"Not a priestess. I simply believe in the unity of God, which you ought to believe in; for thou art open and ingenuous, and not afraid of truth. A priestess I am not, yet in my family and tribe is preserved sacredly the knowledge of the God who spake from heaven to our ancestor, the Syrian. Canst thou believe, O prince, that a bull is God?" she asked again, almost authoritatively. "No, I do not," I answered, without disguise. "Dost thou believe that all minor deities will ultimately be lost in one God?" "I do, most certainly." "Then worship Him! Thou art a prince. I hear thou wilt become a king. What would be your opinion of your subjects, and ambassadors of other lands, also, if, instead of presenting petitions to you, they should offer them to your grand-chamberlain, your royal scribe, your chief butler, or chief baker,--mistaking them ignorantly for you?" I made no reply, dear mother. The argument was irresistible. It will be long, I feel, before I recognize in Apis, or in any statue of stone, or any figure of a god, the One God, whose existence Remeses first hinted at to me, and which the Hebrew has made me believe in; for my own reason responds to the mighty truth! Do not fear, my dear mother, that I shall return to Tyre an iconoclast; for I cannot set up a faith in the One God in my realm, until I have His existence established by infallible proofs. In my own heart I may believe in Him and adore Him, whom my reason sees through and beyond all material images of Himself; but, with Remeses, I must secure a foundation for this new faith, before I overturn the ancient fabric of our mythology of many gods. She resumed her work. It was coloring the wings of an image of the sun, which, encircled by an asp, his head projected, and with extended wings, adorned the beginning of one of the leaves. The sun was overlaid with gold; the asps were painted green, and brown, and gold, while the feathers of the wide wings were blue, orange, purple, silver, and gilt. It was an exquisitely beautiful picture. "That is a god," I said, after watching for a time her skilful pencil; "and yet you design and color it." "The potter is not responsible for the use that his vases are put to. The slave must do her mistress's work. I fulfil my task and duty by obedience to the lords who are over me. Yet this is not a god. It is the emblem of Egypt. The eternal sunshine is symboled in this golden disk. The entwining asp is the winding Nile, and the two wings represent Upper and Lower Egypt, extending along the river. It is an emblem, not a god. In Egypt, no temple is erected to it. It is used only in sculpture and over pylones of temples. Yet," she added, "were it a god, I could not refuse to depict it. Commanded to do, I obey. The condition of my people is one of submission: if a king rules well, he is approved; if a slave obeys well, he also is approved."