Thou hast said in this thy letter that thou hast brought all great and beautiful gifts…a dancing dwarf of the god from the land of spirits…Thou hast said to my majesty, Never before has one like him been brought by any other who has visited Yam…Come northward to the court immediately, thou shalt bring this dwarf with thee living, prosperous, and healthy from the land of spirits…take care lest he fall into the water. When he sleeps at night appoint excellent people who shall sleep beside him in his tent, inspect ten times a night. My majesty desires to see this dwarf more than the gifts of Sinai and of Punt.
-Letter from Pharaoh Pepi II to his caravan conductor Harkhuf who was returning from Yam [Sudan] on the Forty Days Road, inscribed on the Tomb of Harkhuf in the Valley of the Nobles, Aswan, translated by James Henry Breasted
O Ye Living, who shall pass by this tomb whether going upstream or downstream…a thousand jars of beer for the owner of this tomb…
-inscription, Tomb of Harkhuf, Royal Caravan Conductor, Old Kingdom
No one was dancing in our group, we were all so dead tired that none of us could even shimmy when we followed Harkhuf’s footsteps up from Sudan more than four thousand years later. He led 300 laden asses, we were driving 150 camels. He brought incense, ebony, ivory, and “every good product”, we brought meat on the hoof. Both Harkhuf and KhairAllah were widely esteemed Trail Bosses “because”, as his tomb inscription boasted, “I was more excellent, vigilant, and — than any count, companion, or caravan conductor who had been sent to Yam before.” Likewise, KhairAllah boasts in the film, “Everyone knows me as a khabeer in Kutum.” Let it be known that Kutum is a small village famous for its excellent and vigilant khubaraa’. But among the khubaraa’ I knew, only Bilal was a beer drinker, millet beer, and a thousand bottles was too much for him whether going upstream, downstream, or even sideways.