The actual papyrus begins with
the last few words of a previous tale concerning some other magician
under an earlier king. Then comes the tale of Khafra, next that of
Bau-f-ra, and lastly that of Hor-dedef.
It need hardly be said that these tales are quite fictitious. The king
and his successor Khafra are real, but the other sons cannot be
identified; and the confusion of supposing three kings of the Vth
Dynasty to be triplets born early in the IVth Dynasty, shows what very
vague ideas of their own history the Egyptians had when these tales were
formed. This ^ does not prevent our seeing that they embodied some very
important traditions, and gives us an unequalled picture of the early
civilisation.
In the earliest tale or the three there seems at first sight merely a
sketch of faithlessness and revenge. But there is probably much more
in it. To read it aright we must bear in mind the position of woman in
ancient Egypt. If, in later ages, Islam has gone to the extreme of the
man determining his own divorce at a word, in early times almost the
opposite system prevailed. All property belonged to the woman; all
that a man could earn, or inherit, was made over to his wife; and
families always reckoned back further on the mother's side than the
father's. As the changes in historical times have been in the
direction of men's rights, it is very unlikely that this system of
female predominance was invented or introduced, but rather that it
descends from primitive times.
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