is poised in the
+ immensities between that which has been and the revelation of the last secret.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Even so. I saw before me the Hawk brooding with spread wings in space beyond the worlds,
+ in the midst of the network of the stars; and as its wings moved they fanned the golden
+ denseness of the air, and sparks arose and came and went like luminous winged creatures.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ They are the flames of life.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I saw three towers rising from the head of the bird like a great crown, and from them
+ sprang the souls of the heroes.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Even so. This is one of the greater mysteries.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ From the wings and the heart sprang the souls of the workers, who make beautiful all they
+ touch.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ The heart is the kindling will of the golden one.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ From the feet of the bird came the workers of less skill and cunning, and these make the
+ foundations of the works of beauty, and drift onwards, without the inspiration and the
+ kindling fire.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Where did you learn to discern these mysteries, my daughter?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Since my childhood I have lived among strangers in a place of dreams. I have wandered
+ from land to land searching for wisdom. I have but the sombre knowledge born of time,
+ which is shattered before the final ecstacy. Now my footsteps have brought me to you, O
+ great magician.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel</i> (<i>kindly</i>).</span>
+ You are welcome.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I have been guided by some star that smiled on my nativity, which was darkened until this
+ day in obedience to a wisdom higher than its own.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Why did you seek for me?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Your spirit springs from the triple crown. You alone can fill my soul, hungering for
+ satisfaction in that wisdom which is beyond, hidden behind the veil. (<i>Gebuel sighs,
+ feeling conscious of his own difficulties. He is genuine in his interest in
+ Nectoris.</i>) Will you not let me follow you one step beyond the threshold of the golden
+ sanctuary?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ O child of the serpent wisdom, do you not know that no mortal may look upon the face of
+ Heru and live? Only after the purifications of long silences, long fasts, and constant
+ uplifting of the heart, may one born of the human race purge himself of the perishable
+ substance of the life we know, and exchange it for the imperishable essence of the
+ shining ones. Only after such rites have been performed may you hope to pass through the
+ closed doors of the sanctuary.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris</i> (<i>with passion</i>).</span>
+ Let me but look upon the door.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ The door is there—your first duty is to keep vigil. But beware of the brightness hidden
+ in the heart of the shrine. To look upon it is to be blind; to be enfolded by its heat is
+ to pass through fires too potent for any human soul.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I will keep vigil.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ You are rash! being young, and do not know that there is a wisdom before which the sun
+ pales and the stars are put out.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Let me begin the vigil that it may be the sooner ended!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ To watch from this day until your span of earthly life is ended would not be long enough.
+ Be warned, let the shut door remain closed.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Father of Wisdom, put me to the test. I will endure all hardships.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ No hardship is before those who worship Heru. I ask nothing but obedience to my warning.
+ Keep vigil before the door of the sanctuary; the bolts are easy, the secret of secrets is
+ within, but remember the light of flame brings desolation. You are warned.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris</i> (<i>as if in a dream</i>).</span>
+ “The light shines forth and leaves you desolate.”</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel</i> (<i>suddenly becoming suspicious</i>).</span>
+ The words that were spoken to me out of the stones! Desolate—one to be made desolate!
+ Where have you heard those words?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ They passed through the air as you were speaking.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ The warning is given for the second time! To you the unseen spirits are not dumb. How
+ have you this power?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Great Master, I am but a little child in the presence of your wisdom. I come not to show
+ that I have knowledge, but to gain it by your aid. I have heard the voices of the unseen
+ ones since I was a child, and taken no thought of it.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Gebuel claps his hands. The priests enter.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Set guards about the door, and see that none go in or out this day.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>The priests salute and go out.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel</i> (<i>sardonically</i>).</span>
+ The secret of all knowledge is within the shrine. The vigil must be long. You will be
+ alone for many hours, and none will enter in to disturb you. Have courage!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Your look upon me is heavy and cold as stone. O Master, do you deny me the wisdom of the
+ Golden Hawk, for which I ask in all humility?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Again I say the secret is within the shrine. Keep vigil!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I am afraid! Your face has become like a mask of stone. The human face is hidden behind
+ it. I am afraid!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ The secret is within the shrine. Keep vigil till I come again. (<i>He goes.</i>)</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris</i> (<i>shrieks</i>).</span>
+ This terror kills me! (<i>She throws off her veil.</i>) Spirit of Zozer my father, I call
+ on you for help! My flesh fails—I cannot move, Father in thy magic shrine, save me!
+ Father in thy magic shrine, reign over me! Father in thy magic shrine, pour thy will into
+ me, for I am powerless alone! Spirit of Zozer my father, help thy child!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>She sinks on the floor. The Ka glides in and
+covers herself with the veil.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Ka.</i></span>
+ Look upon me. I am with you. You have begun well, and are worthy of your
+ inheritance. Do not fail now. Have you forgotten your father’s words?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Sister of my soul! they are in my heart for ever.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Ka.</i></span>
+ Speak them.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ He said, a Golden Hawk has been fashioned by the magicians of Mount Bakhua, and will be
+ hidden by them in a sanctuary. Its capture would bring joy and great knowledge to Egypt.
+ If you, a woman wise with the serpent wisdom, should gain that sanctuary and bring back
+ the amulet, I will give the throne of Egypt to you and to your daughters for ever; that
+ honour may be paid to the woman of splendid courage. And no man shall reign over Egypt,
+ in his own right, from that day.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Ka.</i></span>
+ So he swore to you. You know what is within this shrine; enter and take the Golden One
+ for your people.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ The face of the Guardian was terrible when he left me, as though he knew I were tempting
+ the gods to my ruin. Can a mortal look on that hidden brightness and live?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Ka.</i></span>
+ You are not mortal. The pure essence of the gods, whereof your spirit is made, is but
+ veiled with a gossamer of substance. Have not we, O my sister soul, passed together
+ through the flames which cleanse us from mortality? Have I not stripped you naked of that
+ mortal flesh, which gives terror to the whirl of time and to the immensity of the abyss,
+ when your mortal heart died in you, and your spirit dared greatly in those spaces beyond
+ knowledge?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I will cast out trembling from my heart in this hour, and take the strong soul which no
+ passion can shake; that I may enter into the shrine and win the Golden One for my people
+ and the throne of Egypt for myself and my daughters.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Ka.</i></span>
+ Egypt is great and skilled in august mysteries; and to reign over her and to follow her
+ wisdom is to become equal with the gods; and when the last mysteries are won, even
+ greater than they. Kneel with me, that we may together call the powers forth from their
+ hidingplace, for the great Heru is not without us. We shall find him in ourselves.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1">(<i>They kneel.</i>)</span>
+ O thou whose wings cover the earth! cover the body of thy servant, that she may find the
+ living flame within herself, and enter without fear before thee! O Hawk of the North,
+ whose secret places are paved with fire which consumeth time and the substance thereof!
+ bless the feet of thy servant that she may pass unscathed to thy throne. O Heru,
+ whose eye pierces the earth and the heavens, bless the eyes of thy servant that she may
+ look upon thee and live. O Heru, on whose brow lies the weight of wisdom, bless the brow
+ of thy servant, that she may bind upon it the triple crown of glory; and that she may win
+ the wisdom of the Golden Hawk, and give it to her people.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nectoris rises and enters the shrine. The Ka
+looks after her.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Ka.</i></span>
+ The bolts are lifted and the doors turn in their sockets. She kneels, and fear wraps her
+ round as a grey garment. O sister, let the light of Heru pierce you. She rises, and her
+ fear is rent upon her as lightning rends the flesh. She is clothed in the cold fires of
+ the Northern Star. She flings her arms to the air, and a wild joy is in her heart. The
+ spirit and the flesh wrestle for victory, for she has yet some part in what is mortal.
+ She cannot breathe—she speaks at last!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris</i> (<i>within</i>).</span>
+ Let my feet move now in triumph to the music of the worlds beyond space, where thy mighty
+ heart beats out the rhythm, making the worlds to fall and rise in their order, and the
+ stars to follow in their courses! I am drunk with conquest, and I shake the sistrum
+ and dance with my naked feet unscathed upon thy golden floor! And the measures I dance
+ are to me as the movement of a great army which has scaled the awful walls of thy
+ majesty, and taken the fortress of thy wisdom!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>The Ka.</i></span>
+ She moves in the dance as one who sees a splendour which is beyond the eye of man. Her
+ limbs shine in the nimbus of the Hawk of Glory. She is more golden than the talisman upon
+ her breast. She is here! (<i>Dances.</i>) She is around me! (<i>Dances.</i>) Her
+ substance is not mortal! (<i>Dances.</i>) She is around me; the flames sweep over me, and
+ the shadows of time pass away! (<i>Dances.</i>) Nectoris, my sister soul, the victory is
+ won! (<i>Dances, and passes into the shrine.</i>)</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel</i> (<i>enters and looks round</i>).</span>
+ Yet another vigil broken! Heru has chosen his victim. He has called her into the shrine
+ that he may slay her. One more mortal light put out by the light of the gods!</p>
+ </div>
+
+<p class="c010">(<i>Nectoris appears at the door of the shrine,
+radiant, looking younger and full of exultation.
+The amulet is on her breast.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="dl_1">
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ You are not slain before the face of Heru?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I am not slain!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ How have you, being unveiled, looked upon his face?</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I look unharmed upon the face of the god because his eyes are my eyes, and his power is
+ my power, his spirit is my spirit. I am an Egyptian and mistress of the mysteries. I have
+ become one with Heru, for I have eaten of his substance and I have drunk of his spirit,
+ and I am henceforth ruler of the holy places. Whoso is made one with the gods makes their
+ holy places desolate, and himself becomes their sanctuary; and his being is greater than
+ theirs, being made of their own substance. For he has devoured their mystical rites and
+ symbols, he has swallowed their shining forms, he has eaten the power and wisdom of every
+ god, and the period of his life is eternity!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Let the presence of Heru seal your blasphemous lips!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Yes, you are in the presence of the Flame of Life. I, a woman of Egypt, have been chosen
+ to pierce this mystery, and have entered into the shrine of the Golden One, and his fires
+ have not burned, neither has his eye wounded me. The wise sister of my spirit enfolded me
+ in safety, and gathered about me the shining garment of Heru. Enter in, O magician,
+ and look upon the place of flame. Enter into the empty shrine which has yielded its
+ treasure to me. The Golden Hawk is on my breast as a sign. Heru has put his finger upon
+ me and marked me for his own, and I am Egypt. I go to my own country that I may sit on
+ the throne and give wisdom and exultation of heart to my people.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Desolation has fallen upon me! I am myself the victim of Heru. Verily it is true, “In his
+ shining I have seen darkness, and the light of mine eyes has been put out.” You are
+ stronger than I; the amulet of the god lies upon your heart and does not strike you dead.
+ You have won it; let your triumph be enough. Give me back my Golden Hawk, which I have
+ made of the imperishable substance of the earth!</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ I carry the Golden Hawk to my father, wise and beautiful Zozer, builder of the pyramid of
+ six heights and four sides, that he may place it in the secret sanctuary under the bolt
+ of granite that will answer to the touch of his finger, but takes the strength of a
+ hundred men to lift.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ Daughter of Zozer, wise and beautiful, let the spirit of your victory remain with you,
+ and give me back my image of the god; that I, who am less than you, may see and
+ worship with mine eyes, which may only look upon the god in his semblance.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ You can follow Heru into Egypt, O magician, and so long the secret lord of this place!
+ Your day is darkened. Come with your god into Egypt, and serve him in that new land which
+ is thirsty for him; you shall see the dawn again when his light rises in a great country,
+ and you shall teach his wisdom.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ And if I follow you, will it be to forsake this shrine which I have made of precious
+ stones and metals, each stone with its own secret?—in chrysoprase the secret of vision,
+ in amethyst the inner fire of the soul, in chrysolyte the secret of seership, in lapis
+ lazuli the hidden wisdom, and in cornelian the secret of ritual.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Nectoris.</i></span>
+ Bring the dwellingplace of Heru with you, for it is sacred; and you are the master of
+ these things. And my people shall hold you in high honour, and your works shall live
+ after you, wrought in amethyst and in cornelian, in chrysoprase and in chrysolyte, and in
+ lapis lazuli. Bring the shrine of Heru, for his spirit goes before. And put chains on the
+ necks of your priests, and bend their wills to the will of the great one who rules
+ in Egypt, that there may be no more floods or famines in the land.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Gebuel.</i></span>
+ O wearer of the Golden Hawk! Daughter of Zozer of whom prophecy has spoken! Daughter of
+ Zozer, builder of the pyramid of which the six heights are the steps of wisdom, I follow
+ you, and my priests shall follow you; we are the victims upon his altar. Is not the
+ dwelling of Heru my dwelling? and shall not the shrine of Heru be the eternal
+ resting-place of my spirit? I follow you, O great among women, for you are the will of
+ Heru made manifest.</p>
+ <p><span class="dl_1"><i>Chorus of Priests.</i></span>
+ Immovable in heaven, we adore thee. Heru, Hawk of Gold, we adore thee.</p>
+ </div>
+
+<div class="curtain">
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+<div class="nf-center c007">
+ <div>CURTAIN.</div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class="c009"><span class="small">NOTE.—It is interesting to point out that the final ecstasy of Nectoris
+is quoted thought for thought from the earliest Egyptian texts which have
+yet been discovered. Just as the Modern World has come to think of Heaven
+as a state rather than as a place, so we learn from these texts that the
+wise men of the Ancient World had gone a step farther, and knew the gods
+to be states and not persons.</span></p>
+
+<div class="pbb">
+ <hr class="pb c000">
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter id003">
+<img src="images/printer-logo.jpg" alt="Logo for F. F., printer, Croydon" class="ig001">
+</div>
+
+<div class="pbb">
+ <hr class="pb c000">
+</div>
+<div>
+
+<p class="c001"></p>
+
+</div>
+<div class="transcribers-notes">
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+ <div class="nf-center">
+ <div><span class="xlarge">Transcriber’s Notes</span></div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="c009">The text uses the terms “<a href="#tn-ye1">Yeoiret</a>” and “<a href="#tn-ye2">Yeioret</a>” once each. These are likely supposed to be the same, but since it was not clear which was correct, they have been left as printed.</p>
+
+<p class="c002">Itemized changes from the original text:</p>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+ <div class="nf-center">
+ <div>In <i>The Beloved of Hathor</i>:</div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <ul class="ul_1">
+
+<li>Changed “Mout” to “Maut” in line: <a href="#tn-maut">Maut, the Vulture-Mother</a></li>
+<li>Adjusted final punctuation in stage direction: <a href="#tn-muttering">(<i>re-enters, muttering</i>).</a></li>
+<li>Supplied missing opening parentheses in stage direction: <a href="#tn-chantcon">(<i>The chant continues.</i>)</a></li>
+<li>Added period after stage direction: <a href="#tn-cries"><i>Aahmes</i> (<i>cries</i>).</a></li>
+<li>Added period after stage direction: <a href="#tn-cries">(<i>As he goes voices outside.</i>)</a></li>
+<li>Added period after stage direction: <a href="#tn-prays"><i>Ranoutet</i> (<i>prays</i>).</a></li>
+ </ul>
+
+<div class="nf-center-c1">
+ <div class="nf-center">
+ <div>In <i>The Shrine of the Golden Hawk</i>:</div>
+ </div>
+</div>
+
+ <ul class="ul_1">
+<li>Supplied missing opening parentheses in stage direction: <a href="#tn-bringscorn">(<i>The Priest of Harvests brings corn....</i></a></li>
+<li>“Priests” changed to “Priest” in line: <a href="#tn-priest">Let the Priest of the Harvest and the Famine do homage before Heru!</a></li>
+<li>“<i>Priest of the Harvests.</i>” changed to “<i>The Priest of Harvests.</i>” to match other occurrences before line: <a href="#tn-poh">So long as Heru in the form of the Golden Hawk....</a></li>
+<li>“<i>Priest of the Waters.</i>” changed to “<i>The Priest of Waters.</i>” to match other occurrences before line: <a href="#tn-pow">The Golden Hawk is hidden within the shrine....</a></li>
+<li>Adjusted final punctuation in stage direction: <a href="#tn-manner">(<i>She salutes him in the Egyptian manner.</i>)</a></li>
+ </ul>
+
+</div>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76242 ***</div>
+ </body>
+ <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-03-11 17:26:57 GMT -->
+</html>
+
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+This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
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+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
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+
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+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+book #76242 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76242)
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.25.1) at 2026-05-25 20:38:28 +0000