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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Tanus name his bow Lanata?
(a) It was Lostris's baby name.
(b) It was his first girlfriend's name.
(c) It was his mother's name.
(d) It was the Queen Mother's name.

2. Pharaoh's palace is in the southernmost part of Egypt. What reason do some people give for this?
(a) To be closer to the mouth of the Nile, a holy place.
(b) To be as far as possible from the strife in the north.
(c) To be farther away from Lord Intef.
(d) To be able to extend his borders south.

3. What invention of Taita's is Lostris thrilled with at her new home?
(a) An interior water garden.
(b) More vivid paints for the interior murals.
(c) A thatched barrazza.
(d) A water-stool.

4. Why did Taita help Tanus enter the army?
(a) Tanus did not want to continue his schooling.
(b) Tanus had only wanted to join the army.
(c) Taita could not afford to pay for his education.
(d) No rich man would sponsor his education.

5. What does Taita conspicuously display over the harem wall the morning after Lostris's wedding?
(a) Lostris's blood-stained wedding skirt.
(b) Pharaoh's seal symbolizing his approval of Lostris.
(c) The flowers that had been in Lostris's hair the day before.
(d) A blood-stained sheet from Lostris's bed.

Short Answer Questions

1. What surgery must Taita perform on Rasfer after the pageant?

2. Why does Taita help a shrieking woman at the riverside?

3. What is the name of Taita's friend who gives him information and supplies prior to the battle with the Shrikes?

4. Why was Taita made a eunuch when he was sixteen?

5. To what army regiment does Tanus belong?

Short Essay Questions

1. What power does Pharaoh's seal have? Why must a man acknowledge it, as Tanus does when Neter comes to arrest him? Is this seal a sign of power or of weakness?

2. How does Taita foreshadow the coming marriage for Lostris? How does this affect the element of surprise within the novel?

3. After Taita is whipped because he dares to petition for Lostris and Tanus's marriage, Lostris cares for his wounds. How does she reveal that she is still a child? What hope does the reader have that her marriage to Tanus will occur?

4. Describe the murder of Tod onstage during the festival pageant. What does Taita reveal about humanity, as he perceives it, during this scene?

5. What account does Taita give of the girl he loved when he was sixteen? How does his telling of it, half his lifetime later, show the changes he has gone through? Is he more cynical or more understanding of what happened?

6. What is the significance of the double crown of Egypt? Why might Taita mention it so often when he describes Pharaoh?

7. What condition is Tanus in when Taita finally finds him? How is this condition similar to Lostris's desire for death on her wedding night? How is Taita able to save Tanus in much the same way he saved Lostris?

8. What danger does Taita find in his basket of pomegranates and mangoes? What does this danger say about his place in society?

9. When the people cry out to Pharaoh to give Tanus mercy from the death sentence, what does Pharaoh do? What leads to this decision? Does it show Pharaoh's mercy or his weakness?

10. Why does Lostris want to die on her wedding night? Does Taita respond properly to her demands for poison? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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