"Ha! ha!" laughed the Phoenician. "What a pity that our lord could not hear and see thee this moment! But I will tell him, when he is in good humor, that Thou art not only as faithful as a dog to him, but even that Thou wouldst not accept a gold goblet because he has not permitted thee to take presents. And this goblet, believe me, Sarah, has tempted more than one woman, and women who were not of small importance."
Dagon sat awhile admiring the virtue and obedience of Sarah; at last he took farewell of her with much feeling, sat down in his tented boat, and sailed away toward Memphis. When the boat had pushed off from the country house, the smile vanished from the banker's face, and an expression of anger came out thereon. When Sarah's house was hidden behind the trees, Dagon stood up and raised his hands.
"O Baal of Sidon, O Astoreth!" said he, "avenge my insult on this cursed daughter of a Jew. Let her treacherous beauty perish as a drop of rain in the desert! May disease devour her body, and madness bind her soul! May her lord hunt her out of his house like a mangy swine! And as today she pushed my goblet aside, may the hour come when people will push her withered hand aside, when in thirst she begs them for a cup of dirty water."
Then he spat and muttered words with hidden and dreadful meaning; a black cloud covered the sun for a while, and the water near the side of the boat began to grow muddy and rise in a mighty wave. When he finished, the sun had grown bright again; but the river was disturbed, as if a new inundation were moving it.
Dagon's rowers were frightened, and ceased their singing; but separated from their master by the side of the boat, they could not see his ceremonies.
Thenceforth the Phoenician did not appear before Prince Ramses. But on a certain day when the prince came to his residence, he found in his bedchamber a beautiful Phoenician dancer, sixteen years of age, whose entire dress was a golden circlet on her head, and a shawl, as delicate as spider webs, thrown across her shoulders.
"Who art thou?" asked the prince.
"I am a priestess, and thy servant; the lord Dagon has sent me to frighten away thy auger against him."
"How wilt Thou do that?"
"Oh, in this way sit down there," said she, seating him in an armchair. "I will stand on tiptoe, so as to grow taller than thy anger, and with this shawl, which is sacred, I will drive evil spirits from thee. A kish! a kish!" whispered she, dancing in a circle. "Ramses, let my hands remove gloom from thy hair, let my kisses bring back to thy eyes their bright glances. Let the beating of my heart fill thy ears with music, lord of Egypt. A kish! a kish! he is not yours, but mine. Love demands such silence that in its presence even anger must grow still."