thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
hunger that tormented us. French gaiety seasoned the food which composed our frugal meal. It was on the point of ending, and I was occupied with my work when all of a sudden a horde of desert Arabs fell on us. We did not have the time to place ourselves in a position of defence. The blows of swords descended upon us, the bullets whistled, and I received several wounds. My unhappy companions were lying on the ground dead or expiring. Our cruel enemies after having removed our weapons and clothes, disappeared with our horses with the speed of lightning. I remained for some time in a state of prostration, facing the sun. At last recovering some of my strength, I raised myself with pain. I had two sword cuts on the head, and one on the left arm. I looked around me. I saw nothing but corpses, a burning sky and arid sand in an immense desert and a frightning solitude. With but the hope of a certain and cruel death, I resigned myself to saying goodbye to my country to my parents and to my friends. Invoking heaven, I crawled to the Pyramid, and the blood which ran with abundance from my wounds reddened the sand which was soon to be my tomb. Arriving at the foot of these worldly marvels I sat down and leaned against this enormous mass that had seen many centuries pass by and which would see many more pass. I thought that my existence which was soon to end had come to naught just as the day which was nearing its end, the sun being on the point of plunging into the ocean. "Brilliant star, receive my goodbyes," I said with emotion. "My eyes will never see you again, your benificent light will never shine on me again. Goodbye." As I said this goodbye which I thought was eternal, the sun disappeared. The night came and covered the world with its dark curtain. I was absorbed with the most sad reflections when a light noise could be heard a few paces from me. A large slab of stone detached itself from the pyramid and fell on the sand; I turned to that side, and by the light of a small lantern that he carried in his hand, I perceived a venerable old man who came out of the pyramid. A white beard covered his chest, a turban covered his head, and the rest of his costume indicated that he was a Mohammedan. He cast his eyes around; then advancing a few steps he halted opposite the corpse of one of my unhappy companions of misfortune. "Oh Heavens!" he cried in Turkish. "A man is wounded, a Frenchman is dead." He lifted his eyes to the sky saying: "Oh Allah." He then discovered the others which he carefully examined to see if he could not find one who still breathed, and to assure himself, I saw him place his hand in the region of the heart. The old man recognised that they had all ceased to
live. Uttering a painful groan, with tears furrowing down from his eyes, he retraced his steps to reenter the pyramid. I felt the desire to conserve my days. I had already made the sacrifice of my life; hope entered my heart. Summoning all my strength, I called to him; he heard me, and turning his lantern in my direction, he saw me. Advancing he gave me his hand, which I seized and pressed to my ups. He saw that I was wounded and that blood was flowing from the cuts on my head. Placing his lantern on the ground, he removed his girdle and covered my brow. He then helped me to get up. I had lost a lot of blood and was suffering from extreme weaknessI hardly had the strength to support myself. Placing his lantern in my hand, then taking me in his arms, he carried me near the opening in the pyramid from which he had come and placed me gently on the sand. Giving me an affectionate grip of the hand, he indicated that he was re-entering the pyramid and would return promptly. I gave thanks to Heaven for the unexpected help that had been sent me. The old man reappeared carrying a flagon. He removed the cork and poured a few drops of the liqueur into a drinking vessel which he gave to me to drink. A delicious perfume diffused around me. Hardly had this Divine Liqueur penetrated my stomach than I felt regenerated, and I had enough strength to enter the pyramid with my benefactor and generous conductor. We then stopped for a few moments. He replaced the stone that had fallen, which he adjusted with an iron bar, and we descended by an easy slope into the interior of the pyramid. After having walked for some time on the same path, which made several sinuous turns, we arrived at a door which he secretly opened and closed with care. Then having crossed an immense hall, we entered another place. A lamp hung from the ceiling; there was a table covered with books, several oriental divans or seats, and a bed on which to rest. The kind old man conducted me to a seat where he made me sit down. Placing his lantern on the table he opened a kind of cupboard from which he took several vases. He approached me and invited me to remove my clothes with an attention and complaisance difficult to describe. Having examined my wounds he applied with solemn formality several balms which came from the vases of which I have previously spoken. Hardly had they been applied to my arms and head than the pains were soothed. He invited me to lie on his bed, and very soon a beneficial and soothing sleep weighed down my eyelids. When I awoke, I looked around and saw sitting near me the good old man who did not wish to partake of rest while I was asleep as he feared that I might need help. I tendered him my most grateful thanks by
the most expressive signs. In the same manner he signified to me that I must remain quiet. He gave me a new portion of the cordial which had already proved its happy effects. Afterwards he looked at me with extreme attention, and realizing that he had nothing to fear for my life, he affectionately patted my hand. He then lay down on some cushions on the other side of the chamber where we were, and soon I heard him sleeping profoundly and peacefully. "Oh benevolent one," I said to myself, "thou art virtue par excellance and a pure emanation of the Divinity; thou unitest and bringest men together and thou makest them forget the pains to which they are prey. Through thee they are returned to happiness, and too thou art this happiness, the object of all their wishes and all their desires." My host made a movement and got up. He came to me and smiled at seeing me in a state of calm and tranquility which left him in no fear of my being. He gave me to understand that he was going to leave me so that he could go out of the pyramid and see what was happening outside. He brought to my side that which he thought would be necessary for my needs, and then he left me alone. Until this moment I had not reflected at all on what had happened to me in this exigency. I found myself safe in this subterranean place, and I had no uneasiness relative to my host; however, this would have to come to an end by my departing after I had been cured and re-joining the Army. I was occupied with these ideas when I saw the old man re-enter. He gave me to understand that several Arab corps and Mamelouks were surveying the plain and that he had seen them without being noticed because his retreat was impenetrable to all eyes. He indicated that he had me in his care and regarded me as his son; therefore I could deliver myself to the greatest security. I indicated to him my complete gratitude, and he appeared satisfied. As I appeared to be dissatisfied to be able to express myself only by signs, he brought me a book indicating that with its help we could soon communicate together without hesitation. The career which I had followed since my childhood had familiarised me with meditation, I loved the application of mind, and I was soon in the condition to listen to my generous old man. He also showed such compliance in the lessons which he gave me that even with less good will, one would have made progress. I remain silent on all that was relative to my new education. My complete cure and convalescence took longer than I realized. My host went out from time to time to see what was taking place as he was in complete ignorance of earthly events. In short, one day he was longer than usual, and on his return he informed me that the
French Army had evacuated Egypt and that I could not hope to leave at this time without giving an account of the days that I had spent with him. I should stay with him which he would make me do by his kindness and love so that in my particular case of captivity my fate would not be as cruel as I might think because he would teach me things which would astonish me and I should desire nothing in the way of good fortune. I had begun to understand the Turkish language. He told me to get up. I obeyed him. He took me by the hand and conducted me to the end of the chamber. He opened a door opposite the one by which one entered, and taking a lamp from the table we entered a vault where there were disposed in regular lines several coffers which he opened. They were full of gold and gems of every kind. "You see my son that with this one never fears poverty. Everything is yours; I am reaching the end of my career, and I shall be happy to leave them in your possession. These treasures are not the fruit of avarice and a sordid interest. I own them by the knowledge of Occult Sciences with which I am familiar and the boon which has been granted to me by The Great Being to penetrate the secrets of Nature. I can still command the Powers that populate the Earth and Space and are not visable to ordinary men. "I like you, my dear son. I recognise in you the candour, sincerity, love of truth, and aptitude for these sciences, and most of all I wish you to know that they have cost me more than eighty years of research, meditation, and experience. "The science of the Magicians, the language of the hieroglyphics, have been lost by the downfall of man. Only I am the guardian. I will impart these precious confidences to you, and we will read together these characters traced on the pyramids which have been the despair of scholars and before which they have paled for many centuries." The prophetic manner in which he spoke impressed me and I showed a very lively desire to understand that with which he wished to acquaint me. I told him this in the Turkish language which I was beginning to understand and to talk in a manner so that I could be understood. "Your wishes shall be fulfilled," answered my adopted father. Then lifting one hand to the arch of heaven, he spoke in a solemn tone: Love, my son, love the very good and the very grand God of the philosophers, and never become proud if he brings you in contact with the children of wisdom for you to associate in their company and to make you a participant in the wonders of his power. After having finished this invocation of sorts, he then said while looking at me: "Such are the principles which you must fathom. Try and make yourself worthy
to receive the light. The hour of your regeneration has come. You will become like a new individual. "Pray fervidly to Him who alone has the power to create new hearts, to give you that which will make you capable of great things that I have to teach you, and to inspire me to withhold from you none of the mysteries of Nature. Pray. Hope. I eulogise the eternal wisdom which has been placed in my soul and wish to disclose to you its ineffable truths. And you will be lucky, my son, if nature has placed in your soul the resolution that these high mysteries will demand of you. You will learn to command all Nature. God alone will be your master, and the enlightened Will alone be your equal. The supreme intelligences will glory in obeying your desires. The Demons will not dare to be found where you are. Your voice will make them tremble in the pits of the abyss, and all the invisibles who inhabit the four elements will esteem themselves happy to administer to your pleasures. I adore you oh Great God for having enthroned man with so much glory, and having established him as sovereign monarch of all the works made by your hands. "Do you feel, my son, do you feel this heroic ambition which is the sure stamp of the children of wisdom? Do you dare to desire to serve only the one God and to dominate over all that is not God? Have you understood what it is to prove to be a man and to be unwilling to be a slave since you are born to be a Sovereign? And if you have these noble thoughts, as the signs which I have found on your physiognomy do not permit me to doubt, have you considered maturely whether you have the courage and the strength to renounce all the things which could possibly be an obstacle to attaining the greatness for which you have been born?" At this point he stopped and regarded me fixedly as if waiting for an answer, or as if he were searching to read my heart. I asked him, "What is that which I have to renounce?" "All that is evil in order to occupy yourself only with that which is good. The proneness with which nearly all of us are born to vice rather than to virtue. Those passions which render us slaves to our senses which prevent us from applying ourselves to study, tasting its sweetness, and gathering its fruits. You see, my dear son, that the sacrifice which I demand of you is not painful and is not above your powers; on the contrary, it will make you approach perfection as near as it is possible for man to attain. Do you accept that which I propose?" "Oh my Father," I answered, "nothing conforms more to my desires that that one should choose propriety and virtue." "It suffices," answered the old man. "Before unfolding to you completely the doctrine which will initiate you into the
mysteries, which are most profound and the most sacred, you must understand that the elements are inhabited by very perfect creatures. The immense space between heaven and earth has inhabitants far more noble than the birds and the gnats. The vast seas have many other hosts than the whales and dolphin. It is the same in the depths of the earth which contains other things than water and minerals, and the element of fire, more noble than the other three, has not been created to abide there useless and empty. The air is full of an unnumbered multitude of beings with human forma little proud in appearance but in effect docile and great lovers of the sciences; subtle but obliging to the great Mages and enemies of the foolish and the ignorant: these are the sylphs. The seas and rivers are the habitat of the Ondines, the earth is full practically to the center of Gnomes, guardians of the treasures and the precious stones. These are the ingenious friends of man and easy to command. They supply to the children of the Magicians all moneys of which they have need and only ask payment for their services in the glory of being commanded. "As for the Salamanders, the inhabitants of the fire regions, they serve the philosophers, but they do not seek the attention of their company. "I could also talk about the familiar spirits: Socrates, as well as Pythagoras and a few other wise men, had his. I have one also; he is near me when I have need of him. This will no doubt seem strange to you, but even if your eyes do not convince you of the truth, you will be able to believe it if you have any confidence in Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Zoroaster, Proclus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Ptolemy, Trismegistus and other wise men to whose enlightenment one must add those who give us the natural knowledge. "It remains for me to speak to you of the Talismans, those magic circles, which will give you the power to command all the elements, to avoid all the dangers, all the snares of your enemies, and to assure you the success of all your enterprises and the fulfillment of your wishes." He arose, opened a chest which was at the foot of his bed, and took out a cedarwood box covered in gold veneer and enriched with diamonds of an extraordinary brilliance. The lock on which was engraved hieroglyphic characters was also of gold. He opened this casket, and I saw a large quantity of talismans and rings which were enriched with diamonds and engraved with magical and cabalistic symbols. It was impossible to look at them without being dazzled. "You see, my son, each one has its virtue, its peculiar virtue, but to make use of it you must understand the language of the Magicians in order to pronounce the mysterious words engraved thereon. I will teach them to you before working with you on the great performance with the spirits and the animals who are submissive to my
authority and who obey me blindly. You will see when you have been initiated into all these mysteries of how many errors the majority of those who pretend to be servile to nature have been guilty. They love the truth and believe they have discovered it by means of abstract ideas and lose their way in the faith of a reason of which they do not know the limits. "The vulgar or common people do not see over the world in which they live other than an arch of glittering light during the day and a scattering of stars during the night. These are the limited ones of the universe. Certain of the philosophers have seen more and have increased (their knowledge) up to nearly the present time to the point of affrighting our imagination. Further, what prodigious work is offered at one stroke to the human spirit! Employ eternity even to survey it; take the wings of dawn, fly to the planet Saturn in the skies which extend over this planet. You will find without ceasing new spheres, new orbs, worlds accumulating one above another. You will find infinity in matter, in space, in movement, in the number of nuances and shades which adorn them. As our souls expand with our ideas and assimilate in a certain manner the objects which they penetrate, how much then must a man become elated at having penetrated the inconceivable profundities. I am an upstart thanks to wisdom, and you will reach this point too." He arose and took up several manuscripts which were on the table. "These precious books, my dear son, will acquaint you with things unknown to the rest of humanity and which will seem never to have existed. These books escaped the fire of the library of Ptolemy. They have received some damage, as you see; in effect, several pages have been blackened by the fire. "Ah well! It is by the knowledge which I have been able to draw from these works that I have the authority to command all the beings who inhabit the aerial and terrestrial regions, known and unknown to man. "Oh my son! Prostrate yourself before the Divinity, deplore in His presence the errors of the human spirit, and promise Him to be as virtuous as it is possible for a man to be. Guard against studying moral philosophy in the ignorant writings of the multitudes, in the schemes produced by the heat of the imagination, by the restlessness of the spirit, or by the desire for celebrity which torments their authors. Seek guidance in those works where, having no other interest than truth or other aim than public usefulness, they render to morals and to virtue the homage which they have deserved in all times and from all peoples." I listened to this good old man with an admiration mixed with respect; he had stopped speaking and I thought I heard him still. A sweet majesty reigned in all his features, and the persuasion seemed to pour from his lips like a limpid stream running
down a slope to fertilize the prairies. He noticed my admiration which was akin to ecstacy. "My dear son," he said, "I pardon your astonishment. You have until now lived in the society of men who are corrupt, who have learnt to doubt everything and to forget the respect which one owes to Him who has brought forth all from nothing. Wisdom for them a meaningless difficulty, but as you learn it, it will become for you a practical virtue. You will look on it as something very simple, as natural to you as the air you breathe and as necessary to you for your existence. Your wounds are healing. Tomorrow I will commence your education in wisdom, and I will give you the first lesson. I am now going to my aviary to feed my prisoners." "What!", I said to him. "Your prisoners! With your philosophy and the love of humanity which characterizes you, do you deprive living creatures of their liberty?" He smiled at my observation. "My dear son, that which I do is necessary to facilitate my mysterious operations, but the destiny of those submissive to my laws is perhaps sweeter than if they enjoyed complete liberty. Besides, they have never known the prize and so cannot desire it. Tomorrow you will have the answer to all these enigmas. He then left me to enter the cave where he had led me when he showed me the chests filled with gold and precious stones. Soon he came back. I got up. He told me to approach the awning so that we could eat something before going to sleep. He picked up the papers that were on the table. He took a seat and told me to sit by his side. I obeyed, but as I did not see any food, he laughingly added that this food was not very substantial but that in a moment I would see that he had cooks and slaves equally clever and intelligent. He immediately pronounced these words: Ag, Gemenos, Tur, Nicophanta, and blew three times on a ring which he had on his finger. Immediately the place was lit up by seven chandeliers of rock crystal which appeared from the void. Nine slaves entered bringing various viands on golden plates and wine in vessels of the greatest richness. Incense burned in tripods, and celestial music could be heard. Everything was placed on the table in the most beautiful order, and the slaves stood to attention around us to serve. "You see, my son," the good old man repeated to me, "I have but to command to be obeyed. Eat, serve yourself, and choose what will gratify you." Everything which I tasted was delicious. Then I took my goblet, and the wine, like nectar, which had been poured into it, its bouquet forefunner to its delicate taste, appealed agreeably to my sense of smell. When it had astonished my pallet and I had relished it, it seemed as though a divine fire flowed through my veins and as if I had acquired a new