For there lay Nefrekepta in his pride,
The Book beneath his head; and at his side
The ghosts sate of a woman and a boy,
Shadows beside the dead; and Setne cried:
'Ye thronèd Shadows, whosoe'er ye be,
And thou, dead Pharaoh, tombed in majesty,
All hail! I, Setne, scribe and Priest of Ptah,
Command thy Book be rendered up to me,
The Book of Thoth which lies beneath thy head.'
Then never word nor sign came from the dead,
But the two Shadows lifted up their arms
Lamenting, and the woman swift outspread
Her hand to save the Book, and cried: 'Aha!
Setne Khamuas, is the will of Ra
Not yet fulfilled upon us? This is I,
Ahure of the race of Merneb-Ptah.
[Ahure's Story]
Therefore give ear, and let the Book of Gold
Tempt thee no more, till all my tale be told.—
It happened in the days of Merneb-Ptah,
The long days, when the King was very old,
And had no son nor daughter; in their room
A son's son and a daughter's daughter, whom
Thou seest, Nefrekepta the Good Scribe,
And me who watch beside him in this tomb.
And Pharaoh mused and spake: 'Go near and far,
Bring me the lordliest of my chiefs of war
With all their daughters and their sons, to make
Feast on the third day; call me all that are.'
So Pharaoh spake; but lo, exceedingly
Did I love Nefrekepta and he me.
And much I feared that Pharaoh at that feast
Would take some youth and maid of high degree,
A war-lord's daughter and a war-lord's son,
And fast bind Nefrekepta to the one,
And me to the other; so his race would grow,
But we two meet no more beneath the sun.