The Pyramid by Ismail Kadare

Author:Ismail Kadare [Kadare, Ismail]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780375700958
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 1996-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chronicle of Construction: penultimate step, from the ninth to the fifth stone. Extract from the records of the CBPP.

Ninth stone. Hewn at Abu Gurob, on the borders of Libya and Egypt. Seals in order but authority to lay held up by a denunciation. Suspicions that the stone had been switched during haulage. The stone was alleged to have been replaced by another taken not from the said quarry but from an old pyramid. Investigation demonstrated that the accusation was false. Eighth stone, from the same quarry. Of outstanding quality, like all stone cut at Abu Gurob. Which explains the jealousy that these stones arouse. First wind of denunciation at the quarry itself. Followed the stone to Medinet MahdL You might have thought that it would have faded away once the stone had been loaded onto the raft for the Nile crossing. But not a bit. It tracked it all along the river-bank and reattached itself to the stone when it was unloaded on shore. And it went on until investigation established that there was no foundation at all for the suspicion. Seventh stone. Also from Abu Gurob. Variously nicknamed Wild One, Blackstone, Bad’un. Also dozens of other nicknames after falling. Reasons for the slip not clarified. From the penultimate to the fifth step, it slid back down the ramp quite slowly, so it was first thought that it could be stopped. But once it reached the ninth step it began to accelerate. Crushed its first victims at the level of step eleven. Around step fourteen, it just went mad. Left the ramp, and, making an infernal racket, tumbled down along the pyramid face itself. The entire northern arris was badly shaken. At step nineteen panic broke out. At step one hundred and twenty-four, where the numbering reverses, it split in two. One half went off toward the right, the other carried on down. Ninety-two dead in all, not counting the injured. Other damage incalculable. Day of mourning for the pyramid. Sixth stone. From Saqqara quarry. Though it killed two men, it was an angel compared to its predecessor. Whence its nickname of Good Stone. Fifth stone. Also from Saqqara. Nothing in particular to report.

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