Picture-book story

Ancient Egypt: a story in three chapters

A village on the Nile, from the yearly flood to a giant stone on the move. You are the young builder with the satchel and the toolbox.

Chapter 1 The Flood

You stand on a mud-brick wall with a dog, looking over flooded fields and palm trees. — The Nile rises and covers the fields, as it does every year.

You and the villagers pack mud bricks along the riverbank while the water runs high. — You help build dikes and store grain while the water is high.

You scatter seed on dark, wet soil with the villagers, a temple behind you. — When the river falls, the dark soil is ready. Planting begins.

From real life: The real Nile flooded every summer and left rich black soil behind. The Egyptians called their country Kemet, the black land.

Granary
Lifting lever
Palm grove

Chapter 2 The Scribe's Lesson

Villagers measure grain in baskets at a granary while you watch. — The village needs a scribe to count the harvest.

You write on a papyrus scroll by lamplight on a terrace by the river. — You practice writing on papyrus each night by lamplight.

The overseer shows your records to a group of new students. — Your records are so neat that the overseer asks you to teach others.

From real life: Scribes wrote with reed pens on papyrus, a paper made from a reed that grew along the Nile. Few people could read, so scribes counted the harvests and the taxes.

Scribe school
House of Life
Great Library

Chapter 3 The Great Stone

Workers stand beside a huge stone block and a wooden sled. — A huge block must be moved to the new temple.

You pull on a long rope with a line of haulers. — You train with the haulers, learning to pull together in rhythm.

The block slides on its sled over wet sand while the crowd cheers. — On a sled over wet sand, the stone glides into place. The crowd cheers.

From real life: A painting in an Egyptian tomb shows a giant statue on a sled, with a worker pouring water on the sand in front of it. Wet sand is much easier to drag a sled over than dry sand.