“Then give me a present to revive my heart,” she said, and she raised my chin with her finger and brought her face quite close to mine. When I understood what she wanted, I touched her soft lips with mine. She sighed a little and said:
“Thank you. That was a beautiful gift, Sinuhe. I shall not forget it. But you must be a stranger from a far country since you have not yet learned how to kiss. How else is it possible that the girls of Thebes have not taught you, though your boy’s locks are shorn for manhood?” She drew from her thumb a ring of gold and silver in which was set a large stone without any inscription and put it on my hand. “Also I must give you a present, so that you may not forget me, Sinuhe. When you have been initiated and have entered the House of Life, you can have your seal engraved upon this stone, like men of wealth and eminence. But remember that it is green because my name is Nefernefernefer, and because it has been said that my eyes are as green as the Nile water in the heat of summer.”
“I cannot take your ring, Nefer,” I said and repeated “Nefernefer,” and the repetition gave me untold joy. “But I shall never forget you.”
“Silly boy,” she said. “Keep the ring because I wish it. Keep it for a whim of mine, and for the interest it will pay me some day.” She shook a slim finger before my face, and her eyes laughed as she said, “And remember to beware of women whose embrace burns worse than fire.” She turned to go, forbidding me to follow her. Through the Temple door I saw her step into a carved and ornamented chair that was awaiting her in the courtyard. A runner went ahead and shouted to clear a way, the people standing aside whispering and looking after her. When she had gone, I was seized with a deadly emptiness as if I had dived headfirst into a dark abyss.
Metufer noticed the ring on my finger some days later, gripped my hand in disbelief and stared at the ring. “By all the forty rightful baboons of Osiris! Nefernefernefer, really? I would never have believed it of you.” He looked at me with something like respect although the priest had sent me to scrub the floors and carry out the most menial tasks because I had not had the wit to give him a present.
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Then I conceived such a vicious and bitter hatred of Metufer and his words, as only an inexperienced youth can feel. However much I longed to ask him about Nefer, I would not stoop to it. I hid my secret in my heart, for a lie is more lovely than the truth, and a dream purer than earthly contact. I contemplated the green stone upon my finger, remembering her eyes and her cool bosom, and still sensing her perfumed ointments on my fingers. I held her, and her soft lips touched mine and comforted me, for by then Amun had revealed himself to me and my faith had collapsed.
When I thought of her, I whispered with burning cheeks, My Sister. And the word was a caress to my ears, for from untold ages its meaning was and shall ever be, My Beloved.
3
But I shall tell how Amun revealed himself to me.
On the fourth night it was my turn to watch over the peace of Amun. There were seven of us boys: Mata, Mose, Bek, Sinufer, Nefru, Ahmose and I. Mose and Bek were also candidates for the House of Life, and so I knew them, but not the others.
I was weak with fasting and suspense. We were in a solemn mood and walked unsmilingly after the priest — may his name perish in oblivion — as he led us to the enclosed part of the Temple. Amun’s ship had sailed beyond the hills in the west, the watchmen had blown their silver horns, and the Temple gates were shut. But the priest who guided us had eaten a good meal of meat from the sacrifices as well as fruits and sweet cakes, and oil dripped down his face, and his cheeks were rosy with wine. Laughing to himself, he raised the veil and let us peer into the holy of holies. In his alcove, which was carved out of one huge block of stone, stood Amun. The jewels in his headdress and collar sparkled green, red and blue like living eyes in the light of the sacred lamps. In the morning, under the direction of the priest, we were to anoint him and clothe him afresh, for each morning he required a new robe. I had seen him before at the Spring Festival when he was carried
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