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- Herausgeber: BookRix
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
"She rubbed her arms – goose pimples. She stroked her long hair, fingering the ringlets and stared at her sandals; a slight girl, slender brown in a fine white garment that reached her ankles. Gold rings on her fingers and a bracelet of elephant hair. Around her neck a broad necklace of lapsis lazuli.
What had she done? How had she offended the Pharoah? His was absolute power. This was his, the land of Egypt, the crops, the labourers, the priests and scribes, the royal wives and the royal concubines"
Plus the story of The Golden Fish, a story from India of magic and the soul out of the body. Retold from the Golden Bough.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
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A Pharaoh's Daughter
plus the Tale of the Golden Fish
To the traditional tales from ancient Egypt and India, may they ever flourish.BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 MunichA Pharoah's Daughter
Nefari sat close to the oil lamp, its small spluttering flame. It represented life, it kept back the fear. Near her the glint of gold and sparkle of a jewel in that vast cavern shone back a reflection of his power.
Her father’s palace guards had arrested her from the harem at dawn and gagging and binding her had brought her here in broad daylight through the market place and up the long causeway beyond the town to this. She saw it as she approached; a massive stone building with carvings of her father and, flanking the huge doors, his cartouche. The seals were broken. Inside the air was cool, still. Lighting torches the men carried her between chest after chest of treasure; this was the Royal Treasure House of the Pharaoh.
They left her with a simple frame bed, a lamp with sufficient oil to last the night and, in a wicker cage, a mongoose.
“For the snakes,” the guards had said as they left, their torches heading back across the vast chamber to the door.
She rubbed her arms – goose pimples. She stroked her long hair, fingering the ringlets and stared at her sandals; a slight girl, slender brown in a fine white garment that reached her ankles. Gold rings on her fingers and a bracelet of elephant hair. Around her neck a broad necklace of lapsis lazuli.
What had she done? How had she offended the Pharaoh? His was absolute power. This was his, the land of Egypt, the crops, the labourers, the priests and scribes, the royal wives and the royal concubines.
Had her mother offended him? Her mother was a favourite, not a royal wife but a concubine, a relative of the Pharaoh. It was an honour she said to be favoured by the Pharaoh – to be selected for his harem. He had, she said over 500 women, but only one proper wife, the Great Royal Wife; only her sons could become pharaohs,
Perhaps they had found out about Horun. A tear trickled down her face.
A strange thing had happened. The Pharaoh said he had noticed Nefari’s skill at drawing and had asked her to supervise a young craftsman, who had been recently employed to gild the walls of the girls’ apartments; the work was complicated and required a lot of her attention. He was handsome, quick witted and made her smile with his jokes.
Nefari fell madly in love with him and it seemed he with her. He would bring her flowers from the banks of the Nile and listen intently as she guided his work.
Yes, that must be it. The harem is all ears and eyes. The women see everything. The Great Royal Wife must have got to know and here she was, but why here?
The mongoose stirred in its basket. With its little eyes it peered up at her, its whiskers twitching. She opened the door of its cage and took it out but it wriggled free and ran off into the gloom. She could here its tiny feet pattering about beyond the light. “Perhaps it’s best,” she thought “it will kill all the snakes.”
When the guards reported, Rameses the Third was pleased. He rubbed his hands. The bait was in the trap; now perhaps he would catch the master thief.
A year ago the royal scribes had reported treasure missing from the treasure house, yet the seals had remained intact. If truth be told they had suspected losses for longer but had not been confident on their own accounting. The losses however had become obvious and more frequent.
The chamber was examined but no other entrances were found. The seals were checked - they had not been broken. The thief was entering as if by magic.
