Bring the body of the dead man and lay it here before me.

Bring the woman who strove to protect him, that she may speak." The body was brought and laid upon the platform, its wide eyes staring up at the moon.

Then soldiers who had gathered thrust forward the weeping girl.
"Cease from tears," said Seti, "and swear by Kephera the creator, and by Maat the goddess of truth and law, to speak nothing but the truth." The girl looked up and said in a rich low voice that in some way reminded me of honey being poured from a jar, perhaps because it was thick with strangled sobs: "O Royal Son of Egypt, I cannot swear by those gods who am a daughter of Israel." The Prince looked at her attentively and asked: "By what god then can you swear, O Daughter of Israel ?" "By Jahveh, O Prince, whom we hold to be the one and only God, the Maker of the world and all that is therein." "Then perhaps his other name is Kephera," said the Prince with a little smile.

"But have it as you will.

Swear, then, by your god Jahveh." Then she lifted both her hands above her head and said: "I, Merapi, daughter of Nathan of the tribe of Levi of the people of Israel, swear that I will speak the truth and all the truth in the name of Jahveh, the God of Israel." "Tell us what you know of the matter of the death of this man, O Merapi." "Nothing that you do not know yourself, O Prince.