icted by reason of a very great calamity, which
is due to the fact that the waters of the Nile have not risen to their
proper height for seven years. Grain is exceedingly scarce, there are no
garden herbs and vegetables to be had at all, and everything which men
use for food hath come to an end. Every man robbeth his neighbour. The
people wish to walk about, but are unable to move. The baby waileth, the
young man shuffleth along on his feet through weakness. The hearts of
the old men are broken down with despair, their legs give way under
them, they sink down exhausted on the ground, and they lay their hands
on their bellies [in pain]. The officials are powerless and have no
counsel to give, and when the public granaries, which ought to contain
supplies, are opened, there cometh forth from them nothing but wind.
Everything is in a state of ruin. I go back in my mind to the time when
I had an adviser, to the time of the gods, to the Ibis-god [Thoth], and
to the chief Kher-heb priest Imhetep (Imouthis),[2] the son of Ptah of
his South Wall.[3] [Tell me, I pray thee], Where is the birthplace of
the Nile? What god or what goddess presideth over it? What kind of form
hath the god? For it is he that maketh my revenue, and who filleth the
granaries with grain. I wish to go to [consult] the Chief of
Het-Sekhmet,[4] whose beneficence strengtheneth all men in their works.
I wish to go into the House of Life,[5] and to take the rolls of the
books in my own hands, so that I may examine them [and find out these
things]."

[Footnote 1: An allusion to the royal title of Pharaoh, in Egyptian
PER-AA, the "Great House," in whom and by whom all the Egyptians were
supposed to live.]

[Footnote 2: A famous priest and magician of Memphis, who was
subsequently deified.]

[Footnote 3: A part of Memphis.]

[Footnote 4: _i.e._ Hermopolis, the town of Thoth.]

[Footnote 5: _i.e._ the library of the temple.]

Having read the royal despatch the Viceroy Meter set out to go to the
king, and when he came to him he proceeded to instruct the king in the
matters about which he had asked questions. The text makes the king say:
"[Meter] gave me information about the rise of the Nile, and he told me
all that men had written concerning it; and he made clear to me all the
difficult passages [in the books], which my ancestors had consulted
hastily, and which had never before been explained to any king since the
time when Ra [reigned]. And he said to me: