Rensi brings the peasant's case to the magistrates, who dismiss the case as merely being a matter of a peasant at odds with a landowner, but Rensi does not relay this information to the peasant. Khun-Anup does not accept this injustice and continues to appeal to Nemtynakht for ten days.įailing to receive justice from Nemtynakht, Khun-Anup seeks out the high steward, the noble Rensi son of Meru, and presents his case. Khun-Anup cries out for justice, and Nemtynakht threatens the peasant with death if he dares to complain. When Khun-Anup complains this punishment is unfair, Nemtynakht beats him. As Khun-Anup is appealing to Nemtynakht's sense of reason in blocking his path with the cloth, one of Khun-Anup's donkeys eats a bite of barley, and Nemtynakht uses this as a justification to take Khun-Anup's donkeys and goods. His placing of the cloth on the path forces the peasant to either trample the cloth, step into the water, or take his donkeys over Nemtynakht's fields in order to continue his journey. Nemtynakht tricks the peasant by placing a cloth on the narrow public path, where one side was bordered by the river and the other side were the private fields of Nemtynakht. While Khun-Anup was en route, Nemtynakht, a vassal of the high steward Rensi, notices the peasant approaching his lands and devises a scheme to steal Khun-Anup's donkeys and supplies. The story begins with a poor peasant, Khun-Anup, traveling to market with his donkeys heavily laden with goods to exchange for supplies for his family. This tale is described as an elaborate reflection on the connection – or disconnection – of ethical order and refined speech, as transliterated into refined writing.
It is set in the Ninth or Tenth Dynasty around Herakleopolis. The tale is about a peasant, Khun-Anup, who stumbles upon the property of the high steward, the noble Rensi son of Meru, guarded by its harsh overseer, Nemtynakht. It is one of the longest Egyptian tales that has survived completed. " The Eloquent Peasant" ( Ancient Egyptian: Sekhti-nefer-medu, "a peasant good of speech") is an Ancient Egyptian story that was composed around 1850 BCE during the time of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt.