Nine points about the ancient Egyptian «Tale of the eloquent peasant»

The ancient Egyptian «Tale of the Eloquent Peasant» is an essentially comic composition. Its protagonist represents a socio-psychological type of small trader, rather exotic for Middle Kingdom Egypt. The «Tale» parodies the latter's bent for pressing, ingenious, verbose persuasion, characteristic of the Egyptian sellers up to the present. Since the author of the «Tale» was a Theban, he transferred the locale of its comic action to the Herakleopolitan kingdom, which had once been hostile to Thebes. This narrative is the oldest tale of a trader in the world.