E’en the blackamoors, the eunuchs,
Follow’d in loud chorus after;
E’en the mummies, e’en the sphynxes
Seem’d about to burst with laughter.
Then the princess said: “I fancied
That I held the thief securely,
But it was a dead arm only
That my hand had seized so surely.
“I can see now how the robber
To thy storehouse penetrated,
And despite all bars and fast’nings
All thy treasure confiscated.
“He a magic key possesses,
“Which the door of house or stable
“Straightway opens; to resist it
“Are the strongest doors unable.
“Now I’m really not a strong door,
“Nor could I resist his pleasure;
“So this night, while treasure-watching,
“Have I lost my little treasure!”
Round the chamber danced the princess,
Laughing at this notion clever,
And the maidens and the eunuchs
Laugh’d again as loud as ever.
On that day all Memphis laugh’d too,
E’en the crocodiles so bloody
Laughingly their heads protruded
From the yellow Nile-stream muddy,
When they heard the drum’s loud beating,
And the foll’wing proclamation
Shouted by the public crier
On the bank, to all the nation:—
“We, Rhampsenitus, by God’s grace
“King of Egypt, to our loyal
“Well-belovèd friends and subjects
“Hereby send our greeting royal.
“In the night between the third and
“Fourth of June, the fourteen hundred
“Four and twentieth year before Christ,
“Came a certain thief, who plunder’d