THE FELLAH
Yes, I’ll tell him my tale.
[Turns to PEER GYNT.]
Do you see whom I bear on my shoulders?
His name was King Apis of old.
Now he goes by the title of mummy,
and withal he’s completely dead.
All the pyramids yonder he builded,
and hewed out the mighty Sphinx,
and fought, as the Doctor puts it,
with the Turks, both to rechts and links.
And therefore the whole of Egypt
exalted him as a god,
and set up his image in temples,
in the outward shape of a bull.—
But I am this very King Apis,
I see that as clear as day;
and if you don’t understand it,
you shall understand it soon.
King Apis, you see, was out hunting,
and got off his horse awhile,
and withdrew himself unattended
to a part of my ancestor’s land.
But the field that King Apis manured
has nourished me with its corn,
and if further proofs are demanded,
know, I have invisible horns.
Now, isn’t it most accursed
that no one will own my might!
By birth I am Apis of Egypt,
but a fellah in other men’s sight.
Can you tell me what course to follow?—
then counsel me honestly.—
The problem is how to make me
resemble King Apis the Great.