It was to be a long journey and his donkey was rather old and weak from carrying all those building materials, so he went to see the second-hand camel dealer at the bazaar.
When he got to the bazaar, he noticed that Pahmi, his childhood sweetheart, was sat on the reception desk; he walked up to her.
“Pahmi,” he said, “is that really you? It's me Kharmoun, we were good friends at school.”
“Yes, I remember. How are you, are you still working for your dad?”
“No, unfortunately there was an accident, he was killed. Listen, I need to buy a second-hand camel, who’s the most reasonable salesman?”
“We only have one these days, what with all the cut backs and so on, go see Aziz, that’s him over there.” Pahmi said, pointing to a man with an orange head scarf.
“Thank you, Pahmi, see you later.”
“I doubt it, I don't go out with poor people.”
Kharmoun approached Aziz.
“Excuse me, are you Aziz? I'm told you can do me an excellent deal; I want to trade in my donkey for a camel.”
“Hmm, let me see, I have a low mileage demonstrator on special offer at the moment, lovely condition and only 4,000 miles on the clock.”
“When was it last serviced?” Kharmoun asked.
“Well, I tell you what, I'll give it a service before you take it away, should only take a few minutes.”
Kharmoun liked the look of the camel, it seemed very friendly and seemed to smile at him, he kicked its' legs to make sure they didn't wobble. He agreed a deal using his donkey as the deposit with the balance payable over 36 months.
Aziz gave the camel a quick check over and Kharmoun was on his way.
Some weeks later, as his camel was running low on water, he came across a sign pointing the way to Luxor. He remembered seeing an ad in the Cairo Gazette for staff at a new temple being built there.
"Ah ha!" thought Kharmoun. "I wonder if they've finished building that temple yet."
And so, intent on finding work at the construction site, he turned his camel in the direction of Luxor.
Aside:
At this point I should explain how the class system worked in ancient Egypt.
At the top of the heap was the pharaoh. He was rich and powerful; his main pastime was ordering everyone around as though they were slaves. The people thought he was a god, and if they didn't do as the pharaoh commanded a terrible demon would visit them in the night to kill them. In fact, he sent round his mother-in-law complete with hair curlers and mud pack; enough to finish off the toughest adversary. Those that survived the experience told of a demon with snakes growing from her head.
Next came the clergy. The priest was almost as powerful as the pharaoh as everyone thought the demon was his mother-in-law.
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