The villa of my sister!—­
     Her gates (are) in the midst of the domain—­
     (So oft as) its portals open,
     (So oft as) the bolt is withdrawn,
     Then is my sister angry: 
     O were I but set as the gatekeeper! 
     I should cause her to chide me;
     (Then) I should hear her voice in anger,
     A child in fear before her!

     THE UNSUCCESSFUL BIRD-CATCHER

     The voice of the wild goose crieth,
     (For) she hath taken her bait;
     (But) thy love restraineth me,
     I cannot free her (from the snare);
     (So) must I take (home) my net. 
     What (shall I say) to my mother,
     To whom (I am wont) to come daily
     Laden with wild fowl? 
     I lay not my snare to-day
     (For) thy love hath taken hold upon me.

The most ardent interest that has been manifested in the Egyptian records had its origin in the desire to find evidence corroborative of the Hebrew accounts of the Egyptian captivity of the Jewish people.* The Egyptian word-treasury being at last unlocked, it was hoped that much new light would be thrown on Hebrew history.  But the hope proved illusive.  After ardent researches of hosts of fervid seekers for half a century, scarcely a word of reference to the Hebrews has been found among the Egyptian records.

     * The only inscription relating directly to the Israelites
     will be found described in Chapter VII.

If depicted at all, the Hebrew captives are simply grouped with other subordinate peoples, not even considered worthy of the dignity of names.  Nor is this strange when one reflects on the subordinate position which the Hebrews held in the ancient world.  In historical as in other matter, much depends upon the point of view, and a series of events that seemed all-important from the Hebrew standpoint might very well be thought too insignificant for record from the point of view of a great nation like the Egyptians.  But the all-powerful pen wrought a conquest for the Hebrews in succeeding generations that their swords never achieved, and, thanks to their literature, succeeding generations have cast historical perspective to the winds in viewing them.  Indeed, such are the strange mutations of time that, had any scribe of ancient Egypt seen fit to scrawl a dozen words about the despised Israelite captives, and had this monument been preserved, it would have outweighed in value, in the opinion of nineteenth-century Europe, all the historical records of Thutmosis, Ramses, and their kin that have come down to us.  But seemingly no scribe ever thought it worth his while to make such an effort.