5 THE DREAMS OF DEAD PEOPLE

4 THE DREAMS OF DEAD PEOPLE

WOULD YOU CHANGE THE RULES? If you were one of the enslaved people that built Akhenaten's city, what would you do? You would probably want to stop working so hard in the middle of the desert and go back to your parents. But that was against the rules. Those who were enslaved couldn't go anywhere without permission, and nobody would give you permission to go home. You could break the rules, but that was very dangerous. If you tried to run away, one of the pharaoh's soldiers might catch you, beat you, and perhaps even kill you. Would you still try?

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If you were one of the pharaoh's soldiers, and you saw someone who was enslaved trying to run away, what would you do? Maybe you felt sorry for those who were enslaved and wished you could let them go home. You knew it was against the rules, but you weren't comfortable with this particular rule. You might think, "I could pretend I was asleep and didn't see anything." But falling asleep on guard duty was also against the rules. You were frightened that if an important bureaucrat caught you, they would write to the pharaoh, telling him you fell asleep on your watch or deliberately allowed an enslaved person to escape. Then the pharaoh might be so angry he would in turn enslave you, or perhaps even kill you. On the other hand, if you followed the rules and caught the enslaved person, maybe the pharaoh would promote you to captain and raise your salary! Would you still let an enslaved person go? If you were an important bureaucrat and you saw a soldier allowing someone who was enslaved to escape, what would you do? Maybe you thought the soldier was kind, and you hoped he wouldn't be punished. But you knew it was against the rules, and you also knew it was your job to report rule-breaking. Again, you might think, "I could pretend I didn't notice or forgot." But the rules said it was a bureaucrat's job to notice everything and write to the pharaoh about it. Also, the pharaoh had ordered you to complete the new city as quickly as possible. If enslaved people ran away, the building would never be complete. The pharaoh would be furious, and that would probably be the end of your career.

Besides, you knew that if people just stopped obeying the rules they didn't like, there was no knowing where that might end. A soldier who decides to ignore a rule and allow someone who is enslaved to escape might ignore a different rule next time; maybe they abandon the army in the middle of a battle or even sell state secrets to the enemy. So would you report the soldier to the pharaoh? And what if you were the pharaoh—would you change the rules? Maybe you thought slavery was bad and didn't like punishing disobedient people. But you were worried about what could happen if you suddenly changed the rules. It took hundreds of years to create the kingdom of Egypt and make a million people cooperate effectively. There was a reason for every rule. Plus, if you suddenly changed the rules, people might not know what to do. They might refuse to pay their taxes. Soldiers might stop obeying orders. Nobody would build cities, dikes, and canals. The result could be total chaos! The whole kingdom could collapse! Thousands of people might die in wars, in floods, in famines. And all because you thought you were so smart. Would you still change the rules? Even when rules are very unfair, it isn't always easy to change them. THE WAY THE COOKIE CRUMBLES It took a lot of people following a lot of rules to build kingdoms like ancient Egypt. It wasn't just enslaved people, soldiers, and bureaucrats who had to obey the rules—everybody followed rules like work hard, have lots of children, pay your taxes… and do whatever the king tells you. When people followed the rules, there was order in the kingdom. When people disobeyed the rules, there was chaos. It wasn't easy to make everybody follow the rules, especially because many of them were unfair. The rules made some people

rich, while making other people poor. The rules said that rich boys went to school, rich girls stayed at home, and poor boys and girls toiled in the fields. These differences between people had nothing to do with any law of nature. It wasn't gravity that enslaved people or that banned girls from going to school. It was humans who invented these rules. Suppose Pepy the schoolboy met a farm girl called Maat on the street. "Where are you going?" asked Maat. "I am going to school to learn to read and write," answered Pepy. "I'm going to be an important bureaucrat when I grow up!" "Wow!" cried Maat. "I want to go to school and become an important bureaucrat too. But I have to go to the field instead—we're picking onions today. Why can't we swap places? I could go to school, and you could pick onions." "Sorry," said Pepy, "but it's what the rules say. My father's a rich bureaucrat, so I get to go to school. Your parents are poor farmers, so you pick onions. And even if your parents were rich—you're a girl! You can't go to school! I have three sisters, and none of them goes to school." "That's so unfair!" cried Maat. "Who invented these rules? Nobody ever asked me if I agreed to them." "Don't blame me," said Pepy. "I'm only ten. I didn't make the rules either. It was like this when I got here. Like grown-ups always say: that's the way the cookie crumbles." "Pffff." Maat snapped. "That cookie sure favored you!"