<h2>THE PEASANT AND THE WORKMAN</h2>
<p>IN THE SEKHET HEMAT</p>
<p>IXTH DYNASTY <i>THE PEASANT AND THE WORKMAN</i> THERE dwelt in the Sekhet Hemat—or salt
country—a peasant called the Sekhti, with his wife and children, his
asses and his dogs; and he trafficked in all good things of the Sekhet
Hemat to Henenseten. Behold now he went with rushes, natron, and salt,
with wood and pods, with stones and seeds, and all good products of the
Sekhet Hemat. And this Sekhti journeyed to the south unto Henenseten; and
when he came to the lands of the house of Fefa, north of 61</p>
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<p>62 SEKHTI AND HEMTt</p>
<p>Denat, he found a man there standing on the bank,
a man called Hemti—the workman—son of a man called Asri, who
was a serf of the High Steward Meruitensa. Now said this Hemti, when he
saw the asses of Sekhti, that were pleasing in his eyes, "Oh that some
good god would grant me to steal away the goods of Sekhti from him!"
Now the Hemti's house was by the dyke of the
tow-path, which was straitened, and not wide, as much as the width of a
waist cloth: on the one side of it was the water, and on the other side of
it grew his corn. Hemti said then to his servant, "Hasten I bring me a
shawl from the house," and it was brought instantly. Then spread he out
this shawl on the face of the dyke, and it lay with its fastening on the
water and its fringe on the corn. Now
Sekhti approached along the path used by all men. Said Hemti, "Have a
care, Sekhti! you are not going to trample on my clothes! "Said Sekhti, "I
will do</p>
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<p>as you like, I will pass carefully." Then went he
up on the higher side. But Hemti said, "Go you over my corn, instead of
the path?" Said Sekhti, "I am going carefully; this high field of corn is
not my choice, but you have stopped your path with your clothes, and will
you then not let us pass by the side of the path?" And one of the asses
filled its mouth with a cluster of corn. Said Hemti, "Look you, I shall
take away your ass, Sekhti, for eating my corn; behold it will have to pay
according to the amount of the injury." Said Sekhti, "I am going
carefully; the one way is stopped, therefore took I my ass by the enclosed
ground, and do you seize it for filling its mouth with a cluster of corn?
Moreover, I know unto whom this domain belongs, even unto the Lord Steward
Meruitensa. He it is who smites every robber in this whole land; and shall
I then be robbed in his domain?" Said
Hemti, "This is the proverb which men speak: 'A poor man's name is only
his own matter.' I am he of whom you spake, even the
Lord Steward of whom you think." Thereon he took to him branches of green
tamarisk and scourged all his limbs, took his asses, and drave them into
the pasture. And Sekhti wept very greatly, by reason of the pain of what
he had suffered. Said Hemti, "Lift not up your voice, Sekhti, or you shall
go to the Demon of Silence." Sekhti answered, "You beat me, you steal my
goods, and now would take away even my voice, O demon of silence! If you
will restore my goods, then will I cease to cry out at your violence."
Sekhti stayed the whole day petitioning Hemti, but
he would not give ear unto him. And Sekhti went his way to Khenensuten to
complain to the Lord Steward Meruitensa. He found him coming out from the
door of his house to embark on his boat, that he might go to the judgment
hall. Sekhti said, "Ho! turn, that I may please thy heart with this
discourse. Now at this time let one of thy followers
whom thou wilt, come to me that I may send him to thee concerning it." The
Lord Steward Meruitensa made his follower, whom he chose, go straight unto
him, and Sekhti sent him back with an account of all these matters. Then
the Lord Steward</p>
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<p>Meruitensa accused Hemti unto the nobles who sat
with him; and they said unto him, "By your leave: As to this Sekhti of yours, let him bring a witness. Behold
thou it is our custom with our Sekhtis; witnesses come with them; behold,
that is our custom. Then it will be fitting to beat this Hemti for a
trifle of natron and a trifle of salt; if he is commanded to pay for it,
he will pay for it." But the High Steward Meruitensa held his peace; for
he would not reply unto these nobles, but would reply unto the Sekhti.
Now Sekhti came to appeal to the Lord Steward
Meruitensa, and said, " O my Lord Steward, greatest of the great, guide of
the needy: When thou embarkest on the lake
of truth,— Mayest thou sail upon it
with a fair wind; May thy mainsail not fly
loose. May there not be lamentation in thy
cabin; May not misfortune come after thee.
May not thy mainstays be snapped; Mayest thou not run aground. May not the wave seize thee; Mayest thou not taste the impurities of the river;
Mayest thou not see the face of fear.
May the fish come to thee without escape; Mayest
thou reach unto plump waterfowl.</p>
<p>For thou art the orphan's father, the widow's
husband, The desolate woman's brother, the garment of the motherless.
Let me celebrate thy name in this land for every
virtue. A guide
without greediness of heart; A great one without any meanness.
Destroying deceit, encouraging justice; Coming to
the cry, and allowing utterance. Let me
speak, do thou hear and do justice; O praised! whom the praised ones
praise. Abolish oppression, behold me, I
am overladen, Reckon with me, behold me defrauded." Now the Sekhti made this speech in the time of the
majesty of the King Neb-ka-n-ra, blessed. The Lord Steward Meruitensa went
away straight to the king and said, "My lord, I have found one of these
Sekhti, excellent of speech, in very truth; stolen are his goods, and he
has come to complain to me of the matter." His
majesty said, "As thou wishest that I may see health! lengthen out his
complaint, without replying to any of his speeches. He who desireth him to continue speaking
should be silent; behold, bring us his words in writing, that we may
listen to them. But provide for his wife and his children, and let the
Sekhti himself also have a living. Thou must cause one to give him his
portion without letting him know that thou art he who is giving it to
him." There were given to him four loaves
and two draughts of beer each day; which the Lord Steward Meruitensa
provided for him, giving it to a friend of his, who furnished it unto him.
Then the Lord Steward Meruitensa sent the governor of the Sekhet Hemat to
make provision for the wife of the Sekhti, three rations of corn each day.
Then came the Sekhti a second time, and even a
third time, unto the Lord Steward Meruitensa; but he told two of his
followers to go unto the Sekhti, and seize on him, and beat him with
staves. But he came again unto him, even unto six times, and said—</p>
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<p>"My Lord Steward-Destroying deceit, and
encouraging justice; Raising up every good thing, and crushing every evil;
As plenty comes removing famine, As clothing covers nakedness, As clear
sky after storm warms the shivering; As fire cooks that which is raw, As
water quenches the thirst; Look with thy face upon my lot; do not covet,
but content me without fail; do the right
and do not evil." But yet Meruitensa would not hearken unto his complaint;
and the Sekhti came yet, and yet again, even unto the ninth time. Then the
Lord Steward told two of his followers to go unto the Sekhti; and the
Sekhti feared that he should be beaten as at the third request. But the
Lord Steward Meruitensa then said unto him, "Fear not, Sekhti, for what
thou has done. The Sekhti has made many speeches, delightful to the heart
of his majesty and I take an oath—as I eat bread, and as I drink
water—that thou shalt be remembered to eternity." Said the Lord
Steward, "Moreover, thou shalt be satisfied when thou shalt hear of thy complaints." He
caused to be written on a clean roll of papyrus each petition to the end,
and the Lord Steward Meruitensa sent it to the majesty of the King
Neb-ka-n-ra, blessed, and it was good to him more than anything that is in
the whole land: but his majesty said to Meruitensa, "Judge it thyself; I
do not desire it." The Lord Steward
Meruitensa made two of his followers to go to the Sekhet Hemat, and bring
a list of the household of the Sekhti; and its amount was six persons,
beside his oxen and his goats, his wheat and his barley, his asses and his
dogs; and moreover he gave all that which belonged unto the Hemti to the
Sekhti, even all his property and his offices, and the Sekhti was beloved
of the king more than all his overseers, and ate of all the good things of
the king, with all his household.<i>REMARKS</i> Of the tale of the peasant and the
workman three copies, more or less imperfect, remain to us. At Berlin are
two papyri, Nos. 2 and 4, containing parts of the tale, published in
facsimile in the "Denkmaler" of Lepsius vi. 108-110 and 113; while
portions of another copy exist in the Butler papyrus; and lately fragments
of the same have been collated in the collection of Lord Amherst of
Hackney. These last have been published in the Proceedings of the Society
of Biblical Archaeology, xiv. 558. The number of copies seem to show that
this was a popular tale in early times; it certainly is of a more advanced
type than the earlier tales of magic, though it belongs to a simpler style
than the tales which follow. It has been translated partially by Chabas
and Goodwin, and also by Maspero, but most completely by Griffith in the
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, referred to above.</p>
<p>The beginning of the tale is lost in all the
copies, and an introductory sentence is here added in brackets, to explain
the position of affairs at the opening of the fragment. The essence of the
tale is the difference in social position between the Sekhti, or peasant,
and the Hemti, or workman—the <i>fellah</i> and the client of the
noble; and the impossibility of getting justice against a client, unless
by some extraordinary means of attracting his patron's attention, is the
basis of the action. There is not a single point of incident here which
might not be true in modern times; every turn of it seems to live, as one
reads it in view of country life in Egypt. The
region of the tale is Henenseten, or Herakleopolis, now Ahnas, a little
south of the Fayum. This was the seat of the IXth and Xth Dynasties,
apparently ejected from Memphis by a foreign invasion of the Delta; and
here it is that the High Steward lives and goes to speak to the king. The
district of the Sekhti is indicated by his travellingsouth to Henenseten, and going with asses and not
by boat. Hence we are led to look for the Sekhet Hemat, or salt country,
in the borders of the Fayum lake, whence the journey would be southward,
and across the desert. This lake was not regulated artificially until the
XIIth Dynasty; and hence at the period of this tale it was a large sheet
of water, fluctuating with each rise and fall of the Nile, and bordered by
lagoons where rushes would flourish, and where salt and natron would
accumulate daring the dry season of each year. At the present time the
lake of the Fayum is brackish, and the cliffs which border it contain so
much salt that rain pools which collect on them are not drinkable. The
paths and roads of Egypt are not protected by law as in Western countries.
Each person encroaches on a path or diverts it as may suit his purpose,
only checked by the liberties taken by passers-by in trespassing if a path
be insufficient. Hence, it is very usual to see a house built over half of
a path,</p>
<p>and driving the traffic into the field or almost
over the river bank. In this case the Hemti had taken in as much of the
path as he could, and left it but a narrow strip along the top of the
canal bank. The frequent use of the public way for drying clothes, or
spreading out property, gave the idea of choking the way altogether, and
leaving no choice but trespassing on the crops. No sooner does a donkey
pause, or even pass, by a field of corn than he snatches a mouthful, and
in a delay or altercation such as this the beast is sure to take the
advantage. Donkeys carrying loads by cornfields are usually muzzled with
rope nets, to prevent their feeding; and even sheep and goats are also
fended in the same way. The proverb, "A
poor man's name is only his own matter," refers to the independent <i>fellah</i>
having no patron or protector who will take up and defend his name from
accusations, as the interests of clients and serfs would be protected.
This being the case, seizes on the property, and drives the asses into his own pasture field.
The scene of Meruitensa laying the case before the
nobles who sat with him is interesting as showing that even simple cases
were not decided by one judge, but referred to a council. Similarly, Una
lays stress on the private trial of the queen being confided to him and
only one other judge. Apparently, referring cases to a bench of judges was
the means of preventing corruption. The
speeches of the Sekhti were given at full length in the papyrus, but owing
to injuries we cannot now entirely recover them; they are all in much the
same strain, only the first and last are translated here, and the others
are passed over. The style of these speeches was evidently looked on as
eloquent in those days, and this papyrus really seems to show the time
when long-drawn comparisons and flowery wishes were in fashion. It is far
different from later compositions, as it is also from the earlier simple narration of crude marvels in the tales of the
magicians. The close of the tale is
defective, but from the remains it appears to have ended by the gift of
the Hemti's property to the oppressed Sekhti and the triumph of the
injured peasant.</p>
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