I forced my legs to move on north…I took my shelter in the bush…Thirst struck, it overwhelmed me, I panted, my throat parched, I said, This is the taste of death…
-Story of Sinuhe, early 12th Dynasty, circa 1950 BCE, Middle Kingdom
Sinuhe, “Servant of the Royal Chambers”, worked for the Pharaoh Amenemhat I. KhairAllah, Khabir al-Darb, worked for Hajj Bashir. For their work they left their families, slept rough, drank little, ate less. And then they returned home, Sinuhe to honors and rest, KhairAllah shortly to leave again to the desert, the same trail again leading north, his throat again parched, the taste of death again in his mouth…or was it only yesterday’s Asīda?