“Behold, if I come not, if another comes, then thou hast opportunity to speak as one who answers, as one who addresses the silent, as one who responds to him who has not spoken to thee. Thou hast not been ......; thou hast not been sick. Thou hast not fled; thou hast not departed. But thou hast not yet granted me any reply to this beautiful word which comes from the mouth of the sun-god himself: ‘Speak the truth; do the truth: for it is great, it is mighty, it is everlasting. It will obtain for thee merit, and will lead thee to veneration.’
“For does the scale stand aslant? It is their scale-pans that bear the objects, and in just scales there is no ...... wanting.”
The beauty of the sentiments about truth is obvious. The references to scales are to those that were supposed to weigh the deeds of the dead in the under-world.
After a ninth speech on the part of the peasant, the tale concludes as follows:
Then the chief steward, Meruitensi, sent two servants to bring him back. Thereupon the peasant feared that he would suffer thirst, as a punishment imposed upon him for what he had said. Then the peasant said ...... (The Egyptian of this address contains difficulties which have never been solved.)
Then said the chief steward, Meruitensi: “Fear not, peasant! See, thou shalt remain with me.” Then said the peasant: “I live because I eat of thy bread and drink thy beer forever.”
Then said the chief steward, Meruitensi: “Come out here ........” Then he caused them to bring, written on a new roll, all the addresses of these days. The chief steward sent them to his majesty, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neb-kau-re, the blessed, and they were more agreeable to the heart of his majesty than all that was in his land. His majesty said, “Pass sentence thyself, my beloved son!” Then the chief steward, Meruitensi, caused two servants to go and bring a list of the household (of Dehuti-necht) from the government office, and his possessions were six persons, with a selection from his ......, from his barley, from his spelt, from his asses, from his swine, from his ..........
From this point on only a few words of the tale can be made out, but it appears from these that the goods selected from the estate of Dehuti-necht were given to the peasant and he was sent home rejoicing.
3. An Ideal King.
In the wisdom literature of Egypt appear the admonitions of an Egyptian sage called Ipuwer. In these admonitions a time of dire distress is pictured, in view of which the sage longs for the presence of an ideal king. Some scholars have compared the description of this ideal king with the prophetic conception of the Messiah.