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The Egyptian Princess: A Story of Hagar

By KD Holmberg

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Historical Note from the Author
Approximately four thousand years ago, a young Egyptian woman named Hagar found herself embroiled in a fateful, contentious love triangle that changed the course of history. The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar produced two sons— Ishmael and Isaac. Two nations—the Hebrews and the Arabs. And three major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Even the roots of the modern Arab-Israeli conflict are bound up in this event.
The Bible introduces Hagar in Genesis 16 as the Egyptian handmaid Sarah used as a surrogate to produce an heir for Abraham. Hebrew and Islamic tradition take her story deeper and claim she was the daughter of the king of Egypt, making her a princess before she became a servant.
Abraham moved his tribe from Canaan to Egypt to escape a great drought. Sarah, being the most beautiful woman since Eve, was a perfect prize for Pharaoh. She soon ended up in his harem, which resulted in a web of intrigue and conspiracies. This is where she probably met Hagar and when the twist-and- turn-filled story of their relationship may have begun.
Life for a princess in ancient Egypt saw little change through the dynasties. Royal children—boys and girls— received equal educations that included mathematics, reading, writing, the arts, and even politics. As the daughter of a king, the handmaid in Genesis 16 would have grown up in an opulent court, full of privilege and power, becoming an accomplished, refined, and cultured woman.
As a closing note, Abraham and Sarah were initially named Abram and Sarai until God changed their names in Genesis 17:5. Since my timeline is before this, I refer to them as Sarai and Abram.

Chapter One

Henen-nesut, Egypt 10th Dynasty
2085 BC


THE SUN SEARED MY FACE, BUT I couldn’t steer my eyes away. I gripped the silver amulet bound to my wrist and tried to count the boats as they raced toward the royal quay. Four score, perhaps five. Faster vessels overtook slower ones—some still far off and blurred from my vantage point on the palace balcony. My chest tightened. Not one appeared to yield. Only the expert maneuvers of those piloting the boats averted collisions.
I quickly lost count and began again.
A familiar hymn rang out from the array of river-going vessels that trailed my father’s splendid royal barge, glorious in a deep glow of gold and sunlight. Citizens from all over Egypt filled flat-bottomed ferries, cargo ships, and fishing boats from bow to stern, singing a song of praise to our god, Heryshaf. All sails were set and the strong breeze abated the need for the powerful arms of any oarsmen. It pushed the vessels and voices easily against the current of the Nile.
A whiff of longing rose in me. I crossed my arms and pressed my lips together. Why were the gods so cruel? My hot- blooded twin brother, Merikare, commanded the royal boat with its white sails unfurled. He had sailed north and explored where the Nile branched out like fingers into the streams of the delta.
It should have been me. I emerged first from the womb and still had the scarlet thread the midwife tied around my wrist to prove it. But I was cursed from my first mouthful of air for being female.
The gods had favored Merikare.
The gods and Pharaoh.
One word of blessing from the king was all I needed to receive the respect and authority my brother obtained by virtue of his manhood. But Father refused. Even though I worked tirelessly for his approval and yearned for nothing more than to be valued by him.
“Give me your verdict, Princess Hagar. Do you believe the rumors to be true?” My father’s high vizier, Rensi, leaned close, his warm breath pungent with beer.
For a moment, I had forgotten him.
“You think the Sumerian woman Merikare found for Pharaoh’s harem could be the goddess Isis incarnated?” I bristled. “Isis is Egyptian. She would never come to us in foreign skin.”
“Your people believe it.” He wiped the sweat from his bald head. “They follow the royal boat hoping to get a glimpse of her.”
“And how unwise of Merikare to allow them to do so.” My voice was as sour as my stomach. “His parade could have been mistaken for an invasion. Imagine the alarm caused if you had not come ahead of them. He will be king one day and should not act like a fool.”
Rensi kept his scrutiny on the Nile. “Careful, Princess. The wind does not keep secrets. Our tombs are full of those who have criticized kings.”
“But you know he will not be a good king. He is too controlling and never allows anything to get in the way of his own pleasure. You know it. I know it. I have known it all my life.” I turned to him. “Mother said you argued for Merikare and me to ascend the throne together.”
He raised his hand. “Your brother is strong and determined. If he can learn to control himself, there is no reason he will not become a great pharaoh. He pushes the boundaries, but I have seen him stand up quite forcefully for the things and people he cares about.” Rensi paused and faced me. “And say no more about sharing the throne. It will not be done. The law is clear and gives royal sons precedence over their sisters. The throne will be your brother’s someday, and he is holding on to it with both hands.” He sipped his beer. “If only you’d been born a boy.”
“Then I would be the next pharaoh.”
“And if you were, would you allow Merikare to rule with you?”
His question stole my breath. “I would never share the throne.”
“Then there is no purpose stirring it up.”
A shudder went through me. Rensi was right. I would never sit on the throne, even though I had dreamt of it my entire life. There was no point in desiring it any longer. “I am sorry, Rensi. My mouth should not be set against my brother.” The sun glittered on the royal barge and caught my attention again. “You have seen the woman. What is your verdict, High Vizier?”
He laughed briefly. “You want me to determine if she is a goddess? That is work for the high priest, not for the simple overseer of your father’s business. But I admit, I have beheld her and have never seen the female form more wonderfully fashioned. There is nothing but light and beauty in Sarai.”
I frowned and turned so he couldn’t see my face. It didn’t bother me that he thought she was beautiful. It bothered me that I had not been able to rest since I received his missive about the new woman the crown prince found for Pharaoh’s harem. Sarai. My heart pounded. That name had converted my deep and dreamless sleep into restlessness and distinct visions.
A sigh escaped me. “I have never had trouble sleeping, Rensi, not even as a child. And now I become anxious when dusk falls.” My chin dipped. “I know that makes me sound like a child afraid of the dark. But I have become quite undone by black dreams and abrupt awakenings.”
“That is why I’m here.” He wiped his bald head again. “How does the high priest explain your visions? There is no one in the world more skilled in hidden things than him.”
“Meti said the gods have chosen to linger with me, although he is unable to unravel the meaning. He bound this amulet to my wrist to pass the power of the vision to me, and for my protection.” I touched the inlaid red jasper stones, symbols of Isis’s shielding blood on the silver cuff fettered to my wrist. My hand appeared slightly swollen and blue from the weighty shackle’s tightness, but I would endure the temporary discomfort. “The apparition that visits me is getting stronger, Rensi, the closer Sarai gets.” I glared at the royal boat. “And we are no closer to the message it is trying to convey. They seem somehow ...”
“Connected?”
“Yes. Connected.” I felt the cuff again. I didn’t know why, but for a moment, the potent magical object not only irritated my skin but chafed my soul as well. Rubbed it raw. I slid the cuff up and down my arm for a looser fit and thought perhaps I would prefer to be free of it after all.
“Dreams are where the gods speak to us. Where they show us what they are about to do. Think of it as a gift, Hagar.”
A gift?
“Even when I bolt upright with eyes wide open and scream things that no one understands? Or walk to my garden in my sleep, and my servant girls have to lead me back to bed? Let me tell you if it is the gods, their meddling is pure misery.” My voice sounded petulant and I didn’t like being petulant. I took a deep breath.
Rensi regarded me with that ruminating concentration of his. “It would be foolish to ignore—”
Zadah, one of my servant girls, cried out in high glee. “Isn’t it a sight to behold?” She approached with a gold pitcher filled with beer and nodded toward the Nile, her lips plumped, her nose pert.
The high vizier’s eyes flashed fury and his lips twisted with displeasure.
Zadah looked up at him, and her face curdled like spoiled milk. She fell on the floor at my feet, the pitcher spilling its contents on my sandals. “Forgive your irksome slave for speaking before she had permission.”
I fixed my gaze on Rensi’s shiny bald head, amazed as it grew as red as his face.
He opened his mouth to chastise Zadah, but I intervened. “It is futile to punish this one, Rensi. She abandons proper speech when her heart is churned. She cannot be silent.” I let out a sigh. “Rise, Zadah, and mind your tongue. I’d rather the high vizier not have it removed.” I slipped out of my wet sandals and stepped to the side of the puddle. “I’ll need dry shoes, but bring Rensi refreshment first.”
Zadah kissed my feet several times and backed away stiffly, repeatedly bowing, emphasizing the nakedness of her small frame. Like all of our servants, she only wore a beaded collar and a short black wig. Her bright brown eyes belied the deep melancholy brewing beneath them.
Rensi took me by the hand. My fingers tensed and then relaxed in his grip. “I should hear this vision for myself and draw my own conclusions,” he said. “But out of the sun. This cloudless sky and prickly heat are too much for me.”
I hesitated an instant and stared off at the shimmering Nile. My eyes swept back and forth over the royal barge and rested on the outline of my brother on the bow. My heart stopped in my chest. “The gods so like to vex me,” I muttered and turned to follow Rensi.
He led me to a gilded couch in the adjoining room, the stone floor cool under my bare feet. We sat silent for a moment. From outside came the sounds of a busy palace preparing for the great banquet that evening. Voices murmured in excitement, footsteps hurried, and someone strummed a lute. Moisture trickled between my shoulder blades even though fan-bearers flanked us, waving huge ostrich feathers. The air they roused offered little deliverance.
Zadah approached carefully and presented fresh cups of beer. Rensi took one, but I waved her away. He sipped without a sound.
I wiped wet palms on my linen dress and thought about why I had requested this audience. True and deep, from the bottom of my heart, I wanted the high vizier to make the gods leave me alone. He would know what actions to take to put everything right again. I shook my head slowly. Not even the high priest had been able to do that. The gods would do with me as they pleased.
The pause helped me gather my wits.
Rensi furrowed his brow. “I never expected to pass this life in peace, Hagar. Do not seek to spare me now.”
I pushed aside beaded plaits from my wig and met his gaze. “The truth is, I believe I am going mad. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”
He nodded in that get-on-with-it sort of way and settled into his seat.
I stiffened slightly. Did I have another choice? No. He would have confidence in me, or he would confirm that sickness had taken hold of my mind. “I am certain a god speaks to me, spins the fate of Egypt, and then departs to his own place. He leaves me awake and wallowing in confusion. I fret for hours, convince myself it meant nothing, and then see it all again the moment I close my eyes to rest.”
“I know you’ve taken this black dream before our gods. What did they say?”
I pondered a moment how truthful I should be with Pharaoh’s most trusted advisor as he peered into my face for a hint of something I held back. Oho! He knew me so well and would seize even subtle traces of anything I left out. But it was the fondness tucked inside my heart for Rensi that gave me a moment of clarity. I would never lie to him about anything. His brilliant mind and honest spirit kept this short man, with a moon-shaped face and belly to match, at the right hand of a king. And I trusted him too. If a perfect answer existed, Rensi would know it.
“The gods are silent. As usual.” There. I said it.
He toyed with the thick gold collar that lay on his bare,clean-shaven chest. “The gods are always silent to me. Not once have they given me a tale to tell before it happens.”
My mouth fell open.
Zadah returned with dry sandals and a platter filled with dates, cheese, and flatbread. Rensi took a handful of dates and a piece of bread. I waved her away again.
“Well, actually, there was one the gods gave me,” Rensi said. “When your royal father lifted me to the position of high vizier, for near a season, I dreamt I was falling. I thought it certain that soon I would be cast down.”
He popped a date in his mouth, spit the stone into his hand, and gave me a faint smile. “One day, I tripped on a floor-length linen robe my wife insisted I wear. ‘You need to dress to our new station,’ Tameri claimed. I tumbled down the stairs of the temple and landed at the feet of the king of Egypt.” His eyes twinkled. “The king said to me, ‘You are already the highest official in the palace, Rensi. I cannot advance your rank further. No matter how well you express your devotion to me.’” Rensi slapped his belly and laughed out loud.
I loved the sound of it and laughed along with him.
“That dream never came upon me again,” he said.
Rensi ate another date, spit out the stone, then focused his attention on me. “Shift the load onto my back, Hagar. I will have no peace until you have peace. Sages have foretold the future from dreams since the beginning of time. Often, what came from their mouths occurred. Tell me about your vision from the beginning, and I will determine what to do.”

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