slave needed a
nurse and no one else in the household seemed willing or able
to care for him. And during the days that she nursed Paneah,
Tuya discovered that although Potiphar owned a vast villa with
many rooms and many servants, the poorly organized estate
barely functioned. Because he spent most of his time on
military expeditions or in the presence of Pharaoh, Potiphar had
neither the time nor the inclination to oversee his own property.
But Tuya’s first concern was for her patient. On the day the
master placed him into her care, the young man from Canaan
was flushed with fever beneath the stubble of his beard. Under
the dirty bandage around his arm, Tuya found an oozing
wound from which bare bone protruded. While the young man
was unconscious, she sent for a surgeon to set the bone and
pour wine over the broken skin. After manipulating the bone
and wrapping the arm in clean bandages, the surgeon assured
her he had done all he could do. Now the young man’s fate
rested in the hands of the gods.
Tuya sat by the side of her fellow slave and worried. She
had tended to this young man’s physical body, but what if the
60
Dreamers
gods wanted appeasement before he would be healed? She
knew she could never make an offering to Bastet. Though that
goddess had been the favorite in Donkor’s house, Ramla’s
cool betrayal had hardened Tuya’s heart against the cat god-
dess. Finally she begged one of the kitchen slaves for a stone
statue of Montu, the war god and guardian of the arm.
The statue depicted a man with a hawk’s head surrounded
by the golden disk of the sun. Tuya took the statuette to the sick-
room, where she placed it in a shaft of sunlight and began a
healing chant: “As for the arm of Paneah, it is the arm of Montu,
on whose head were placed the three hundred and seventy-
seven Divine Cobras. They spew forth flame to make you quit
the arm of Paneah, like that of Montu. If you do not quit the
temple of Paneah, I will burn your soul, I will consume your
corpse! I will be deaf to any desire of yours. If some other god
is with you, I will overturn your dwelling place; I will shadow
your tomb, so you will not be allowed to receive incense, so you
will not be allowed to receive water with the beneficent spirits,
and so you will not be allowed to associate with the Followers
of Horus.
“If you will not hear my words, I will cut off the head of
a cow taken from the forecourt of Hathor! I will cut off the
head of a sacred hippopotamus in the forecourt of Set! I will
cause Sebek to sit enshrouded in the skin of a crocodile, and
I will cause Anubis to sit enshrouded in the skin of a dog!
Then indeed shall you come forth from the temple of Paneah!”
Every morning Tuya threatened the statue of Montu with
her fierce refrain, and every morning the young man on the
bed seemed stronger. He ate gruel from her bowl before the
first week had ended, sipping the broth from the wooden
spoon without speaking, his dark eyes flickering with a re-
serve Tuya couldn’t understand. Why didn’t he seem more
grateful? He was a slave, as she was, and slaves were not often
Angela Hunt
61
blessed with the tender care he had been allowed to receive.
He could have been sent immediately to work in the fields;
few masters would care if a slave costing only twenty deben
weight of silver dropped dead over a furrow.
As he slept, Tuya studied the stranger. Though his illness
had left him wafer-thin, finely defined muscles slid beneath his
skin’s golden tan. A head taller than most Egyptians, his dark
hair flowed in gentle waves to his shoulders and was perfectly
matched by the beard that had filled in the clean purity of his
profile. His hands, with long, sensitive fingers, were well-kept,
and Tuya noticed the lack of calluses on his palms. Perhaps she
was wrong in assuming that he had been born to slavery.
After a few days he began to speak and gesture with his
good arm. In
nurse and no one else in the household seemed willing or able
to care for him. And during the days that she nursed Paneah,
Tuya discovered that although Potiphar owned a vast villa with
many rooms and many servants, the poorly organized estate
barely functioned. Because he spent most of his time on
military expeditions or in the presence of Pharaoh, Potiphar had
neither the time nor the inclination to oversee his own property.
But Tuya’s first concern was for her patient. On the day the
master placed him into her care, the young man from Canaan
was flushed with fever beneath the stubble of his beard. Under
the dirty bandage around his arm, Tuya found an oozing
wound from which bare bone protruded. While the young man
was unconscious, she sent for a surgeon to set the bone and
pour wine over the broken skin. After manipulating the bone
and wrapping the arm in clean bandages, the surgeon assured
her he had done all he could do. Now the young man’s fate
rested in the hands of the gods.
Tuya sat by the side of her fellow slave and worried. She
had tended to this young man’s physical body, but what if the
60
Dreamers
gods wanted appeasement before he would be healed? She
knew she could never make an offering to Bastet. Though that
goddess had been the favorite in Donkor’s house, Ramla’s
cool betrayal had hardened Tuya’s heart against the cat god-
dess. Finally she begged one of the kitchen slaves for a stone
statue of Montu, the war god and guardian of the arm.
The statue depicted a man with a hawk’s head surrounded
by the golden disk of the sun. Tuya took the statuette to the sick-
room, where she placed it in a shaft of sunlight and began a
healing chant: “As for the arm of Paneah, it is the arm of Montu,
on whose head were placed the three hundred and seventy-
seven Divine Cobras. They spew forth flame to make you quit
the arm of Paneah, like that of Montu. If you do not quit the
temple of Paneah, I will burn your soul, I will consume your
corpse! I will be deaf to any desire of yours. If some other god
is with you, I will overturn your dwelling place; I will shadow
your tomb, so you will not be allowed to receive incense, so you
will not be allowed to receive water with the beneficent spirits,
and so you will not be allowed to associate with the Followers
of Horus.
“If you will not hear my words, I will cut off the head of
a cow taken from the forecourt of Hathor! I will cut off the
head of a sacred hippopotamus in the forecourt of Set! I will
cause Sebek to sit enshrouded in the skin of a crocodile, and
I will cause Anubis to sit enshrouded in the skin of a dog!
Then indeed shall you come forth from the temple of Paneah!”
Every morning Tuya threatened the statue of Montu with
her fierce refrain, and every morning the young man on the
bed seemed stronger. He ate gruel from her bowl before the
first week had ended, sipping the broth from the wooden
spoon without speaking, his dark eyes flickering with a re-
serve Tuya couldn’t understand. Why didn’t he seem more
grateful? He was a slave, as she was, and slaves were not often
Angela Hunt
61
blessed with the tender care he had been allowed to receive.
He could have been sent immediately to work in the fields;
few masters would care if a slave costing only twenty deben
weight of silver dropped dead over a furrow.
As he slept, Tuya studied the stranger. Though his illness
had left him wafer-thin, finely defined muscles slid beneath his
skin’s golden tan. A head taller than most Egyptians, his dark
hair flowed in gentle waves to his shoulders and was perfectly
matched by the beard that had filled in the clean purity of his
profile. His hands, with long, sensitive fingers, were well-kept,
and Tuya noticed the lack of calluses on his palms. Perhaps she
was wrong in assuming that he had been born to slavery.
After a few days he began to speak and gesture with his
good arm. In
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