And this peasant came to make his complaint to Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, and on the first occasion he said, “O my lord steward, greatest one of the great ones, guide of the things that are not and of these that are, when thou goest down into the Sea of Truth,[5] and dost sail thereon, may the attachment (?) of thy sail not tear away, may thy boat not drift (?), may no accident befall thy mast, may the poles of thy boat not be broken, mayest thou not run aground when thou wouldst walk on the land, may the current not carry thee away, mayest thou not taste the calamities of the stream, mayest thou never see a face of fear, may the timid fish come to thee, and mayest thou obtain fine, fat waterfowl.  O thou who art the father of the orphan, the husband of the widow, the brother of the woman who hath been put away by her husband, and the clother of the motherless, grant that I may place thy name in this land in connection with all good law.  Guide in whom there is no avarice, great man in whom there is no meanness, who destroyest falsehood and makest what is true to exist, who comest to the word of my mouth, I speak that thou mayest hear.  Perform justice, O thou who art praised, to whom those who are most worthy of praise give praise.  Do away the oppression that weigheth me down.  Behold, I am weighted with sorrow, behold, I am sorely wronged.  Try me, for behold, I suffer greatly.”

[Footnote 1:  A district to the west of Cairo now known as Wadi an-Natrun.]

[Footnote 2:  The Oasis of Farafrah.]

[Footnote 3:  The Khanes of the Hebrews and Herakleopolis of the Greeks, the modern Ahnas al-Madinah.]

[Footnote 4:  i.e. Osiris.  This was a threat to kill the peasant.]

[Footnote 5:  The name of a lake in the Other World; see Book of the Dead, Chap. 17, l. 24.]

Now this peasant spake these words in the time of the King of the South, the King of the North, Nebkaura, whose word is truth.  And Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, went into the presence of His Majesty, and said, “My Lord, I have found one of these peasants who can really speak with true eloquence.  His goods have been stolen from him by an official who is in my service, and behold, he hath come to lay before me a complaint concerning this.”  His Majesty said unto Rensi, the son of Meru, the steward, “If thou wouldst see me in a good state of health, keep him here, and do not make any answer at all to anything which he shall say, so that he may continue to speak.  Then let that which he shall say be done into writing, and brought unto us, so that we may hear it.  Take care that his wife and his children have food to live upon, and see that one of these peasants goeth to remove want from his house.  Provide food for the peasant himself to live upon, but thou shalt make the provision in such a way that the food may be given to him without letting him know that it is thou who hast given it to him.