The Egyptian literature also contains other ex amples of a lyrical nature. There are love songs in which beautiful passages are not wanting Worthy of special mention arc those which are contained in the London Papyrus Harris 500.
The folksong is, according to its nature, of idyllic simplicity, sung, for instance, on the oc casion of threshing, to stir up the activity of the cattle that were treading the corn.
Some other lyrics are devoted to the fame of Pharaoh. Of specially peenliar character is the song celebrating the triumphal chariot of the king. in which every part of the chariot is compared with a characteristic trait of the monarch by the aid of a play of words, which seemed to be very popular with the Egyptians. For instance, after the wheel has been mentioned, it is said : "Thou crustiest the nations under thy wheel." In this lyric poetry, however, no meter, that is, a measure of words according to short and long syllables, nor anything like it, can be per ceived. The Egyptian poetry is, rather, like the Hebrew, in that it makes rise of parallelisms to give the poetic expression heauty and greater force. In these parallelisms the opposite parts strictly conform to each other, and therefore, the characters, for instance, in the song of praise ad dressed to Thutmosis the Third.* upon the pillar of el-Gise, appear as if they consisted of a suc cessive row of verses. But none such exist, al though in the Coptic, poems occur which are arranged in lines with final rhymes.
There are also other marks distinguishing the old Egyptian poetry from the prose. Ebers, for instance. found even a rhyme (not a final rhyme, but a rhyme only as an ornament of speech in the midst of the parts of the parallelisms), at the close of a narrative, or the incantations to flatter the ear and to help the memory to retain them. And that is not all. Alliterations, for in stance, are of very frequent occurrence, even in for even these are found in the Egyptian litera ture, and the most important production of this class is the "Epic of the Pentaur," which was preserved in several copies upon stone and papyrus. The poem treats of the war of Rameses II against the Kheta and their allies, of the great danger in which the Pharaoh was placed, when sur rounded by enemies, and of his rescue by Amen.
(2) Romance. The much more ancient history of Sinuhet (twelfth dynasty) I do not venture to call an epic. It only tells of the flight of a high official to a Semitic tribe, of his reception by, and his happy fate while with them, and also of his return home to the court of the Pharaoh and of his brilliant reception there.
This story is justly classed with poetic literature, for the well-ornamented delivery of the recital is the very oldest poetic pieces. the texts of the pyramids, and they are still found in the latest period of the Ptolemaic and Roman imperial period.
A love song in which every sentence begins with the name of a flower reminds us of the Ritornclle of the Italians. It is very beautiful and
belongs to the songs in the London Papyrus Har ris 5oo. Over the hieratic texts on many a papyrus there are also seen dots, generally in red, and the sign of an arm with the hand downward. These dots sometimes support the parts or lines of a parallelism, and sometimes they only seem to give the reciter a hint. The arm with the hand down ward, which is read Gerh, and means pause or rest, indicates that the reader should lower his voice and let a pause ensue.
By this we see that many parts of the belletristic literature of the Egyptians were intended for recitation, especially the hymns and epic poems, strongly distinguished from sober prose. But it is true that just at the time (during the twelfth dy nasty), when this story originated, a language which was overloaded with figures seems to have been in vogue. An example of this class of litera ture is the story translated by Griffith of a peasant who is brought to court that the people there might be delighted by his manner of speech.
From this time also dates the fairy tale of the man who was shipwrecked upon an island, with which the Russian scholar Goleniseheff has made us acquainted. It forms the contents of a hieratic papyrus at St. Petersburg.
There arc other fairy talcs, most of which were put in writing under the nineteenth dynasty, and that in a language nearer to the popular form than the older hieratic texts. Maspero translated and collected them in a volume. The best known and most beautiful of them is the Tale of the Two Brothers, mentioned in the Papyrus D'Orbigney. The fairy talc of the enchanted prince, spoken of in a London papyrus, unfortunately breaks off be fore the conclusion. Nor is the story of the con quering of Joppa complete. The talc of Setnau has only been preserved in the demotic script. The tales of the sons of Chufu (Cheops), treating of famous sorcerers, of which A. Erman, of Berlin (where the papyrus which relates them is pre served), has made excellent translations, date back to the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty, but they rather belong to the class of Magic than to the fairy talcs.
(3) Satirical Works. Some works are preserved which justify the Romans in calling the Egyptians fable of "Esop containing the same story was bor rowed from the Nile.
(4) Correspondence. There is also another very remarkable part of the Egyptian literature preserved to this day. It consists of letters which contain not only communications from one person to another, but also exercises in style, which were used for the instruction of the young in the schools; whilst they were copying, and perhaps also learning by heart, they were to practice the style, and the contents of the letters were designed to fill them with pride in their future vocation. In some of these letters the professional vocation of the scribe is placed high above all other classes.