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"'O Oraetes, I am astonished that one so wise and great should not know how to cure a sorrow like this. "'Tell me a cure, said the king. "Three times the colchyte kissed the floor, and then he replied, knowing the dead could not hear him, 'At Essouan lives Ne-ne-hofra, beautiful as Athor the beautiful. Send for her.
"That was not enough for the wise Oraetes; he wanted love, and a queen happy in his love. So he dealt with her tenderly, showing her his possessions, cities, palaces, people; his armies, his ships: and with his own hand he led her through his treasure-house, saying, 'O. Ne-ne-hofra! but kiss me in love, and they are all thine.
Her spirits deserted her; she had long spells of tears, and her women could not remember when they heard her laugh; of the roses on her cheeks only ashes remained; she languished and faded gradually, but certainly. Some said she was haunted by the Erinnyes for cruelty to a lover; others, that she was stricken by some god envious of Oraetes.
Send for him, O Oraetes, and he will tell you that you seek to know; he will also help you find the cure for my affliction. "Oraetes arose rejoicing. He went away in spirit a hundred years younger than when he came." "'Speak! said Oraetes to Menopha, in the palace at Memphis.
"And Menopha replied, 'Most mighty king, if you were young, I should not answer, because I am yet pleased with life; as it is, I will say the queen, like any other mortal, is paying the penalty of a crime. "'A crime! exclaimed Oraetes, angrily. "Menopha bowed very low. "'Yes; to herself. "'I am not in mood for riddles, said the king. "'What I say is not a riddle, as you shall hear.
The pedestal of the three pillars there, viewed from the west, was a stone wall in the form of a half-circle, around which the course and opposite balcony were bent in exact parallelism. Making this turn was considered in all respects the most telling test of a charioteer; it was, in fact, the very feat in which Oraetes failed.
"And, thinking she could be happy, if she was not then, she kissed him once, twice, thrice kissed him thrice, his hundred and ten years notwithstanding. "The first year she was happy, and it was very short; the third year she was wretched, and it was very long; then she was enlightened: that which she thought love of Oraetes was only daze of his power. Well for her had the daze endured!
Ne-ne-hofra grew up under my eyes, and confided every incident of her life to me; among others, that she loved the son of her father's gardener, Barbec by name. "Oraetes's frown, strangely enough, began to dissipate. "'With that love in her heart, O king, she came to you; of that love she is dying. "'Where is the gardener's son now? asked Oraetes. "'In Essouan.
"'Thou guilty! he continued. 'Thy offense to Oraetes the man he forgives; but thy offence to Oraetes the king remains to be punished. "She cast herself at his feet. "'Hush! he cried. 'Thou art dead! "He clapped his hands, and a terrible procession came in a procession of parachistes, or embalmers, each with some implement or material of his loathsome art. "The King pointed to Ne-ne-hofra.
"She kissed his cheek and said, 'Take me back, O good king, for I am cured. "Oraetes laughed, none the worse, that moment, of his hundred and fourteen years. "'Then it is true, as Menopha said: ha, ha, ha! it is true, the cure of love is love. "'Even so, she replied. "Suddenly his manner changed, and his look became terrible. "'I did not find it so, he said. "She shrank affrighted.
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