Published: Spiegelberg, _Demotische Papyrus_ (Cairo Catalogue).
Translated: Petrie, _Egyptian Tales_, ii, 89.
This story is written in demotic on a papyrus found at Thebes in the
grave of a Coptic monk. It was among other papyri, written in
hieratic and in Coptic, in a wooden chest, and is now in the Cairo
Museum. Demotic is the script in which the latest form of the
Egyptian language was written; the earliest example remaining is of
the reign of Shabaka of the xxvth dynasty, about 715 B.C.; it
continued in use till Roman times, when it was superseded by the
Greek alphabet.
The papyrus is of the Ptolemaic period, but the exact date is
uncertain, as the colophon at the end is partly illegible. The year
15 only is visible, which, however, is not sufficient guide to the
reign of the king under whom it was written.
The legend given in this book is part only of a much longer tale; it
is in fact a story within a story, told by the _ka_ of Ahura to the
high priest of Memphis, when he ventured into the tomb of
Nefer-ka-ptah in search of the Book of Thoth.
The Book of Thoth is said to contain only two pages; it must
therefore have been a roll of papyrus written on both sides.