[FN#165] The month Mekhir of the Copts; the season Pert is the
Egyptian spring.
A LEGEND OF THE GOD KHNEMU AND OF A SEVEN YEARS' FAMINE.
In the eighteenth year of the Horus, Neter-Khat, of the King of the South and North, Neter-Khat, of the Lord of the Shrines of Uatchit and Nekhebit, Neter-Khat, of the Golden Horus Tcheser,[FN#166] when Matar was Ha Prince, and Erpa, and Governor of the temple-cities in the Land of the South, and director of the Khenti[FN#167] folk in Abtu,[FN#168] there was brought unto him the following royal despatch: "This is to inform thee that misery hath laid hold upon me [as I sit] upon the great throne by reason of those who dwell in the Great House.[FN#169] My heart is grievously afflicted by reason of the exceedingly great evil [which hath happened] because Hapi (i.e., the Nile) hath not come forth[FN#170] in my time to the [proper] height for seven years. Grain is very scarce, vegetables are lacking altogether, every kind of thing which men eat for their food hath ceased, and every man [now] plundereth "his neighbour. Men wish to walk, but are unable to move, the child waileth, the young man draggeth his limbs along, and the hearts of the aged folk are crushed with despair; their legs give way under them, and they sink down to the ground, and their hands are laid upon their bodies [in pain]. The shennu[FN#171] nobles are destitute of counsel, and [when] the storehouses which should contain supplies are opened, there cometh forth therefrom nothing but wind. Everything is in a state of ruin. My mind hath remembered, going back to former time, when I had an advocate, to the time of the gods, and of the Ibis-god, and of the chief Kher-heb priest I-em-hetep,[FN#172] the son of Ptah of his Southern Wall."
[FN#166] Tcheser was a king of the IIIrd Dynasty, and is famous as the builder of the Step Pyramid at Sakkarah. His tomb was discovered by Mr. J. Garstang at Bet Khallaf in Upper Egypt in 1901.
[FN#167] i.e., the people who were in front of, that is, to the South of Egypt, or the population of the country which lies between Dakkah and Aswan.
[FN#168] The ancient Egyptian name for Elephantine Island, which appears to have gained this name because it resembled an elephant in shape.
[FN#169] i.e., the palace.
[FN#170] i.e., risen.
[FN#171] i.e., the high court officials and administrators.
[FN#172] The famous priest and magician, who was subsequently deified and became one of the chief gods of Memphis.