felt her nearness, but she removed my hand firmly and pushed it from her, saying, “Your touch might please me, but I will not consent to it while the crocodile’s tail speaks through your palms.” Abashed, I raised my hands and regarded them, and they reminded me so vividly of the feet of a crocodile that we took the shortest way home, spread out our mats and slept very deeply that night.

7

Thus began my life in the poor quarter of Thebes in the old house of the copper founder. As Kaptah had foretold, I had many patients and did not earn a lot and lost more money than I earned for I required many costly medicines — and it was not worth my while to heal the starving if they could not buy enough fat and porridge to regain their strength. The gifts I received were of small value though they gave me joy, and even greater joy was it to learn that the poor had begun to bless my name. Every evening the sky over Thebes glowed red with the lights of the inner city, but I was weary from work, and even at night my thoughts were with the sufferings of my patients, and I thought also of Aten, Pharaoh’s god.

To keep house for us, Kaptah employed an old woman who did not disturb me and who was weary of life and of men as her face showed. But she cooked well and was quiet and never stood on the porch to insult the poor because of their smell or to drive them away from me with harsh words. I soon grew accustomed to her, and she was never in my way, and her presence was like a shadow, and I ceased to notice her. Her name was Muti.

So month followed month, and the unrest in Thebes increased, and nothing was heard of Horemheb’s return. The sun scorched the gardens yellow, and the hottest part of the summer was at hand. At times, I craved a change and went with Kaptah to The Crocodile’s Tail to joke with Merit and look into her eyes, though she still remained a stranger to me, and looking into her eyes made my heart ache. But I did not consume the powerful drink that had given the tavern its name any more, but during the hot season I settled for cold beer which refreshed without intoxication and made my mind light while sitting inside the

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cool mud walls. I listened to the talk of the other customers and soon observed that it was not everyone who was given a seat and a goblet in this house but the customers were chosen, and although some of them might have earned his gold by grave robbing and another through blackmail, they forgot their trade when at the wine tavern and behaved decently. I believed Kaptah when he told me that in this house only such people meet as have a use for one another. I was an exception for no one had a use for me, and here also I was a stranger, although I was tolerated and men were not shy of me because I was Kaptah’s friend.

I heard a great deal here, and I heard Pharaoh cursed as well as praised, but his new god was for the most part laughed at. Yet one evening an incense dealer came to the tavern with torn garments and ashes in his hair. He came to soothe his sorrows with a crocodile’s tail and shouted and said, “May this false Pharaoh, this bastard, this usurper be cursed to all eternity for no one can control him any more, and he acts according to his own whims, to the detriment of my honest profession. Hitherto, I have made my best profits on materials I obtained from the land of Punt, and the voyages on the Eastern Sea are not at all hazardous for every summer ships have been fitted out for the trade routes — and during the following year at least two out of every ten ships have returned with no more delay than a water measure so I have always been able to make accurate assessment of my holdings and profits. But now was there ever greater madness? At the last refit, Pharaoh himself came down to the harbour to inspect the fleet. In the name of Seth, why does he need to sniff at every matter like a hyena? He had his scribes and advisors to oversee that everything happened according to law and good customs like it has always before. In any case, Pharaoh saw the seamen lamenting aboard the ships and their wives and children weeping on the shore, slashing their faces with sharp stones as is only a good custom on men preparing for a sea voyage, for it is well known how many sail and how few return. All this is business as usual when the fleet departs for Punt, and so it has been ever since the days of the Great Queen. Nevertheless, believe it or not, this young dummy, this damned Pharaoh, forbade the vessels to sail and has decreed that no more ships are to be fitted out for Punt. Amun save us, every honest merchant knows what that means. It means ruin for

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