The Life of a Slave Girl

As if this house could be dirty, the slaves keep the whole place sparkling. But there is no stopping her once she has begun so I had to help. 
The water jars were quite low so I volunteered to take them to the fountain house to refill them. Grandmother refused and said the slaves could do it. But I have kept them all busy so the jars still remained unfilled
Grandmother ordered for all the cooking pots to be scrubbed as well, and for the floor to be swept. Then we went to father's study. Grandmother says we are lucky to live in such a big house that father gets his own room for his scrolls and records, some families just have to make do with a chest in the hallway and the father takes out a small table when he needs to write something. Father's study has several chests but he also has a shelf for his really important records, the ones that say how much produce our land created, if his tenants have paid their rent, if anything needs fixing and how much it will cost. Father owns a lot of land outside the city and people live on it, they farm it for him and pay him rent.  He told grandmother his office did not need cleaning, the floor only needed a little sweep and he would get a slave to do it later. Then he made me stand in front of him and recite the alphabet, and asked me a few sums to test my numbers, and I got them all right! He says a woman needs to know these things so she can run a house properly, there is no point in a man having an illiterate wife as she will not know if the slaves are cheating her out of the market money, or are sneaking apples out of the storeroom. Then he gave me this scroll and said I need to practice my letters more as he had read one of my song compositions the other day and my hand was a bit wobbly
Charis took off her shawl and gave it to another slave while grandmother pulled her over to the table in the shade. She sat with grandmother on one side and father on the other, and I ended up sitting on the other side of grandmother....