The Sphinx at Dawn by Madeleine L’Engle

Author:Madeleine L’Engle [L’Engle Madeleine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781504041546
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
Published: 2016-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

THE SPHINX AT DAWN

Early morning approached the desert. One by one the stars dimmed, went out. At the crack of dawn on the horizon the light widened to a streak of pale yellow, then warmed to a rosy glow that bathed the sands which stretched and shifted sleepily around the great stone figure of the Sphinx. The stone was touched with light, was softened, quickened, en-fleshed. The enormous wings stirred; the heavy eyelids rose. The Sphinx stared slowly across the desert floor, fixed her hungry gaze on a small speck on the widening horizon.

The speck grew larger, moved closer, was a camel, a white, one-humped camel bearing a rider. At this distance it was impossible to tell the size or tribe of whoever was mounted on the camel’s hump; he was simply a small silhouette against the deepening rose of the sky. The cold sands reflected colour, a warm and gentle hue, not the molten brass that would shimmer and burn as the sun ascended.

The camel moved in a steady, rhythmic gallop, rocking like a small boat on a rough sea, coming closer and closer.

The Sphinx waited, her stone lids half closed, then lifted slightly on her leonine forepaws as she saw that the rider was no more than a very young boy. Her long, poisonous tail twitched; her pinions quivered; she lay in her quickened stone, waiting.

At hailing distance the boy raised his arm in greeting.

The Sphinx released a slow, sibilant breath, widened her eyes to stare at him. He waved, smiled, then laughed. As the camel drew up to the great carved beast, the boy slapped the reins gently against the camel’s side. The animal’s legs crumpled as it dropped its ungainly body to the sand. The boy slid from the hump to the sand and walked up to the Sphinx, gravely regarding the pale, cold eyes.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, young king.”

The boy laughed, joyously. “I’m not a king, O Sphinx. But I was told that I would find you here and that we should have a talk before my parents and I leave Egypt.”

“Who told you?”

“An old man I met on the highway, a very old man. I should think he was even older than you.”

“No one is older than I am, and it is very rude of you to call me old. I am as young as the dawn. Very well, O Prince, you have come. What do you want of me?”

“I’m not a prince, either. I’m just a boy and my parents are poor.”

The camel arched its neck. “Poor but honest.”

“And if I had my choice of all the parents in the world, they are the ones I would choose.”

“You did,” the camel said, and blew three milky bubbles with careful pleasure.

The Sphinx shifted her massive body slightly. “Why have you come to me, Prince?”

“But I told you: I’m not a king, nor a prince. I’m just a boy.”

“Nonsense. If you are not yet a king, then you are at least a prince. Nobody of lesser degree can see me as you see me, nor hear me as you hear me.

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