"A great truth!" exclaimed the priests, looking at their hands.
"Here, I tell you," continued the excited high priest, "that Egypt is the trace of the arm of Osiris. Here on this land the great god rested his arm: in Thebes lay his divine elbow, his fingers reached the sea, and the Nile is his veins. What wonder that we call this country blessed!"
"Evidently," said the priest, "Egypt is the express imprint of the arm of Osiris."
"Has Osiris seven fingers on his hand," interrupted the prince, "for the Nile has seven branches falling into the sea?"
Deep silence followed.
"Young man," retorted Mefres, with kindly irony, "dost suppose that
Osiris could not have seven fingers if it pleased him?"
"Of course he could!" said the other priests.
"Speak on, renowned Pentuer," said Mentezufis.
"Ye are right, worthy fathers," began Pentuer: "this stream with its branches is a picture of the Nile; the narrow strip of green bounded by stones and sand is Upper Egypt, and that triangular space, cut with veins, is a picture of Lower Egypt, the most extensive and richest part of the country.
"Well, in the beginning of the nineteenth dynasty, all Egypt, from the cataract to the sea, included five hundred thousand measures of land. On every measure lived sixteen persons: men, women, and children. But during four hundred succeeding years almost with each generation a piece of fertile soil was lost to Egypt."