Page 95 (2/2)

" 'Little rain' we did often; we did it for others, we did it for joy

"But it was therain' that really spread our fame far and wide We had always been known as the witches of (he mountain; but now people came to us from the cities of the far north, from lands whose names we didn't know

"Men waited their turn in the village to come to the mountain and drink the potion and have us examine their dreams They waited their turn to seek our counsel or soe served the for this, and all profited, or so it seeard e did was not so different froy do in this century; we studied iht for some truth from the subconsciousrain' merely bolstered the faith of others in our abilities

"One day, half a year I think before our er had brought it froypt as the Egyptians called it themselves It was a letter written on a clay tablet as they wrote in Jericho and Nineveh, and there were little pictures in the clay, and the beginnings of what men would later call cuneiform

"Of course we could not read it; in fact, we found it frightening, and thought that it ht be a curse We did not want to touch it, but touch it we had to do if ere to understand anything about it that we should know

"The ns Akasha and Enkil had heard of our great power and would be honored if ould visit at their court; they had sent a great escort to accoifts

"We found ourselves, all three, distrustful of thisthe truth as far as he knew it, but there was

"So our mother took the clay tablet into her hands I which passed through her fingers and gave her great distress At first she wouldn't tell us what she had seen; then taking us aside, she said that the King and Queen of Ke of others' beliefs And that a terrible evil would co said

"Then Mekare and I touched the letter and we too caught the presentile, and caught up with the evil was an eleood In sum this was no sienuine curiosity and respect

"Finally we asked the spirits-those two spirits which Mekare and I most loved They came near to us and they read the letter which was a very easy thing for theer had told the truth But soo to the King and Queen of Kemet

" 'Why?' we asked the spirits

" 'Because the King and Queen will ask you questions, the spirits answered, 'and if you answer truthfully, which you will, the King and Queen will be angry with you, and you will be destroyed '

"Of course ould never have gone to Egypt anyway We didn't leave our mountain But noe knew for sure that we er with all respect that we could not leave the place where we had been born, that no witch of our faed hi and Queen

"And so the er left and life returned to its normal routine

Chapter 27