The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker (books to read in your 20s TXT) 📕

the tomb, and in the sculptures and hieroglyphic

paintings on the walls.

 

“Queen Tera was of the Eleventh, or Theban Dynasty of Egyptian Kings

which held sway between the twenty-ninth and twenty-fifth centuries

before Christ. She succeeded as the only child of her father, Antef.

She must have been a girl of extraordinary character as well as ability,

for she was but a young girl when her father died. Her youth and sex

encouraged the ambitious priesthood, which had then achieved immense

power. By their wealth and numbers and learning they dominated all

Egypt, more especially the Upper portion. They were then secretly ready

to make an effort for the achievement of their bold and long-considered

design, that of transferring the governing power from a Kingship to a

Hierarchy. But King Antef had suspected some such movement, and had

taken the precaution of securing to his daughter the allegiance of the

army. He had also had her taught statecraft, and had even made her

learned in the lore of the very priests themselves. He had used those of

one cult against the other; each being hopeful of some present gain on

its own part by the influence of the King, or of some ultimate gain from

its own influence over his daughter. Thus, the Princess had been

brought up amongst scribes, and was herself no mean artist. Many of

these things were told on the walls in pictures or in hieroglyphic

writing of great beauty; and we came to the conclusion that not a few of

them had been done by the Princess herself. It was not without cause

that she was inscribed on the Stele as ‘Protector of the Arts’.

 

“But the King had gone to further lengths, and had had his daughter

taught magic, by which she had power over Sleep and Will. This was real

magic—“black” magic; not the magic of the temples, which, I may explain,

was of the harmless or “white” order, and was intended to impress rather

than to effect. She had been an apt pupil; and had gone further than

her teachers. Her power and her resources had given her great

opportunities, of which she had availed herself to the full. She had

won secrets from nature in strange ways; and had even gone to the length

of going down into the tomb herself, having been swathed and coffined

and left as dead for a whole month. The priests had tried to make out

that the real Princess Tera had died in the experiment, and that another

girl had been substituted; but she had conclusively proved their error.

All this was told in pictures of great merit. It was probably in her

time that the impulse was given in the restoring the artistic greatness

of the Fourth Dynasty which had found its perfection in the days of

Chufu.

 

“In the Chamber of the sarcophagus were pictures and writings to show

that she had achieved victory over Sleep. Indeed, there was everywhere

a symbolism, wonderful even in a land and an age of symbolism.

Prominence was given to the fact that she, though a Queen, claimed all

the privileges of kingship and masculinity. In one place she was

pictured in man’s dress, and wearing the White and Red Crowns. In the

following picture she was in female dress, but still wearing the Crowns

of Upper and Lower Egypt, while the discarded male raiment lay at her

feet. In every picture where hope, or aim, of resurrection was

expressed there was the added symbol of the North; and in many places—

always in representations of important events, past, present, or

future—was a grouping of the stars of the Plough. She evidently

regarded this constellation as in some way peculiarly associated with

herself.

 

“Perhaps the most remarkable statement in the records, both on the STele

and in the mural writings, was that Queen Tera had power to compel the

Gods. This, by the way, was not an isolated belief in Egyptian history;

but was different in its cause. She had engraved on a ruby, carved like

a scarab, and having seven stars of seven points, Master Words to compel

all the Gods, both of the Upper and the Under Worlds.

 

“In the statement it was plainly set forth that the hatred of the

priests was, she knew, stored up for her, and that they would after her

death try to suppress her name. This was a terrible revenge, I may tell

you, in Egyptian mythology; for without a name no one can after death be

introduced to the Gods, or have prayers said for him. Therefore, she had

intended her resurrection to be after a long time and in a more northern

land, under the constellation whose seven stars had ruled her birth. To

this end, her hand was to be in the air—‘unwrapped’—and in it the Jewel

of Seven Stars, so that wherever there was air she might move even as

her Ka could move! This, after thinking it over, Mr. Trelawny and I

agreed meant that her body could become astral at command, and so move,

particle by particle, and become whole again when and where required.

Then there was a piece of writing in which allusion was made to a chest

or casket in which were contained all the Gods, and Will, and Sleep, the

two latter being personified by symbols. The box was mentioned as with

seven sides. It was not much of a surprise to us when, underneath the

feet of the mummy, we found the seven-sided casket, which you have also

seen in Mr. Trelawny’s room. On the underneath part of the wrapping—

linen of the left foot was painted, in the same vermilion colour as that

used in the Stele, the hieroglyphic symbol for much water, and

underneath the right foot the symbol of the earth. We made out the

symbolism to be that her body, immortal and transferable at will, ruled

both the land and water, air and fire—the latter being exemplified by

the light of the Jewel Stone, and further by the flint and iron which

lay outside the mummy wrappings.

 

“As we lifted the casket from the sarcophagus, we noticed on its sides

the strange protuberances which you have already seen; but we were

unable at the time to account for them. There were a few amulets in the

sarcophagus, but none of any special worth or significance. We took it

that if there were such, they were within the wrappings; or more

probably in the strange casket underneath the mummy’s feet. This,

however, we could not open. There were signs of there being a cover;

certainly the upper portion and the lower were each in one piece. The

fine line, a little way from the top, appeared to be where the cover was

fixed; but it was made with such exquisite fineness and finish that the

joining could hardly be seen. Certainly the top could not be moved. We

took it, that it was in some way fastened from within. I tell you all

this in order that you may understand things with which you may be in

contact later. You must suspend your judgment entirely. Such strange

things have happened regarding this mummy and all around it, that there

is a necessity for new belief somewhere. It is absolutely impossible to

reconcile certain things which have happened with the ordinary currents

of life or knowledge.

 

“We stayed around the Valley of the Sorcerer, till we had copied roughly

all the drawings and writings on the walls, ceiling and floor. We took

with us the Stele of lapis lazuli, whose graven record was coloured with

vermilion pigment. We took the sarcophagus and the mummy; the stone

chest with the alabaster jars; the tables of bloodstone and alabaster

and onyx and carnelian; and the ivory pillow whose arch rested on

‘buckles’, round each of which was twisted an uraeus wrought in gold.

We took all the articles which lay in the Chapel, and the Mummy Pit; the

wooden boats with crews and the ushaptiu figures, and the symbolic

amulets.

 

“When coming away we took down the ladders, and at a distance buried

them in the sand under a cliff, which we noted so that if necessary we

might find them again. Then with our heavy baggage, we set out on our

laborious journey back to the Nile. It was no easy task, I tell you, to

bring the case with that great sarcophagus over the desert. We had a

rough cart and sufficient men to draw it; but the progress seemed

terribly slow, for we were anxious to get our treasures into a place of

safety. The night was an anxious time with us, for we feared attack

from some marauding band. But more still we feared some of those with

us. They were, after all, but predatory, unscrupulous men; and we had

with us a considerable bulk of precious things. They, or at least the

dangerous ones amongst them, did not know why it was so precious; they

took it for granted that it was material treasure of some kind that we

carried. We had taken the mummy from the sarcophagus, and packed it for

safety of travel in a separate case. During the first night two

attempts were made to steal things from the cart; and two men were found

dead in the morning.

 

“On the second night there came on a violent storm, one of those

terrible simooms of the desert which makes one feel his helplessness.

We were overwhelmed with drifting sand. Some of our Bedouins had fled

before the storm, hoping to find shelter; the rest of us, wrapped in our

bournous, endured with what patience we could. In the morning, when the

storm had passed, we recovered from under the piles of sand what we

could of our impedimenta. We found the case in which the mummy had been

packed all broken, but the mummy itself could nowhere be found. We

searched everywhere around, and dug up the sand which had piled around

us; but in vain. We did not know what to do, for Trelawny had his heart

set on taking home that mummy. We waited a whole day in hopes that the

Bedouins, who had fled, would return; we had a blind hope that they

might have in some way removed the mummy from the cart, and would

restore it. That night, just before dawn, Mr. Trelawny woke me up and

whispered in my ear:

 

“‘We must go back to the tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer. Show no

hesitation in the morning when I give the orders! If you ask any

questions as to where we are going it will create suspicion, and will

defeat our purpose.”

 

“‘All right!” I answered. “But why shall we go there?’ His answer

seemed to thrill through me as though it had struck some chord ready

tuned within:

 

“‘We shall find the mummy there! I am sure of it!’ Then anticipating

doubt or argument he added:

 

“‘Wait, and you shall see!’ and he sank back into his blanket again.

 

“The Arabs were surprised when we retraced our steps; and some of them

were not satisfied. There was a good deal of friction, and there were

several desertions; so that it was with a diminished following that we

took our way eastward again. At first the Sheik did not manifest any

curiosity as to our definite destination; but when it became apparent

that we were again making for the Valley of the Sorcerer, he too showed

concern. This grew as we drew near; till finally at the entrance of the

valley he halted and refused to go further. He said he would await our

return if we chose to go on alone. That he would wait three days; but

if by that time we had not returned