“I’ll tell you why the curtain hasn’t gone up yet,” Mr. Sheston’s voice continued, and Rachel gave a little jump of surprise—for she had not spoken her thought aloud. Oh, certainly, as Salome in Babylon had said, Sheshà was “the greatest of all magicians!”
“You will understand presently how Diana’s temple at Ephesus began,” Mr. Sheston went on. “What I am going to tell you now is legend—that is to say, something that has been repeated from father to son for a great many years, always altered a little in the telling, so that though there may be, and probably is, some truth in the story, we can’t say how much is true and how much false. Well, the legend part of the story, you see, is rather like the mist full of vague shapes which you’re looking at now. I’m going to tell you the legend part—but, directly we come to what we really know, the curtain will go up.
“Once upon a time, then, in the country we now call Asia Minor, the women were taught (or perhaps taught themselves) to do all the hard and all the fierce work generally done by men. The little girls learnt to hurl spears called javelins, and to shoot with bow and arrows, and when they grew up were brave fighters. They also tilled the ground, and gathered the harvest, and built houses, and in fact did everything of that sort as well as men. They were called Amazons, and even great men-warriors found them powerful enemies. According to the old story it was they—these Amazons—who founded the city of Ephesus. That is, they were the first people to cultivate the land and to build houses where the magnificent city of Ephesus afterwards stood. It was these strange and wonderful women who first worshipped Diana in the woods and groves near the dwelling-places they had built. And it was quite natural they should worship the sort of goddess they imagined, for all wild life was her kingdom. So the Amazons, being themselves huntresses and fighters, loved and reverenced her. Forest creatures like the deer and wild boars belonged to her as the goddess of hunting, and she was also the protectress of all young human creatures—girls as well as boys. Thus, even in times so far away that there is no real history about them, there were altars where Diana was worshipped, and, legend tells us, the first altars set up in her honour were in, or near, the city of Ephesus, founded by the Amazons. At first these were very simple altars, for neither men—nor even women—had yet learnt to build temples.
“In a moment the mist-curtain will go up, and you shall see the sort of altar that once stood, where, afterwards, temples were built, and at last that most splendid one of all, which was called a Wonder of the World.” ... Mr. Sheston paused.
“We have done with legend now,” he went on after a moment, “and all you will see is what has actually happened in the past.”
Neither of the children spoke, but they watched in breathless suspense to see the curtain of mist shake and begin slowly to dissolve. First, tall pointed trees began to prick through the fog, then a glimpse of blue sky became visible. Next there was a gleam of sunshine on low white roofs, and at last, clear and distinct, a lovely country lay spread out before their eyes. They seemed to be looking at it as one might sit on a terrace overhanging a wide view, yet close enough to the nearer trees as almost to be able to touch them. Warm air in gentle puffs flowed towards them, and the sun was hot upon their faces and hands.
A LITTLE BOY WALKED IN FRONT OF THE PROCESSION
They saw in the distance a cluster of simple houses between trees, which Rachel guessed rightly to be the earliest city of Ephesus. Beyond these houses, lay the deeply blue sea, stretching away, away towards the distant shores of Greece opposite, with here and there a rocky island set in the blue. The land between the sea and the point nearest to them, was all hill and dale—the hills covered with stiff cypress trees like dark torches against the sky, mingled with graceful smaller and lighter trees. But just in front, and quite close, there was an open glade, and in the midst of it an altar made of piled-up stones. The altar was overshadowed by a big tree, and hanging from the lowest branch the children could see a little figure carved very roughly in wood.
Just as they noticed this, the sound of faint music—so faint, so remote that they could only hear it because of the absolute stillness, made them look quickly to the left of the altar. There, at a little distance, between the trees they saw approaching a company of women and children. The smaller children were almost naked, and their tiny bodies showed white against the dark background of the wood. The women wore short tunics with strips of leather bound in a criss-cross fashion round their bare legs. A little boy, with nothing but the skin of some wild animal hanging from his shoulders, walked in front of the procession, proudly blowing into a small pipe made of a hollow reed. The other children also had reed-pipes in their hands, and most of them carried armfuls of poppies. They crossed the glade and gathered in front of the altar upon which the women as well as the children began to scatter the poppies.