Part 14 (1/2)

”I'd rather you didn't--at least, I would rather the other workmen didn't know he had spoken to you. I don't like them to imagine that we believe in such things.”

”Very well,” Meg said. ”I see what you mean.”

”You are never wise to let the natives lose their respect for your disdain of spooks and superst.i.tions. I never scoff at their fears and beliefs in every sort of imaginable supernatural power, but I like them to think that my religion places me above such terrors. We pray to our Christian G.o.d to protect us according to His will; they say five prayers to Allah daily, the one and only G.o.d, and at the same time at every hour of the day they perform countless acts and ceremonies to propitiate malign spirits and powers. They are a curious people--the best of them are very devout, but some of the most devout are not the best by any means.”

”Do you mind if Michael sees the fortune-teller? It would be so interesting.”

”He knows Abdul.” Freddy looked at Mike. ”It's different to letting one of our womenkind meddle in such things.”

”Did the ancients believe in dreams?” Margaret said. Michael's eyes had spoken; he had seen the man.

”Don't you remember Joseph's dream?”

”Oh, of course!” Margaret said. ”But Joseph seems a modern in this valley.”

”The ancients looked upon dreams as 'revelations' from a world quite as real as that which we see about us when we are awake. They were sent by the G.o.ds and, according to the texts in the tombs, much desired.”

Margaret's and Michael's eyes met. Her dream which had brought them together again had undoubtedly been sent by G.o.d.

There was an industrious silence for a little time, then Margaret asked, ”Have you ever come across any traces of Akhnaton's religion in the tombs in this valley?”

An amused smile hovered round Freddy's mouth. It was obvious that Margaret had caught something of Mike's enthusiasm for the heretic Pharaoh.

”No, nothing of his religion,” he said. ”It is too far from his scene of action; his influence was almost local--it was a personal influence and died at his death. He was a man born before his time; the world was not ready for his doctrines--they were far above the people's heads.”

”How do we know?” Mike said eagerly. ”Surely G.o.d knows best when to send His messengers, when to reveal Himself?”

”Anyhow,” Freddy said, ”you know that when he died his teachings died too. The people who had professed his beliefs returned to their old G.o.ds. The one and only trace of Akhnaton's influence here is in his mother's tomb, where every sign of Aton wors.h.i.+p has been chopped off the wall, every trace of his symbols obliterated. Akhnaton had no doubt introduced them into his mother's tomb; she had shared his beliefs, which had not, of course, become extreme at the time of her death.”

”Truth never dies,” Mike said. ”His beautiful city was abandoned, his temples neglected and overthrown, his people again became the victims of the money-making, political priesthood of Amon-Ra. But who can say that the spirit of Akhnaton is dead to-day? Who can tell that the seed of his mission bore no fruit? Thought never dies.”

”As you like. Anyhow, even before he was buried--embalming was a lengthy process--his religion as a state religion, as anything at all of any influence, or as a power in the land, was doomed.”

”You don't admire him as Mike does,” Margaret said. ”He seems to have been almost as perfect as a human being could be--the first living being to realize the divinity of G.o.d.”

”As a religious _devoue_, he was, as you say, almost a saint. He spent his life throwing pearls before swine--you might as well try to make a charity-school cla.s.s see the beauty of Virgil in the original--and letting his kingdom go to rack and ruin.”

”Oh,” Margaret said, ”you didn't tell me that.” Her eyes searched Mike's. ”Did he let Egypt go to pieces?”

”He was anti-war, as I am,” Mike said, ”as all lovers of G.o.d and of mankind ought to be. He was perhaps foolish in his belief that if the world could be converted to the great religion of Aton, which meant perfect love for everything that G.o.d had created and absolute reverence for everything because He created it, then there would be no wars. If G.o.d is love and we believe in G.o.d, how can we kill each other?

Akhnaton's idea of the duty of a king was the improvement of mankind.

He tried to give men a new understanding of life and of G.o.d. The moral welfare of the human race was more to him than the aggrandizement of its emperors.”

”I've no patience with all that,” Freddy said. ”He inherited a magnificent kingdom; he let it dwindle almost to ruin. If you could read some of the letters of h.o.r.emheb, the commander-in-chief of his army, begging him to send reinforcements to Syria, imploring him to realize the danger that menaced Asia, you would feel as impatient as I do with his mission work at Tel-el-Amarna, his cult of flowers and his new-fangled art.”

”A man can't go against his own conscience. He didn't approve of war.

It's an interesting fact that the only one of the old G.o.ds he recognized was Mait--he built a fine new temple to the G.o.ddess of truth at Tel-el-Amarna. He carried his enthusiasm too far,” Mike said, ”I grant that, but from his point of view these things were of little account. If he could have turned the heart of Egypt from the wors.h.i.+p of false G.o.ds, if he could have imparted unto the minds of men the wonder and the love of G.o.d, all else, he thought, would follow after.”

”A fanatic!” Freddy said.