The Project Gutenberg EBook of Morning Star, by H. Rider Haggard

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Title: Morning Star

Author: H. Rider Haggard

Release Date: April 3, 2006 [EBook #2722]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORNING STAR ***

Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding

MORNING STAR

by H. Rider Haggard

DEDICATION

My dear Budge,--

Only a friendship extending over many years emboldened me, an amateur,
to propose to dedicate a Romance of Old Egypt to you, one of the world's
masters of the language and lore of the great people who in these
latter days arise from their holy tombs to instruct us in the secrets of
history and faith.

With doubt I submitted to you this story, asking whether you wished
to accept pages that could not, I feared, be free from error, and with
surprise in due course I read, among other kind things, your advice to
me to "leave it exactly as it is." So I take you at your word, although
I can scarcely think that in paths so remote and difficult I have not
sometimes gone astray.

Whatever may be the shortcomings, therefore, that your kindness has
concealed from me, since this tale was so fortunate as to please and
interest you, its first critic, I offer it to you as an earnest of my
respect for your learning and your labours.

Very sincerely yours,

H. Rider Haggard.

Ditchingham.

To Doctor Wallis Budge,

Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

It may be thought that even in a story of Old Egypt to represent a "Ka"
or "Double" as remaining in active occupation of a throne, while the
owner of the said "Double" goes upon a long journey and achieves sundry
adventures, is, in fact, to take a liberty with Doubles. Yet I believe
that this is scarcely the case. The _Ka_ or Double which Wiedermann
aptly calls the "Personality within the Person" appears, according to
Egyptian theory, to have had an existence of its own. It did not die
when the body died, for it was immortal and awaited the resurrection
of that body, with which, henceforth, it would be reunited and dwell
eternally. To quote Wiedermann again, "The _Ka_ could live