NAHASI. Oh, the day of Prodigies!

ZAYA. She will be the foremost nearer to the Sanctuary than all the
rest. She will pray with the praying crowd, she will behold the lowering
of the stone that hides the face of Isis....

DELETHI. She will behold Isis--face to face....

ALL. Oh!

ZAYA. She will beg the goddess graciously to incline her head, in sign
that, yet another year, Egypt shall be protected. And when the fervor of
the crowd's united prayer is great enough, the head of the Goddess of
Stone will bow. That will be the first prodigy.

DELETHI. The head of the Goddess of Stone will bow--that will be the
first prodigy.

ZAYA. And in the crowd there will be blind who shall see, and deaf who
shall hear, and dumb who shall speak.

DELETHI. Perhaps Mieris, our good mistress, will be cured of her
blindness at last.

HANOU. And when she who is chosen goes forth from the house of the
God.... Tell us, Zaya, tell us the manner of her going forth.

ZAYA. Three days before the appointed day, in the town and throughout
the land, they will begin the preparations for the festival. When the
moment comes, the crowd will surge before the temple, guarded by Lybian
soldiers. And she, she, the elect, the saviour, will come forth, ringed
by the high priests of Ammon in purple and in gold, and aloft on a
chariot where perfumes burn, deafened by sound of trumpet and cries of
joy, she will behold the people stretch unnumbered arms to her....

ALL. Oh!

DELETHI. And she will be borne to the Nile....

ZAYA. And she will be borne to the Nile. She will board the barge of
Ammon....

DELETHI. And the barge will glide from the bank....

ZAYA. And the barge will glide from the bank where all the crowd will
bow their faces to the dust. [_She stops, greatly moved_] And when the
barge returns she will be gone.

ALL [_in low tones_] And when the barge returns she will be gone.

ZAYA. And after two days the waters of the Nile will rise.

ALL. The waters of the Nile will rise....

DELETHI. And as far as the waters flow they will speak her name, who
made the sacrifice, with blessings and with tears.

HANOU. If it were I!...

ALL [_save Yaouma_] If it were I!...

_Yaouma rises to a sitting posture._

ZAYA. If it were you, Yaouma?

YAOUMA. Perhaps I should refuse.

ALL. Oh!

MOUENE [_mischievously_] I know why! I know why!

DELETHI. We know why.

ZAYA. Tell us....

YAOUMA. Tell them....

DELETHI. 'Tis the same r