El Filibusterismo (El Fili) – Chapter 18
Chapter Title: Deceptions
Setting: Saturday evening, Quiapo square
Characters:
- Mr. Leeds
- Ben Zayb
- Padre Camorra
- Padre Irene
- Padre Salvi
- Don Custodio
Plot:
The friars, Ben Zayb and Don Custodio meet the sphinx.
Chapter Summary:
Mr. Leeds allows the group to examine the exhibit as thoroughly as they want as long as they remain quiet. The display shows skulls and cabalistic figures on a table. Ben Zayb asks if he can see the trick and Mr. Leeds says it’s okay as long as he doesn’t break anything. Ben Zayb searches for mirrors and checks under the table but there are none. He gets upset.
Everyone sits down.
Mr. Leeds begins the show and brings in a box of black wood, covered in inscriptions. He says he found it in the great pyramid of Kufu (Pharaoh of 4th Dynasty), in a sarcophagus. At the time, hoping to find a mummy of the royal family.
Mr. Leeds explains that the box contained ashes and a papyrus note. He tells them not to breathe in order to preserve the ashes. He examined the papyrus and saw two unknown words, but managed to read them. He said one word out loud and the box fell on the floor. When he opened, it he saw a human head. He read the second word and the box closed and the head disappeared. Instead, ashes were left. Mr. Leeds claims he discovered the two “most powerful words”, which meant ‘life’ and ‘death’.
Mr. Leeds puts the box on the table. Ben Zayb asks for the tablecloth to be lifted and Mr. Leeds agrees. Mr. Leeds says “Dremeof!” and the curtains move. The box opens, revealing a head with black hair. The head looks around and then directly at Padre Salvi. Mr. Leeds asks the Sphinx to tell the audience who he is.
The sphinx says he is Imuthis, born in the time of Amasis and killed during the domination of the Persians. He was going home to finish his studies but while passing through Babylon, he discovered that Gautama governed with lies. Gautama had him killed, by getting Egyptian priests on his side (since priests were considered rulers). They killed Imuthis it for a young priest named Abydos.
The sphinx talks about the cruelties of the priests. This annoys all the friars.
Mr. Leeds asks what the priests did to him and the sphinx says he was in love with a priest’s daughter. Abydos also liked her and showed people a papyrus (letter) that the sphinx wrote to the girl. This made everyone turn against the sphinx. Cambysses at the time was recovering from a disaster and mutiny broke out, so the sphinx was accused of rebellion and jailed. He escaped and was killed in the lake of Moeris. The girl hid in a temple of Isis in the island of Philoe but Abydos harassed her until she went crazy.
Padre Salvi passes out as the sphinx calls him a murderer. Padre Irene says it’s because he ate birds’ nest soup, but Don Custodio says he was hypnotized. The head turns to ashes and Mr. Leeds bows.
Don Custodio says the spectacle should be forbidden because it is immoral. Ben Zayb adds that it does not even use mirrors. Ben Zayb publishes an article next day about the science of the occult and the Ecclesiastic Governor gives an order to suspend the show.
But by then, Mr. Leeds has escaped to Hong Kong.
At the end of the chapter, there is a note that Ben Zayb was actually correct because the mirrors were hidden under the floor. Placing the box on the table pressed a spring to make them rise. If the cloth was lifted it would reveal the table of talking heads.
Trivia:
- In the beginning of this chapter, Mr. Leeds is referred to as “Dr. Leeds”.
Quotes:
All felt as if they had entered a house where there was death.
Ben Zayb: The mirrors, Mister, where are the mirrors?
Mr. Leeds: Your mirrors, I do not know where they might be; I keep mine at my hotel… Do you want to look at yourself? You look somewhat upset and pale.
Senora: How it smells of death!
Person: It smells of forty centuries!
Ben Zayb: It smells of a church!
Sphinx: Ah! Priest, priest of Abydos! I return to life to reveal your infamies, and after so many years of silence I call you murderer, sacrilegious, slanderer!
Padre Salvi: No! Mercy!
