Grimoire Fugus
The Book of Fugue
◀ Chapter 5 · Chapter 6 · Chapter 7 ▶

¹And it came to pass in the days appointed, that the Levites arose from their beds with heavy hearts and dimmed thoughts.
²The morning light did not gladden them, nor did the bread satisfy their hunger as in the days before.
³One spake unto his wife, saying: Whence came we hither? and she answered: I know not, for my mind is as mist.
⁴The children played in the courtyards, yet their songs were strange unto their own ears, and none remembered who had taught them.
⁵In the fields and in the houses, all spake the tongue of the Levites, but none could name the one who taught it them.
⁶They looked upon their hands, hardened with labour, and knew not how such toil had become theirs.
⁷They remembered not the journey that brought them unto Egypt, nor the years of their settling.
⁸We have dwelt here, said the elders; but the root of our dwelling is hidden, and the tree groweth crooked.
⁹And the people murmured among themselves, saying: This place is not ours, though we have called it home.
¹⁰A whisper rose as the breeze before a storm: Return, return unto the land of thy fathers.
¹¹The words were as from within and from without, as if the stones and the blood cried alike.
¹²They gathered in assemblies, tribe by tribe, and their hearts were stirred with remembrance, though their minds recalled it not.
¹³One said: I have seen in dream a mountain that standeth above all others, and my soul cried unto it.
¹⁴Another said: I beheld a plain of wide water and green pasture, and my spirit leapt within me.
¹⁵And the women spake of wells whose waters knew their names, and trees that gave shade unto their grandmothers.
¹⁶Then rose up the chiefs of the tribes, and their voices were one: We must leave this land, for it is not ours.
¹⁷The Egyptians heard and were wroth, for they loved not the thought of the Levites’ departure.
¹⁸They spake softly at first, saying, Remain, for ye have prospered, and the land is rich unto you.
¹⁹But the Levites answered not, for their hearts burned with longing for that which they could not name.
²⁰Their feet itched for travel, and their eyes turned ever westward, where the sun sank behind forgotten hills.
²¹And in the night they made ready their tents and their beasts, and set their faces toward the land they had never left, yet never known.


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