The Hippopotamus Marsh

Praise for Pauline Gedge

“Gedge excels at setting the scene and subtly evoking a sense of the period as she tells a timeless story of greed, love, and revenge.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Gedge makes the past so accessible. You can imagine walking between the pillars into a magnificent hall and watching it come alive with the smell of the fresh paint on the frescoes.”

—
The Globe and Mail

“Gedge vividly renders the exotic, sensuous world of ancient Memphis, the domestic rituals of bathing and dressing, the social ambience of superstition and spells.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Gedge has such a terrific feel for ancient Egypt that the reader merrily suspends disbelief and hangs on for the ride.”

—
Calgary Herald

“Her richly colourful descriptions … hit the reader with photographic clarity.”

—
The Ottawa Sun

“Gedge has brought Egypt alive, not just the dry and sandy Egypt we know from archaeology, but the day-today workings of what was one of the greatest and most beautiful kingdoms in the history of the world.”

—
Quill & Quire

“Each volume is a carefully devised segment, with its own distinct flavour and texture. When put together, then the skill and workmanship of the whole undertaking stand out clearly. The trilogy is one of Pauline Gedge’s most appealing works.”

—
Edmonton Journal

“Gedge … has the magical ability to earn a reader’s suspension of disbelief.”

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Toronto Star

“Pauline Gedge’s strengths—imagination, ingenuity in plotting, and convincing characterization—are here in abundance.”

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Books in Canada

“Gedge draws another vivid picture of Ancient Egypt and skillfully weaves her dramatic tale of intrigue, treachery, and manipulation. Her historical novels have the ability to bring a period fully before us; it is possible to feel the heat and experience the pageantry she so ably describes.”

—
The Shuswap Sun

“Pauline Gedge’s knowledge of Egyptian history is both extensive and intimate, and has enabled her to produce an entire society of the time of Ramses II with admirable vitality. She has a sharp eye for the salient detail, and an evocative way with landscape and interiors. She can produce a mood and suggest an atmosphere … A very good story well told, and it engrosses the reader from the first page to the last.”

—
The Globe and Mail

PENGUIN CANADA

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS MARSH

PAULINE GEDGE
is the award-winning and bestselling author of eleven previous novels, eight of which are inspired by Egyptian history. Her first,
Child of the Morning
, won the Alberta Search-for-a-New Novelist Competition. In France, her second novel,
The Eagle and the Raven
, received the Jean Boujassy award from the Société des Gens des Lettres, and
The Twelfth Transforming
, the second of her Egyptian novels, won the Writers Guild of Alberta Best Novel of the Year Award. Her books have sold more than 250,000 copies in Canada alone; worldwide, they have sold more than six million copies and have been translated into eighteen languages. Pauline Gedge lives in Alberta.

ALSO BY PAULINE GEDGE

Child of the Morning

The Eagle and the Raven

Stargate

The Twelfth Transforming

Scroll of Saqqara

The Covenant

House of Dreams

House of Illusions

The Oasis: Lords of the Two

Lands, Volume Two

The Horus Road: Lords of the Two Lands, Volume Three

The Twice Born

THE

HIPPOPOTAMUS

MARSH

Lords of the Two Lands

VOLUME ONE

PAULINE

GEDGE

PENGUIN CANADA

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.)

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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published in a Viking Canada paperback by Penguin Group (Canada), a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 1999

Published in Penguin Canada paperback by Penguin Group (Canada), a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 2000

Published in this edition, 2007

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  (OPM)

Copyright © Pauline Gedge, 1999

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Publisher’s note: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Gedge, Pauline, 1945–

The hippopotamus marsh / Pauline Gedge.

(Lords of the two lands ; v. 1)

Originally publ.: Toronto : Viking, 1998.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-14-316745-7

1. Egypt—History—To 332 B.C.—Fiction. I. Title. II. Series: Gedge, Pauline, 1945– Lords of the two lands ; v. 1.

PS8563.E33H56 2007        C813’.54        C2007-903370-9

ISBN-13: 978-0-14-316745-7

ISBN-10: 0-14-316745-6

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Visit the Penguin Group (Canada) website at
www.penguin.ca

Special and corporate bulk purchase rates available; please see
www.penguin.ca/corporatesales
or call 1-800-810-3104, ext. 477 or 474

This trilogy is dedicated to Prince Kamose, one of the most obscure and misunderstood characters in Egyptian history. I hope that in some small way I have contributed to his rehabilitation.

CHARACTER LIST

THE FAMILY

Seqenenra Tao—Prince of Weset

Aahotep—his wife

Tetisheri—his mother

Si-Amun—his eldest son

Kamose—his second son

Ahmose—his third son

Aahmes-nefertari—his elder daughter

Tani—his younger daughter

Ahmose-onkh—a son of Si-Amun and his sister/wife Aahmes-nefertari

MALE SERVANTS

Akhtoy—the Chief Steward

Kares—Steward to Aahotep

Mersu—Steward to Tetisheri

Uni—a Steward

Ipi—the Chief Scribe

FEMALE SERVANTS

Isis—Tetisheri’s body servant

Hetepet—Aahotep’s body servant

Heket—Tani’s body servant

Raa—Ahmose-onkh’s nurse

RELATIVES AND FRIENDS

Teti—Governor of Khemennu, Inspector and Administrator of Dikes and Canals, and husband of Aahotep’s cousin

Nefer-Sakharu—Teti’s wife and Aahotep’s cousin

Ramose—their son and Tani’s betrothed

Amunmose—High Priest of Amun

Turi—Ahmose’s wrestling partner

THE PRINCES

Hor-Aha—a native of Wawat and leader of the Medjay

Intef of Qebt

Iasen of Badari

Makhu of Akhmin

Mesehti of Djawati

Ankhmahor of Aabtu

Harkhuf, his son

Sebek-nakht of Mennofer

OTHER EGYPTIANS

Paheri—Mayor of Nekheb

Het-uy—Mayor of Pi-Hathor

Baba Abana—Guardian of Vessels

Kay Abana, his son

THE SETIU

Awoserra Aqenenra Apepa—the King

Nehmen—his Chief Steward

Yku-didi—his Chief Herald

Khian—a Herald

Itju—his Chief Scribe

Pezedkhu—a General

Dudu—a General

INTRODUCTION

AT THE END
of the Twelfth Dynasty the Egyptians found themselves in the hands of a foreign power they knew as the Setiu, the Rulers of Uplands. We know them as the Hyksos. They had initially wandered into Egypt from the less fertile eastern country of Rethennu in order to pasture their flocks and herds in the lush Delta region. Once settled, their traders followed them, eager to profit from Egypt’s wealth. Skilled in matters of administration, they gradually removed all authority from a weak Egyptian government until control was entirely in their hands. It was a mostly bloodless invasion achieved through the subtle means of political and economic coercion. Their kings cared little for the country as a whole, plundering it for their own ends and aping the customs of their Egyptian predecessors in a largely successful effort to lull the people into submission. By the middle of the Seventeenth Dynasty they had been securely entrenched in Egypt for just over two hundred years, ruling from their northern capital, the House of the Leg, Het-Uart.