"Leave all the riches that thou hast, and that are with thee,
altogether. When thou shalt come into Egypt behold the palace, and when
thou shalt enter the palace, bow thy face to the ground before the Great
House; thou shalt be chief among the companions. And day by day behold
thou growest old; thy vigour is lost, and thou thinkest on the day of
burial. Thou shalt see thyself come to the blessed state, they shall
give thee the bandages from the hand of Tait, the night of applying the
oil of embalming. They shall follow thy funeral, and visit the tomb on
the day of burial, which shall be in a gilded case, the head painted
with blue, a canopy of cypress wood above thee, and oxen shall draw
thee, the singers going before thee, and they shall dance the funeral
dance. The weepers crouching at the door of thy tomb shall cry aloud
the prayers for offerings: they shall slay victims for thee at the
door of thy pit; and thy pyramid shall be carved in white stone, in
the company of the royal children. Thus thou shalt not die in a
strange land, nor be buried by the Amu; thou shalt not be laid in a
sheep-skin when thou art buried; all people shall beat the earth, and
lament on thy body when thou goest to the tomb."
When this order came to me, I was in the midst of my tribe. When it was
read unto me, I threw me on the dust, I threw dust in my hair; I went
around my tent rejoicing and saying, "How may it be that such a thing
is done to the servant, who with a rebellious heart has fled to
strange lands? Now with an excellent deliverance, and mercy delivering
me from death, thou shall cause me to end my days in the palace.
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