My Daily Life in
Ancient Egypt
Written by a creative young writer,
Kathryn,
a sixth-grader from Glen Burnie, Maryland, USA.
Hello! My name is Cleocatherine.
My name comes from our queen, Cleopatra. I am eleven (11) years old. I
have jet black hair and warm brown eyes. My skin is very tan. I work as
a baker in my parents home. I have two (2) sisters who help with the
shop. Atina, who is eight, and Clecatrin, who is twelve.
We all help to make
enough money to keep us going. Our biggest customer is Pharaoh! He loves
my recipe for tarts, so every day, I make some for him. I have to work
very hard sometimes.
In the morning, I get up,
get dressed, and go downstairs. I start a fire in our oven and put the
bread dough in it that I made last night. Once that's done, I go down to
the river to take my daily bath. When I am finished, I go back up to the
house. I take the bread out of the oven and let it cool. My parents have
gotten up while I was at the river, and had taken their baths with the
huge basin used for washing our clothes and ourselves. My parents were
already at the wheat fields, harvesting our wheat to be ground into
flour. My little sister, Atina, will do most of the grinding.
When my parents were
back, and when we were finished eating breakfast, it was time for me to
start cooking for Pharaoh's supper. I get out the recipe for fig tarts.
Figs are one of Pharaoh's favorite foods! I get a basket out and find
out how many figs I will need for the tarts. Then I go to the
marketplace to get the figs. Figs are very expensive, but Pharaoh pays
good money for the tarts. When I get back home, I get out all the other
things I'll need. My sister is still grinding the wheat into flour, and
the pounding of her mortar makes a steady rhythm for me to keep time to.
Soon, the batter was ready, and I carefully pour it into the molds.
Then, I put them in the oven.
While it was cooking, I
ate the leftovers from breakfast for lunch. Once I finished eating, I
switch places with Clecatrin, so that she can help Atina grind wheat. My
job at this time is to tend to the shop. This includes arranging baked
goods on shelves, taking orders from customers, and helping to keep the
shop clean.
Just as I started to
arrange pastries on a linen cloth, Millina walked through the door.
Millina is my best friend. Her family's job is jewelry making. We both
have a lot of friendship jewelry that Millina makes because of this. My
favorite is an armband made out of turquoise that Millina made a twin
to, for herself. She says turquoise looks really good on me. The reason
she was here was because she needed bread, tarts, biscuits, and a whole
bunch of other things for her parents' dinner party. Her family is very
well known, so they have a lot of dinner parties, one every night.
After we got Millina's
orders all settled, (including how much we should make, how much it
would cost, and all the other odds and ends tied up), Pharoah's tarts
were done. The sun was high in the sky, yet it was past noon. I had just
enough time to take the tarts to Pharaoh's. When I got to the gates, I
told the guards that I had made some extra tarts for them. They knew I
always had something good for them, and they thanked me as I passed
through the gates.
After I got home, I
started making bread for tomorrow's breakfast. My parents were already
asleep when I got home because it was past sunset. I got out a roll to
eat because I was hungry. Soon, I undressed and went up to the roof to
get some sleep.
While I lay there, gazing
into the bright, twinkling sky, I thought about everything that I had
done today. I knew tomorrow would be just like it. Once I knew every day
would be almost exactly alike, I relaxed and closed my eyes. The next
minute, I was asleep.
The End
