fra dwelt in a house close by Essouan, yet closer to the
first cataract--so close, indeed, that the sound of the eternal
battle waged there between river and rocks was of the place a part.

"She grew in beauty day by day, so that it was said of her, as of
the poppies in her father's garden, What will she not be in the
time of blooming?

"Each year of her life was the beginning of a new song more
delightful than any of those which went before.

"Child was she of a marriage between the North, bounded by the sea,
and the South, bounded by the desert beyond the Luna mountains;
and one gave her its passion, the other its genius; so when they
beheld her, both laughed, saying, not meanly, 'She is mine,'
but generously, 'Ha, ha! she is ours.'

"All excellences in nature contributed to her perfection and rejoiced
in her presence. Did she come or go, the birds ruffled their wings in
greeting; the unruly winds sank to cooling zephyrs; the white lotus
rose from the water's depth to look at her; the solemn river loitered
on its way; the palm-trees, nodding, shook all their plumes; and they
seemed to say, this one, I gave her of my grace; that, I gave her
of my brightness; the other, I gave her of my purity: and so each
as it had a virtue to give.

"At twelve, Ne-ne-hofra was the delight of Essouan; at sixteen,
the fame of her beauty was universal; at twenty, there was never
a day which did not bring to her door princes of the desert on
swift camels, and lords of Egypt in gilded barges; and, going away
disconsolate, they reported everywhere, 'I have seen her, and she
is not a woman, but Athor herself.'"

III.

"Now of the three hundred and thirty successors of good King Menes,
eighteen were Ethiopians, of whom Oraetes was one hundred and ten
years old. He had reigned seventy-six years. Under him the people
thrived, and the land groaned with fatness of plenty. He practised
wisdom because, having seen so much, he knew what it was. He dwelt
in Memphis, having there his principal palace, his arsenals, and his
treasure-house. Frequently he went down to Butos to talk with Latona.

"The wife of the good king died. Too old was she for perfect
embalmment; yet he loved her, and mourned as the inconsolable;
seeing which, a colchyte presumed one day to speak to him.

"'O Oraetes, I am astonished that one so wise and great should
not know how to cure a sorrow like this.'

"'Tell me a cure,' said the king.

"Three times the colchyte