Teaching Amenemhat I, section 11

The Teaching of King Amenemhat I
Transliteration

(11)
ink ir it mr npri
tr.n wi Hapy Hr pgA nb
n Hqr.tw m rnpwt.i n ib.tw im
iw Hms.tw m irt.n.i Hr sDdt im.i
iw wD.n.i nb r st iry

Section 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Translation

(11)
I MYSELF WAS MAKER OF CROPS BELOVED OF Nepri.
The Nile Flood honoured me at every embrace.
None hungered in my years, none thirsted then.
Men rested through what I had done, and told tales of me.
All I had decreed was in its correct place.

Commentary to the translation. Detailed points

(11)
maker of crops
The phrase unites the themes of king, cult and agriculture

Nepri
Nepri is the Egyptian word for 'grain', here personified as a god. The name of the god is not written in red, a phenomenon extended to names of kings and dates by regnal year in Egyptian manuscripts.

Nile Flood
Hapy, the late summer flood, as central divine phenomenon in Egyptian agriculture. First sign of flood marks the beginning of the farming year.

None hungered in my years, none thirsted then.
Contrast references to years of famine, in hieroglyphic inscriptions of the First Intermediate Period and early Middle Kingdom

Men rested through what I had done, and told tales of me
One of the rare references in literary compositions to origin of 'tales'