As I nestled down on the soft sand, the full-orbed moon rose above the
eastern waves, and shone with a glorious radiance. My heart opened to
the mysteries of the sacred night, and I sprang up, and bathed seven
times in the cleansing water of the sea. Then, with tears upon my
cheeks, I prayed to Isis, the mighty saviour goddess:

"O Queen of Heaven, who dost enlighten the world with thy lovely beams
as thou goest on thy lonely way, hear me now and help me, in my peril
and misery and misfortune! Restore me, O mighty goddess, to my rightful
shape, and let Lucius return to the bosom of his family."

Sleep fell swiftly upon my eyes, and in my sleep the goddess visited me.
She rose up, a vision of light, from the waters. On her head was a crown
of radiant flowers, shaped like the moon, and serpents coiled about her
temples, and her divine body was arrayed in a robe of shining darkness
embroidered with innumerable stars.

"See, Lucius," she said, with a voice that breathed a great sweetness
over me, "Isis appears in answer to your prayer. Cease now to weep and
mourn, for I am come in pity of your lot to show favour to you.
To-morrow my priest will descend to the seashore to celebrate my
festival, and in his left hand he will carry a crown of roses. Go forth
without fear, and take the crown of roses, and then put off the shape of
a beast, and put on the form of a man. Serve me well all the days of
your life, and when you go down to the grave you shall see me as a light
amid the darkness--as a queen in the palace of hell. By my favour you
shall be lifted up into the fields of Paradise, and there you shall
worship and adore me for all eternity."

The saviour goddess then vanished, and I awoke, and the dawn was in the