'Khnum the potter, who made men on his wheel?' hazarded my sister, who had never been very interested in religion.
'No! Your mind is corrupted, like all the others.' He sat up abruptly. 'Go, leave my presence.'
'Lord, do not distress yourself,' said Nefertiti. 'I spoke only from ignorance, and did not the Divine Amenhotep your father say that Ignorance is the one disease which has an easy cure'
He did. I had read that maxim of Amenhotep to my sister only the week before. The agitation of anger had tired the young King, and he sagged down into my sister's arms again.
'Ah, my lady, ' he said softly. 'Thy breast is a pillow for my aching head.'
'That is as it should be, lord,' she said softly. 'Let me sing to you, and then you will sleep.'
He must have nodded, for she began to sing very softly a lullaby sung by all mothers on the banks of the great River, from mud huts to palaces.
Sleep little child, Thy mother is here. Sleep is on the water Sleep is in the reeds. Birds rest with wings folded Winds sleep in the sky. The Gods guard the night The Gods guard the Nile. Khons counts the hours The moon wanes. Sleep, Mother's breast bears you, Little child, sleep.'
The Pharaoh sighed and snuggled closer, and soon I too slept.
In the morning my sister went to my mother and reported, 'It is as you feared.'
Tey shot me a hard glance and I nodded, not venturing to speak. 'You are sure that no stimulation can rouse him?' asked Tey, and Nefertiti blushed. 'Is it perhaps that he prefers men?'
'No, I do not believe that he is potent at all,' said my sister.
'Then we shall appeal to the Lord Amenhotep, the Divine One,' said Tey, who always made fast decisions.
'Mother, wait,' Nefertiti put her hand on my mother's arm. 'I would not shame him. He is possessed of a God, I am sure. A new God, one God, he says, Ruler of All. He says that this God requires his seed, that He took it all away from him when he was just grown, and he sickened but did not die. He is gentle, Mother Tey, and I love him. I will not leave him.'
Tey considered. She always put her head on one side when she was thinking, like a predatory bird. I could see what she was thinking. We had position - my mother was now Divine Nurse to the Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt. My father would not abandon this, even though he had married his daughter to a eunuch. And when Nefertiti said that she loved him and would not leave him, she meant it. Was not the household of Tey overloaded with people whom Nefertiti loved, who could not be dismissed and who did no work because they were old, crippled or crazed? Nefertiti has as soft a heart as Hathor herself. It was because of the Divine Nefertiti's devotion to the lost and strayed that we had a one-armed doorkeeper, a cook who crooned all day to a strange little conic fetish, and a watchdog with three legs. Tey had frequently remarked that the concubine's daughter could cherish a crocodile in her bosom, or wet-nurse a snake.
And she had clearly taken her husband under her protection, and there was no remedy for it.
'We will speak privately with the Lord Amenhotep,' decided Tey. 'There need be no shame. But it is his posterity you guard, daughter, and he must know of a remedy. He is, after all, renowned for his wisdom.'
Nefertiti assented and went to her own quarters to be bathed and massaged with oil.
Mother Tey gave me a piece of honeyed bread and a draft of beer, sat me down on a cross-legged stool, and cross-examined me about all the events of the night. I answered as fully as I could, every sound and every word. I also described the appearance of the King, suppressing my comparison with the boys swimming in the river, as I did not think that I was supposed to look at them.
'It is as she said,' she muttered. 'Good girl, Mutnodjme. Stay with your sister. I do not think he will harm her. She is gentle and loving. But you, my sharp-witted creature, do not you argue religion with him. Agree, daughter, and if you cannot agree, be silent!'
'But Mother, he says there is only one God!' I objected.
'He is Pharaoh,' snapped Tey. 'He is a God. Presumably Gods know about Gods. Do as I say, Mutnodjme. And don't gossip. News of this impotence must not spread abroad. Do you understand?'
'Yes, Mother,' I understood enough. I knew that if it was known that the Co-Regent King was impotent, it would harm my sister. I loved my sister above anything, and my lips were sealed.
The next night they lay together again. She held him close, his head on her breast, and talked about Aten the Sun Disc until they both fell asleep.
I was asleep long before.
Ptah-hotep
A servant brought me to my chambers in the Palace at Thebes, and left me at the door. No courtesy could be expected, it seemed, from any of the incumbents. I was persona non grata, an upjumped schoolboy, and my most immediate need was a staff of my own, on whom I could rely.
How did one go about appointing people? Did I own anything?
I had a succession of opulent rooms, all painted with rural scenes. One room had the whole process of making flax. One wall was covered with duck hunting. Another was patterned with simple lotus and papyrus in the most enchanting blues and greens. My floor was of marble, set with gold flowers. I walked through my audience chamber, my library packed with shelves of records, my own shabby tools laid out on the inlaid table. I came to my own bathroom, my tiled alcove with water jars, my own closet, into my bedroom, where several rooms leading off it were evidently for the accommodation of my wives and children.
It was dark and cold. Someone had lit several lamps, but the rooms felt unoccupied. My own footsteps echoed. I took a woven blanket off the huge bed and something small and dark clacked to the floor, skittering into a corner.
I laid down my lamp, chased, cornered and crushed it.
It was the wrong time of the year for scorpions to invade the houses of men. It was not even spring. Someone must have gone to considerable trouble to find the poisonous insect in winter. I stood contemplating the still writhing carcass for some time.
Then I shook out the blanket, wrapped myself in it, and sat down in the alcove beside the door to think.
My first thought, that I could bring my dear love to the palace, must be dismissed. Kheperren would be an instrument for the palace to use against me, a hostage to my fortune. I did not greatly mind dying. I would join my grandfather in the Field of Reeds. I still missed my grandfather. But Kheperren was young, he had every right to live, and he could not live if he was with me.
I almost wept again at the thought. The idea that as Great Royal Scribe I could be reunited with him had been a warm glow at my heart for the whole strange day and night I had spent in Pharaoh's palace. Indeed, I could not even see him again, or I might bring retribution down on him wherever he was. I must get a message to him before I took up my duties, for after that I would always be noticed and probably followed. Oh my brother, I mourned in the darkness of my elaborate rooms. Oh my heart, I have lost you, I have lost you.
I might have sat there in lonely misery all night if I had not heard footsteps approaching. They were confident and heavy, yet not mailed; not a soldier. I threw open the door, more angry than afraid, about to demand of the visitor whether they had any more scorpions.
'Master,' said Meryt, dropping to one knee. I laid one hand on her curly hair in token of possession. She gave me the invoice for ten copper ingots which made her mine.
I was so glad to see her that I could have embraced her. She was dressed in a patterned cloth, which must have been the parting present of her previous master. On her strong shoulder she bore a large basket, and in her hand she carried a bundle of papyrus rolls. She lowered her burden to the floor and smiled at me.
'I thought that they would not have attended to you, Master,' she said deferentially.