Drawn upon the famil- iar lines of Sudanese and Nubians represented in early Egyptian drama, this Nubian buffoon’s fears and mispronunciations made him a sympa- thetic, unthreatening, and infantile character for Egyptians, a comfortable gatekeeper of domestic life during a time of great political upheaval.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 331