Three Novels of Ancient Egypt

Nofer-Amun invited the king and queens to visit the sacred sanctuary and they proceeded there, Tetisheri still leaning on Ahmose's arm. They crossed the sacred threshold that separates this world from the next, prostrated themselves to the Divine Lord, kissed the curtains that hung before his statue, and prayed a prayer of thanks and praise for His preparing their success and restoring them in triumph to the motherland.

The king then left and went to his litter, as did the queens. The throne was loaded onto a large carriage and the procession resumed its progress to the palace between crowds that cheered and prayed, exulting and acclaiming the greatness of God, waving branches and scattering flowers. They reached the old palace toward the end of the afternoon. Tetisheri had been much affected. Her heart was beating hard and her breathing was irregular, so she was taken in her litter to the royal wing, where the queens and the king joined her and sat anxiously in front of her. However, she recovered her composure, and, by the strength of her will and her faith, she once more sat upright and looked tenderly into the beloved faces, saying in a weak voice, “Please excuse me, children. For the first time, my heart has betrayed me. How much has it borne and how patient it has been! Let me kiss you all, for when you are as old as I, the achievement of one's hopes brings on the end.”

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Evening came and night descended but Thebes knew nothing of sleep and stayed awake in revelry, the torches shimmering in the streets and suburbs, while the people gathered in its squares to chant and cheer and the houses rang with music and song. That same night, Ahmose did not sleep despite his exhaustion. The bed irked him, so he went out onto the balcony overlooking the vast garden and sat there on a luxurious divan in the light of a dim lamp. His soul wandered in the oppressive darkness, the tips of his fingers playing affectionately and tenderly with a gold chain, at which, from time to time, he gazed, as though his very thoughts and dreams emanated from it.

The young queen Nefertari joined him unexpectedly, excitement having driven slumber from her eyes. She thought that her husband was as happy as she and sat beside him full of gaiety and happiness. Smiling, the king turned toward her and her eyes fell on the chain in his hand. She took it in amazement and said, “Is this a necklace? How lovely! But it's broken.”

Gathering his thoughts, he said, “Yes. It has lost its heart.”

“What a pity! Where did it lose it?”

He replied, “I know only that it was lost against my will.”

She looked at him affectionately and asked, “Were you going to give it to me?”

He replied, “I have put aside for you something more precious and more beautiful than that.”

She said, “Why, then, do you grieve for it?”

Making an effort to speak naturally and calmly, he said, “It reminds me of the days of the first struggle, when I set off to seek Thebes disguised in the clothes of a trader and calling myself Isfmis. It was one of the things I offered people for sale. What a lovely memory! Nefertari, I — want you to call me Isfmis, for it's a name I love and I love those who love it.”

The king turned his face to one side to hide the emotion and yearning that were written on it. The queen smiled with pleasure and, happening to look ahead, saw the slowly moving light of a lamp in the distance. Pointing, she said, “Look at that lamp!”

Ahmose looked in the direction in which she was pointing. Then he said, “It's a lamp in a boat floating close to the garden.”

The boatman seemed to want to draw close to the palace garden and let its newly arrived inhabitants hear the beauty of his voice, as though he would greet them on his own after all Thebes had greeted them together. Raising his voice, he sang in the silence of the night, his notes echoed by a reed pipe:

How many long years I lay in my room,Suffering the pain of a grievous ill!Family and neighbors, doctors, quacks,All came, but the sickness confounded my — physicians’ skill.Then you arrived, my love, and your charms surpassed their cures and spells —For you alone it is who knows what makes me ill.

His voice was beautiful and captivating to the ear, so Ahmose and Nefertari fell silent, the queen gazing at the light of the lamp with sympathy and tenderness, while the king looked at the ground between his feet with half-shut eyes, the memories keening in his heart.

Glossary for Khufu's wisdom

Arsina: Evidently related to the Hebrew name for Mt. Sinai (Har-Sinai, pronounced harsind).

Baba: The second month of the Coptic calendar, roughly corresponding to Gregorian October.