THE MOTHER. The soul of a dead man has entered the body of my child, O Isis! And he is dying. I hold him towards thee, Isis. Behold how he is fair, behold how he suffers. Look, he is so little. Let me keep him! Isis! Isis! Let me keep him! ALL. Pity! Pity! HIGH PRIEST. Show us that thou dost consent to hear us! Isis, bend thy head! BLIND GIRL. Open my eyes! Ever since I was born a demon held them closed. Let me see the skies of whose splendor they tell me. I am unhappy, Isis! He whom I love, he who loves me, I have not looked upon his countenance! I am unhappy, Isis! ALL. Pity! Pity! HIGH PRIEST. Anouke! Soul of the Universe! Pity! We are before thee like little children who are lost. THE PEOPLE. Yes! Yes! like little children who are lost! THE SON. For my father who is blind, Isis, I implore thee! ALL. Isis! Father! Pity! HIGH PRIEST. Thmei, Queen of Justice! Mirror of truth! Bend thy head! THE YOUNG PARALYTIC. I have offered up ten lambs to thee. Let me get up and walk! THE MAN [_with the bandaged head_] An unseen monster devours my face making me howl with pain. PARALYZED MAN. I drag through the mire, like a beast unclean. Let me walk upright like a god. THE TWO SONS [_of the mad woman_] Behold our mother, Isis, behold our mother, who knows us no more, who knows not herself even, and who laughs!-- THE MOTHER. Isis! Thou art a mother. Isis, in the name of thine own child, save mine. Let me not go with empty arms, bereft of my tender burden. Thou art a mother, Isis! HIGH PRIEST. All! All! Pray! Supplicate! Fling you with your faces to the ground--yes! yes! again! Silence! She is about to answer. [_A long pause_] Your prayers are lukewarm. Your supplications need fervor! Pray! Weep! Cry out! Cry out! ALL. Isis! Drive out the evil spirits! Answer us! Answer us! HIGH PRIEST. Louder! Louder! THE PEOPLE. Sorrows! Tears! Sobs! Cries! Have pity! HIGH PRIEST. Once more, though you die! THE PEOPLE. Thou dost abandon Egypt! What ills will overwhelm us! Help! Help us! Have pity! HIGH PRIEST. Have pity! Have pity! [_bursting into sobs_] Oh! unhappy people, Isis, if thou dost abandon them. VOICES [_amid the sobs of the others_] She hears us not! She answers not. Evil is upon us! Evil overwhelms us! HIGH PRIEST. Desperate! We are desperate! ALL. We are desperate! A CRY. Her head is bending! No! Yes! _Silence. Then a great cry of distress and disappointment._ HIGH PRIEST. O mother! O goddess! THE MOTHER. O Isis! mother of Horus! the child god! Wilt thou let die my child? Behold him! Behold him! YOUNG PARALYTIC. Thy heart is hard, O goddess! PARALYZED MAN. Thou hast but to will it, Isis, and I walk! THE MAN [_with the bandaged head_] Heal my sores! I sow horror around me! Heal my sores! HIGH PRIEST. Answer us! Bend thy head! ALL. Pity! _The crowd, delirious, cries and sobs in a paroxysm of despair._ SATNI. Oh! the poor wretched souls!