The Two Paths

Amalia hurried along the path leading to the palace yards. She thought of the good bargain she’d found at the marketplace not more than a half hour ago. Sycamore figs were the only ripe fruit so early in the spring. She also found garlic, radishes and lentils along with onions to give the evening meal a bit more variety then the usual bean soup and flat bread they’d had all week, which was beginning to taste rather rank.

The path leading from the palace yards was occupied by two individuals walking toward where the two paths crossed; as she walked closer she could hardly believe her eyes. She was sure of it! The Princess Hatshepsut and her son were out for a stroll. She knew their identity for sure the minute she saw the red hair of the Prince. He was the Hebrew boy the Princess had gathered from the river; she was raising him as her own son. He was born the same year as she had been, and was living in a palace. How fortunate she imagined him to be. The Hebrews called him Prince Moses. The Princess called him Minios because she had drawn him out of the water, and his name meant drawn out.

As she drew closer to the two she heard bits and pieces of their conversation, their words were muffled but she clearly heard the word Hebrew being spoken by the boy. It neither troubled her nor concerned her at the moment. She kept on walking toward her home, north of the palace, among the rest of the Hebrew slave community.

When she came to where the paths crossed each other she looked first in the direction they had been walking to see if she could get another glimpse of the young prince. They were out of sight. Then she looked toward the palace in the opposite direction. She didn’t see anyone else around, but the palace yards were beginning to appear very beautiful as the spring flowers and bushes were blossoming out. She could smell their fragrance as far away as she was.

The weather had been rather warm for this time of year and she had hesitated not knowing which wrap to take with her. She finally chose the light one and she was so glad she had for the morning proved to feel rather warm.

The wall around the palace yards was all of ten feet tall. They were constructed of large bricks made white with whitewash. She thought the design on the top of the wall was very unique. It started on the end with two bricks built upon two bricks then the next two bricks beside them were missing, there were two more bricks with a brick apiece over them, then two missing bricks after it and so on and so forth. The pattern kept up all the way to the side of the palace. The wall picked up across the path she was crossing at that moment and went along the outer edge of the palace yards. Mulberry trees could be seen inside the wall gracing the palace yards with their shade. Dellach palm trees were plenteous around the yards and along the outside of the brick wall and made the palace look even more inviting to Amalia’s imagination. She loved walking to and from market for she loved the palace yards.

She was not in a hurry to get home except she was getting a bit thirsty. She observed the tweeting of a sparrow as he perched on the shrub like jujube bushes along the outer portion of the wall. Her eyes caught a movement beneath the bushes. She hoped it was not a snake. She abhorred snakes and Egypt had some really poisonous ones, but to her relief she saw only a tiny rodent creature moving in and around the bushes gathering what might be its breakfast.

The path led her on her way toward home; everything along the path showed God’s handiwork; she thought she would like taking another walk soon, just for pleasure, when she would not be carrying a basket. She left the path at the second row of houses and continued on to her home from there.