The first time I read pWestcar Baufra's tale,
I got the impression that there was something veiled behind its naive erotism.
So I tried to plunge into it in order to uncover some of its mysteries.
Here are my tentative unabashed conclusions.
Let's first of all start with a bit of synopsis.
King Snefrw appears to be uneasy with himself. He feels bored and a bit depressed.
He just can't seem to find anything that will cheer him up. So he summons Djadjaemankh,
his High priest, for advice. Djadjaemankh suggests that he gets a boat ready
in which to spend some time along with the most beautiful women he can find within the Court.
Snefrw rounds up a group of twenty young ladies, curvaceous, full-bosomed
that will row his boat “up and down” along his lake, his plots, his gardens.
Initially the remedy seems to work, but afterwards the leading oarswoman
loses her fish-shaped pendant which falls down into the water. She is so heart-stricken
that she stops rowing and, along with her, so do the others.
When the king enquires about the matter she tells him what happened
and says that she wants her own pendant back and none other -- let alone the one
that the king offers in its place. Therefore Snefrw summons his High priest Djadjaemankh
who performs a miracle: he separates the waters, placing one half of the lake atop of the other half
so as to uncover its bottom.
And he finds the pendant among the fragments of some pieces of pottery.
Hence the lady gets her pendant back, the water returns to its former place, the feast starts going
once again and the Court rejoices.
HAPPY END of the synopsis.
As a matter of fact Djadjaemankh's advice doesn't seem so brilliant.
Why on earth didn't Snefrw think about it himself? Sex is always a good pastime
that can actually, as it were, do wonders. And indeed no wonder he wants to be
around bosomy young ladies, virgins, or at least, ones that have never given childbirth.
Busty and stacked, stark naked but only for a fishnet wrapping their bodies and leaving nothing else
to tease one's imagination.
But the king seems to ask for something very odd. He wants the ladies... “braided”.
They must have a special hairdo called “Hnsk.t”.
Well....
“Hnsk.tyw” were young ladies that took part in funeral rites as “mourners”
and with their breasts stripped naked . And they wore special garments -
a short veil which only hid their pudendal.
And....
Tombs were bestowed – among other things – with small naked female statuettes
which probably had a ritual function: that of reviving the virility of the dead.
Which hints at what Maspero called the “concubines of the king”, a topic amply analysed
by Christiane Desroches Noblecourt in her essay :
”Concubines du mort et mères de famille au Moyen Empire” (BIFAO 53),
which you may find here:
Concubines du mort
Moreover many of the figurines had a special hairdo. At the back of their heads there hung
a long tuft of braided hair. More or less like this:
Well, it does seem that there are associations as to the 20 naked girls
in Snefrw's boat!
And what about the fishnets? We know that it was customary that the “sacred prostitutes”
connected with fertility rites wore bluefaience fish-net dresses -- like this: Fish-net clothing
So it seems that Baufra's tale has symbolic representations that go beyond the naive erotic scene
with its phallic symbols (e.g.: the precious oars, the fish-shaped pendant, the “up and down” movement
of the boat – perhaps Catullus' “phaselus ille”?).
The erotic touch has much more to do with rites of resurrection inasmuch as to re-establish
the king's lost virility. That may explain Snefrw's anxiety. The word used is “dnb”.
And “dnb.w” were frontier landmarks used symbolically during the Sed-Heb festivals, that is,
rites celebrated for the rejuvenation of the king.
"In the course of time, at least from the rule of Den, running between boundary markers
became a ritual exclusively performed by the king himself. The area between dnbw-markers
was perceived as the country embracing two regions. We may assume that the run around dnbw
was a symbolic act of taking possession over the entire country, a ritual statement
of the restituted unity of Egypt."
Alexey A. Krol
"Egypt of the First Pharaohs. Sed-Festival and Emergence of the Ancient Egyptian State"
(in Russian)
If the king lost his virility it would not only be “his” problem, but the problem of the whole country.
A weakened king would be put to death or replaced by someone who had all his sexual vigour still intact.
So Djadjaemankh's disguised advice is that of performing a rite of resurrection.
(And that is the very reason why it doesn't even cross Snefrw's mind.
It has to do with some sort of repression, a defense mechanism of his.
He refuses to face his problem, probably because he's afraid
that he won't be able to solve it –
but the Freudian-minded Djadjaemankh
gives him a boost!)
Hence the fish-shaped pendant that was lost points at the lost virility.
And we must keep in mind that in fact it was however a fish that had gulped down Osiris' phallus.
But then Isis was the one who recovered and was impregnated by it.
That, indeed, is an act of resurrection and fertility.
So when the king is ready to give the girl a substitutive fish-shaped pendant
(that is, when he becomes aware that he must leave his function to someone else),
she protests since she wants only her “fish” back
and none other.
That is a true act of love and faith towards the King/Father of the Country
and it is through this very act of love that Djadjaemankh manages to obtain the pendant.
In fact it is the leading oarswoman, with her will and resolution, who recovers it.
Djadjaemankh is just a sort of helping-hand figure.
(I had the chance to peruse an apocryphal papyrus where, in a couple of
passages, Djadjaemankh's name was rendered as
“biAgrA”!)
The fragments of some pieces of pottery where the pendant is found may be perceived
as a symbol of a shattered kingdom from which the renewed king arises.
Just like the water of the lake that -- due to Djadjaemankh's magic powers -- reaches a height
which is twice its normal one and can be perceived as the inundation of the Nile,
which brings fertility and wealth.
And, in fact, the whole “n(y)-swt-pr” (the Royal House) rejoices, since it is “anx-wDA-snb”.
Note that the formula – usually following the name of a person – in this tale follows the House, always!
There are some more facts alluding to the ritual atmosphere of the tale.
Let's take a look at the numbers for example. The lake is 12 cubits deep.
Twelve [12] are the hours of the Amduat! Ra's boat travels through it 12 hours
before his resurrection as Khepri, the dawning sun.
And what about Joe's “separating and unfolding of waters”?
In the first hour of the Amduat, in the middle register, there is a mysterious symbol called “wpjw nt”
( he who separates the waters), which looks like this:
The two snakes depicted in opposite directions: the back and forth,
the past and the future, the old and the new.
And the new height equivalent to 24 cubits may allude to the whole lapse of a day,
the complete course of the sun: the 12 hours of the surface (day / up) and the other
hidden 12 hours (night / down).
[But, alas!, there is a problem.
It seems that pWestcar goes back to the 2nd Intermediate Period (1630-1520), whereas
" The Book of the Amduat" is found first in the tombs of the New Kingdom (1539-1075),
so it's hard to maintain this hypothesis --
unless
we shift to “fantacriticism”!]
But what about the oarswomen? Why 20 of them?
Well I hope that someone knows something about numerology better than I do.
My only uneducated guess is this:
20 (Dwt) may allude to DHwtj (Thot) which may confirm the tale's general ritualism.
Well, Thot too was a celebrant of resurrection rites, wasn't he?
And... ( this is kind of ribald)
What if the hieroglyphic sign of 20
alludes to copulation, with the two 10s atop of each other,
exactly as the two layers of the lake?
But that's really too much!
Anyway, no matter how unsound my “grouchian” interpretation may be, I am convinced
that this tale implies much more than we may realize in a first instance.
My thanks to Francesca Carolli who supervised my too italianate English --
even though in some passages I did play the knave
in not following her precious advices.
The first time I read pWestcar Baufra's tale, 
gives him a boost!)
Hence the fish-shaped pendant that was lost points at the lost virility.
And we must keep in mind that in fact it was however a fish that had gulped down Osiris' phallus.
But then Isis was the one who recovered and was impregnated by it.
That, indeed, is an act of resurrection and fertility.
So when the king is ready to give the girl a substitutive fish-shaped pendant
(that is, when he becomes aware that he must leave his function to someone else),
she protests since she wants only her “fish” back
“biAgrA”!)
The fragments of some pieces of pottery where the pendant is found may be perceived
as a symbol of a shattered kingdom from which the renewed king arises.
Just like the water of the lake that -- due to Djadjaemankh's magic powers -- reaches a height
which is twice its normal one and can be perceived as the inundation of the Nile,
which brings fertility and wealth.
And, in fact, the whole “n(y)-swt-pr” (the Royal House) rejoices, since it is “anx-wDA-snb”.
Note that the formula – usually following the name of a person – in this tale follows the House, always!
There are some more facts alluding to the ritual atmosphere of the tale.
Let's take a look at the numbers for example. The lake is 12 cubits deep.
Twelve [12] are the hours of the Amduat! Ra's boat travels through it 12 hours
before his resurrection as Khepri, the dawning sun.
And what about Joe's “separating and unfolding of waters”?
In the first hour of the Amduat, in the middle register, there is a mysterious symbol called “wpjw nt”
( he who separates the waters), which looks like this:
we shift to “fantacriticism”!]
But that's really too much!
Anyway, no matter how unsound my “grouchian” interpretation may be, I am convinced
that this tale implies much more than we may realize in a first instance.
