B639 <=> B641 (BTG XXXIV Russia, p. 640)

“You may picture to yourself, my boy, what on that day began to be accomplished everywhere on that Egypt, in order to have in their sacred vessels the greatest number of eyes of the beings who belonged in that period of the flow of time to the caste of the ruling class.

“On another occasion also there in Egypt, I became a witness of a not less terrifying scene.

“For a clear representation about this also terrifying scene, it is first of all necessary to tell you that there, that is on this Egypt, there was formerly in every one of their large points or ‘towns’ a large square on which proceeded all kinds of public, as they are called, ‘religious’ and ‘military’ ceremonies, where during these ceremonies were gathered masses of the beings from the whole of Egypt.

“These beings, and specially the masses of beings who belonged at the given moment to the weak castes, impeded the ceremonies, and therefore a certain Pharaoh ordered ropes to be stretched around these squares so that the beings who belonged to the ‘simple’ castes should not disturb the progress of the ceremony.

“But when the said ropes were stretched, it soon became evident that they would not withstand the pressure of the crowd and might often break. Then the Pharaoh ordered what are called ‘metal ropes’ to be made, whereupon those who are called ‘priests’ there, consecrated them and gave them the name of ‘sacred cables.’

“These sacred cables around the squares for the public ceremonies, particularly in the large towns of Egypt, had at that time a colossal length, sometimes reaching to one ‘centrotino,’ or, as the contemporary beings of your planet would say, ten miles long.

“Well, I was a witness of how a crowd of ordinary Egyptian beings began to string on to one of these sacred cables – just like an Asiatic shislik – the beings, without distinction of sex or age, who up till then had belonged to the ruling class.