Classic Poem

King Rhampsenitus betook him
To his daughter's golden hall,
Where he found the princess laughing,
Found her maidens laughing all,

Found the swarthy eunuchs also,
Laughing loudly like the rest,
Even the sphinxes and the mummies
Almost bursting at the jest.

Said the princess, “I imagined
I had caught the thief as planned,
But he fled and left me only
With a dead arm in my hand.

“I perceive now how the robber
Raids your treasure-house, and mocks,
While he steals your precious jewels,
All your bolts and bars and locks.

“For a magic key he uses,
That can open every door;
Doors the thickest and the strongest
It can open by the score.

“And since I am but a woman,
Not a door, and was alone;
I, who thought to guard your treasure,
Lost a treasure of my own.”

Having spoken thus, the princess
Lightly tripped it, laughing still,
And the ladies and the eunuchs
Echoed after with a will.

Soon all Memphis, too, was laughing;
Laughing every crocodile,
As it stuck its nodding head out
Of the muddy, yellow Nile.

When the noisy drums came beating,
And it heard, beside its bed,
Loud the following proclamation
By the royal herald read:

“King Rhampsenitus, the monarch,
By God's grace, of Egypt, sends
To his loyal lieges greeting,
And his love to them commends.

“On the night between the third and
Fourth of June, this year, B.C .
Thirteen hundred, four-and-twenty,
With our riches making free,

“From our treasure house a robber
Many priceless jewels stole,
Nor was this, his first achievement,
We regret to say, the whole.

“To discover who the thief was,
We allowed our daughter true
To keep watch beside the treasure,
But he slyly robbed her too.

“To reward a thief so clever,
And give practical effect
To our sympathy and friendship,
And our most sincere respect,

“We would wed our only daughter
To this thief of name unknown,
And appoint him as successor,
When we die, to Egypt's throne.

“Being ignorant at present
Of our son-in-law's address,
By our herald we assure him
Of our grace, if he confess.

“Third of January dated,
B.C. Thirteen twenty-six;
To which we our royal seal and
Name, Rhampsenitus, affix.”

King Rhampsenitus was faithful
To his word, and not alone
Took as son-in-law the robber,
But bequeathed to him his throne.

And he ruled like other monarchs—
Succoured talent, fostered trade;
And not much, it seems, was stolen
In his time, and theft decayed.