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Updated: May 21, 2025
In the course of the following days the worthy Sofra arranged a series of hunts for Ramses, setting out toward the east from Atribis. Around the canals they shot birds with arrows; some they snared in an immense net trap which took in a number of tens of them, or they let out falcons against those which were flying at freedom.
When the prince approached them, they cried in a chorus, "Live Thou through eternity!" and kneeling, they struck the earth with their foreheads. The heir commanded them to rise, and surveyed them again with attention. They were healthy, strong persons, not looking in the least like men who had lived two months on begging. Sofra with his retinue approached the prince.
On ropes, entwined with green, the golden boat descended to the chamber in silence. It stopped on the pavement, and from beneath the flowers came forth a naked maiden of unparalleled beauty. Her body had the smoothness of marble; from her amber-like waves of hair came an intoxicating odor. The maiden stepped from the litter and knelt before Ramses. "Art Thou the daughter of Sofra?" asked he.
"They have, lord; they have been waiting for thy commands since daybreak." "And is that man Bakura among them?" Tutmosis made a wry face and answered, "A marvelous thing has happened. The worthy Sofra gave command to shut the fellow up in an empty cellar of the palace.
"Here is a ruler!" whispered the chief secretary to Sofra. "If he wished, those people would kill us and our children." The troubled nomarch sighed to the gods, and commended himself to their gracious protection. Late at night Ramses found himself in his own palace, and there the servants told him that another bedchamber had been given him. "Why is this?"
When the prince's retinue entered the eastern desert, great hunts began with dogs and panthers against wild beasts. Of these they killed and seized, in the course of some days, a couple of hundred. When the worthy Sofra noticed that the prince had had enough of amusement in the open air and of company intents, he ceased hunting and brought his guest by the shortest road to Atribis.
Yesterday the revolt was greatest, for which the worthy nomarch Sofra gave command to take the tenth man. Every tenth man was clubbed, and I got the most, for I am big and have three mouths to feed, my own, my wife's, and my daughter's. When I was clubbed I broke away from them to fall down, O lord, in thy presence, and tell thee our sorrows.
Beat us if we are guilty, but let the scribes give us that which is due, for we are dying of hunger, we, our wives, and our children." "This man is possessed!" exclaimed Sofra. "Be pleased, lord, to see the damage he has wrought here. I would not take ten talents for those dishes, pitchers, and tables." Among the guests, who now were recovering their senses, a muttering began.
"Ungrateful!" cried the girl, striking him with a lotus flower. "Thou wouldst be ready to say the same of me a month hence. But I will not let myself be injured." "Like thy father." "Hast Thou not forgotten him yet? Remember that I will go-" "Stay, stay!" Next day the viceroy was pleased to receive homage and a feast from Sofra.
But the insolence with which he burst in proves that the criminal is not a genuine Egyptian." "Who art thou?" asked Ramses. "I am Bakura, a laborer in the regiment of diggers in Sochem. We have no work now, so the nomarch Otoes commanded us." "He is a drunkard and a madman!" whispered the excited Sofra. "How dares he speak to thee, lord."
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