Bedtime Stories
Jul. 17th, 2003 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
niankhsekhmetThis story is adapted from the Leyden Papyrus - Volume III "Ancient Egyptian Literature: The Late Period" by Miriam Lictheim, University of California Press
"Bedtime Stories" by Sekhmet Meritamen and Jonamun Hatshepsut (Ancient Sites: Qenbet)
"Bedtime Stories" by Sekhmet Meritamen and Jonamun Hatshepsut (Ancient Sites: Qenbet)
The Royal Physician, Sekhmet Meritamen, was tapped on the shoulder by a maid as she made to leave the Per'aa to her rest. It was late aboard the Heart of Ra, but the young boy Menenhetet was tapping at the door of Pharaoh's chamber, asking for Sekhmet. Menenhetet had assured Jonamun he would be fine while the man went into the city of Waset and left him on the coronation barge with all his new friends, but now, as it grew dark and Jonamun hadn't returned, Meni was lonely and sought out the warmth of Lady Sekhmet.
Sekhmet emerged from the fragrant shadows of Per'aa's cabin and knelt down before the little waif, "Are you alright Meni?" she asked.
Seeing the familiar midnight braids and the warm dark eyes of Lady Sekhmet, Meni's apprehensive expression melted into a relieved smile. He reached instinctively for her hand and then peered curiously over her shoulder into the darkness.
"Are you tucking in our Per'aa, nebet?" Meni asked.
"I've already tucked Her in," Sekhmet said softly, holding a finger to her lips to hush the child. "She is almost asleep, which means you should be yourself!"
Meni went up on his toes trying to penetrate the shadows for a glimpse of what a sleeping pharaoh looked like. His eyes squinted and his brow furrowed.
"Did you read a story to Her?" Meni asked inquisitively.
Sekhmet smiled and saw a perfect opportunity to entertain young Meni.
"As a matter of fact, I did. Would you like to hear it?" Sekhmet asked him, knowing full well that Meni would not be able to resist a good story.
"Oh yes, nebet! I love stories!" Meni exclaimed in a whisper as he watched Sekhmet close the chamber doors to Per'aa's cabin.
With tender steps, the woman and child then creaked along the undulating decks under the star-studded night. The glow from the city was like a dim remnant of the sunken western sun and as he looked past the docks and into the capitol, Meni wondered what his friend Jonamun was up to. Soon Sekhmet's cabin was in sight and the two shadows passed within.
The cabin was filled with pretty things that Meni's eyes swam over with delight. And there were delicious smells of incense and herbs that the boy had never known. As Lady Sekhmet sought the scrolls of the story, Meni wandered about the cabin as if in a dream.
"Jonamun's cabin is so empty!" he commented, examining some of Sekhmet's knick-knacks.
Sekhmet smiled at Meni, "Well that's one thing about nebets, Meni. We tend to travel with a good deal more things than are necessary. Although, most of what I have is for my job as Per'aa's doctor. Do you see this herb?" Sekhmet held up a fragrant, dried piece of *ti-sepes bark before Meni. He gingerly plucked it from her fingers.
"This is very important to those people who may feel seasick on our travels. It helps settle their tummies. Smell it..." She invited him to smell it and Meni broke into a smile, 'see! That smells good doesn't it?"
"Oh nebet! Can I have this?" Meni asked, grinning as he smelled the herbal sprig.
"Why don't you keep that....I think I have some more," Sekhmet smiled, her heart was quickly being won over and she knew it.
"Thank you, nebet!" Meni's eyes sparkled in the light as he looked at her. The boy's gratitude was evident and Sekhmet wondered why a sweet herb was so pleasing to him.
"What will you do with that?" she asked.
"I will give it to Jonamun. It will make him stop puking at night when the boat rocks." Meni replied cradling the herb to him.
"Oh that is an excellent idea, Meni! I think you maybe should consider being a doctor as well as an architect. You could build Pharaoh something very tall and give her something if she got sick from the heights."
'Whatever Netjer's plan is, ' She thought, 'surely we have been brought together by Shai, little Meni', Sekhmet thought as she looked down at Meni and smiled again.
"So you have prepared for Bed young Meni? The ladies I hear gave you a bath, which is good. It seems you have made many new friends here lately! So now, if you will hop into the sleeping couch there I can sit beside you and tell you the story." Sekhmet offered.
Sekhmet's own cot was ample even for being on a ship. Certainly there was enough room on it for Sekhmet and himself, Meni thought.
Sekhmet watched the thoughts cross the little boy's face, at first excited about sleeping somewhere warm and wrapped in soft linen sleeping clothes and all at once self conscious because the experience was new. He settled on the cot, and snuggled into the pillows. Sekhmet sat beside him and took out a scroll from the box near the cot. Meni snuggled in close, laying his little hand on Sekhmet's lap, causing the Swnwt n neb tawy's heart to stir. She looked down at his anxious face and began to read the old familiar story of her youth:
"Once there was a young lion and he went out into the world with no fear in his heart. He was mighty in strength and good at hunting. The small game of the mountains knew fear and terror of him. One day it happened that he met a panther whose fur was stripped..."Sekhmet told him.
"Oh! Like the Viyaggrah that Subhajit told me about!" Meni exclaimed, reflecting on the strange Bharati man that he met that afternoon.
Sekhmet looked at him with one raised eyebrow, 'Subhajit? Hmmm...I'm almost afraid to ask..." Whenever Subhajit was involved in anything, particularly with tigers or children, there was trouble afoot.
Meni noting Sekhmet's sudden shift in tone at the mention of the Bharati Physician, feared that his story would be ended even before it began. Deftly, he herded Sekhmet's awareness back to the scroll.
"What about the panther and the lion, nebet?" Meni asked coyly, snuggling even closer into Sekhmet's side.
Sekhmet smiled and continued, "well the panther's skin was torn. The lion asked the panther, 'how did your skin get torn? Who scraped your fur?' And the panther replied, ' It was man." The Lion was confused, "Man, what is that?" That panther said to him" There is no one more cunning than man. May you not fall into the hand of man!" The Lion became enraged against man. He ran away from the Panther in order to search for man."
"The lion encountered a team yoked animals. so that one was in the bit of the horse and the other bit in the mouth of the donkey. The Lion said to them, "Who is he who has done this to you?" They said "It is man, our master." The Lion said to them, "Is man stronger than you?" They said: "Our lord, there is no one more cunning than man. May you not fall into the hands of man!" The Lion became enraged against man and he ran away from them."
"The same happened to him with an ox and a cow, whose horns had been clipped, whose noses were pierced and whose heads were roped. He questioned them; and they all told him the same."
"The same happened with a Bear whose claws had been removed and whose teeth had been pulled. He asked him saying :Is man stronger than you?" And the Bear answered the Lion, "That is the truth. I had a servant who prepared my food, He said to me "Truly your claws stick out from your flesh; you cannot pick up food with them. Your teeth protrude; they do not let food reach your mouth. Release me and I will cause you to pick up twice as much food. When I released him, he removed my claws and teeth. I have no food and no strength without them. He strewed sand in my eyes and ran away from me. " The Lion became again enraged against man. He ran away from the bear in order to search for man."
He met another lion who was tied to a tree of the desert, the trunk being closed over his paw, and he was very distressed for he could not run away. The lion asked the other lion, "How did you get into this evil condition? Who is he who did this to you? " The captive lion said to him, "It is man! Beware! Do not trust him! Man is bad, do not fall into the hand of man! I had said to him: "What work do you do?" and He said to me: "My work is giving old age. I can make for you and amulet, so that you shall never die. Come, I will cut a tree for you and place it on your body as an amulet and you shall never die.'. I went with him. He came to this tree of the mountain, sawed it and said to me: "Stretch out your paw.' I put my paw between the trunk ; he shut it's mouth on it. When he had ascertained of me that my paw was fastened, so that I could not run after him. he strewed sand in my eyes and ran away from me."
The Lion laughed and then said: "Man if you should fall into my hand, I shall give you the pain that you have inflicted on all my companions on the mountain."
Then as the Lion was walking in search of man, there strayed into his paw, a little Mouse, small in size, tiny in shape. When he was about to crush him, the mouse said to him: " Do not crush me, my lord the Lion! If you eat me you will not be sated,. If you release me you will not hungry for me either. If you give me my breath of life as a gift, I shall give you your own breath of life as a gift. If you spare me from your destruction, I shall make you escape from your misfortune.
The Lion laughed at the Mouse and said: "What is it that you could do in fact? Is there anyone on earth who would attack me?" But he swore an oath before him saying; 'I shall make you escape from your misfortune on your bad day!" Now although the Lion considered the words of the mouse a joke, he reflected: "If I eat him indeed I would not be sated" And so the Lion released the Mouse."
"Now it so happened that there was a huntsman with a net who set traps and had dug a pit before the Lion. The Lion fell into the pit and fell into the hand of man. He was placed in the net, then bound with dry leather straps. He was tied with raw straps. Now as he lay suffering on the mountain, in the seventh hour of the night, Fate wished to make his joke come true. Because of the boastful words of the lion. had spoken made the mouse stand before the Lion. He said unto the Lion: "Do you recognize me? I am the little mouse to whom you gave his breath of life as a gift. I have come in order to repay for you it today, and to rescue from your misfortune, since you are suffering. It is beautiful to do good to him who does it in turn.." The Mouse set his mouth to the fetters of the Lion. He cut the dry straps; he gnawed through all the raw straps with which the Lion had been bound and released him from his fetters. The Lion, being grateful to the Mouse, invited him into his mane and they went of onto the mountain that day".
**********************************
Sekhmet's soothing voice drew the parable to a close and she noticed that the evening had grown late and the lamps grown dim. She felt the scroll curling back in her hands and she remembered suddenly her own mother reading from this same scroll. As a girl, Sekhmet had loved this story and the way her mother breathed life into the wisdom of the words. But like the evening and the lamps, the memory was dim and her mother's long-gone voice was a mere whisper in her ears.
Looking down beside her, she found the peaceful face of Meni resting in quiet slumber. She saw herself there, safe and sound in the protective aura of her beautiful mother. Sekhmet bent gently to kiss Meni's little forehead, wondering if the sensation on her lips was like her own forehead had felt under those deeply missed lips a lifetime ago.
So as not to wake the child, Sekhmet arose tenderly and went about dousing the lamps and wrapping a warm blanket round Meni. In the darkness she fell into her cot and waited for dreams to sew her memories to sleep.
**Notes:
*ti-sepes - Cinnamomum cassia or more commonly known as Cinnamon.
"Bedtime Stories" by Sekhmet Meritamen and Jonamun Hatshepsut (Ancient Sites: Qenbet)
"Bedtime Stories" by Sekhmet Meritamen and Jonamun Hatshepsut (Ancient Sites: Qenbet)
The Royal Physician, Sekhmet Meritamen, was tapped on the shoulder by a maid as she made to leave the Per'aa to her rest. It was late aboard the Heart of Ra, but the young boy Menenhetet was tapping at the door of Pharaoh's chamber, asking for Sekhmet. Menenhetet had assured Jonamun he would be fine while the man went into the city of Waset and left him on the coronation barge with all his new friends, but now, as it grew dark and Jonamun hadn't returned, Meni was lonely and sought out the warmth of Lady Sekhmet.
Sekhmet emerged from the fragrant shadows of Per'aa's cabin and knelt down before the little waif, "Are you alright Meni?" she asked.
Seeing the familiar midnight braids and the warm dark eyes of Lady Sekhmet, Meni's apprehensive expression melted into a relieved smile. He reached instinctively for her hand and then peered curiously over her shoulder into the darkness.
"Are you tucking in our Per'aa, nebet?" Meni asked.
"I've already tucked Her in," Sekhmet said softly, holding a finger to her lips to hush the child. "She is almost asleep, which means you should be yourself!"
Meni went up on his toes trying to penetrate the shadows for a glimpse of what a sleeping pharaoh looked like. His eyes squinted and his brow furrowed.
"Did you read a story to Her?" Meni asked inquisitively.
Sekhmet smiled and saw a perfect opportunity to entertain young Meni.
"As a matter of fact, I did. Would you like to hear it?" Sekhmet asked him, knowing full well that Meni would not be able to resist a good story.
"Oh yes, nebet! I love stories!" Meni exclaimed in a whisper as he watched Sekhmet close the chamber doors to Per'aa's cabin.
With tender steps, the woman and child then creaked along the undulating decks under the star-studded night. The glow from the city was like a dim remnant of the sunken western sun and as he looked past the docks and into the capitol, Meni wondered what his friend Jonamun was up to. Soon Sekhmet's cabin was in sight and the two shadows passed within.
The cabin was filled with pretty things that Meni's eyes swam over with delight. And there were delicious smells of incense and herbs that the boy had never known. As Lady Sekhmet sought the scrolls of the story, Meni wandered about the cabin as if in a dream.
"Jonamun's cabin is so empty!" he commented, examining some of Sekhmet's knick-knacks.
Sekhmet smiled at Meni, "Well that's one thing about nebets, Meni. We tend to travel with a good deal more things than are necessary. Although, most of what I have is for my job as Per'aa's doctor. Do you see this herb?" Sekhmet held up a fragrant, dried piece of *ti-sepes bark before Meni. He gingerly plucked it from her fingers.
"This is very important to those people who may feel seasick on our travels. It helps settle their tummies. Smell it..." She invited him to smell it and Meni broke into a smile, 'see! That smells good doesn't it?"
"Oh nebet! Can I have this?" Meni asked, grinning as he smelled the herbal sprig.
"Why don't you keep that....I think I have some more," Sekhmet smiled, her heart was quickly being won over and she knew it.
"Thank you, nebet!" Meni's eyes sparkled in the light as he looked at her. The boy's gratitude was evident and Sekhmet wondered why a sweet herb was so pleasing to him.
"What will you do with that?" she asked.
"I will give it to Jonamun. It will make him stop puking at night when the boat rocks." Meni replied cradling the herb to him.
"Oh that is an excellent idea, Meni! I think you maybe should consider being a doctor as well as an architect. You could build Pharaoh something very tall and give her something if she got sick from the heights."
'Whatever Netjer's plan is, ' She thought, 'surely we have been brought together by Shai, little Meni', Sekhmet thought as she looked down at Meni and smiled again.
"So you have prepared for Bed young Meni? The ladies I hear gave you a bath, which is good. It seems you have made many new friends here lately! So now, if you will hop into the sleeping couch there I can sit beside you and tell you the story." Sekhmet offered.
Sekhmet's own cot was ample even for being on a ship. Certainly there was enough room on it for Sekhmet and himself, Meni thought.
Sekhmet watched the thoughts cross the little boy's face, at first excited about sleeping somewhere warm and wrapped in soft linen sleeping clothes and all at once self conscious because the experience was new. He settled on the cot, and snuggled into the pillows. Sekhmet sat beside him and took out a scroll from the box near the cot. Meni snuggled in close, laying his little hand on Sekhmet's lap, causing the Swnwt n neb tawy's heart to stir. She looked down at his anxious face and began to read the old familiar story of her youth:
"Once there was a young lion and he went out into the world with no fear in his heart. He was mighty in strength and good at hunting. The small game of the mountains knew fear and terror of him. One day it happened that he met a panther whose fur was stripped..."Sekhmet told him.
"Oh! Like the Viyaggrah that Subhajit told me about!" Meni exclaimed, reflecting on the strange Bharati man that he met that afternoon.
Sekhmet looked at him with one raised eyebrow, 'Subhajit? Hmmm...I'm almost afraid to ask..." Whenever Subhajit was involved in anything, particularly with tigers or children, there was trouble afoot.
Meni noting Sekhmet's sudden shift in tone at the mention of the Bharati Physician, feared that his story would be ended even before it began. Deftly, he herded Sekhmet's awareness back to the scroll.
"What about the panther and the lion, nebet?" Meni asked coyly, snuggling even closer into Sekhmet's side.
Sekhmet smiled and continued, "well the panther's skin was torn. The lion asked the panther, 'how did your skin get torn? Who scraped your fur?' And the panther replied, ' It was man." The Lion was confused, "Man, what is that?" That panther said to him" There is no one more cunning than man. May you not fall into the hand of man!" The Lion became enraged against man. He ran away from the Panther in order to search for man."
"The lion encountered a team yoked animals. so that one was in the bit of the horse and the other bit in the mouth of the donkey. The Lion said to them, "Who is he who has done this to you?" They said "It is man, our master." The Lion said to them, "Is man stronger than you?" They said: "Our lord, there is no one more cunning than man. May you not fall into the hands of man!" The Lion became enraged against man and he ran away from them."
"The same happened to him with an ox and a cow, whose horns had been clipped, whose noses were pierced and whose heads were roped. He questioned them; and they all told him the same."
"The same happened with a Bear whose claws had been removed and whose teeth had been pulled. He asked him saying :Is man stronger than you?" And the Bear answered the Lion, "That is the truth. I had a servant who prepared my food, He said to me "Truly your claws stick out from your flesh; you cannot pick up food with them. Your teeth protrude; they do not let food reach your mouth. Release me and I will cause you to pick up twice as much food. When I released him, he removed my claws and teeth. I have no food and no strength without them. He strewed sand in my eyes and ran away from me. " The Lion became again enraged against man. He ran away from the bear in order to search for man."
He met another lion who was tied to a tree of the desert, the trunk being closed over his paw, and he was very distressed for he could not run away. The lion asked the other lion, "How did you get into this evil condition? Who is he who did this to you? " The captive lion said to him, "It is man! Beware! Do not trust him! Man is bad, do not fall into the hand of man! I had said to him: "What work do you do?" and He said to me: "My work is giving old age. I can make for you and amulet, so that you shall never die. Come, I will cut a tree for you and place it on your body as an amulet and you shall never die.'. I went with him. He came to this tree of the mountain, sawed it and said to me: "Stretch out your paw.' I put my paw between the trunk ; he shut it's mouth on it. When he had ascertained of me that my paw was fastened, so that I could not run after him. he strewed sand in my eyes and ran away from me."
The Lion laughed and then said: "Man if you should fall into my hand, I shall give you the pain that you have inflicted on all my companions on the mountain."
Then as the Lion was walking in search of man, there strayed into his paw, a little Mouse, small in size, tiny in shape. When he was about to crush him, the mouse said to him: " Do not crush me, my lord the Lion! If you eat me you will not be sated,. If you release me you will not hungry for me either. If you give me my breath of life as a gift, I shall give you your own breath of life as a gift. If you spare me from your destruction, I shall make you escape from your misfortune.
The Lion laughed at the Mouse and said: "What is it that you could do in fact? Is there anyone on earth who would attack me?" But he swore an oath before him saying; 'I shall make you escape from your misfortune on your bad day!" Now although the Lion considered the words of the mouse a joke, he reflected: "If I eat him indeed I would not be sated" And so the Lion released the Mouse."
"Now it so happened that there was a huntsman with a net who set traps and had dug a pit before the Lion. The Lion fell into the pit and fell into the hand of man. He was placed in the net, then bound with dry leather straps. He was tied with raw straps. Now as he lay suffering on the mountain, in the seventh hour of the night, Fate wished to make his joke come true. Because of the boastful words of the lion. had spoken made the mouse stand before the Lion. He said unto the Lion: "Do you recognize me? I am the little mouse to whom you gave his breath of life as a gift. I have come in order to repay for you it today, and to rescue from your misfortune, since you are suffering. It is beautiful to do good to him who does it in turn.." The Mouse set his mouth to the fetters of the Lion. He cut the dry straps; he gnawed through all the raw straps with which the Lion had been bound and released him from his fetters. The Lion, being grateful to the Mouse, invited him into his mane and they went of onto the mountain that day".
**********************************
Sekhmet's soothing voice drew the parable to a close and she noticed that the evening had grown late and the lamps grown dim. She felt the scroll curling back in her hands and she remembered suddenly her own mother reading from this same scroll. As a girl, Sekhmet had loved this story and the way her mother breathed life into the wisdom of the words. But like the evening and the lamps, the memory was dim and her mother's long-gone voice was a mere whisper in her ears.
Looking down beside her, she found the peaceful face of Meni resting in quiet slumber. She saw herself there, safe and sound in the protective aura of her beautiful mother. Sekhmet bent gently to kiss Meni's little forehead, wondering if the sensation on her lips was like her own forehead had felt under those deeply missed lips a lifetime ago.
So as not to wake the child, Sekhmet arose tenderly and went about dousing the lamps and wrapping a warm blanket round Meni. In the darkness she fell into her cot and waited for dreams to sew her memories to sleep.
**Notes:
*ti-sepes - Cinnamomum cassia or more commonly known as Cinnamon.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Cinnamon
Date: 2003-07-17 10:47 am (UTC)the bark is more or less..
aromatic
but the leaf (leaf oil) has been invaluable in vaporizers for myself
but now..
I shouldn't advise that anyone follow my own useage, especially as I am fresh out of all cinnamin oils
(I do have sticks on hand however)
Re: Cinnamon & cinnamint
Date: 2003-07-17 10:48 am (UTC)Re: Cinnamon
Date: 2003-07-17 12:51 pm (UTC)Re: Cinnamon
Date: 2003-07-17 02:31 pm (UTC)sounds interesting
http://www.iisr.org/spices/cassia.htm
http://www.iisr.org/spices/cinnamon.htm