During the reign of Pharaoh Sneferu, one of the great rulers of Egypt’s Pyramid Age, the king found himself overwhelmed by boredom and exhaustion. Despite his wealth, power, and magnificent palace, nothing around him brought joy or relief. He wandered through the royal halls without purpose until he finally summoned Zazamankh, the high priest and master magician known for his wisdom and command of sacred knowledge. Seeking guidance, the pharaoh asked how he might ease his restless spirit.
Zazamankh offered a gentle and thoughtful solution. He advised the king to take a leisurely boat ride on the palace lake, surrounded by beauty and calm. At his suggestion, the most beautiful young women of the royal court were chosen to row the boat, their graceful movements and the peaceful scenery meant to soothe the ruler’s mind. Sneferu agreed, and soon a richly decorated boat glided across the lake, carried by twenty young women dressed in delicate netted garments. As the oars moved in rhythm and the water shimmered under the sun, the pharaoh felt his heavy mood begin to lift.
The calm journey was suddenly interrupted. One of the girls, who guided the rhythm of the rowing, stopped abruptly. She reached for her braided hair and realized that her precious green gemstone pendant shaped like a fish had fallen into the deep water. Because she stopped rowing, the entire boat came to a halt. When Pharaoh Sneferu asked why the journey had stopped, the girl explained what had happened. The king, confident and generous, told her not to worry and promised to replace it with a jewel far more valuable. Yet the girl refused. She wanted only her own pendant, the one that belonged to her, and would accept no substitute.
Faced with this unexpected problem, the pharaoh once again turned to Zazamankh. The priest stepped calmly to the edge of the boat and began to recite powerful magical words. What followed stunned everyone present. The waters of the lake split apart, revealing the dry lakebed below. Zazamankh lifted one half of the lake’s water and placed it over the other, as if folding the water itself. The lost gemstone lay clearly visible on a shard of pottery at the bottom. Zazamankh descended, retrieved the pendant, and returned it to the young woman. With another spoken spell, the water flowed back into place, and the lake became perfectly calm again, as though nothing extraordinary had occurred.
Pharaoh Sneferu was filled with awe and satisfaction. The boredom that had weighed on him vanished, replaced by wonder and delight. He rewarded Zazamankh with great honors and held a lavish feast in his name. The story lived on through generations as proof of the immense power attributed to Egyptian magicians, whose spoken words were believed to shape reality itself. Beyond the spectacle, the tale also highlights the deep emotional value of personal belongings, showing that even in the presence of kings, individual attachment and meaning were respected. Above all, it reflects a world where magic, authority, and balance were inseparable, and where wisdom could restore harmony even to the heart of a pharaoh.