Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

a craftsman in the ambiguity of words. You master their hidden meanings. That is a very useful gift in these times,’ I said.
    He clapped his hands in delight, and hooted. I realized he was slightly drunk.
    â€˜True, for these are times when no one may say what he really means. Nakht, my friend, where did you find this remarkable creature? A Medjay officer who understands poetry! Whatever next, dancing soldiers?’
    The company laughed harder, determined to keep the mood light and easy.
    â€˜I’m sure Rahotep will not mind if I reveal he too wrote verse whenhe was younger,’ said Nakht, as if to smooth over the hairline cracks that were beginning to appear in the conversation.
    â€˜It was very bad indeed,’ I replied. ‘And no evidence exists of it any more.’
    â€˜But what happened, why did you give it up?’ asked the poet solicitously.
    â€˜I don’t remember. I suppose the world took over.’
    The poet turned to the company, wide-eyed with amusement.
    â€˜â€œThe world took over,” that is a good phrase, I may have to borrow that.’
    The company nodded back, indulgently.
    â€˜Be careful, Rahotep, I know these writers, they say “borrow” when they mean “steal.” You will soon read your words coming back to you on some privately circulated scroll of new verse,’ said one of them.
    â€˜And it will be a vicious little satire and not a love poem, if I know Hor,’ said another.
    â€˜Very little of what I do belongs in a poem,’ I said.
    â€˜And that, my friend, is why it is interesting, for otherwise all is artifice, and how easily one tires of artifice,’ replied the poet, thrusting out his empty cup at a passing servant. ‘Give me the taste of truth any day,’ he continued. The girl approached, refilled our cups, and departed, taking her quiet smile and the attention of several, although not all, of the men with her. I thought how little of reality this man would know. Then the conversation resumed.
    â€˜The world has certainly changed greatly in these last years,’ said another of the men.
    â€˜And despite the advances in our international power, and the achievements of our great new constructions, and the standards of affluence which many of us now enjoy—’
    â€˜Blah blah blah,’ mocked the poet.
    â€˜â€¦not all the changes have been for the better,’ agreed another.
    â€˜I am against change. It is overrated. It improves nothing,’ said Hor.
    â€˜Come now, that is an absurd opinion, and goes against all sense. It is merely a sign of age, for as we get older, so we believe the world getsworse, manners decline, standards of ethics and knowledge are eroded—’ said Nakht.
    â€˜And political life becomes more and more of a dismal farce…’ interrupted the poet, draining his cup again.
    â€˜My father is always complaining about such things, and I try to argue with him, and find I cannot,’ I offered.
    â€˜So let us be honest at least with each other. The great mystery is that we find ourselves ruled by men whose names we hardly know, in offices that remain inscrutable, under the governance of an old man, a megalomaniac without even a royal name, who seems to have cast his gruesome shadow over the world for as long as I can remember. Under the ambitions of the great General Horemheb, we have been engaged in a long and so-far fruitless war with our ancient enemies, when surely diplomacy might have done far more, and saved us the endless drain upon our finances. And as for the two royal children, it seems they are never to be allowed to grow up and take their rightful places at the centre of the life of the Two Lands. How has this come to pass, and how long can it continue?’
    Hor had spoken the unspeakable truth; it seemed no one had the courage to answer.
    â€˜From our point of view we are very comfortably off, and we thrive within the circumstances of