Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 25, 2025
"Why 'now, Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade me kill you rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?" he asked peering at me curiously. "Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a cell over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the desert near to Memphis, Bes?"
"Good, very good," said the holy Tanofir, "but not enough, seeing that on the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred thousand men. Now how will you deal with /them/, Karema?" "I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of the desert but behind the sand-hills.
Now when everything seemed lost, some god, or perhaps the holy Tanofir who is ever present with me to see that I have not forgotten him, put it into the King's mouth to begin to talk about women and to ask me if I had ever seen any fairer than those dancers whom I met going out as I came in.
Rouse the host and bid them stand to their arms company by company!" The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and presently we heard the noise of gathering men. "Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?" asked Bes. Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one, four men stole into the tent.
"Who has been telling you about me?" exclaimed Bes anxiously. "No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember." "Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things you know not how?" "I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the holy Tanofir." "If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit," said Bes, laughing.
Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake or dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful face of Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I knew that it was the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that her eyes were but its mirror.
Know that I was minded to leap upon that king and break his neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of a sudden something seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things go as they are fated. But how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind with age, see so far?" "I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him is gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt.
"Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you." I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone. "What happened to the army of the Karoon?" I asked as we went slowly. "That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But the paths were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud.
I drew it out. On its shaft were two black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that arrow? I remembered, Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he had said when I noted what it pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and set that arrow on the string. By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers.
"With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her younger sister to be a diviner's worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall never send, seeing that I think there will be fighting soon." "Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to others." "No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you think that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray?
Word Of The Day
Others Looking