And I said unto him, “What a shameful thing [to say]!  It is not a beggarly journey whereon I have been despatched by those among whom I live.  And besides, assuredly there is not a single boat that floateth that doth not belong to Amen.  To him belong the sea and the cedars of Lebanon, concerning which thou sayest, ‘They are my property.’  In Lebanon groweth [the wood] for the Boat Amen-userhat, the lord of boats.  Amen-Ra, the King of the Gods, spake and told Her-Heru, my lord, to send me forth; and therefore he caused me to set out on my journey together with this great god.[1] Now behold, thou hast caused this great god to pass nine and twenty days here in a boat that is lying at anchor in thy harbour, for most assuredly thou didst know that he was resting here.  Amen is now what he hath always been, and yet thou wouldst dare to stand up and haggle about the [cedars of] Lebanon with the god who is their lord!  And as concerning what thou hast spoken, saying, ’The kings of Egypt in former times caused silver and gold to be brought [to my father and father’s father, thou art mistaken].’  Since they had bestowed upon them life and health, they would never have caused gold and silver to be brought to them; but they might have caused gold and silver to be brought to thy fathers instead of life and health.  And Amen-Ra, the King of the Gods, is the Lord of life and health.  He was the god of thy fathers, and they served him all their lives, and made offerings unto him, and indeed thou thyself art a servant of Amen.  If now thou wilt say unto Amen, ‘I will perform thy commands, I will perform thy commands,’ and wilt bring this business to a prosperous ending, thou shalt live, thou shalt be strong, thou shalt be healthy, and thou shalt rule thy country to its uttermost limits wisely and well, and thou shalt do good to thy people.  But take good heed that thou lovest not the possessions of Amen-Ra, the King of the Gods, for the lion loveth the things that belong unto him.  And now, I pray thee to allow my scribe to be summoned to me, and I will send him to Nessubanebtet and Thent-Amen, the local governors whom Amen hath appointed to rule the northern portion of his land, and they will send to me everything which I shall tell them to send to me, saying, ‘Let such and such a thing be brought,’ until such time as I can make the journey to the South (i.e. to Egypt), when I will have thy miserable dross brought to thee, even to the uttermost portion thereof, in very truth.”  That was what I said unto him.

[Footnote 1:  i.e. the figure of Amen already referred to.]