Part 5 (2/2)

The head-dresses were no less varied Sometimes the plaited hair was spun out into curls; sometimes it was divided into three parts, one of which fell down the back and the other two on either side of the cheeks

Huge periwigs, closely curled, with nuolden threads, rows of ena and lovely faces, which sought of art an aid which their beauty did not need

All these women held in their hands a flower of the blue or white lotus, and breathed a odour which the broad calyx exhaled A stalk of the sa from the back of their necks, bowed over their heads and showed its bud between their eyebrows darkened with antimony

In front of theirdle, held out to them necklaces of flowers made of crocuses, the blooms of which, white outside, are yellow inside, purple safflowers, golden-yellow chrysanthehtshade, myosotis whose flowers seemed made of blue ena odour , even the far-distant home

These slaves were followed by others, who on the upturned palht hands bore cups of silver or bronze full of wine, and in the left held napkins hich the guests wiped their lips

The wines were drawn froant woven baskets placed on four-footed pedestals enious fashi+on The baskets contained seven sorts of wines: date wine, palreen wines, neine, Phoenician and Greek wines, and white Mareotis ith a bouquet of violets

The Pharaoh also took a cup fro near his throne, and put to his royal lips the strengthening drink

Then sounded the harps, the lyres, the double flutes, the lutes, accoed opposite the throne, one knee on the ground, accentuated as they beat tian The dishes, brought by Ethiopians from the vast kitchens of the palace, where a thousand slaves were busy preparing the feast in a fiery atuests

The dishes, of scented wood admirably carved, of bronze, of earthenware or porcelain enae pieces of beef, antelope legs, trussed geese, siluras fro tubes and rolled, cakes of sesaranates full of rubies, grapes the colour of amber or of areen foliage The cups were also wreathed in flowers, and in the centre of the table, ans and ed, spraying as it fell, a vast sheaf of persolutas, ranates, convolvulus, chrysanthe of colours and of scents Under the tables, around the supporting pillar, were arranged pots of lotus

Flowers, flowers everywhere, even under the seats of the guests! The women wore them on their arms, round their necks, on their heads in the shape of bracelets, necklaces, and crowns; the lae bouquets, the dishes disappeared under leaves, the wines sparkled aantic debauch of flowers, a colossal orgy of scents, unknown to other nations

Slaves constantly brought fro their wealth, arranate, of lotus, to renew the flohich had faded, while servants cast grains of nard and cinnamon upon the red-hot coals of the censers

When the dishes and the boxes carved in the shape of birds, fishes, and chimeras, which held the sauces and condiments, had been cleared away, as well as the ivory, bronze, or wooden spatulae, and the bronze and flint knives, the guests washed their hands, and cups of wine and fer around

The cup-bearer dreith a long-handled ladle the dark wine and the transparent wine froures of horses and rams, which were held in equilibrium in front of the Pharaoh by means of tripods on which they were set

Female musicians appeared--for the orchestra of auze tunic covered their slender, youthful bodies, veiling them no more than the pure water of a pool conceals the fores into it Papyrus wreaths bound their thick hair and fell to the ground in long tendrils; lotus flowers bloos sparkled in their ears, necklaces of enamel and pearl encircled their necks, and bracelets clanked and rattled on their wrists One played on the harp, another on the lute, a third on the double flute, crossing her arht for the left flute and the left for the right flute; a fourth placed horizontally against her breast a five-stringed lyre; a fifth struck the onager-skin of a square drue, with flowers in her hair and a belt drawn tight around her, beat ti her hands

The dancers caht, slender, and as lithe as serpents; their great eyes shone between the black lines of their lids, their pearly teeth between the red bars of their lips Long curls floated down on their cheeks Some wore full tunics striped white and blue, which floated around the over the hips to the knees, which allowed their beautiful, slender legs and round hs to be easily seen

They first assurace, then, waving branches of bloo castanets, shaped like the head of Hathor, striking ta the tanned skin of druave themselves up to swifter steps and to bolder postures; they pirouetted, they whirled with ever-increasing ardour But the Pharaoh, thoughtful and drealance of satisfaction upon theaze did not even fall upon the their palpitating breasts with their hands

Dwarfs with twisted feet, with swollen and deforh at ti a smile to the majestic, stony face of the Pharaoh, were no le smile to his lips, the corners of which ree ular harps, sistra, castanets, cyh, white ers of their hand and stretching out the other three, repeating their grotesque gestures with autos full of dissonances His Majesty never changed countenance

Wo cords ending in a tassel, their wrists and ankles bound with black leather bands, and wearing close fitting drawers suspended by a single brace passed over their shoulders, perfor than another; posturing, throwing the their supple bodies likebranches, and touching the ground with their necks without displacing their heels, supporting in that iht of their coled with a ball, two balls, three balls, before, behind, their ar upon the loins of one of the women of the company One, indeed, the cleverest, put on blinkers like Tlobes in her hands without letting a single one fall The Pharaoh was not moved by these marvels

He cared noa cestus on the left ar at a block of wood knives which struck with miraculous accuracy the spot indicated did not interest hiht-board which the lovely Thom he looked upon usually with favour, presented to him as she offered herself as an adversary In vain Amense, Taa, Hont-Reche ventured upon timid caresses He rose and withdrew to his apart uttered a word

Motionless on the threshold stood the servant who, during the triuesture of His Majesty

He said: ”O King, loved of the Gods! I left the procession, crossed the Nile on a light papyrus-bark and followed the vessel of the woned to fall She is Tahoser, the daughter of the priest Petamounoph”