Friday, April 30, 2010

A Father's Advice to His Son

I read this in my humanities textbook, and thought it was an interesting tribute to motherhood, both ancient and modern. It's translated from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, or so the book says...

(To explain... although Thomas, three of his siblings/siblings in-law, and I all walked for graduation in April, I'm finishing up my remaining required classes this Spring term... after a two year hiatus from school! I'm LOVING my classes so far, even though it's a lot of work. Thomas is being supportive, and learning and growing in his role as full-time stay-at-home dad for the next month and a half...)

A Father's Advice to His Son

Double the food which thou givest thy mother,
carry her as she carried thee. She had a heavy
load in thee, but she did not leave it to me.
After thou wert borne she was still burdened
with thee; her breast was in thy mouth for three
year, and though thy filth was disgusting, he
heart was not disgusted. When thou takest a
wife, remember how thy mother gave birth to
thee, and her raising thee as well; do not let thy
wife blame thee, nor cause that she raise her
hands to the god.

(I'm interpreting the last part to mean: don't make your wife angry with you, remember the example of your mother)

taken from Cunningham, Lawrence S., and John J. Reich, Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities, seventh edition. Australia: Wadsowrth Cengage Learning, 2010. 18. Originally excerpt from Mertz, Barbara, Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphics. 1978, 333.

2 comments:

Katrina said...

That is cool. The "thy filth was disgusting" part made me laugh. Love the 3 year nursing part.

balloongal said...

Wow. That is very interesting. And I read it right before Mother's Day.