After Pharaoh's burial, his widow stands in what had been their bedroom and wonders how long she has to live. She thinks:
"He has not come..." (p. 103)
Does she expect an apparition of the dead? No. The text clarifies that she has sent for someone living who has not yet responded - also that her husband was Tutankhamen.
A breeze enters the room - winds or breezes are constant companions of Poul Anderson's characters - and she thinks:
"I am afraid to die..." (ibid.)
- echoing a sentiment expressed in "The Star Beast," which we have just reread.
This widow might have become superfluous now that her husband is dead. Someone enters the room.
OK. The scene is set. That is the first page of the text. Let's take a break and do something else before proceeding any further.
For more on this story, see also:
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Interestingly, the deceased Pharaoh of this story, Tutankhamen, is now believed by many Egyptologists to have been the son of Akhenaten by a secondary wife who was also his full sister. Tutankhamen died leaving no son with an indisputable claim to succeed him. Leaving his widow (and half sister) Ankhesenamen in a very precarious situation.
Ad astra! Sean
Inbreeding landed the Egyptians with a number of visibly retarded Pharaohs.
One should bear in mind that in ancient cultures, the afterlife was just a given -- a fact everyone knew was real.
Ordered it. Haven't seen it either.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, what you said about the bad effects inbreeding had for various Pharaohs. Goes back to the Egyptian belief their kings were gods and it was right to have wives who were also divinely descended.
I don't know if Tutankhamen himself was retarded, the admittedly incomplete sources we have does not seem to indicate he was. But I do think that incestuous inbreeding left him frail and physically handicapped. Recent studies of his body has shown him as having a crippled foot. Plus he apparently died of complications resulting from a broken leg.
Well, I believe the after life is real--but I know you are more skeptical of that.
As astra! Sean
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