The wife of Mena with her own hands bound up the child, and then she carried her to her father's house--he is a paraschites--[One who opened the bodies of the dead to prepare them for being embalmed.]--Pinem is his name.

I know not whether he is known to you." "Thou hast been into his house, Princess ?" "Indeed, I was obliged, holy father," she replied, "I know of course that I have defiled myself by crossing the threshold of these people, but--" "But," cried the wife of Mena, raising herself in her litter, "Bent-Anat can in a day be purified by thee or by her house-priest, while she can hardly--or perhaps never--restore the child whole and sound again to the unhappy father." "Still, the den of a paraschites is above every thing unclean," said the chamberlain Penbesa, master of the ceremonies to the princess, interrupting the wife of Mena, "and I did not conceal my opinion when Bent-Anat announced her intention of visiting the accursed hole in person.

I suggested," he continued, turning to the priest, "that she should let the girl be taken home, and send a royal present to the father." "And the princess ?" asked the priest.
"She acted, as she always does, on her own judgment," replied the master of the ceremonies.
"And that always hits on the right course," cried the wife of Mena.
"Would to God it were so!" said the princess in a subdued voice.

Then she continued, addressing the priest, "Thou knowest the will of the Gods and the hearts of men, holy father, and I myself know that I give alms willingly and help the poor even when there is none to plead for them but their poverty.

But after what has occurred here, and to these unhappy people, it is I who come as a suppliant." "Thou ?" said the chamberlain.
"I," answered the princess with decision.