It is just as well that you should know from this time forth that
your general has got his star in the sky, which guides and protects us.'
What was said was done. Passing over the sea, we took Malta like an
orange, just to quench his thirst for victory; for he was a man who
couldn't live and do nothing.
"So here we are in Egypt. Good. Once here, other orders. The Egyptians,
d'ye see, are men who, ever since the earth was, have had giants for
sovereigns, and armies as numerous as ants; for, you must understand,
that's the land of genii and crocodiles, where they've built pyramids as
big as our mountains, and buried their kings under them to keep them
fresh--an idea that pleased 'em mightily. So then, after we
disembarked, the Little Corporal said to us: 'My children, the country
you are going to conquer has a lot of gods that you must respect;
because Frenchmen ought to be friends with everybody, and fight the
nations without vexing the inhabitants. Get it into your skulls that you
are not to touch anything at first, for it is all going to be yours
soon. Forward, march!' So far, so good. But all those people of Africa,
to whom Napoleon was foretold under the name of Kebir-Bonaberdis--a word
of their lingo that means 'the sultan fires'--were afraid as the devil
of him. So the Grand Turk, and Asia, and Africa had recourse to magic.
They sent us a demon, named the Mahdi, supposed to have descended from
heaven on a white horse, which, like its master, was bullet-proof; and
both of them lived on air, without food to support them.
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