When the King Rhampsinitus entered
His daughter's golden hall,
She was laughing and her servants
Were laughing, they were laughing all.
The black men, the eunuchs joined
In the laugher, and what was worst,
Even the mummies, even the sphinxes laughed,
And they thought that they would burst.
The princess spoke: I thought
I caught the thief, instead,
The later has left in my hand
An arm, and it was dead.
I now understand how the thief
Sneaks into your treasure chambers,
And how he removes your treasures,
In spite of the locks, bolts and bars.
He possesses a magic key,
Which opens everywhere, every door;
Even the strongest of gates
Cannot withstand it at all.
I am not a strong gate,
I could not withstand his might;
While guarding the treasure, I lost
A little treasure of mine, last night.
Thus spoke laughingly the princess,
And she skips about on the floor,
And the servants and eunuchs
Laugh, and laugh ever so more.
That very day, all Memphis
Laughed, even every crocodile,
In his laugher thrust his head up,
Out of the muddy yellow Nile,
When they was noticed the drums beating,
And the following proclamation was heard
On the bank of the river,
Read by the court herald:
We, Rhampsinitus, by God's grace
King of, and in Egypt,
Offer our greetings and good will
To each of our loyal and dear subject.
During the night
Between the fourth and third
Of June of the year thirteen twenty four
Before Christ, the following occurred:
A thief has robbed a quantity
Of jewels from our treasure;
He has succeeded, at a later time,
To rob us even further.
In order to discover the identify
Of the culprit, we let our daughter
Sleep with the treasure, but cunningly,
He managed, as well, to rob her.
In order to stop these thefts,
And at the same time, being keen
To show the thief our sympathy,
Our love and our esteem,
It is our will that he should marry
Our daughter, our only one,
And that we should ennoble his rank,
As a heir to the crown.
As the address of our son-in-law,
Is not know to us, at this hour,
This proclamation shall bring him
Knowledge of our favour.
Enacted the third day of January
Thirteen hundred and twenty six,
Before Christ- Signed by us:
Rhampsinitus Rex.
Rhampsinitus kept his word,
He let the thief marry his daughter;
After his death, the crown of Egypt
Was passed on to the robber.
He ruled much as others do,
He promoted the arts and trading.
It is said that during his reign,
There was very little thieving. |