The themes of care and provisioning, giving and begging, and of acquiring people, animals and goods are most prominent in First Intermediate Period and (early) Middle Kingdom autobiographies. The topoi of giving and acquisition may reflect the existence of networks of exchange and trade in a patronage society made up of groups of followers tied to local patrons by reciprocal bonds of security for fidelity. The autobiographical inscription of Hornakht from Dendera (Cairo JE 46048) is translated as an example of these relationships in action. The terms for «little man: commoner» (nDs) and «wretch» (Hwrw) designate the lower ranks of society, seen from a neutral or a disrespectful point of view. The theme of care-and-provisioning disappears after the reign of Amenemhet II, due to a general change in the self-representation of the elite, but it reappears at Edfu, Hierakonpolis and Elkab for a short period during the Theban state of the Sixteenth Dynasty.