and skins of panthers and wolves, and neshau
plants, and anu stones, and tenem plants,
and kheperur plants, and sahut, and
saksut seeds (?), and masut plants, and
sent and abu stones, and absa
and anba plants, and doves and naru and
ukes birds, and tebu, uben and tebsu
plants, and kenkent seeds, and the plant “hair
of the earth,” and anset seeds, and all
kinds of beautiful products of the land of Sekhet-hemat.
And when this peasant had marched to the south, to
Hensu,[3] and had arrived at the region of Perfefa,
to the north of Metnat, he found a man standing on
the river bank whose name was Tehutinekht, who was
the son of a man whose name was Asri; both father
and son were serfs of Rensi, the son of Meru the steward.
When this man Tehutinekht saw the asses of this peasant,
of which his heart approved greatly, he said, “Would
that I had any kind of god with me to help me to seize
for myself the goods of this peasant!” Now the
house of this Tehutinekht stood upon the upper edge
of a sloping path along the river bank, which was
narrow and not wide. It was about as wide as a
sheet of linen cloth, and upon one side of it was the
water of the stream, and on the other was a growing
crop. Then this Tehutinekht said unto his slave,
“Run and bring me a sheet of linen out of my
house”; and it was brought to him immediately.
Then he shook out the sheet of linen over the narrow
sloping path in such a way that its upper edge touched
the water, and the fringed edge the growing crop.
And when this peasant was going along the public path,
this Tehutinekht said unto him, “Be careful,
peasant, wouldst thou walk upon my clothes?”
And this peasant said, “I will do as thou pleasest;
my way is good.” And when he turned to
the upper part of the path, this Tehutinekht said,
“Is my corn to serve as a road for thee, O peasant?”
Then this peasant said, “My way is good.
The river-bank is steep, and the road is covered up
with thy corn, and thou hast blocked up the path with
thy linen garment. Dost thou really intend not
to let us pass? Hath it come to pass that he dareth
to say such a thing?” [At that moment] one of
the asses bit off a large mouthful of the growing
corn, and this Tehutinekht said, “Behold, thy
ass is eating my corn! Behold, he shall come and
tread it out.” Then this peasant said,
“My way is good. Because one side of the
road was made impassable [by thee], I led my ass to
the other side (?), and now thou hast seized my ass
because he bit off a large mouthful of the growing
corn. However, I know the master of this estate,
which belongeth to Rensi, the son of Meru. There
is no doubt that he hath driven every robber out of
the whole country, and shall I be robbed on his estate?”
And this Tehutinekht said, “Is not this an illustration
of the proverb which the people use, ’The name
of the poor man is only mentioned because of his master?’