Read Online The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters - Free Book Online

poetic liberties you take with the original text are quite— er— quite . . ."

"In that manner I make them more accessible to the general public," I replied. "And there is certainly much of interest in such stories. The parallels to European myth and legend are quite remarkable. You know the story, of course, Mr. Vincey?"

My attempt to compensate for Emerson's bad manners was understood and appreciated. Mr. Vincey
gave me a grateful look and replied, "I confess I have forgotten the details, Mrs. Emerson. It would be
a pleasure to be reminded of them by you."

"I will be Scheherazade then, and amuse you all," I said playfully. "There was once a king who had no son— "

"We all know the story," Emerson interrupted. "I would rather ask Mr. Reisner about his studies at Harvard."

"Later, Emerson So the king prayed to the gods and they granted his— "

It would be senseless to repeat Emerson's interruptions, which broke the smooth narrative I had intended to produce. I will therefore produce it here, for as the reader will discover, it had an unexpected and well-nigh uncanny influence on ensuing events.

"When the young prince was born, the Seven Hathors came to decree his fate They said: 'He shall die
by the crocodile, the snake, or the dog.'

"Naturally the king was very sad at hearing this. He ordered a stone house to be built and shut the prince up in it, along with every thing he could possibly want. But when the prince was older, he went up on the roof one day and saw a man walking along the road with a dog beside him, and he asked that a dog be procured for him. His father, who yearned to please the poor lad, caused a puppy to be given him.

After the prince was grown he demanded his release, saying, "If it is my doom it will come to me, whatever I do." Sadly his father agreed, and the boy set forth, accompanied by his dog. At last he came
to the kingdom of Naharin. The king had only one child, a daughter, and he had placed her in a tower whose window was seventy cubits from the ground, and told all the princes who wanted to marry her
that she would be given to the one who first reached her window.

"Disguised as a chariot driver, the Prince of Egypt joined the young men who spent all their days jumping up at the window of the princess, and the princess saw him. When finally he reached the window she kissed and embraced him. But when the King of Naharin heard that a common chariot driver had won
his daughter, he tried first to send the boy away and then to kill him. But the princess clasped the young man in her arms and said, "I will not stay alive an hour longer than he!"

"So the lovers were wed, and after some time had elapsed, the prince told his wife about the three fates. 'Have the dog that follows you killed!' she exclaimed, but he replied, 'I will not allow my dog, which I raised from a puppy, to be killed.' So she guarded him day and night. And one night while he slept, she set out jars of beer and wine, and she waited, and the snake came out of its hole to bite the prince. But
it drank the wine and became drunk, and rolled over on its back, and the princess took her ax and chopped it to pieces."

"And that is where it ends," said Emerson loudly. "Now, Mr. Reisner, I believe you began in Semitic— "

"That is not the ending," I said, even more loudly. "There is a confused passage which seems to suggest that the faithful dog turned on his master, and that in fleeing the dog, he fell into the clutches of the crocodile. The manuscript breaks off at that point, though."

"It is the mystery of the ending that intrigues you, I suppose," said Mr. Newberry. "Was it the crocodile or the dog that brought the prince to his death?"

"I believe he escaped those fates as he did the first," I said. "The ancient Egyptians liked happy endings, and the brave princess must have played a part in the solution."

"That is the true explanation for your interest, Mrs. Emerson," said Howard Carter, who had come all
the way from Luxor