REMARKS 141
the king, as explaining Sanehat's abasement. To this the king responds by reassuring Sanehat, and promising him position and wealth. The account of Sanehat's renewal of his old national ways can best be appreciated by any one who has lived a rough life for a time and then comes back to civilisation. Doubtless these comforts were all the more grateful to him in his old age, when he was weary of his unsettled life. In the preparation of his tomb it is stated to have been a pyramid, with rock-cut well chamber, and built of bricks above. This just accords with the construction of the pyramids of the XIIth Dynasty. The last phrase implies that this was composed during Sanehat's life; and such a life would be so remarkable that this biography might be prepared with good reason. Also it is very unlikely that a mere story-teller would have dropped the relation without describing his grand funeral which was pro-
142 THE ADVENTURES OF SANEHAT
mised to him. From suddenly stopping at the preparation of the tomb, without going further, we have a strong presumption that this was a true narrative, written at Sanehat's dictation, and probably intended to be inscribed on his tomb wall. In any case, we have here an invaluable picture of life in Palestine and in Egypt, and the relations of the two countries, at an epoch before the time of Abraham, and not paralleled by any other document until more than a thousand years later.
INDEX
AA-TENEN, 129