190
."
Then Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, said, "Be not afraid, O peasant, for behold, thou shalt dwell with me." Then this peasant swore an oath, saying, "Assuredly I will eat of thy bread, and drink of thy beer for ever." Then Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, said, "Come hither, however, so that thou mayest hear thy petitions"; and he caused to be [written] on a roll of new papyrus all the complaints which this peasant had made, each complaint according to its day. And Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, sent the papyrus to the King of the South, the King of the North, Nebkaura, whose word is truth, and it pleased the heart of His Majesty more than anything else in the whole land. And His Majesty said, "Pass judgment on thyself, O son of Meru." And Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, despatched two men to bring him back. And he was brought back, and an embassy was despatched to Sekhet Hemat.... Six persons, besides ... his grain, and his millet, and his asses, and his dogs.... [The remaining lines are mutilated, but the words which are visible make it certain that Tehutinekht the thief was punished, and that he was made to restore to the peasant everything which he had stolen from him.]
THE JOURNEY OF THE PRIEST UNU-AMEN INTO SYRIA TO BUY CEDAR WOOD TO MAKE A NEW BOAT FOR AMEN-RA
The text of this narrative is written in the hieratic character upon a papyrus preserved in St. Petersburg; it gives an excellent description of the troubles that befell the priest Unu-Amen during his journey into Syria in the second half of the eleventh century before Christ. The text reads:
On the eighteenth day of the third month of the season of the Inundation, of the fifth year, Unu-Amen, the senior priest of the Hait chamber of the house of Amen, the Lord of the thrones of the Two Lands, set out on his journey to bring back wood for the great and holy Boat of Amen-Ra, the King of the Gods, which is called "User-hat," and floateth on the canal of Amen. On the day wherein I arrived a