Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor facts for kids

The "Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor" is a Middle Kingdom story of an Ancient Egyptian voyage to "the King's mines".

Historical information

At least one source states that the papyrus having the story written upon it is located within the Imperial Museum in St. Petersburg, but that there is no information about where it was originally discovered. Alternatively it is stated that, in fact, Vladimir Golénishcheff discovered the papyrus in 1881 (also stated as a finding originating from the Middle Kingdom).

The scribe who copied it, and who claimed to be "excellent of fingers" (cunning of fingers) despite having made a few slips in the copying, is known as Amenaa, or Ameni-amenna. The signature of Amenaa was mentioned in the 1987 edition of The Guinness Book of Records as the oldest surviving signature on a papyrus.

Synopsis

The tale begins with a follower (sailor) announcing or stating his return from a voyage at sea. He is returning from an apparently failed expedition and is anxious about how the king will receive him. An attendant reassures him, advising him on how to behave before the king, and repeating the proverb, "The mouth of a man saves him". To encourage his master, he tells a tale of a previous voyage of his in which he overcame disaster, including meeting with a god and the king.

The sailor of a ship manned by 150 sailors, fell overboard when a sudden wind caused the waves to be eight cubits high, and was washed up on an island. There he finds shelter and food (he says "there was nothing that was not there"). While making a burnt offering to the gods, he hears thunder and feels the earth shake and sees a giant serpent approach him. The serpent asks him three times who had brought him to the island. When the sailor cannot answer, the serpent takes him to where it lives and asks the question three times more. The sailor repeats his story, now saying that he was on a mission for the king.

The serpent tells him not to fear and that god has let him live and brought him to the island, and that after four months on the island he will be rescued by sailors he knows and will return home. The serpent then relates a tragedy that had happened to him, saying that he had been on the island with 74 of his kin plus a daughter, and that a star fell and "they went up in flames through it". In some translations, the daughter survives; in others, she perishes with the rest. The serpent advises the sailor to be brave and to control his heart, and if he does so, he will return to his family.

The sailor now promises the serpent that he will tell the king of the serpent's power and will send the serpent many valuable gifts, including myrrh and other incense. Laughing at him, the serpent says that the sailor is not rich, but that he (the serpent) is Lord of Punt and that the island is rich in incense, and that when the sailor leaves he will not see the island again as it will become water. His ship arrives to rescue him, and the serpent asks him to "make me a good name in your town" and gives him many precious gifts including spices, incense, elephants' tusks, greyhounds and baboons.

The sailor returns home and gives the king the gifts he took from the island, and the king makes him an attendant and gives him serfs. The tale ends with the master telling the narrator, "Do not make the excellent (that is, do not act arrogant) my friend; why give water to a goose (literally, bird) at dawn before its slaughtering in the morning?"

See also

In Spanish: Historia del marinero náufrago para niños