In The Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian Literature
A Reconstruction
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In The Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian Literature
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Amenemhet II met with the priest Khuni. Both had escaped in disarray with their few followers and hid from Sinuhe’s army.
“Now what?” Nemty asked the priest. “What do we do now. Everything is being destroyed. How many people do you have? How many are still alive?” Neither of the two men had all encompassing answers. They only knew about the groups in very close proximity to them. The golden goddess began to cover the sun slowly. The large size of the disc did not cover the sun as the moon did during an eclipse. The shadow appeared almost a straight edge slowly covering the sun. The huge globe took less than an hour to block the sun’s light. The nine days of darkness began to cover the earth, although hints of light appeared on the morning and evenings. During the middle days no light appeared. The disc covered almost the whole sky, the darkness deeper than blindness. The king belatedly gathered his group, his few assistants and soldiers, whoever remained alive that he could muster, and decided to follow Sinuhe. “The hell with Khuni, that moron,” the king thought. “He can fly right into the face of that stupid comet, that ‘lovely face.’” “We will go. We will follow the path of Sinuhe. Gather as much as can be carried. Bring torches. The path is so dark.” Nemty and his remnant of the once magnificent army gathered and marched hoping to make it to the next landmark. Magnetic lightening between the earth and the goddess lasted the entire terrifying period and later intermittently as she slowly passed over the earth. Earthquakes, huge tidal waves, volcanoes and miscellaneous fiery debris from the sky caused earthly destruction almost beyond imagination or description. The noise, the overwhelming cracking of the thunders reduced humanity to tiny scale. The standoff battle of the two cosmic beings, the earth and the same sized comet/planet, brought spectators to realize their true insignificance. At the height of the goddess’ attack, Sinuhe yelled orders to his Asiatic shepherd soldiers to herd their assigned crowds. “Keep barking orders. You will distract them. Encourage the stragglers. Keep their attention focused on you, even if you cause grumbling. Get them to the safety of the mountains.” Sinuhe exhorted his henchmen who followed his orders blindly. Sinuhe’s groups of crowds paraded on to Midian for hoped-for respite from the destruction. The trip took weeks of brave endurance and distracted whining by the multitude. Ammuneneschi had traveled to meet the refugees, “Greetings my dear son-in-law. How go the travelers?” “We are weary and distraught, hungry and frightened,” Sinuhe replied. “As was expected,” Ammuneschi replied. “The tribal representatives await their groups. They have been assigned according to known families, and a percentage of unknowns to each tribe. The representatives will join with your shepherds and lead them with each their assigned routes. They will stop at their cisterns and storehouses along the way until they reach their homelands. They will adopt their refugees as members of their tribes. Any who choose to return to Egypt will also be assisted. Thus the tribes will repay the Egyptians for the favors granted by Imhotep during the last great famine. All plans are going to succeed! Planning has been excellent.” The first group of one thousand, appeared on the plain nestled between protective mountains, and rested. Four other groups began to approach. The groups carried flags of three colors each. The greeters waved their matching flag signaling recognition. The group cheered and stood raising their arms. Their shepherd approached their greeter and the pair embraced with great display, while the other groups watched. The shepherd ordered the gold bearers to come forward. Six men carrying a box with carrying poles shuffled up to the two leaders. The shepherd opened the box displaying the gold. The group cheered. The greeter smiled and waved to the crowd. The three other watching groups let out their roar of approval. “Thank you my brothers! The gift is much more generous than we had expected! You will sleep here tonight. Your food is now being distributed. We are the tribe of the very northern quadrant. It will take months to journey to our land. We have prepared well. You will be fed and protected. God will take care of us. The later groups will also be cared for. Rest tonight, and rise early tomorrow when the travel will begin,” the greeter reassured the refugees. As de facto leader, Sinuhe appeared to be doing what he was born to do. Somewhere the young king and the old priest, Khuni, trailed the evacuees. They had not anticipated the Asiatic plans, and seemed surprised that such a large multitude appeared welcomed with such graciousness. Nevertheless they had not forgotten to bring large burdens of gold. Khuni and King Amenemhet II seemed unprepared for the orderliness. The futility of the situation had engulfed the king. Nemty knew in his heart that Sinuhe had stepped into the leadership vacuum, had taken over control of the people and was herding them to safety. “See how the crowds move in such an orderly manner. Who are these Asiatics that welcome such an unprecedented migration without aggressive response?” Nemty wondered aloud to the equally amazed Khuni. “Indeed my father foresaw that the hero Sinuhe would save us. I must go to Sinuhe and bow at his feet. He saved our people. He already rules as king. I will make it official. I will abdicate to him,” Nemty decided during his amazement. The sly priest read the king’s growing despair and suggested that Nemty appoint him, Khuni as co-regent. “Do not speak rashly. Think of the future. You have no heir. You cannot allow that wild man to become king by default. Make me co-regent with you and show Sinuhe who is boss. You are still the king, the true Horus, Nemty. You control the destiny of Egypt. My sons will be heirs for you.” “I will chose as my throne name, the name Sesostris II, for your father. You must honor him.” Nemty longed for his father. Why, he wondered, had he loved Sinuhe so much. “Sinuhe ignored me,” Nemty said distractedly, “never even pretended to consult me. I never got a chance to chat with him and tell him what my father said about him,” he thought. Nemty’s head began to spin. “I cannot bear that priest. I must get to Sinuhe. I will make Sinuhe co-regent. Then I will die.” The young king would soon die. He feared the approaching goddess. He feared greatly for his people. He knew that as a firstborn son, he should die for the goddess Hathor, according to Khuni’s theory, in the hope that she would accept the sacrifice and spare his people. He just did not want that priest to take his life. But he could not accept Sinuhe as easily as his father had requested. He had not wanted to leave Egypt. He would have preferred to ride out the storm with his grandmother whose memory came to the young king. The frail elegant lady, who many considered to be the true royal line of Egypt, chose not to travel. Daughter of a king, she married two kings, ultimately bore three kings, and Nemty her grandson king, now recalled their last meeting. “I am much too fragile and old. I will not survive such a trip, no matter how much the attendants minister to me. I will hide with my maids and the little children under the great constructions. There are the secret shafts that have been used for such survivals in times past. Those who hid inside did survive. Food and water has been stored. “Born of the Kmt, my black land, the fruitful mud supplied by the river, I will die here. I am Egypt, I will not leave my holy place. I will stay with the statues, and the constructions. I will hide beneath them with my little fragile flock. Perhaps we will survive the storm. But you my grandson, my king, you must flee to the red lands. Find my red-haired son who knows the desert. He knows the caves, the mines, the valleys and the wells. He knows the mountains and the skies. He will protect you. Sinuhe rules the Asiatics who will follow his commands. “Do not let Khuni influence you. He has lost his ka. His spirit deceives and has been deceived. Heed not his whisperings. Resist his eloquent and sly suggestions. Get to Sinuhe. Take your followers. They love you and should be rewarded with your protection and wise decisions. “Go and Ra will guide you. Ra will harness Hathor and stop her violence. Link with Sinuhe. He will save and protect all those who hide under his wings,” the great lady said. She approached Nemty and hugged him gently. Nemty recalled the goodbye scene. He then felt very confused. Reluctantly he followed and aimed to join Sinuhe’s group, which had a few days head start on their way to Midian. Khuni joined with his young king to follow and try to escape the disasters. “Nemty,” Khuni suggested that the king, “as your father’s firstborn, perhaps you could save the people by offering yourself to the goddess. The others, being inferior to you the great earthly god, did not satisfy the terrible lovely Hathor. She still wreaks her havoc. You would be the fitting gift, the only one who could save the people. She will accept you. You are perfect in love for your followers. They will worship you as greater than the mere god you are now. History will paint you the greatest of the kings.” “Where is my mother?” Nemty looked around in a dazed manner. Meri appeared as she had been clinging to Khuni and his retainers. “Why did you not attend my father at his deathbed? Mother, tell me,” Nemty asked. “He did not want me,” she simply replied knowing she faced danger. “Why did he not want you?” the king approached her with a strange agitation. “He only needed me to produce an heir. He did not love me. I did what he wanted.” “Why did he love me, while you apparently do not? Is it my skin color?” “No, I love you. He kept me away from you.” “What should I do, mother? Should I find Sinuhe and remain king, or should I make Khuni co-regent now?” Meri feared greatly. She knew either answer would show that she preferred a brother to her son. She remembered how she scorned Sinuhe when he had married the Ethiopian princess and she wondered if her son knew that she disdained the Cushites. But even though she knew Sinuhe to be a superior leader to either Khuni or Nemty she knew Sinuhe ignored her entirely. Besides Khuni had allowed her to live among his retainers. Therefore, she felt more aligned to Khuni. She did not know what her son was thinking. “Perhaps what Khuni suggests may be the better choice,” Meri said forgetting the part about Khuni suggesting that Nemty become a first-born sacrifice victim. In other words, his own mother would support his death, Nemty realized. Nemty said, “Yes, mother, I will appoint Khuni, but you will die also.” Nemty pulled out his golden sword took a lunging step toward his mother and backhanded her head off her body. “You are now Sesostris II, the next king of Egypt, Khuni. Do what you have to do.” They had been traveling, trailing the crowds that followed Sinuhe. Nemty arranged a small ceremony that proclaimed the new co-regent to the distressed and confused group of followers. Khuni ordered his servants to clean and prepare Meri’s body for the embalmers. The weary weak king succumbed to the situation. His army, following the trail after Sinuhe came to a dry channel and tried to cross when the jerking landscape sent the waters to consume them. The king watched the disaster in the dim light. The king escaped because he had been bringing up the rear. He absorbed the devastation as a fatal blow. Now he did not even care to join with Sinuhe and his people. It was over for him. The strange old priest presided over the sacrifice of the broken firstborn king. The victim and the few witnesses hoped that his blood would satisfy the goddess. They prepared his body to protect it for the embalmers, who would return it to Egypt and try to give it the full treatment fit for a king, if they could escape the dogging calamities. |
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