Therefore the wilderness
and the forest that do not change are now my only friends, since they
alone knew me when I was young. Be pitiful now to me, for I am poor, so
poor that for three whole days no food has passed my lips. It was the
smell of the meat which you have with you that led me to you. Give me of
that meat, Daughter, for I starve."
"It is yours, O----" and she paused.
"I am called Kepher."
"Kepher, Kepher!" repeated Tua, for she thought it strange that a
beggar-man should be named after that scarabaeus insect which among the
Egyptians was the symbol of eternity. "Well, take and eat, O Kepher,"
she said, and handed him the basket that contained what was left to them
of their store.
The beggar took it, and having looked up to heaven as though to ask a
blessing on his meal, sat down upon the sand and began to devour the
food ravenously.
"Lady," said Asti, "he will eat it all, and then we shall starve in
this desert. He is a locust, not a man," she added, as another cake
disappeared.
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