One of Cleopatra's Nights

Cleopatra is bored with Egypt, with feasts and with kings. A young man named Meiamoun, who loves her from afar, offers all he has for one night with the queen, and she accepts the bargain on her terms. By Théophile Gautier (1838), translated by Lafcadio Hearn. A public-domain classic, from One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances.

Content warnings: Sexual content · Death

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How it begins Nineteen hundred years ago from the date of this writing, a magnificently gilded and painted cangia was descending the Nile as rapidly as fifty long, flat oars, which seemed to crawl over the furrowed water like the legs of a gigantic scarabæus, could impel it.This cangia was narrow, long, elevated at both ends in the form of a new moon, elegantly proportioned, and admirably built for speed; the figure of a ram's head, surmounted by a golden globe, armed the point of the prow, showing that the vessel belonged to some personage of royal blood. Keep reading →

Chapters

1. 1Chapter I10 min · 9 Nov
2. 2Chapter II10 min · 9 Nov
3. 3Chapter III8 min · 9 Nov
4. 4Chapter IV10 min · 9 Nov
5. 5Chapter V10 min · 9 Nov
6. 6Chapter VI69 min · 9 Nov

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