The legend begins with the statement that in the 18th year of the reign of King Tcheser, when Maṭâr, the Erpā Prince and Ḥā, was the Governor of the temple properties of the South and North, and was also the Director of the Khenti men at Elephantine (Aswân), a royal despatch was delivered to him, in which the king said: “I am in misery on my throne. My heart is very sore because of the calamity which hath happened, for the Nile hath not come forth[1] for seven years. There is no grain, there are no vegetables, there is no food, and every man is robbing his neighbour. Men wish to walk, but they are unable to move; the young man drags along his limbs, the hearts of the aged are crushed with despair, their legs fail them, they sink to the ground, and they clutch their bodies with their hands in pain. The councillors are dumb, and nothing but wind comes out of the granaries when they are opened. Everything is in a state of ruin,” A more graphic picture of the misery caused by the famine could hardly be imagined. The king then goes on to ask Maṭâr where the Nile is born? what god or goddess presides over it? and what is his [or her] form? He says he would like to go to the temple of Thoth to enquire of that god, to go to the College of the Magicians, and search through the sacred books in order to find out these things.
When Maṭâr had read the despatch, he set out to go to the king, and explained to him the things which
- ↑ I.e., there have been insufficient Nile-floods.
