And called him: 'Strive not with this foolish one;
But hither, tell to me what wrong is done.'
But quick the handmaid ran before, and cried:
'He bringeth words of shame from Pharaoh's son:
Thus saying: "Setne, son of Rameses,
Greets thee, and sends ten gold Arsinoës;
And more, if any man hath done thee wrong,
Setne the judge will right thine injuries";
All this, if I will speak with him an hour
And help him. To a great and secret tower
I shall go in, where none shall do me hurt
Nor know my name; so great is Setne's power!'
Then Ta-Buvuë laughed: 'I think he spake
This word to thee for Ta-Buvuë's sake.—
Go, speak to Setne, saying: "Who am I
That thou shouldst send my bondmaid gifts to take?
I am no common woman; I am one
Born of great kings, who walk my ways alone,
Priestess of Bast, the Queen of the Two Worlds,
And seeking no man's gift and fearing none.
If me thou seekest, I will speak within
Mine own house: knock and thou shalt enter in:
In Per-Bast, by the Houses of the Dead,
Past Kemi, where the desert doth begin.
There ask for Ta-Buvuë. I go hence
Now with my maids to make magnificence
Before thee. And no man shall watch thy way
Into my house, nor mark thy coming thence."'
The Slave returned, and Setne's heart did fail
For very joy at hearing of the tale.
He called his servants: 'Make me a swift boat
Ready, with rowers and a silken sail.'
And Setne marvelled in his heart a space,
And in his mirror looked; and, lo, his face
Seemed beautiful again, and all his limbs
Light, like a young man when he runs a race.
So walked he to the boat and entered in,
And bade them row as ne'er they rowed, to win
Per-Bast, beyond the Houses of the Dead,
Past Kemi, where the desert doth begin.