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pubOne.info present you this new edition. This book suggests that the real Pharaoh of the Exodus was not Meneptah or Merenptah, son of Rameses the Great, but the mysterious usurper, Amenmeses, who for a year or two occupied the throne between the death of Meneptah and the accession of his son the heir-apparent, the gentle-natured Seti II.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819943761
Langue	English

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MOON OF ISRAEL
A TALE OF THE EXODUS
by H. Rider Haggard
AUTHOR'S NOTE
This book suggests that the real Pharaoh of theExodus was not Meneptah or Merenptah, son of Rameses the Great, butthe mysterious usurper, Amenmeses, who for a year or two occupiedthe throne between the death of Meneptah and the accession of hisson the heir-apparent, the gentle-natured Seti II.
Of the fate of Amenmeses history says nothing; hemay well have perished in the Red Sea or rather the Sea of Reeds,for, unlike those of Meneptah and the second Seti, his body has notbeen found.
Students of Egyptology will be familiar with thewritings of the scribe and novelist Anana, or Ana as he is herecalled.
It was the Author's hope to dedicate this story toSir Gaston Maspero, K. C. M. G. , Director of the Cairo Museum,with whom on several occasions he discussed its plot some yearsago. Unhappily, however, weighed down by one of the bereavements ofthe war, this great Egyptologist died in the interval between itswriting and its publication. Still, since Lady Maspero informs himthat such is the wish of his family, he adds the dedication whichhe had proposed to offer to that eminent writer and student of thepast.
Dear Sir Gaston Maspero,
When you assured me as to a romance of mineconcerning ancient Egypt, that it was so full of the “inner spiritof the old Egyptians” that, after kindred efforts of your own and alifetime of study, you could not conceive how it had been possiblefor it to spring from the brain of a modern man, I thought yourverdict, coming from such a judge, one of the greatest complimentsthat ever I received. It is this opinion of yours indeed whichinduces me to offer you another tale of a like complexion.Especially am I encouraged thereto by a certain conversationbetween us in Cairo, while we gazed at the majestic countenance ofthe Pharaoh Meneptah, for then it was, as you may recall, that yousaid you thought the plan of this book probable and that itcommended itself to your knowledge of those dim days.
With gratitude for your help and kindness and thesincerest homage to your accumulated lore concerning the mostmysterious of all the perished peoples of the earth,
Believe me to remain
Your true admirer,
H. Rider Haggard.
MOON OF ISRAEL
CHAPTER I
SCRIBE ANA COMES TO TANIS
This is the story of me, Ana the scribe, son ofMeri, and of certain of the days that I have spent upon the earth.These things I have written down now that I am very old in thereign of Rameses, the third of that name, when Egypt is once morestrong and as she was in the ancient time. I have written thembefore death takes me, that they may be buried with me in death,for as my spirit shall arise in the hour of resurrection, so alsothese my words may arise in their hour and tell to those who shallcome after me upon the earth of what I knew upon the earth. Let itbe as Those in heaven shall decree. At least I write and what Iwrite is true.
I tell of his divine Majesty whom I loved and loveas my own soul, Seti Meneptah the second, whose day of birth was myday of birth, the Hawk who has flown to heaven before me; of Usertithe Proud, his queen, she who afterwards married his divineMajesty, Saptah, whom I saw laid in her tomb at Thebes. I tell ofMerapi, who was named Moon of Israel, and of her people, theHebrews, who dwelt for long in Egypt and departed thence, havingpaid us back in loss and shame for all the good and ill we gavethem. I tell of the war between the gods of Egypt and the god ofIsrael, and of much that befell therein.
Also I, the King's Companion, the great scribe, thebeloved of the Pharaohs who have lived beneath the sun with me,tell of other men and matters. Behold! is it not written in thisroll? Read, ye who shall find in the days unborn, if your gods havegiven you skill. Read, O children of the future, and learn thesecrets of that past which to you is so far away and yet in truthso near.
As it chanced, although the Prince Seti and I wereborn upon the same day and therefore, like the other mothers ofgentle rank whose children saw the light upon that day, my motherreceived Pharaoh's gift and I received the title of Royal Twin inRa, never did I set eyes upon the divine Prince Seti until thethirtieth birthday of both of us. All of which happened thus.
In those days the great Pharaoh, Rameses the second,and after him his son Meneptah who succeeded when he was alreadyold, since the mighty Rameses was taken to Osiris after he hadcounted one hundred risings of the Nile, dwelt for the most part atthe city of Tanis in the desert, whereas I dwelt with my parents atthe ancient, white-walled city of Memphis on the Nile. At timesMeneptah and his court visited Memphis, as also they visitedThebes, where this king lies in his royal tomb to-day. But save onone occasion, the young Prince Seti, the heir-apparent, the Hope ofEgypt, came not with them, because his mother, Asnefert, did notfavour Memphis, where some trouble had befallen her in youth— theysay it was a love matter that cost the lover his life and her asore heart— and Seti stayed with his mother who would not sufferhim out of sight of her eyes.
Once he came indeed when he was fifteen years ofage, to be proclaimed to the people as son of his father, as Son ofthe Sun, as the future wearer of the Double Crown, and then we, histwins in Ra— there were nineteen of us who were gently born— werecalled by name to meet him and to kiss his royal feet. I made readyto go in a fine new robe embroidered in purple with the name ofSeti and my own. But on that very morning by the gift of some evilgod I was smitten with spots all over my face and body, a commonsickness that affects the young. So it happened that I did not seethe Prince, for before I was well again he had left Memphis.
Now my father Meri was a scribe of the great templeof Ptah, and I was brought up to his trade in the school of thetemple, where I copied many rolls and also wrote out Books of theDead which I adorned with paintings. Indeed, in this business Ibecame so clever that, after my father went blind some years beforehis death, I earned enough to keep him, and my sisters also untilthey married. Mother I had none, for she was gathered to Osiriswhile I was still very little. So life went on from year to year,but in my heart I hated my lot. While I was still a boy there roseup in me a desire— not to copy what others had written, but towrite what others should copy. I became a dreamer of dreams.Walking at night beneath the palm-trees upon the banks of the NileI watched the moon shining upon the waters, and in its rays Iseemed to see many beautiful things. Pictures appeared there whichwere different from any that I saw in the world of men, although inthem were men and women and even gods.
Of these pictures I made stories in my heart and atlast, although that was not for some years, I began to write thesestories down in my spare hours. My sisters found me doing so andtold my father, who scolded me for such foolishness which he saidwould never furnish me with bread and beer. But still I wrote on insecret by the light of the lamp in my chamber at night. Then mysisters married, and one day my father died suddenly while he wasreciting prayers in the temple. I caused him to be embalmed in thebest fashion and buried with honour in the tomb he had made readyfor himself, although to pay the costs I was obliged to copy Booksof the Dead for nearly two years, working so hard that I found notime for the writing of stories.
When at length I was free from debt I met a maidenfrom Thebes with a beautiful face that always seemed to smile, andshe took my heart from my breast into her own. In the end, after Ireturned from fighting in the war against the Nine Bow Barbarians,to which I was summoned like other men, I married her. As for hername, let it be, I will not think of it even to myself. We had onechild, a little girl which died within two years of her birth, andthen I learned what sorrow can mean to man. At first my wife wassad, but her grief departed with time and she smiled again as sheused to do. Only she said that she would bear no more children forthe gods to take. Having little to do she began to go about thecity and make friends whom I did not know, for of these, being abeautiful woman, she found many. The end of it was that shedeparted back to Thebes with a soldier whom I had never seen, for Iwas always working at home thinking of the babe who was dead andhow happiness is a bird that no man can snare, though sometimes, ofits own will, it flies in at his window-place.
It was after this that my hair went white before Ihad counted thirty years.
Now, as I had none to work for and my wants were fewand simple, I found more time for the writing of stories which, forthe most part, were somewhat sad. One of these stories a fellowscribe borrowed from me and read aloud to a company, whom itpleased so much that there were many who asked leave to copy it andpublish it abroad. So by degrees I became known as a teller oftales, which tales I caused to be copied and sold, though out ofthem I made but little. Still my fame grew till on a day I receiveda message from the Prince Seti, my twin in Ra, saying that he hadread certain of my writings which pleased him much and that it washis wish to look upon my face. I thanked him humbly by themessenger and answered that I would travel to Tanis and wait uponhis Highness. First, however, I finished the longest story which Ihad yet written. It was called the Tale of Two Brothers, and toldhow the faithless wife of one of them brought trouble on the other,so that he was killed. Of how, also, the just gods brought him tolife again, and many other matters. This story I dedicated to hisHighness, the Prince Seti, and with it in the bosom of my robe Itravelled to Tanis, having hidden about me a sum of gold that I hadsaved.
So I came to Tanis at the beginning of winter and,walking to the palace of the Prince, boldly deman