Monday, November 26, 2018

Ptahhotep Maxim 33: Generosity

So far this is the happiest most pleasant maxim. No pontificating. Just observation that satisfaction comes from generosity. It uses an axiom that refers to an unlikely animal, either a woodpecker, a porcupine or a hedgehog + his face. Up until now I've seen a determinative sign for each animal mentioned but these three animals defy that pattern. I didn't even know these three animals are known to Egyptians. You'd expect to see crafts of porcupine quills and at least drawing and paintings of hedgehogs, but I don't recall anything like that. So the axiom has me confused.

The maxim says:

Let your face be bright in the time of your existing;
if something goes out of the storehouse, it does not reenter.
The bread of sharing is what is coveted;
the one empty in his belly is an accuser.
Opposition becomes sorrow-causing:
don't make it something near you.
Kindness is a man's memorial
for the years after the staff of authority.

That's what the experts say that it says. When I look up each word and phrase I get something different, but hey, they're the experts, not me. As you see they say nothing about woodpeckers, porcupines or hedgehogs. Those animals from the dictionary appear in the third line.

This is an animated gif file, not a video.




No comments: