"See," murmured Butheita, "this is the Queen of the Desert. She is
the holy sphinx, before whom men and women have fallen in the dust
for thousands of years, and before whom kings and emperors prostrate
themselves to this day. Thus spoke the scha-er whom I heard when
with my father in Tantah a short time since: `He who approaches the
protecting goddess of mankind must fall down in the dust before her,
and worship Allah and the saints.'
"Kneel down, my dromedary, kneel down, my Alpha!" and she draws in
her reins, repeating the words in imperious tones. The animal
understands her, and sinks gravely upon its knees. Butheita bounds
down from her seat with the lightness of the gazelle, and bows low
before the sphinx, her arms crossed on her breast.
From the back of the dromedary, where he lies bound, her prisoner
looks down with admiration upon the lovely girlish figure that skips
lightly across the sand to the foot of the godlike figure. How small
she appears beside the mighty image, like a flower blooming at its
feet.
Butheita kneels down before the sphinx and murmurs a prayer for
protection for herself and father, for the tent in which they dwell,
for the dromedary, and for the goats; and finally also for the
stranger whom she is about to lead to her tent. "Grant, 0 Allah,
that I may be mild, and that he may not feel his fetters too
severely! And you, O holy goddess of the desert, grant that
Butheita's heart may remain pure and strong, and that she may be
enabled to keep the promise made to her father!"
As she murmurs these words a slight tremor possessed itself of her
delicate figure, and piously and timidly she looks up into the
illimitable, unfathomable eyes of the sphinx, that gaze out upon the
whole world.
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