DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0055
AT THE CONVENT
the last drop of satisfaction out of them. The stalactites give
him a meaning and a shape; and one can always consult him.
The three explorers explored nothing, on the other hand;
they belonged to Egypt only in office-hours, and after that
they ate whatever you set before them: went in mufti, in fact.
A singular result, which rejoiced my patriotic sense.
Learned Germans can be mummified by Egypt and become
as dark as Pharaohs, but they don’t turn into civil servants.
As soon as they appear on the scene, you know it. One of
the Englishmen had the cheek to nod to me when I referred
to the Alhambra, just as he had nodded to Rohricht a
moment before, out of mere conventional stupidity. That of
course infuriated me, and I started hammering at Rohricht
again.
A foreign dignitary tactfully attempted to lead the
conversation on to the animals in the Cairo zoo, and
Babuschka made some remark about the curious baboon
in this institution. Though it played up to the social effort
on the part of the dignitary, it all came to nothing and fell
completely flat.
Afterwards we sat for hours at a stretch on our loggia,
and discoursed upon the vulgarity of being unable to dis-
tinguish between mosques and pyramids. It was a magni-
ficent night. The starlight almost blistered you. We scolded
our consciences and felt ourselves carried up to heaven.
The Syrian Priest. The Syrians are a wide-awake
people and control the business of Cairo. Our neighbour
is much more accessible than we had imagined, talks French,
and has written a book on the relations of Islam with
Christianity which has been reviewed in the orientalist
monthlies at Leipzig. Sometimes he comes in to ask us
the time, as his clock is being mended. Somebody gave him
a bottle of hairwash, and he fortunately asked Babuschka
if it was good to drink. The day before yesterday he took us
47
the last drop of satisfaction out of them. The stalactites give
him a meaning and a shape; and one can always consult him.
The three explorers explored nothing, on the other hand;
they belonged to Egypt only in office-hours, and after that
they ate whatever you set before them: went in mufti, in fact.
A singular result, which rejoiced my patriotic sense.
Learned Germans can be mummified by Egypt and become
as dark as Pharaohs, but they don’t turn into civil servants.
As soon as they appear on the scene, you know it. One of
the Englishmen had the cheek to nod to me when I referred
to the Alhambra, just as he had nodded to Rohricht a
moment before, out of mere conventional stupidity. That of
course infuriated me, and I started hammering at Rohricht
again.
A foreign dignitary tactfully attempted to lead the
conversation on to the animals in the Cairo zoo, and
Babuschka made some remark about the curious baboon
in this institution. Though it played up to the social effort
on the part of the dignitary, it all came to nothing and fell
completely flat.
Afterwards we sat for hours at a stretch on our loggia,
and discoursed upon the vulgarity of being unable to dis-
tinguish between mosques and pyramids. It was a magni-
ficent night. The starlight almost blistered you. We scolded
our consciences and felt ourselves carried up to heaven.
The Syrian Priest. The Syrians are a wide-awake
people and control the business of Cairo. Our neighbour
is much more accessible than we had imagined, talks French,
and has written a book on the relations of Islam with
Christianity which has been reviewed in the orientalist
monthlies at Leipzig. Sometimes he comes in to ask us
the time, as his clock is being mended. Somebody gave him
a bottle of hairwash, and he fortunately asked Babuschka
if it was good to drink. The day before yesterday he took us
47