The Antiportional Pussycat Written March 31, 2025 Main source: this research paper   I was fortunate to grow up in a home next to Egypt's royal palace.  I suppose you could call my family wealthy. From time to time, I would receive an expensive present, and for safekeeping I'd put it into my kitty.  This was a box with a carving of a cat on the lid.  To unlock it, I'd insert a key into a hole in the animal's back. “You know,” my father told me one day, “your little figurine doesn't really depict a kitty-kat.” “It doesn't?  It looks like one to me.” “It's actually a representation of a larger animal, a lioness.” “You mean a mama lion?” “Namely a goddess called Mehit.  She's the King's Chief Librarian and Guardian of the Royal Archives.” “No kidding!” “There's a much more impressive sculpture of her on the plateau of Giza.  I could take the family to see it.” And he did!  The giant lioness appeared to be protecting the Pyramids behind her.   However, my father confessed that he and his fellow sculptors had been given an assignment they were reluctant to carry out. “Pharaoh thinks very highly of himself, as you know, and it seems that he would prefer to see his own face guarding this holy site.” “His face?  He doesn't have big ears and a muzzle.” “We know.  We'll need to cut away those parts.  Here's a model of the surgery we'll have to do.” “Ugh.  What a monstrous chimera that will be.” “And with a smaller head, the proportions will be very unnatural.  But you know Khafre.  He's Pharaoh for life, he knows everything, and no one dares to overrule him — even when his orders will prove destructive to our national heritage.” “Does he have the authority to defile the face of the ancient goddess?” “I suppose he does.  He is the Pharaoh, and he doesn't have to answer to anyone.  If we sculptors refuse to cooperate, he's threated to arrest us and deport us to a prison in Sumeria.” “Maybe long after I've grown up, the sands of the desert will cover the too-large body and leave only the portrait head in view.” “We can only hope.”