we found a ship, and i paid for the voyage out of the riches i had, and we came to egypt. the[pg 117] ring upon my hand showed that we were now far away from the one who pursued us, from zabulun the enchanter.
but we two lost our way in egypt, and we wandered about, reaching nowhere. then zabulun gained upon us again, as the ring showed. we hid in a village by the river, and we stayed there until the season when the cranes fly overhead on their way to ethiopia.
then we went from that village, and we came again upon the way that had been lost. we followed that way and we came to the great pyramid in which hermes trismegistus had his cell. down into the deepest chamber we went, and we came before hermes the egyptian.
he sat before a table that was of diamond and that had wonderful figures upon it. he was youthful, and light seemed to come from his forehead. as wonderful as the eyes of chiron was the brow of hermes trismegistus.
we knelt at the threshold of his cell, and i said, “o thrice-great hermes! we have been in the cave of chiron the centaur, and we have seen the[pg 118] long-lived ph?nix burn herself to ashes, and come out of the ashes more radiant than before. chiron was kind to us, and he sent us to you, o thrice-great hermes. we are pursued by an enchanter whose name is zabulun, and we have come to you to pray you to tell us how we may make ourselves free from him.”
hermes trismegistus said, “i know of zabulun, the wrong-doing enchanter. but what have i to do with one who is so removed from wisdom?”
i prayed him again, saying, “save us from this wrong-doing enchanter who would destroy us. he has come near us often, and he will assuredly overtake us if you do not give us help, o thrice-great hermes.”
then hermes said, “near the western island there dwells an enchanter whose name is merlin. not one of the great enchanters is he, nor like to chiron or myself, for he chooses to love rather than to be wise. he is nearer to zabulun than we are, but yet he is not a wrong-doing enchanter. go to merlin and say to him that you have been within the cell of hermes trismegistus, and that[pg 119] you have heard from him the answer to the riddle that the sphinx asks, and merlin will show you how you both may be saved from zabulun, the wrong-doing enchanter.
“but to come to merlin’s island, which is west of the western island, you will have first to go amongst the atlantes, who live by the western ocean. they eat no living thing and they never have dreams. when you come to them, seek out the wisest amongst them, and ask him to tell you of merlin, and of how you may come to him.
“to come to the atlantes you will have to pass by the sphinx in the desert. few ever pass her, for she has a riddle that she asks of every one. and the one who cannot answer her riddle is torn to pieces by the sphinx. but i shall tell you the answer to give to the riddle that the sphinx asks.”
then hermes, thrice-great hermes, told us the sphinx’s riddle and the answer that we should make to it. he told us the way we should go to pass by the sphinx and come to the people that are called the atlantes. we left the cell of hermes,[pg 120] and passed out of the pyramid, and went on our way.
we came to where the great sphinx stretches herself out in the sand, and by the light of a great moon we saw her lion’s paws and her woman’s face. we heard the purring sound that comes through the lips of the sphinx, and we halted between her paws.
“what is man?” said the sphinx, asking her riddle.
the paws that stretched alongside of us were quiet, and the voice of the sphinx was very quiet. we saw her face far above us, and it was calm, though there was much scorn and fierceness in it.
“what is man?” said the sphinx.
then i replied as hermes trismegistus had taught me to reply, “man is he whose mother is the earth and whose father is the stars.”
“go,” said the sphinx.
then we clambered across the great paws of the sphinx, and we went on our way. along the border of the desert we went, and when the great moon had changed herself to a little moon that[pg 121] was hardly to be seen in the sky we came amongst the atlantes, the people who eat no living thing and who never have dreams.
the ring showed us that zabulun, the wrong-doing enchanter, had not drawn near us for many days. we were far away from him when we came amongst the atlantes. but soon he came near us again. by that time i had found him who was wisest amongst this people, and i asked him to tell me of merlin, and of how i might come to him.
“not often does the island on which merlin dwells show itself,” said he who was wisest amongst the atlantes. “on the mid day of summer it is to be seen. then it draws near to the western island, and if you will cast upon the water nine cocks’ combs and four peacocks’ feathers, merlin will let you come upon his island.”
thereupon he who was wisest amongst them gave us the cocks’ combs and four peacocks’ feathers. they reverenced hermes of egypt, the people that are called the atlantes, and because we had spoken with hermes and had been[pg 122] in his cell, they brought us on board a ship that had great leathern sails, and in that ship they carried us to your island, o king.
