Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/69

 The Story of Egypt 43 Some of these stories set forth the sufferings of the poor Books on 'ness justice and the humble and seek to stir the rulers to just and kind a^d "^^^ treatment of the weaker classes. Some picture the wickedness Fig. 25. Cliff-Tomb of an Egyptian Noble of the Feudal Age The chapel entered through this door contains painted reliefs like those of the Pyramid Age (Figs. 16-20) and also many written records. In this chapel the noble tells of his kind treatment of his people ; he says : " There was no citizen's daughter whom I misused ; there was no widow whom I oppressed ; there was no peasant whom I evicted ; there was no shepherd whom I expelled ;. . . there was none wretched in my community, there was none hungry in my time. When years of famine came I plowed all the fields of the Oryx barony [his estate] . . . preserving its people alive and furnishing its food so that there was none hungry therein. I gave to the widow as to her who had a husband ; I did not exalt the great above the humble in anything that I gave " (p. 44) of men and the hopelessness of the future. Others tell of a righteous ruler who is yet to come, a " good shepherd " they call him, meaning a good king who shall bring in justice and