Abu Simbel, Egypt
1517 BC
The sun is high overhead; it is too hot to work outside.
The man is already beginning work on his small statue for the pharoah. It is not a difficult
task; he is skilled in this trade.
Chipping away at the hard black stone, the man makes details where there were none. Shapes begin to
emerge from the timeless, faceless rock.
The half-finished statuette stays on the man's wooden table as he goes to join the rest of the family for
a simple peasant's meal of bread and some foods from the man's plot of land.
There is discussion with his wife about the yield this season. It seems to them that food may not be as
plentiful as in years past.
After his meal, he completes the statue: it is a beautiful Cat, sleek and black, not too large, but with
penetrating eyes, as though it can see more than just the primitive workshop around it. It is finely
detailed, but expresses no motion of body.
It is perfect. The Pharoah will surely reward him well; perhaps this season he will not be as lacking as
he thought.
