The Sword of Song

THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS 71 II “Jehjaour1 was a mighty magician; his soul was dark and evil; and his lust was of life and power and of the wreaking of h atred upon the innocent. And it came to pass that he gazed upon a ball of crystal wherein were shown him all the fears of the time unborn as yet on earth. And by his art he saw Perdu’ R Abu, who had been his friend : for do what he would, the crystal showed always that sensual and frivolous youth as a Fear to him : even to him the Mighty One ! But the selfish and evil are cowards; they fear shadows, and Jehj aour scorned not his art. ‘Roll on in time, thou ball!’ he cried. ‘Move down the stream of years, timeless and hideous servant of m y will! Taph ! Tath ! Arath !’ 2 He sounded the triple summons, the mysterious syllables that bound the spirit to the stone. “Then suddenly the crystal grew a blank; and thereby the foiled wizard knew that which threatened his power, his very life, was so high and holy that the evil spirit could perceive it not. ‘Avaunt !’ he shrieked, ‘false soul of darkness !’ And the crystal flashed up red, the swarthy red of hate in a man’s cheek, and darkened utterly. “Foaming at the fouth the wretched J eh- jaour clutched at air and fell prone. III. “To what God should he appeal? His own, Hanuman, was silent. Sacrifice, prayer, all were in vain. So Jehjaour gnashed his teeth, and his whole force went out in a mighty current of hate towards his former friend. 1 Allan M acGregor Bennett ( whose motto in the “ Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,” was Iehi Aour, i.e. “Let there be Light”), now Ananda Metteya, to whom the volume in which this story was issued is inscribed. 2 Taphtatharath [sic., s. b. T aphthartharath — T.S.], the spirit of Mercury. “Now hate hath power, though not the power of love. So it came about that in his despair he fell into a trance; and in the trance Mara1 appeared to him. Never before had his spells availed to call so fearful a potency from the aby ss of matter. ‘Son’ cried the Accursèd One, ‘seven days of hate unmarred by passion milder, seven days without one thought of pity , these avail to call me forth.’ ‘Slay me my enemy !’ howled the wretch. But M ara trembled, ‘Enquire of Ganesha concernin him!’ faltered at last the fiend. “Jehjaour awoke. IV. “ ‘Yes !’ said Ganesha gloomily, ‘the young man has given me up altogether. He tells me I am as m ortal as he is , and he doesn’t mean to worry about me any more.’ ‘Alas !’ sighed the deceitful Jeh- jaour, who cared no more for Ganesha and any indignities that m ight be offered him than his enemy did. ‘One of my best devotees too !’ muttered, or rather trum- peted, the elephantine anachronism. ‘You see,’ said the wily wizard, ‘I saw Perdu’ R Abu the other day, and he said that he had become Srotapatti. Now that’s pretty serious. In seven births only , if he but pursue the path, will he cease to be reborn. So you have only that time in which to win him back to your worship.’ The cunning sorcerer did not mention that within that time also must his own ruin be accomplished. ‘What do y ou advise ? ’ asked the irritated and powerful, but unintelligent deity. ‘Time is our friend,’ s aid the enchanter. ‘Let y our influence be used in the Halls of Birth that each birth may be as long as possible. Now the elephant is the longest lived of all beasts—’ ‘Done with y ou !’ said Ganesha in great glee, for the idea s truck him as ingenious. And he lumbered off to clinch the affair at once. “And Perdu’ R Abu died. 1 The archdevil of the Buddhists.