Читать книгу Living without Justice - Loren R. Fisher - Страница 16

The five younger children had a great afternoon. I do not know exactly what they did, but when it was time for our evening meal they were ready to sit and rest for a while.

Before we started eating, Khety stood up and said, “I want the children to know that I have a story for them. I will start the story at the end of our meal when we are served some of Pidray’s melon from Beth-shan. If I start it while we are eating the melon, the adults will be able to listen as well without having to admit they still like children’s stories.”

True to his word, Khety stood as the melon was served. He said, “This is a short story, but I am not going to tell it by memory. I will read it for two reasons: 1) the ending of this Egyptian story has been lost, and 2) I have a new translation of the Egyptian text into your language, and Naam, the translator, has written an ending for us. After you hear the story, you can, with Naam’s permission, suggest another ending. One other note: when Egyptian writers or storytellers mention an important person, place, or a God they follow the name with three words, ‘life, prosperity, health.’ As storytellers, we usually give you the first letter of each word. So, I will just say, ‘l.p.h.’ ”

I did not know that Khety was going to read this, but it sounded like fun. And Khety’s reading was always a treat. He had a different voice for every character. So he started:

The Enchanted Prince

Let it be known that there was once a king who did not have a son. After a while his Majesty, l.p.h., requested from the local gods a son for himself. They commanded that one should be born for him. During that night he slept with his wife, and yes, she became pregnant. After she completed her months for childbearing, a son was born, and the Hathors, those goddesses who determine the fate of newborns, came to appoint for him a fate. They said, “He will die by the crocodile, or the serpent, or even the dog.”

When the people who were with the child heard this, they repeated it to his Majesty, l.p.h. Then his Majesty, l.p.h., became very sad in his heart. So his Majesty, l.p.h., had a house of stone built for his son out in the desert, and he equipped it with people and with every good thing of the king’s palace, l.p.h. The child did not go outside anywhere.

After the child had grown older, he went up to the roof of his castle, and he saw a greyhound; it was following an old man who was walking on the road. He said to his servant, who was beside him, “What is that walking behind the old man who is coming on the road?”

He told him, “That is a greyhound.”

The child said to him, “Bring one just like it to me.”

Then the servant went to report it to his Majesty, l.p.h. His Majesty, l.p.h., said, “Bring for him a frisky puppy, because of the grieving of his heart.”

So they brought him the greyhound.

Now after many days had passed beyond this, the child was fully developed in all his body. He sent to his father saying, “For what purpose am I just sitting here? I am committed to the fate. So let me go. I will do according to my heart, and the God will do what is in his heart.”

Then they hitched up a chariot, equipped with many weapons. He was given his servant, and he was ferried across to the eastern land. He was told, “Go wherever your heart desires,” and his greyhound was with him. He went north into the desert, following his heart and living on the best of all the desert game.

Finally he reached the Prince of the land of Naharin. Now the Prince of the land of Naharin did not father any one except a daughter, an eligible wife, and he built a house for her; its window was far up, seventy cubits from the ground. Then he sent for all the sons of all the princes of the land of Khor, and he told them, “The one who reaches the window of my daughter, she shall be a wife for him.”

After many days had passed beyond this and the princes were doing their daily practice, the young man passed by them. They took the young man to their house. They bathed him; they gave feed to his team. They did everything for the young man: they anointed him, they bandaged his feet, they gave food to his servant, and they talked to him, planning to cause him to speak. “Where do you come from, you good-looking lad?”

He said to them, “I am the son of a chariot officer of the land of Egypt. My mother died, and my father took for himself another wife, a stepmother. She came to hate me, and I ran away, fleeing from her presence.” The princes embraced him, and they kissed his whole body.

After many days had passed beyond this, he said to the princes, “What is this that you are doing, O princes?”

They said to him, “For three months now, we have been here using this time to practice flying. For the one who reaches the window of the daughter of the Prince of the land of Naharin, he will give her to him for a wife.”

Then he said to them, “If I could enchant my feet, I would go flying with you.”

They went flying according to their daily practice, these princes.

Then the young man stood at a distance watching, and also the daughter of the Prince of the land of Naharin watched him.

Now after some time passed beyond this, the young man came to fly with the sons of the princes. He flew and he reached the window of the daughter of the Prince of the land of Naharin. She kissed him; she embraced his whole body.

Then someone went to take the good news to her father, and said to him, “Someone has reached the window of your daughter.”

So the Prince asked him saying, “A son of which of the princes?”

And one said to him, “He is a son of a chariot officer. He came fleeing from the land of Egypt and from the presence of his stepmother.”

Then the Prince of the land of Naharin became exceedingly angry. Then he asked, “Am I to give my daughter to this fugitive from Egypt? Send him back.”

Someone came and said to him, “You must go back to the place from which you came.”

But the daughter seized the young man, and she swore by God saying, “By Pre-Harakhti, if he is taken away from me, I will not eat; I will not drink; I shall die within the hour.”

Then the messenger went and reported to her father every word that she had said, her father sent men to slay him right where he was.

The daughter said to them, “By Pre, if they slay him, at the setting of the sun, I shall be dead. I shall not live an hour more than he.”

Then someone went to tell her father, and her father had the young man, together with his daughter, brought before him. When the young man came before him, the Prince understood his value. He embraced him, and he kissed his whole body.

He said to him, “Tell me about your story. Note, you have been given to me as a son.”

The young man said to him, “I am the son of a chariot officer of the land of Egypt. My mother died, and my father took for himself another wife. She came to hate me, and I ran away, fleeing from her presence.”

Then he gave him his daughter for a wife. He gave him a house with fields as well as cattle and all good things.

Now after some time had passed beyond this, the young man said to his wife, “I have been given to three fates: the crocodile, the serpent, or the dog.”

Then she said to him, “So, have the dog that follows after you killed.”

He said to her, “That is foolishness. I will not have my dog killed, whom I raised from a puppy.”

She started to guard her husband with great zeal and did not allow him to go outside walking alone.

Now on the day on which the young man had journeyed from the land of Egypt to wander about, behold the crocodile, his fate, followed him from the land of Egypt. The crocodile came to live in the midst of the lake next to the village where the young man was with his wife. Behold, a giant was in the lake. The giant would not allow the crocodile to come out for walking, and the crocodile would not allow the giant to come out to walk about. When the sun rose, they stood up and fought each other every day for a period of three months.

Now after [many] days had passed beyond this, the young man sat down and made a holiday in his house. After the end of the evening breeze, the young man lay down upon his bed, and sleep overcame his body. Then his wife filled one jar with wine; she filled another jar with beer. Then a serpent came forth from his hole to bite the young man. But his wife was sitting beside him, and she was not sleeping. So she put the jars before the serpent, and he drank and became drunk and then lay down belly up. Next his wife cut it into pieces with her axe. Then they woke her husband, and she said to him, “Look! Your God has given one of your fates into your hand. He will protect you from your fates.”

Then he made an offering to Pre, praising him and extolling his might in the course of every day.

Now after many days had passed beyond this, the young man went out to walk for pleasure on his place. His wife did not go out with him, but his dog was following him. Then his dog began to speak, saying, “I am your fate.”

Thereupon, he ran from the dog. He reached the lake; he went into the water; he fled from the dog. Then the crocodile seized him, and carried him to the place of the giant. The crocodile told the young man, “I am your fate who was made to come after you, but for three months now I have been fighting with the giant. Now look, I shall release you. If my enemy returns to fight, you shall help me kill the giant. For if you see the giant you will see the crocodile.”

Now after the earth had become bright on the next day, the giant returned.

(The text ends here and the rest is the ending by Naam.)

The crocodile called to the young man for help. He came running. The crocodile grabbed the giant’s feet in his jaws, and the young man with his enchanted feet flew high. He came down hard on the head of the giant and beat him around his eyes. The giant could not see, and the crocodile held his feet and pulled him back. At the same time the young man flew around and hit the giant in the back. The giant fell forward and drowned. The crocodile was tired, and he had been kicked. Then the crocodile said, “Now I will help you with your dog. He is also your fate as he had proclaimed. The crocodile crawled on to the shore, and he caught the dog, and he carried him to the bottom of the lake. The dog was no more, and the crocodile was never seen again.

When the young man reached home, he told his wife what had happened. She said, “I knew that your God would protect you. Now you are free.”

“Yes I am free, and perhaps I shall get another puppy.”

The young man made offerings to Pre-Harakhti, and he did not forget the crocodile. He made offerings to the crocodile god, Sobek-Re.

Now after many days had passed beyond this, The Prince of the land of Naharin died. The man said to his wife, “We have had a happy life in this land. Now we must take our children, and we will go back to Egypt. There we will live out our last years, and we will be buried in the black earth and journey to the West where there will be good food, good beer, and good music.”

This is it, from its beginning to its end, just like most of it was found in a manuscript.

Everyone gave a cheer as Khety finished the reading. Elissa and Ruth ran up and hugged him. Khety said, “My young friends are the best ever.”

My sister, Ruth, said, “Khety, you have always told us great stories, but this is the best one yet. I think we should give you a prize for the voice you used when you spoke for the crocodile.”

Everyone agreed, and Pidray brought Khety a piece of melon, saying, “Here is your prize.”

While still enjoying his melon, Khety added another word: “Naam and I have seen that in your Royal Epic the fathers also have a homecoming and a burial in their native land.”

“These stories are old prose stories just like ours,” said father. “This is important to me. Also they are interested in entertainment. Tellers of tales want to entertain. It is nice to know that we have more than contracts, ritual documents, and chronologies in our libraries.”

No one offered a suggestion for another ending, and Magon said, “The new ending seems to have all of the necessary elements for this kind of an Egyptian story. I think it is a good ending with typical Egyptian phrases and language. One thing that still amazes me is how Hathor appears in so many places. In this story she, or her goddesses, hands out the fates to the newborn. She was also known in Byblos where she was identified with their Ba‘alat, and she was known at Ugarit where she was pictured nursing royal sons.”

“She did get around as did other Egyptian gods,” said Khety. “This story is set in the North Country, in the Land of Hanigalbat or what Egyptians call the Land of Naharin. This was the land of the Hurrians; it was the Mitanni Kingdom. In the story the princess knows a lot about Egyptian religion and all about the fates. As I learned in my scribal school, this is not so strange. It has been reported that in the little town of Nuzi, northeast of Babylon near the mountains, there was a palace with many paintings of Hathor. These paintings are like the ones from Waset (Thebes) in the palace of Amen-hotep, and he married two princesses from Hanigalbat or Mitanni. Also, we should note on the occasion of this marriage, which we will celebrate, that the Hurrian women from Naharin had the same rights as the men, and they were not afraid to speak up and do what was needed in any crises. It seems clear that they spoke out about their rights and thus influenced our great reformer, Akh-en-Aton, who ruled in Amarna, to give such rights to Egyptian women. Sharmila take note!”

“I will take note,” promised Sharmila. She also had a question for Khety, “Does that little town of Nuzi still exist?”

“No. If I remember correctly, the Assyrians destroyed it about 400 years ago. That would be close to the time of Akh-en-Aton and before the destruction of Ugarit by the Sea Peoples about 200 years ago. At least the princesses who came to Egypt with their many women escaped the take over by the Assyrians. The women from Naharin contributed to our culture.”

Mother said, “That was a great story, and it was especially good for this wedding party. Naam has his princess and Sharmila has her prince. Her prince cannot fly, but she should not worry; they will not only be equal, but they will climb to new heights. We all wish for them a happy life together.