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Not thus came the maidens of Israel to wedlock, demure, spotless, spiritless, with shorn hair, priestesses of the ritual of the home. "Peace, O Melisselda," he replied involuntarily. "Nay, wherefore Melisselda?" she cried, ascending to the leewán on which he stood. "And wherefore Messiah?" he answered.
Nay, rather there came into my mind the sublime poem of Moses Ibn Ezra of Granada: 'Thy days are delusive dreams and thy life as yon cloud of morning: whilst it tarries over thy tabernacle thou may'st remain therein, but at its ascent thou art dissolved and removed unto a place unknown to thee, This is the end, Melisselda, the end of my great delusion.
At Smyrna itself the exile was received with delirium, with cries of "Messhiach! Messiah!" which he would not acknowledge, but to which Melisselda responded with seductive smiles. His aged father fell upon his neck. "The souls depart," said Sabbataï, kissing him. "But they return." He was brought before the Cadi, who demanded a miracle. "Thou askest a miracle?" said Sabbataï scornfully.
"I have seen thee in visions 'tis the face, the figure, the prophetic beauty But wherefore Melisselda?" He laughed into her eyes and hummed softly: "'From her bath she arose, Pure and white as the snows, Melisselda." "Ay, that did I, when I washed off the convent. But my name is Sarah." "Nay, not Sarah, but Saraï my Princess!" His voice was hoarse and faltering.
Sabbataï Zevi, happy in the love of Melisselda, rapt in heavenly joy, now confidently expecting the miracle that would crown the miracle of his career, prepared to set out for Constantinople to take the Crown from the Sultan's head to the sound of music.
Art thou Messiah? I strove to drown them in the festive song; but in the stillness of the night, when thou wast sleeping at my side, the voices came back, and they cried mockingly, 'Man! Man! Man! And when Nehemiah came " "Man!" interrupted Melisselda impatiently. "Cease to cozen me. Have I not known men? Ay, who more? Their weaknesses, their vanities, their lewdnesses enough!
The ships were overburdened with passengers; freights rose. A shower of gold poured into Abydos. Jew, Moslem, Christian the whole world wondered, and half of it believed. The beauty and gaiety of Melisselda witched the stubbornest sceptics. Men's thoughts turned to "The Tower of Strength," from the far ends of the world.
Thus did Secretary Samuel Primo sign the Messianic decrees and ordinances. The month of Ab approached the Messiah's birthday, the day of the Black Fast, commemorating the fall of the Temples. But Melisselda protested against its celebration by gloom and penance, and the word went out to all the hosts of captivity
Melisselda stood in the doorway, come from her chamber as lightly clad as on that far-off morning in the cemetery. There was a strange rapt expression in her face, and, looking closer, he saw that her laughing eyes were veiled in sleep. "It is the sign," he muttered in awe. He sprang to his feet and took her white hand, that burnt his own, and she led him back to her chamber, walking unerringly.
He held a last solemn levée at Smyrna, and there, surrounded by his faithful followers, with Melisselda radiantly enthroned at his side, he proceeded to parcel out the world among his twenty-six lieutenants. Of these all he made kings and princes. His brothers came first. Elias Zevi he named King of Kings, and Joseph Zevi King of the Kings of Judah.
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