THE TALE OF THE TWO PART I. Once. when the world was still ruled from Rome, and all the East spoke Greek, there lived in the city of Alexandria a very rich merchant whose name was Eutychius. This Euychius had been born into poverty but through talent, charm and application had obtained enough capital to invest in a number of lucrative trading ventures. In middle age he married into a family of noble birth, bought large estates in the Fayyum, and began to live a life of elegance and refinement. Eutychius never forgot the circumstances in which he had been born nor the generosity of those more noble than himself who had taken a liking to him, and helped him to his wealth. Although he was not actually familiar with his domestics and his slaves, he treated them, on the whole, with an easy familiarity and he was generous with them when occasion arose. Some years after he had set up in the country, Eutychius learned that his wife, Eugenia, was with child. Eutychius had long desired a child, and now that Eugenia was pregnant he arranged that the birth should be celebrated with feasting. He expected that his first child would be a son, and he was so confident in his expectation that he ordered a large number of such clothes as were suitable for a male child. In due course it came to pass that Eugenia underwent her confinement, and was delivered of a girl child. Eutychius, who had, for a long time, known nothing but good fortune, was deeply shaken. He believed, for a while, that his previous good fortune had deserted him, and, to his wifes very great distress and displeasure, he insisted that his daughter be named Dusdaimona. Meanwhile and on the same day, in a humble cottage on the merchants estate, a boy child was born to a slave labourer called Euergetes. Euergetes was already advanced in years, and he had long since come to believe that his wife was barren and incapable of bearing a child. He was therefore filled with joy at the birth of this unlooked for child whom he and his wife named Eudaemon. When he learned that his slave Euergetes had been blessed with a child, Eutychius, whose wisdom was consistent with his natural humility, saw that the hand of some unknown god was in some way involved in the unusual coincidences of birth and names, and so he decided that the feast which he had ordered should go ahead, but that both children should be equally honoured; that guests should be restricted to members of the household; and that a special place should be set at the head of the table, for the Unknown God. The decision which Eutychius had made was greeted with great joy by his household, and the feast was prepared with great care and splendour. The marble halls were filled with tables spread with clean linen and loaded with baskets of white bread; the finest wines were poured into coolers of silver, and places were laid with plates of figured gold; an ox was slaughtered, and after the thighs had been wrapped in fat, and burned in honour of the Unknown God, the meat was cut up and roasted on spits over braziers of charcoal. Meanwhile the household prepared themselves by putting on their finest, embroidered linen; by twining crowns and girdles of laurel, ivy and myrtle; and by helping one another to fasten them around one anothers temples and waists. When everything was ready and the hour for the feast had arrived: Eutychius took his place at the door of the great hall, and welcomed each of his guests with a smile and a kind word. The two children were placed in their baskets on either side of the Unknown God; all took their places; a solemn prayer was said; and the feasting began. It was a joyful celebration; all the guests ate and drank to their satisfaction, while musicians played behind bolts of transparent linen which had been hung between the columns, and which floated gracefully as it was taken by a gentle breeze which bore the scent of roses into the hall from the gardens outside. But then, and all of a sudden, something quite unexpected happened, for it was suddenly seen that the place which had been set aside for the Unknown God was in fact occupied, and that the occupant, an ugly little dwarf with a bald head, bulging eyes, a squab nose, fa moist lips and a greasy and somewhat pointed beard was pulling the meat of off the silver spits that had been reserved for the God, and was stuffing them incontinently into his mouth. The hall, which had, a moment before, been full of noise, fell suddenly silent as neighbour tugged at the sleeve of neighbour and gestured towards the strange figure at the head of the table. At the same time, two or three men leaped to their feet and began to move threateningly towards the end of the table. But Eutychius, with whom the sense of the uncanny was very strong, stilled the men with a gesture of command, while at the same time, the dwarf looked up from his plate, glanced at the guests, and began to speak.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:50:17 +0000
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