Sickle and Sparrow families accepted their situation in life without
questioning. They knew old Fish as "the Squire" upon whose good-will
they were more or less dependent if they wanted to succeed in life.
When the old man died he left his son many wide acres and a position of
great influence among his immediate neighbors.
Young Fish resembled his father. He was very able and had a great deal
of ambition. When the king of Upper Egypt went to war against the wild
Berber tribes, he volunteered his services.
He fought so bravely that the king appointed him Collector of the Royal
Revenue for three hundred villages.
Often it happened that certain farmers could not pay their tax.
Then young Fish offered to give them a small loan.
Before they knew it, they were working for the Royal Tax Gatherer, to
repay both the money which they had borrowed and the interest on
the loan.
The years went by and the Fish family reigned supreme in the land of
their birth. The old home was no longer good enough for such
important people.
A noble hall was built (after the pattern of the Royal Banqueting Hall
of Thebes). A high wall was erected to keep the crowd at a respectful
distance and Fish never went out without a bodyguard of armed soldiers.
Twice a year he travelled to Thebes to be with his King, who lived in
the largest palace of all Egypt and who was therefore known as
"Pharaoh," the owner of the "Big House."
Upon one of his visits, he took Fish the Third, grandson of the founder
of the family, who was a handsome young fellow.
The daughter of Pharaoh saw the youth and desired him for her husband.
The wedding cost Fish most of his fortune, but he was still Collector of
the Royal Revenue and by treating the people without mercy he was able
to fill his strong-box in less than three years.
When he died he was buried in a small Pyramid, just as if he had been a
member of the Royal Family, and a daughter of Pharaoh wept over
his grave.
That is my story which begins somewhere along the banks of the Nile and
which in the course of three generations lifts a farmer from the ranks
of his own humble ancestors and drops him outside the gate but near the
throne-room of the King's palace.
What happened to Fish, happened to a large number of equally energetic
and resourceful men.
They formed a class apart.
They married each other's daughters and in this way they kept the family
fortunes in the hands of a small number of people.
They served the King faithfully as officers in his army and as
collectors of his taxes.
They looked after the safety of the roads and the waterways.
They performed many useful tasks and among themselves they obeyed the
laws of a very strict code of honor.
If the Kings were bad, the nobles were apt to be bad too.
When the Kings were weak the nobles often managed to get hold of the
State.
Then it often happened that the people arose in their wrath and
destroyed those who oppressed them.
Many of the old nobles were killed and a new division of the land took
place which gave everybody an equal chance.
But after a short while the old story repeated itself.
This time it was perhaps a member of the Sparrow family who used his
greater shrewdness and industry to make himself master of the
countryside while the descendants of Fish (of glorious memory!) were
reduced to poverty.
Otherwise very little was changed.
The faithful peasants continued to work and pay taxes.
The equally faithful tax gatherers continued to gather wealth.
But the old Nile, indifferent to the ambitions of men, flowed as
placidly as ever between its age-worn banks and bestowed its fertile
blessings upon the poor and upon the rich with the impartial justice
which is found only in the forces of nature.