“He has!”
“Was He a man or a woman?”
“A man!”
“Shall you violate his commandment?”
“Never! Never !”
Meanwhile, more men came, some of them carrying long spears, others hatchets. In the reflection of the fire, which was burning a little away from them, they appeared like animated black shadows of invisible people,
“Have they not tortured us enough? Have they not tickled hundreds to death? Have they not given us refuse to feed upon?”
“True! True!”
“Her knives!”
“Her spears, chief!”
“Her sorceries!”
“What of it? If we are defeated, we can at least refuse to be fathers!”
“Right! Right!”
“How can we refuse to beget their children?”
“Her virgins inflame our passion…”
“The Queen’s wines and spices set our blood on fire…”
“The Queen’s instruments of pleasure incite the flesh in spite of itself…”
“We formed a Sacred Band to resist her enchantments. Emasculate yourselves to assert your manhood! Better castrates than slaves!”
“Better castrates than slaves!”
Knives flashed.
One man laughed hysterically.
“Who laughs?”
No one answered.
From the distance several men shouted, “Chief! Chief!”
The Chief shouted back, “Hurry, brothers, hurry!”
The men approached.
“The Queen…has driven .. . the High Priest out of the Temple.”
“What!”
“Is it true?”
“She has broken the altar!”
“She has outraged the Keeper of the Holy Camel.”
“Hear, men!”
“She has opened the cage of the Sacred Bird.”
“She shall not live!”
“She cannot live!”
“Heaven will strike her blind!”
“She proclaims herself God!”
“Sacrilege!”
“Ca-ta-pha will destroy us all!”
“Death to the Sorceress.”
“The High Priest is coming with the sacred image of Ca-ta-pha!”
“Here he is! Here he is!” some shouted.
Kotikokura, dressed as a Bishop, carrying in his hand an immense golden image of a rider upon a camel, upon whose head perched an open-mouthed parrot, approached pompously, preceded and followed by several priests. All men dropped on their faces, calling out: “Ca-ta-pha!”
I did not know whether to shout for joy or to laugh uproariously. My parrot, awakened by the noise and hearing my name pronounced, screeched: “Carr-tarr-pharr!… Carr-tarr-pharr!…”
There was a deadly silence.
I struck the camel’s back with my open palm and the animal, half asleep, trudged slowly toward the people, who at my approach, began to roar and howl and shout. They beat their faces with their fists, rolled upon the ground, kissed the camel’s hoofs.
“Carr-tarr-pharr! Carr-tarr-pharr!…”
The frightened parrot screeched, flying from the camel’s forehead to a bush and back again.
“Ca-ta-pha! Ca-ta-pha!” the people repeated ceaselessly.
Kotikokura saw me.
“Ca-ta-pha! Ca-ta-pha! My Master!”
He gave the image to one of the priests, helped me descend from the animal, and embraced me, weeping on my chest. I called him endearing names. He turned to the men, who, seeing how I treated their High Priest, remained stock-still, their mouths and eyes wide open, their bodies bent.
“Look! Ca-ta-pha! God has come… Ca-ta-pha… God!” Kotikokura exclaimed.
The men howled: “Ca-ta-pha! Ca-ta-pha! God!”
They rolled upon the ground, struck one another’s back; several turned somersaults.
Weary of their infernal vociferation, I ordered them to stand aside, silent, while I discussed with their spiritual ruler, what means to take against the terrible Queen who violated the customs of the tribe by her refusal to sleep for eight days with the corpse of her chief male concubine, and who desecrated my holy house.
“Kotikokura, how did you disappear? Where have you been, Kotikokura, my friend,—my brother?”
Kotikokura growled and chattered inarticulate sounds. He danced about me, embraced me, kissed my hands, kissed the camel’s nose. His tiara, tilted now to one side, now to the other. A hundred years of civilization had fallen off him like a scab, and he resembled, for the moment, his aboriginal self.
The others, unable to restrain themselves, and besides, seeing Kotikokura’s jubilation, began to dance. They made a large circle about me, and jumped, their legs reaching their chins. Two of them beat the iron kettle and sang hymns to my glory. The parrot screeched from time to time my name, to which they never failed to answer. Exhausted, finally, they dropped upon their hands, growling quietly.
“Who is this Queen, Kotikokura?” I asked, my voice trembling a little.
“Salome.”
I had expected to hear the word, and yet, it almost gave me the vertigo. I grasped Kotikokura’s arm to steady myself.
“Salome wants to be God in place of Ca-ta-pha. She must die.”
“Do you forget, Kotikokura, that she cannot die?”
He scratched his nose violently.
“She is one of us, Kotikokura, whatever she may do.”
He shook his head.
“Yes, yes, Kotikokura. Besides, is not Ca-ta-pha here? Shall not he bring justice? Is he not God?”
“Ca-ta-pha—God always.”
I realized that if I did not act quickly, my enraged people would attack Salome. They must not mar her incomparable perfection!
“Hearken, my people!”
All knelt.
“By the sacred Parrot, let no one touch the Queen! Ca-ta-pha your God, will destroy her himself.”
“Carr-tarr-pharr…” the parrot screeched.
“Ca-ta-pha,” the people echoed.
“Rise and follow me!”
I mounted the camel. Kotikokura preceded me, the rest followed. The women who watched the gate of the city, tall creatures, hipless and breastless, seeing us, threw their spears to the ground, and ran, shrieking: “Ca-ta-phal Ca-ta-pha! Ca-ta-pha!”
As we proceeded, men and women prostrated themselves before us, shouting my name.
When enough had gathered together, I stopped.
“Hearken, ye women! Ca-ta-pha has come to chastise you.”
“We deserve it! We deserve it!”
“You have been unkind and unjust to your men.”
“We have been unkind and unjust.”
“I could no longer endure your ways, and I have come to punish you.”
“Ca-ta-pha will punish us!”
I remained silent for a while. The women sobbed: “Woe is us! Woe is us!”
“But Ca-ta-pha is a kind God.”
“Ca-ta-pha is a kind God.”
“I shall have mercy on you.”
“Ca-ta-pha shall have mercy on us. May his name be praised forever!”
“I shall neither broil you on spits, nor chop your heads off with a hatchet, nor shall I inflict upon you the tortures which you have inflicted upon your men.”
“Ca-ta-pha will not kill us! He will not torture us!”
“Hearken and obey!”
“We hearken and obey.”
“I have created man in my image, and I created woman to be his servant. Have not your High Priests and your elders told you this?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“Therefore man cracks the whip and woman obeys.”
“Man cracks the whip and woman obeys.”
“Deliver unto your men all weapons and kneel before them.”
“We shall deliver unto our men all weapons and kneel before them.”
“The chief of the men shall be the chief of the tribe.”
“He shall be the chief of the tribe.”
“So long as you obey man, and worship me, you shall not perish, neither shall you suffer.”
“Ca-ta-pha is a merciful god.”
“As for your Queen, touch not one hair of her head, but leave her to the wrath and vengeance of Ca-ta-pha and the Holy Camel.”
“We shall leave her to the wrath and vengeance of Ca-ta-pha and the Holy Camel.”
Turning to the men, I said: “Hearken, all ye men! Your High Priest I shall take with me to Heaven.”
“Happy High Priest!”