The Adventures of Auf: A Cat of Ancient Egypt

By Dotty Schenk

In the year 51BCE, follow a loveable little black cat and his adventures. His journey takes him from his home in Thebes and the Valley of the Kings to the Roman port of Ostia. Join him as he sails the Mediterranean Sea to the Isle of Rhodes. Then to the great city of Alexandria and the world famous library. He finally returns to Thebes and home. Be there as he witnesses history at the end of the Roman Republic. The event that changed the world forever. This book is for anyone who has a special place in their heart for cats. A portion of each sale will be donated to the Cat Tales cat rescue organization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781626755444

Book preview

story

PART I

A CAT’S LIFE IN THEBES

I think I shall try one of these pigeons, thought Auf to himself. They look quite tasty and I could use a snack. A row of plucked pigeons hung from a roof beam in a vender’s stall. Auf climbed a nearby post, the wood was very rough and it stuck in his tiny claws as he climbed. At the top in a flash, he pulled a pigeon off its hook and carried it in his mouth as he raced down the post.

Stop! Thief! cried the shopkeeper. It’s just a cat, said his wife. You know we have to feed the cats to keep the grain cellars free of mice as they are now. The shopkeeper told his wife it happened so fast that he did not realize it was a cat.

Auf, a little black and white cat, carried his pigeon to a shady spot behind a vendor’s stall. He chewed all the meat off the bones of the skinny bird, and then crunched some of the bones noisily into small pieces. When he finished eating, he licked his paws and decided it was time for a nice nap in the shade of the olive tree behind the stall.

It is the year 51 BCE, before the common era, 2500 years ago. Cats usually earned their keep by killing and eating the mice and snakes that liked to hide in the pantries and storehouses. However, this summer was different. The Nile River did not flood and no grain could be planted or harvested. It was necessary for the river to flood as it brought fertile soil to the fields. Since there was no flooding this year, the granaries are empty and the cats are hungry. There were not many mice as they had no grain to eat. Even the snakes were not in the granaries.

The countryside around the city of Thebes is drying up and dying. Barley and wheat, from last season, have been bleached white from the heat. Without the flood waters to water the fields, vegetables had not been planted in the fields and home gardens. Fig trees haven’t blossomed. Last year’s melon vines lie shrunken and scorched in the sun like pieces of old, abandoned twine. The only things worth picking are the pomegranates, which don’t need much water to grow in the hot, dry climates like Egypt. Even these bright red fruits are tiny and shriveled.

The city of Thebes was very important, as it was the home of many royal families. It would eventually become the capital of the Egyptian empire. In 51 BCE Cleopatra was the reigning monarch. She was the daughter of the Pharaoh Ptolemy Auletes. He died when she was eighteen years old and he left her his kingdom. The year 51 BCE was the first year of her reign. This city was a place where people came to visit the temples that were along the Nile. A very important temple was the Temple of Karnak, dedicated to the god Amon.

After a long nap, Auf woke up stretched and headed for home. He did not leave his comfortable home very often. Auf lived with his human family, which consisted of Sethe, a wealthy merchant, his wife Inihue, and their two children a son, Bak and a daughter, Abana. Sethe was a grain and wine merchant and he owned a large warehouse on the docks. The family lived in a large home on a hill with a beautiful garden surrounding the house. Auf loved to lie in the garden at sunset and let the cool evening breezes pass over his silky black and white fur. He also loved to prowl around the garden to look for a juicy mouse, sometimes Bak and Abana would tag along with him. He especially enjoyed sitting by the lotus pool. Creamy white lotus flowers with long pointed petals floated on the pool’s surface. The lotus flowers scented the air with a sweetness that was very pleasant. Small pomegranate trees circled the pool. It was a wonderful place for the whole family to relax after a day working in the sun and heat.

The koi fish in the pool fascinated Auf. Now as he sat by the pool, he remembered a scary time when he was a kitten. He tried to catch a fish and fell into the pool. Cats do not like water so this was very frightening to him. He remembered Abana calling to Bak to come quickly.