THE APPRENTICE AT SAIS
{With apologies to Novalis)
Sais was a center of religion in ancient Egypt, the place where the most sacred rituals were practiced and taught to the next generation of priests. One day, a young man from a terribly poor area of Upper Egypt arrived at the gates of Sais. Hungry and ill-clad, he begged to be allowed to enter and become an apprentice, which is to say, a student in the religious school there. A certain light in the young man's eye caused the gate keeper to call his superior, who in turn called his superior, the result being that the young man was admitted as an apprentice For years he devoted himself to his studies with an ardor which no one in the school could recall seeing in the many apprentices who undertook the course of study. The young man advanced easily and quickly through the many levels of ritual and revelation. Finally the great day arrived when he would enter the inner sanctum itself, the heart of the great temple at Sais, where the secret of the universe would be revealed to him, after which he would understand all things. Before he entered the room where he would see the holy of holies, the old priests explained to him that he would be alone there, that he should proceed to the center of the room where he would find an object covered with a heavy veil. After performing the various ablutions and rituals which he had learned so well, he was to remove the veil. What he saw then would complete his education as a priest. The young man entered the room, which was huge and dark, being lighted by only a few oil lamps In the distance he could barely make out the soaring figures of Isis and Osiris He knelt and performed the suitable rituals, walked to the center of the room, pulled the veil from what seemed to be a bust—and saw a representation of himself. END
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