PART THREE I AM NOT HE (continued 2)
Natalie Duddington translation
And Shiha went on whipping him and saying:
"Ah, you naughty boy, you shameless little creature, you have disgraced yourself before all the world! Take this, son of man, son of god!"
The king woke up, recalled his dream and felt as frightened and ashamed in reality as he did in the dream.
He lay for some time in the dark with his eyes open. There was a lump in his throat, his breath failed him as before an epileptic fit; the inhuman scream was ready to burst from his throat. "What shall I do? What shall I do?" he thought with anguish.
Suddenly he felt easier—something had been loosened, the lump in the throat had melted away. He got up and walked out of the tent.
The sky was rose-green and the rose-green waves of the sand seemed as ethereal as the sky. The morning star bright as the sun glittered in the heavens. Not a man, not a beast, not a bird, not a tree, not even a blade of grass—only the sky and the earth—endless freedom, infinite expanse.
Akhnaton raised his eyes to the star and smiled. All at once he seemed to have understood what he was to do.
With joy, as though his words were enough to conquer death—the mocking laughter—he whispered:
"To go away! To go away!"