The Tale of Sinuhe: and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C.

Khunanup, the protagonist of “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant,” is immediately presented as a man of sense when he checks the family’s store of food, deciding what to take with him and how much to leave behind to support the household while he is gone. Though described as a peasant, the amount and variety of goods he has to trade—enough to require several donkeys to carry the load—suggest that Khunanup is relatively prosperous, if not of high status. Like Sinuhe he is deferential to authority, answering with the standard response of the subservient, “my way is good,” when he is accosted by Nemtinakht (76n6).

The peasant has a strong sense of justice and is not afraid to protest immediately when he perceives that Nemtinakht is making an unfair suggestion by proposing, because his donkey ate a mouthful of grain, to take the donkey with all its baggage. This suggests that, as a trader, the peasant is fair in his transactions. When Nemtinakht takes all his goods, the peasant follows the established channels in his appeals to authority: He approaches Nemtinakht first to request fair treatment, and when that is unsuccessful, he asks to speak with an official near the high steward before approaching Rensi directly.

Though the source or extent of his education is unknown, the peasant exhibits the ideal of perfect speech in the rhetorical sophistication of his appeals. His perception of the role of the official in upholding truth reflects his adherence to the ordering principles of Egyptian society. He resents when his petitions are met with silence or, in one case, a beating, but instead of retaliating with violence, he continues to press his case with speech. His tone is by turns lamenting, exasperated, and reproachful, reflecting the frustration of an intelligent, law-abiding man who does not see justice being done.

The peasant’s reply to the final arbitration of his dispute is not given, so the reader does not know how he receives the news of his turn of fortune. Nevertheless, his case is both proof of the king’s authority and a suggestion that decorum in action, as well as eloquence in speech, will ultimately be rewarded.

The speaker and protagonist of his tale, the sailor shows the same deference to the structures of Egyptian authority as that demonstrated by Sinuhe and the eloquent peasant, but there is a hint that the sailor’s personality is a bit more heedless and self-seeking. His attempt to counsel his employer, the count, through means of an entertaining tale is not at all taken in the spirit in which it was given, suggesting either the count’s irritability or something amiss in the sailor’s delivery: A fractious relationship is hinted at in his complaint to his employer, “It is tiresome to speak to you” (92).

After his ship is wrecked, the sailor is resourceful enough to make himself a shelter of wood, but he hides there for three days and “embraced the shadows” (93) in distress or fear. The sailor displays proper reverence for his spiritual beliefs; once he ventures out and finds plenty, he makes an offering to the gods, and when the serpent appears, he recognizes a divine or magical being and prostrates himself in obedience.

With the serpent as with the count, the sailor’s efforts to provide service are not entirely successful. The sailor seems to speak past or not recognize the serpent’s advice to return home and cherish his family when he proceeds with promises to make the serpent known to the Egyptian king. When he praises the serpent to the crew who finds him, the sailor demonstrates the proper observance of a subject’s relationship to a ruler. However, the count’s rebuke to the sailor, which mirrors the serpent’s minor reproof, suggests the sailor might sometimes be cocky in his delivery. The count scolds him, “Don’t act clever” (97), suggesting that the sailor might have a tendency to ignore good advice he is given.

The serpent in “The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor” functions as an earthly ruler or king, as well as a semi-divine being or other representation of the gods. He also serves as a mentor to the sailor.

He demonstrates the instructive and consolatory purposes of narrative in the tragic story he tells of how he lost all his kin, save for his daughter, when a star fell and burned all the other serpents. As a ruler, he appears both wise and just, for his island prospers and is full of good things. However, the serpent also foresees, and tells the sailor with a touch of lament, that the island will sink beneath the sea—a warning that all things on earth are mutable and can pass away. Despite this, the serpent is protective of his realm, and angrily confronts the sailor at their first meeting, but he shows himself to be a generous ruler when he gives the sailor riches to take with him back to Egypt. More than just a character, the serpent symbolizes divine power and the inevitable cycle of life.