Sun Child
René O’Deay
Chapter six
Lunch and Lessons
Back at the palace, the Queen, Prince Tut, the three princesses, and the noble students dismounted at the entrance. Waiting stable hands took the horses and chariots back to the stable.
The ladies stripped off the hot driving gloves and they all kicked off their sandals. Pages poured cool water over hot hands and dusty feet, while others wiped them dry with linen towels.
Finally they left the punishing noon sun and entered the cool painted halls of the North Palace. Painted and glazed terracotta tiles paved the cool north-facing hall, large and high-ceilinged with tall red columns supporting the roof.
A long dais faced the open terrace doors with a beautiful cushioned chair and several smaller chairs and stools arranged around it. Small tables with fine serving plates and earthenware sat between the chairs and stools.
The Queen sat in the cushioned chair, Tut and the princesses took the smaller chairs and the other boys took stools. Serving boys and girls brought cool drinks and cups, straining the wine and beer for them. Great loaves of fresh baked bread hoisted on young men’s shoulders were paraded around the room, until the Queen pointed at one well-browned loaf and it was placed on a platter and cut open, releasing aromatic fresh bread steam, sharpening hunger. Slices were passed around with pots of butter, curds and honey placed on the little serving tables.
Servers brought more foods and after serving the Queen first, offered them to Tut and the princesses, and then the boys: small honey-roasted crispy ducks (Tut and the boys’ favorite), sliced succulent roast beef and roast kid, kabobs of grilled meats, bowls of cooked vegetables, more breads, smaller lighter rolls and bowls of sweets, fruits and baked little honey cakes.
As they ended their meal, the servers brought bowls of fresh water to rinse their greasy hands, faces and mouths, along with little reed “toothbrushes” and clean little napkins to dry off with.
”You had a very successful hunt this morning, my young prince,” Queen Nefertiti said with affectionate pride. “You and your companions must have worked long and hard perfecting your boat drills and accuracy with the throwing sticks.”
”You even got two Great Herons yourself, dear Tut,” crowed the littlest princess, 7-year-old Set-en-pen-re. Tut was a favorite of the Princesses, he didn’t ignore them like most boys growing up and training as warriors who felt little girls, even princesses, beneath them.
”My men, my teammates, were willing and quite skilled,” answered Tut modestly.
”Did the Huntmaster praise your catch?” asked the Queen, probing, wanting to know why they came back so late. Not that late! But...there was a disturbing rumor and Queen Nefertiti was responsible for Prince Tut and his safety while his mother Queen Sitamen, daughter and wife of the old King Amenhotep 3, was away in the north touring the royal estates and cities.
Now Tut was also very fond of his Aunt (and sister-in-law) Queen Nefertiti and forbore to fib but did not want to alarm her with the tale of their side trip to the Hippopotamus Pool, though obviously the story had somehow got out to his cousins.
”The Huntmaster was blunt. ‘Good hunt” was all he said,” Tut told her, leaving out the other comment: ‘Stick to the schedule.’ “We stayed to sling a few more sticks at a few more ducks to increase our take to be sure we had enough. We love our crispy duck. Don’t we, boys?”
”Oh yes, Lord Prince,” chorused the boys, a little nervous, though they adored the Queen too, they also feared her. Would she separate them from their beloved Prince if she thought their influence endangered him. Even though it was all Tut’s idea to go to the Hippo Pool, they had gone along when deep down they knew they should have held the intrepid little prince back from that dangerous side-trip. “We love our crispy duck!”
”How goes my brother Lord Pharaoh Smenkhare’s hunt, my Queen?” asked the Prince, to change the subject, skirting that dangerous topic. “Have you heard anything yet?”
”The hunt went well. He sent a message that they killed at least 30 of the great hippos,” answered Nefertiti. “They are towing the carcasses back and will land on the beach this side of the Northern City.”
”People are already gathering, waiting on the beach for the Fat Meat Feast,” said Princess NeferTashery (NeferNefer-u-Aten Tashery). “It’s so exciting! Can we go watch, Mother?”
”Perhaps we will all go,” replied the Queen. “Meanwhile, you still have time for your afternoon lessons, Tut. They won’t be here for at least two or three hours. Hop to it, if you want to go to the beach too.”
Tut leaped up exclaiming “We mustn’t miss our lessons with old Hotep. Come on, boys!”
After bowing to the Queen and to each little princess, the boys left for their schoolroom.
Lessons
The Queen shook her head in disbelief, looking around at her daughters knowingly. They fidgeted. Does she know? About Tut’s side trip? And their challenge?...the boats..?
Nefertiti relented, laughed.
”Run along, girls. You have lessons, too.” she told them, waving them off.
The three little princesses arose sedately, robes flowing around their bare feet, and, with little bows to their lady mother, left the dining terrace, through the garden to a canopied pavilion near a long pool. Nefertiti watched them go, as they relaxed, giggled and whispered their secrets. She laughed again.
”Oh, Tut, you scamp!” she murmured. “You fear nothing!” Because, of course, she knew.
(Shall we bore you, dear reader, with their tedious lessons? When all they can think about is the free-for-all Fat Meat Feast on the beach? Or shall we just jump ahead to it? Or do you want to know what their school was like? Are you sure? Then school it is.)
The little princesses had the best schoolroom, the cool pavilion in the lovely lush garden with shady trees open to the breezes cooled by the pool beside it.
The prince and his mates, the Children of the KAP, were in a study hall near their wing of the palace with wall-screens to let in the breezes (hopefully from the North - the coolest) and to shut out any distractions. It was still hard to settle down to lessons.
”Do you think SHE knows?” nervously asked Hiknefer.
”Are we gonna get it?” piped up “Pipsqueak”, the littlest child.
”Just stay cool. Say nothing!” Tut urged the children. “Just like a Secret of the KAP.”
Looking around with a secret grin and his hands spread out, gesturing down, down. Tut said that so cool, energizing them yet dampening their fears, they were charmed and they all had a little grin feast.
”So what about the boats?” asked one of the guys who had been left behind. “What did you find out, Khai?”
”More about the contest than anything,” answered the tall black-skinned boy from Nubia.
”Well, tell us.”
”C’mon, Khai!”
”O key! The Princess, beautiful as the sun...” started out Khai coyly.
”Cut out the flattery , Khai. It’s wasted on us,” laughed Tut.
”O key. The Princess said they would have matches on accuracy, distance, elegance of style...”
”Ooh! Ooh!” some of the boys chorused.
”Moving targets, team shooting and formations,” continued Khai.
”Formations? What formations?” demanded the boys. “Yeah, what’s this formations?”
”I believe the Princess was referring to targets where each team member strikes a different point with his arrow on a pattern like a pyramid or square or circle,” explained Tut.
”Circle? Would that not take a lot of arrows?” asked Pipsqueak.
”Ahem!” came a deep voice. Their tutor, Hotep, had decided to interrupt at this point. “A circle. Good choice. Now let’s see...How can we decide how many arrows to make the circle, and...and...”
The tutor looked around encouragingly waiting for one of them to jump in, usually Tut, though sometimes Tut held back to give the other boys a chance. When they all looked at him blankly, he tried another tack. The Royal Tutor looked up and frowned, scratching his head.
”Let’s see, what else? Uh- oh yes...who?” he postulated, and then looked around to see if they knew the answer. “Who?”
”Who? Who what?” asked one boy dumbly.
”Who shoots the arrows, dummy,” said another, lightly slapping his head.
”Team shooting and formations, I believe you said, Prince Khai?” asked Hotep. “Perfect lesson. You already practice in teams, do you not? So...first let’s work out targets, and team shooting for those groups first. And then we’ll plan the circle using the whole group of teams. Just imagine a flight of arrows coming down in a perfect circle around a target!”
Grins break out across the group of boys, eyes sparkle. Those girls don’t have a chance.
”Well, we better not waste any time. We’ve only got three days to get these formations right,” Tut said, taking up the tutor’s challenge, surrendering to Hotep’s little intrigue, aware and in awe of his skillful inspiration.
The boys broke up into the same groups as their archery class, picking out team leaders and then deciding they needed a team captain.
”We want Tut,” chanted the littlest group.
Tut looked up from the huddle he’d been in with his group.
”Yeah! Yeah!...We want Tut,” chorused a couple other groups.
”Well, if you insist..” declaimed Tut, seriously.
”Yeah! You did good today,” said Khai.
”And it’s your wish we’re competing for,” said Khai’s mate Hiknefer (Prince of Miami, in Kush, of the Southern Empire)
”We want Tut! We want Tut!” chanted all the boys now.
”Alright! Alright,” gave in Tut. “Each team draws up their own patterns and decides who shoots where and when. Then we’ll compare notes and work on the big ones with the whole group or maybe with two or more groups. Let’s get the plans done now, so we can practice them tomorrow.”
And the boys all turned to their projects, laughing, exhilarated.
Copyright © 2001, René O'Deay
Revised -- Nov. 2003