d negro boys,
running about everywhere selling fresh dates.

And all these human beings stifled under the white sky, in a heavy
atmosphere laden with the perfumes of women, the odour of negroes, the
fumes of cooking and the smoke of gums, which the devotees bought of the
shepherds to burn before the saint.

When night came, fires, torches, and lanterns were lighted everywhere,
and nothing was to be seen but red shadows and black shapes. Standing
amidst a circle of squatting listeners, an old man, his face lighted
by a smoky lamp, related how, formerly, Bitiou had enchanted his heart,
torn it from his breast, placed it in an acacia, and then transformed
himself into a tree. He made gestures, which his shadow repeated with
absurd exaggerations, and the audience uttered cries of admiration. In
the taverns, the drinkers, lying on couches, called for beer and wine.
Dancing girls, with painted eyes and bare stomachs, performed before
them religious or lascivious scenes. In retired corners, young men
played dice or other games, and old men followed prostitutes. Above
all these rose the solitary, unchanging column; the head with the cow's
horns gazed into the shadow, and above it Paphnutius watched between
heaven and earth. All at once the moon rose over the Nile, like the bare
shoulder of a goddess. The hills gleamed with blue light, and Paphnutius
thought he saw the body of Thais shinning in the glimmer of the waters
amidst the sapphire night.

The days passed, and the saint still lived on his pillar. When the rainy
season came, the waters of heaven, filtering through the cracks in
the roof, wetted his body; his stiff limbs were incapable of movement.
Scorched by the sun, and reddened by the dew, his skin broke; large
ulcers devoured his arms and legs. But the desire of Thais still
consumed him inwardly, and he cried--

"It is not enough, great God! More temptations! More unclean thoughts!
More horrible desires! Lord, lay upon me all the lusts of men, that I
may expiate them all! Though it is false that the Greek bitch took upon
herself all the sins of the world, as I heard an impostor once declare,
yet there is a hidden meaning in the fable, the truth of which I now
recognise. For it is true that the sins of the people enter the soul of
the saints, and are lost there as in a well. Thus it is that the souls
of the just are polluted with more filth than is ever found in the soul
of the sinner. And, for that reason, I prais