The Tracer of Lost Persons
Page 19
CHAPTER XIX
"The ancient Egyptian word for the personal pronoun 'I' was _anuk_,"said the Tracer placidly. "The phonetic for _a_ was the hieroglyph
Glyph]
a reed; for _n_ the water symbol
Glyph]
for _u_ the symbols
Glyph]
for _k_
Glyph]
Therefore this hieroglyphic inscription begins with the personal pronoun
Glyph]
or _I_. That is very easy, of course.
"Now, the most ancient of Egyptian inscriptions read vertically incolumns; there are only two columns in this papyrus, so we'll try itvertically and pass downward to the next symbol, which is inclosed in asort of frame or cartouch. That immediately signifies that royalty ismentioned; therefore, we have already translated as much as 'I, the king(or queen).' Do you see?"
"Yes," said Burke, staring.
"Very well. Now this symbol, number two,
Glyph]
spells out the word '_Meris_,' in this way: M (pronounced _me_) isphonetically symbolized by the characters
Glyph]
_r_ by
Glyph]
(a mouth) and the comma
Glyph]
and the hieroglyph
Glyph]
_i_ by two reeds
Glyph]
and two oblique strokes,
Glyph]
and _s_ by
Glyph]
This gives us Meris, the name of that deposed and fugitive king ofEgypt who, after a last raid on the summer palace of Mer-Shen, usurpingruler of Egypt, was followed and tracked to Sais, where, with an arrowthrough his back, he crawled to El Teb and finally died there of hiswound. All this Egyptologists are perfectly familiar with in thetranslations of the boastful tablets and inscriptions erected near Saisby Mer-Shen, the three hundred and twelfth sovereign after QueenNitocris."
He looked up at Burke, smiling. "Therefore," he said, "this papyrusscroll was written by Meris, ex-king, a speculative thousands of yearsbefore Christ. And it begins: 'I, Meris the King.'"
"How does all this bear upon what concerns me?" demanded Burke.
"Wait!"
Something in the quiet significance of the Tracer's brief command sent acurious thrill through the younger man. He leaned stiffly forward,studying the scroll, every faculty concentrated on the symbol which theTracer had now touched with the carefully sharpened point of his pencil:
Glyph]
"That," said Mr. Keen, "is the ancient Egyptian word for 'little,''_Ket_.' The next, below, written in two lines, is 'Samaris,' a propername--the name of a woman. Under that, again, is the symbol for thenumber 18; the decimal sign,
Glyph]
and eight vertical strokes,
Glyph]
Under that, again, is a hieroglyph of another sort, an ideographrepresenting a girl with a harp; and, beneath that, the symbol whichalways represented a dancing girl
Glyph]
and also the royal symbol inclosed in a cartouch,
Glyph]
which means literally 'the Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt.' Under thatis the significant symbol
Glyph]
representing an arm and a hand holding a stick. This always means_force_--to take forcibly or to use violence. Therefore, so far, we havethe following literal translation: 'I, Meris the King, little Samaris,eighteen, a harpist, dancing girl, the Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt,to take by violence--'"
"What does that make?" broke in Burke impatiently.
"_Wait!_ Wait until we have translated everything literally. And, Mr.Burke, it might make it easier for us both if you would remember that Ihave had the pleasure of deciphering many hundreds of papyri before youhad ever heard that there were such things."
"I beg your pardon," said the young man in a low voice.
"I beg yours for my impatience," said the Tracer pleasantly. "Thisdeciphering always did affect my nerves and shorten my temper. And, nodoubt, it is quite as hard on you. Shall we go on, Mr. Burke?"
"If you please, Mr. Keen."
So the Tracer laid his pencil point on the next symbol
Glyph]
"That is the symbol for night," he said; "and that
Glyph]
is the water symbol again, as you know; and that
Glyph]
is the ideograph, meaning a ship. The five reversed crescents
Glyph]
record the number of days voyage; the sign
Glyph]
means a house, and is also the letter H in the Egyptian alphabet.
"Under it, again, we have a repetition of the first symbol meaning _I_,and a repetition of the second symbol, meaning 'Meris, the King.' Then,below that cartouch, comes a new symbol,
Glyph]
which is the feminine personal pronoun, _sentus_, meaning '_she_'; andthe first column is completed with the symbol for the ancient Egyptianverb, _nehes_, 'to awake,'
Glyph]
"And now we take the second column, which begins with the jackalideograph expressing slyness or cleverness. Under it is the hieroglyphmeaning 'to run away,' 'to escape.' And under that, Mr. Burke, is one ofthe rarest of all Egyptian symbols; a symbol seldom seen on stone orpapyrus,
Glyph]
except in rare references to the mysteries of Isis. The meaning of it,so long in dispute, has finally been practically determined through anew discovery in the cuneiform inscriptions. It is the symbol of twohands holding two _closed_ eyes; and it signifies power."
"You mean that those ancients understood hypnotism?" asked Burke,astonished.
"Evidently their priests did; evidently hypnotism was understood andemployed in certain mysteries. And there is the symbol of it; and underit the hieroglyphs
Glyph]
meaning 'a day and a night,' with the symbol
Glyph]
as usual present to signify force or strength employed. Under that,again, is a human figure stretched upon a typical Egyptian couch. Andnow, Mr. Burke, _note carefully_ three modifying signs: first, that itis a _couch_ or _bed_ on which the figure is stretched, not the funeralcouch, not the embalming slab; second, there is no mummy mask coveringthe face, and no mummy case covering the body; third, that under therecumbent figure is pictured an _open_ mouth, not a _closed_ one.
"All these modify the ideograph, apparently representing death. But thesleep symbol is not present. Therefore it is a sound inference that allthis simply confirms the symbol of hypnotism."
Burke, intensely absorbed, stared steadily at the scroll.
"Now," continued Mr. Keen, "we note the symbol of force again, alwayspresent; and, continuing horizontally, a cartouch quite empty except forthe midday sun. That is simply translated; the midday sun illuminatesnothing. Meris, deposed, is king only in name; and the sun no longershines on him as 'Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt.' Under that despairingsymbol, 'King of Nothing,' we have
Glyph]
the phonetics which spell _sha_, the word for garden. And, just beyondthis, horizontally, the modifying ideograph meaning 'a _water_ garden';
Glyph]
a design of lotus and tree alternating on a terrace. Under that is thesymbol for the word '_aneb_,'
Glyph]
a 'wall.' Beyond that, horizontally, is the symbol for 'house.' Itshould be placed under the wall symbol, but the Egyptians were very aptto fill up spaces instead of continuing their vertical columns. Now,beneath, we find the imperative command
Glyph]
'arise!' And the Egyptian personal pronoun '_entuten_,'
Glyph]
which means 'you' or 'thou.'
"Under that is the symbol
Glyph]
which means 'priest,' or, literally, 'priest man.' Then comes theimperative 'awake to life!'
Glyph]
After that, our first symbol again, meaning '_I_,' followed horizontallyby the symbol
Glyph]
signifying 'to go.'
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"Then comes a very important drawing--you see?--the picture of a manwith a jackal's head, not a dog's head. It is not accompanied by thephonetic in a cartouch, as it should be. Probably the writer was indesperate haste at the end. But, nevertheless, it is easy to translatethat symbol of the man with a jackal's head. It is a picture of theEgyptian god, Anubis, who was supposed to linger at the side of thedying to conduct their souls. Anubis, the jackal-headed, is the courier,the personal escort of departing souls. And this is he.
"And now the screed ends with the cry 'Pray for me!'
Glyph]
the last symbol on this strange scroll--this missive written by adeposed, wounded, and dying king to an unnamed priest. Here is theliteral translation in columns:
I cunningMeris the King escapelittle hypnotizeSamaris King of Nothingeighteen place forciblya harpist gardena dancing girl--Ruler of water garden Upper and Lower wall Egypt housetook forcibly--night Arise. Doby water Thoufive days Priest Manship Awakehouse To lifeI I goMeris the King Anubisshe Prayawake
"And this is what that letter, thousands of years old, means in thislanguage of ours, hundreds of years young: 'I, Meris the King, seizedlittle Samaris, a harpist and a dancing girl, eighteen years of age,belonging to the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and carried her away atnight on shipboard--a voyage of five days--to my house. I, Meris theKing, lest she lie awake watching cunningly for a chance to escape,hypnotized her (or had her hypnotized) so that she lay like one dead orasleep, but breathing, and I, King no longer of Upper and Lower Egypt,took her and placed her in my house under the wall of the water garden.Arise! therefore, O thou priest; (go) and awaken her to life. I am dying(I go with Anubis!). Pray for me!'"