Three Novels of Ancient Egypt

Queen Tetisheri — was in her sixties. Nobility, grandeur, and dignity distinguished her countenance. Her vivacity was irrepressible and her energy overcame her age, from whose effects she had suffered nothing but a few white hairs that wreathed her temples and a slight fading of her cheeks. Her eyes were as bright as ever and her body as charming and as slender. She shared with all members of the family of Thebes the protrusion of her upper teeth, that protrusion that the people of the South found so attractive and which they all adored. On the death of her husband, the queen had abandoned any role in governing, as the law required, leaving the reins of Thebes in the hands of her son and his spouse. Hers, however, was still the opinion to which recourse was had in times of difficulty, and the heart that inspired hope and struggle. In her retirement she had turned to reading, and constantly perused the Books of Khufu and Kagemni, the Books of the Dead, and the history of the glorious ages as immortalized in the proverbs of Mina, Khufu, and Amen-hotep. The queen mother was famed throughout the South, where there was not a man or a woman who did not know her and love her and swear by her dear name, for she had instilled in those around her, and foremost among them her son Seqenenra and her grandson Kamose, a love of Egypt both South and North and a hatred of the rapacious Herdsmen who had brought the days of glory to so evil an end. She had taught them all that the sublime goal to whose realization they must dedicate themselves was the liberation of the Nile Valley from the grip of the tyrannous Herdsmen, and she urged the priests of all classes, whether keepers of temples or teachers in the schools, to constantly remind the people of the ravaged North and their rapacious foe, and of the crimes by which they humiliated and enslaved the people and plundered their land, enriching themselves with their wealth and reducing them to the level of the animals that labored in the fields. If there was in the South a single ember of the sacred fire burning in their hearts and keeping hope alive, then hers was the credit for fanning it — with her patriotism and her wisdom. Thus, the — whole South thought of her as hallowed, calling her “Sacred Mother Tetisheri,” just as believers did Isis, and seeking refuge in her name from the evil of despair and defeat.

Such was the woman to whom Seqenenra and Ahotep made their way. She was expecting their visit, for she had learned of the coming of the envoy of the king of the Herdsmen and she remembered the envoys that these had sent to her late husband, seeking gold, grain, and stone, which they demanded as tribute to be paid by the subject to his overlord. Her husband would send well-loaded ships to escape the power of those savage people and double his secret activities in forming the army that was his most precious bequest to his son Seqenenra and his descendants. She thought of these things as she waited for the king and when he arrived with his spouse, she opened her thin arms to them. They kissed her hands and the king seated himself on her right and the queen on her left. Then she asked her son, with a gentle smile, “What does Apophis want?”

He answered her in accents full of rage, “He wants Thebes, Mother, and all that is of it. Nay, more than that, he would bargain with us this time for our honor.”

She turned her head from one to the other, alarmed, and said in a voice that retained its calm despite everything, “His predecessors, for all their greed, were satisfied with granite and gold.”

Queen Ahotep said, “But he, Mother, wants us to kill the sacred hippopotami, whose voices disturb his slumbers, and to erect a temple to his god Seth next to the temple of Amun, and that our lord take off the White Crown.”

Seqenenra confirmed what Ahotep had said, and told his mother all the news of the envoy and his message. Disgust appeared on her venerable face and the twisting of her lips revealed her exasperation and annoyance. She asked the king, “What answer did you give, my son?”

“I have yet to inform him of my answer.”

“Have you come to a conclusion?”

“Yes. To reject his demands completely.”

“He — who makes these demands will not take no for an answer!”

“And he — who is able to refuse them completely should not fear the consequences of his refusal.”

“What if he declares war on you?”

“I shall give him war for war.”