The text also questions social and divine justice. The irony of the plot, and of the situation (the contrast between the social status of the peasant and his elaborate discourse), were part of the appeal to the original élite audience. Finally, Nemtynakht is punished, and the peasant's goods are returned. The peasant makes a total of nine petitions, each more desperate and more eloquent than the last. The king realises the peasant has been wronged but delays judgement, so as to hear more of his eloquence. Rensi is so taken by petitioner's eloquence that he reports this astonishing discovery to the king. I’ll be giving a talk on the lives of the rich and poor in ancient Egypt in the Nebamun gallery at the British Museum this Friday, August 10th. The peasant petitions Rensi, the owner of the estate. You can read the rest of ‘The Eloquent Peasant’ in Richard Parkinson’s book of translations of ancient Egyptian poetry, ‘The Tale of Sinuhe’. See what’s playing 7. When one of the peasant's donkeys eats grain from a field for which Nemtynakht is responsible, he cruelly confiscates the goods. The Eloquent Peasant (1970) MUBI Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema. A man named Nemtynakht covets the poor man's goods. A peasant trader sets out from the area of the Wadi Natrun (west of the Delta) and travels south towards the city of Herakleopolis. The events are set in the reign of a king of the Ninth/Tenth Dynasties (around 2160-2025 BC). This papyrus contains part of the opening of the story. The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant is regarded as one of the masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom (2040-1750 BC), the 'classical' period of Egyptian literature. Out of this period of crisis came such literature as A Dialogue between a Man and His Ba, Instructions to Meri-ka-Re, as well as the story recounted in this volume, The Eloquent Peasant.
![the eloquent peasant the eloquent peasant](https://i2.wp.com/www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Tale-of-the-Eloquent-Peasant.jpg)
The Fowler's laments concern the loss of the pastoral landscape, while the tale describes the theft of a peasant's donkeys, which becomes the subject of a grand complaint. Four thousand years ago, Egyptian society struggled with the downfall of the Old Kingdom, which brought an end to material success and introduced anarchy and chaos. Both poems are laments spoken by lowly members of society.
#THE ELOQUENT PEASANT FULL#
No other extensive copy of the verso text is known, but comparison with full copies of the Eloquent Peasant suggests that this must once have been a long roll. This Twelfth Dynasty papyrus yields the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant on the recto (front side) and The Discourse of the Fowler on the verso (back side).