Chapter 8 : The Egyptian Girl
Patrick came to a fork in the road about a mile outside the town. One road led to the town of Cork. The on led back to inland. All the people were heading towards the port. Patrick was hungry. He sat down by the side of the road. He pull out a crust of bread to eat.
Suddenly he heard a voice. He saw a girl standing some distance away from him. The girl had a dark face and black hair. She was a Gipsy girl about his age. Patrick offered to share bread with her.
The girl was very grateful. She said, "You must have been sent by an angel, I was so hungry." She told Patrick her name was Marie and she was a Gipsy princess. She claimed that her family came from Egypt and used to live in a pyramid.
Patrick thought that a pyramid was 'a kind of house' in Egypt. Marie was indignant. She said a princess did not live in a house. She described a pyramid as 'an enormous castle with a pointed roof and no windows.' There were 'magic candles' in Egypt that burn all day and night in the pyramid.
Patrick was quite fascinated by her. He had never talk to a real Gipsy before. However, he had heard some nasty things about them. He heard that Gipsy stole and cheated people. They evenstole babies. His mother told him not to believe all these stories as Gipsies were only 'poor travelling people.'
PAtrick was homeless now and he wanted to know what it was like to travel round the world. Marie told him that she had been all over the big world and it was 'full of wonderful things.' She wanted to travel for the rest of her life.
Suddenly, she grabbed Patrick's hand and volunteered to read his future. As his hand was very dirty, she spat into his palm and wiped the dirt away until his palm was 'almost clean.' She predicted the folowing for Patrick :
i)He would be going on a long, long journey
ii)He would find what he was looking for.
iii)She saw 'gold' as well as 'danger'.
iv)He would never return to Ireland.
v)He would settle down in a new home far across the sea.
vi)He would become a soldier with a blue uniform and ride a big, white horse.
vii)He would marry a princess and live happily in big, beatiful house.
Patrick did not know how to respond to Marie's predictions about his future life. He remembered his mother telling him that Gipsies had 'strange, magical powers.' Suddenly, Marie jumped to her feet and laughed and laughed. Patrick did not realizse that Marie was laughing at his seriousness. She was just having a little fun with him.
Patrick had no idea why Marie was laughing. She looked happy and Patrick had not heard anyone laugh for a long time. She told Patrick that she was on her way to the sea and asked whether he would be coming with her. She also knew of a place where they could get something to eat. 'A feast fit for a king.' Marie laughed again and Patrick decided to follow her.
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