mode, bring brighter ideas to your mind." And Satou struck the cords of
her harp with joyous energy, and with a quick measure which the tympanum
marked with more rapid strokes.
After this prelude she began a song praising the charms of wine, the
intoxication of perfumes, and the delight of the dance. Some of the
women, who, seated upon folding-stools formed of the necks of blue
swans, whose yellow bills clasped the frame of the seat, or kneeling
upon scarlet cushions filled with the down of thistles, had assumed
under the influence of Satou's music poses of utter languor, shivered;
their nostrils swelled; they breathed in the magic rhythm; they rose to
their feet, and, moved by an irresistible impulse, began to dance. A
head-dress, in the shape of a helmet cut out around the ear, enclosed
their hair, some locks of which escaped and fell upon their brown
cheeks, which the ardour of the dance soon turned rosy. Broad golden
circles beat upon their necks, and through their long gauze shifts,
embroidered at the top with pearls, showed their golden bronze bodies
which moved with the ease of an adder. They twisted, turned, swayed
their hips, bound with a narrow black girdle, threw themselves back,
bowed down, inclined their heads to right and left as if they found a
secret voluptuousness in touching their polished chins with their cold,
bare shoulders, swelled out their breasts like doves, knelt and rose,
pressed their hands to their bosom or voluptuously outspread their arms,
which seemed to flutter as the wings of Iris or Nephthys, dragged their
limbs, bent the knee, displayed their swift feet with little staccato
movements, and followed every undulation of the music. The maids,
standing against the wall to leave free space for the evolutions of the
dancers, marked the rhythm by snapping their fingers or clapping their
hands together. Some of these maids, absolutely nude, had no other
raiment than a bracelet of enamelled ware; others wore a narrow cloth
held by straps, and a few sprays of flowers twisted in their hair. It
was a strange and graceful sight. The buds and the flowers, gently
moving, shed their perfume through the hall, and these young women, thus
wreathed, might have suggested fortunate comparisons to poets.
But Satou had overestimated the power of her art. The joyous rhythm
seemed to increase Tahoser's melancholy. A tear rolled down her fair
cheek like a drop of Nile water on a nymphoea, and hiding her face
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