A Fable of the Sea.
Sometime during the Twelfth Dynasty, a folk-tale was composed (or became popular) that would echo through the ages as one of Egypt’s most enduring tales.
The Shipwrecked Sailor tells of a nameless Egyptian who is marooned on a mythical island. He meets a god, gains valuable wisdom of life, and returns home to tell of his tale and share the wealth he has acquired.
The story is a classic fable of the sea, the tropes of which can be felt in such diverse tales as the Thousand and One Nights of Arabia, or Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Bibliography
- W.K. Simpson (editor), The Literature of Ancient Egypt, 2006 (Archive.org Pdf Copy). Amazon page. Primary translation for this episode.
- Peter der Manuelian, “Interpreting the Shipwrecked Sailor,” in Festschrift für Emmer Brunner-Traut (1992). Free Online Copy.
- John Baines, “Interpreting the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology76 (1990). Online pdf.
- Fordham University – The Shipwrecked Sailor, online article.
St. Andrews University – Hieroglyphic text, transliteration and translation.
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Hi Craftytheatre,
The serpent in the Shipwrecked Sailor is a prince, but not an Egyptian King. He is more a divine being, the golden skin/lapis lazuli hair and bones of silver are trappings of the gods.
As for the cobra/nemes connection, I’ve wondered this myself but never found any serious scholarship on the matter. Aesthetically it seems likely, but to the best of my knowledge there is no proven connection.
Its understandable to me that the captain would not necessarily be reassured by this tale, in the tale the serpent loads the sailor down with all the gifts of punt they were meant to acquire anyway, and the sailor returns having had a divine experience in which wisdom was imparted and loaded with rich gifts, a double boon for the kingdom!
Meanwhile the captain is likely empty handed and lacking a divine encounter, liable to go far differently.
Concerning the translation, I have seen versions of this text that seem less timeless, where the Pharoah is named as Amenemhat, are those errenous additions to the material?