Produced by Eric Eldred
EGYPTIAN TALES
TRANSLATED FROM THE PAPYRI
SECOND SERIES
XVIIIth TO XIXth DYNASTY
EDITED BY
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE,
HON. D.C.L., LL.D.
EDWARDS PROFESSOR OF EGYPTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
ILLUSTRATED BY TRISTRAM ELLIS
SECOND EDITION
_First Published . . . September 1895
Second Edition . . . February 1913_
PREFACE
As the scope of the first series of these Tales seems to have been
somewhat overlooked, a few words of introduction may not be out of place
before this second volume.
It seems that any simple form of fiction is supposed to be a "fairy
tale:" which implies that it has to do with an impossible world of
imaginary beings. Now the Egyptian Tales are exactly the opposite of
this, they relate the doings and the thoughts of men and women who are
human--sometimes "very human," as Mr. Balfour said. Whatever there is of
supernatural elements is a very part of the beliefs and motives of the
people whose lives are here pictured. But most of what is here might
happen in some corner of our own country to-day, where ancient beliefs
may have a home. So far, then, from being fairy tales there is not a
single being that could be termed a fairy in the whole of them.
Another notion that seems to be about is that the only possible object
of reading any form of fiction is for pure amusement, to fill an idle
hour and be forgotten and if these tales are not as amusing as some
jester of to-day, then the idler says, Away with them as a failure! For
such a person, who only looks to have the tedium of a vacuous mind
relieved, these tales are not in the least intended. But the real and
genuine charm of all fiction is that of enabling the reader to place
himself in the mental position of, another, to see with the eyes, to
feel with the thoughts, to reason with the mind, of a wholly different
being. All the greatest work has this charm. It may be to place the reader
in new mental positions, or in a different level of the society that he
already knows, either higher or lower; or it may be to make alive to him
a society of a different land or age. Whether he read "Treasure Island"
or "Plain Tales from the Hills," "The Scarlet Letter," "Old Mortality,"
or "Hypatia," it is the transplanting of the reader into a new life, the
doubling of his mental experience, that is the very power of fiction.
The same interest attaches to these tales. In place of regarding
Egyptians only as the builders of pyramids and the makers of mummies, we
here see the men and women as they lived, their passions, their foibles,
their beliefs, and their follies. The old refugee Sanehat craving to be
buried with his ancestors in the blessed land, the enterprise and
success of the Doomed Prince, the sweetness of Bata, the misfortunes of
Ahura, these all live before us, and we can for a brief half hour share
the feelings and see with the eyes of those who ruled the world when it
was young. This is the real value of these tales, and the power which
still belongs to the oldest literature in the world.
Erratum in First Edition, 1st Series. Page 31, line 6 from below, _for_
no It _read_ not I.
CONTENTS
THE TAKING OF JOPPA
REMARKS
THE DOOMED PRINCE
REMARKS
ANPU AND BATA
REMARKS
SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK
REMARKS
INDEX
XVIIITH DYNASTY
THE TAKING OF JOPPA
There was once in the time of King Men-kheper-ra a revolt of the
servants of his majesty who were in Joppa; and his majesty said, "Let
Tahutia go with his footmen and destroy this wicked Foe in Joppa." And
he called one of his followers, and said moreover, "Hide thou my great
cane, which works wonders, in the baggage of Tahutia that my power may
go with him."
Now when Tahutia came near to Joppa, with all the footmen of Pharaoh, he
sent unto the Foe in Joppa, and said, "Behold now his majesty, King
Men-kheper-ra, has sent all this great army against thee; but what is
that if my heart is as thy heart? Do thou come, and let us talk in the
field, and see each other face to face." So Tahutia came with certain of
his men; and the Foe in Joppa came likewise, but his charioteer that was
with him was true of heart unto the king of Egypt. And they spoke with
one another in his great tent, which Tahutia had placed far off from the
soldiers. But Tahutia had made ready two hundred sacks, with cords and
fetters, and had made a great sack of skins with bronze fetters, and
many baskets: and they were in his tent, the sacks and the baskets, and
he had placed them as the forage for the horses is put in baskets. For
whilst the Foe in Joppa drank with Tahutia, the people who were with him
drank with the footmen of Pharaoh, and made merry with them. And when
their bout of drinking was past, Tahutia said to the Foe in Joppa, "If
it please thee, while I remain with the women and children of thy own
city, let one bring of my people with their horses, that they may give
them provender, or let one of the Apuro run to fetch them." So they
came, and hobbled their horses, and gave them provender, and one found
the great cane of Men-kheper-ra (Tahutmes III.), and came to tell of it
to Tahutia. And thereupon the Foe in Joppa said to Tahutia, "My heart is
set on examining the great cane of Men-kheper-ra, which is named '. . .
tautnefer.' By the _ka_ of the King Men-kheper-ra it will be in thy
hands to-day; now do thou well and bring thou it to me." And Tahutia did
thus, and he brought the cane of King Men-kheper-ra. And he laid hold on
the Foe in Joppa by his garment, and he arose and stood up, and said,
"Look on me, O Foe in Joppa; here is the great cane of King
Men-kheper-ra, the terrible lion, the son of Sekhet, to whom Amen his
father gives power and strength." And he raised his hand and struck the
forehead of the Foe in Joppa, and he fell helpless before him. He put
him in the sack of skins and he bound with gyves the hands of the Foe in
Joppa, and put on his feet the fetters with four rings. And he made them
bring the two hundred sacks which he had cleaned, and made to enter into
them two hundred soldiers, and filled the hollows with cords and fetters
of wood, he sealed them with a seal, and added to them their rope-nets
and the poles to bear them. And he put every strong footman to bear
them, in all six hundred men, and said to them, "When you come
into the town you shall open your burdens, you shall seize on all the
inhabitants of the town, and you shall quickly put fetters upon them."
Then one went out and said unto the charioteer of the Foe in Joppa, "Thy
master is fallen; go, say to thy mistress, 'A pleasant message! For
Sutekh has given Tahutia to us, with his wife and his children; behold
the beginning of their tribute,' that she may comprehend the two hundred
sacks, which are full of men and cords and fetters." So he went before
them to please the heart of his mistress, saying, "We have laid hands on
Tahutia." Then the gates of the city were opened before the footmen:
they entered the city, they opened their burdens, they laid hands on
them of the city, both small and great, they put on them the cords and
fetters quickly; the power of Pharaoh seized upon that city. After he
had rested Tahutia sent a message to Egypt to the King Men-kheper-ra his
lord, saying, "Be pleased, for Amen thy good father has given to thee
the Foe in Joppa, together with all his people, likewise also his city.
Send, therefore, people to take them as captives that thou mayest fill
the house of thy father Amen Ra, king of the gods, with men-servants and
maid-servants, and that they may be overthrown beneath thy feet for ever
and ever."
REMARKS
This tale of the taking of Joppa appears to be probably on an historical
basis. Tahutia was a well-known officer of Tahutmes III.; and the
splendid embossed dish of weighty gold which the king presented to him
is one of the principal treasures of the Louvre museum. It is ornamented
with groups of fish in the flat bottom, and a long inscription around
the side.
Unfortunately the earlier part of this tale has been lost; but in order
to render it intelligible I have restored an opening to it, without
introducing any details but what are alluded to, or necessitated, by the
existing story. The original text begins at the star.
It is evident that the basis of the tale is the stratagem of the
Egyptian general, offering to make friends with the rebel of Joppa,
while he sought to trap him. To a Western soldier such an unblushing
offer of being treacherous to his master the king would be enough to
make the good faith of his proposals to the enemy very doubtful. But in
the East offers of wholesale desertion are not rare. In Greek history it
was quite an open question whether Athens or Persia would retain a
general's service; in Byzantine history a commander might be in favour
with the Khalif one year and with the Autokrator the next; and in the
present century the entire transfer of the Turkish fleet to Mohammed Ali
in 1840 is a grand instance of such a case.
The scheme of taking a fortress by means of smuggling in soldiers hidden
in packages has often recurred in history; but this taking of Joppa is
the oldest tale of the kind yet known. Following this we have the wooden
horse of Troy. Then comes in mediaeval times the Arab scheme for taking
Edessa, in 1038 A.D., by a train of five hundred camels bearing presents
for the Autokrator at Constantinople. The governor of Edessa declined to
admit such travellers, and a bystander, hearing some talking in the
baskets slung on the camels, soon gave the alarm, which led to the
destruction of the whole party; the chief alone, less hands, ears, and
nose, being left to take the tale back to Bagdad. And in fiction there
are the stories of a lady avenging her husband by introducing men hidden
in skins, and the best known version of all in the "Arabian Nights," of
Ali Baba and the thieves.
It appears from the tale that the conference of Tahutia with the rebel
took place between the town and the Egyptian army, but near the town.
Then Tahutia proposes to go into the town as a pledge of his sincerity,
while the men of the town were to supply his troops with fodder. But he
appears to have remained talking with the rebel in the tent, until the
lucky chance of the stick turned up. This cleared the way for a neater
management of his plan, by enabling him to quietly make away with the
chief, without exciting his suspicions beforehand.
The name of the cane of the king is partly illegible; but we know how
many actual sticks and personal objects have their own names inscribed
on them. Nothing had a real entity to the Egyptian mind without an
individual name belonging to it.
The message sent by the charioteer presupposes that he was in the
secret; and he must therefore have been an Egyptian who had not heartily
joined in the rebellion. From the conclusion we see that the captives
taken as slaves to Egypt were by no means only prisoners of war, but
were the ordinary civil inhabitants of the conquered cities, "them of
the city, both small and great."
The gold dish which the king gave to the tomb of Tahuti is so splendid
that it deserves some notice, especially as it has never been published
in England. It is circular, about seven inches across, with vertical
sides an inch high. The inside of the bottom bears a boss and rosette in
the centre, a line of swimming fish around that, and beyond all a chain
of lotus flowers. On the upright edge is an incised inscription, "Given
in praise by the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, _Ra-men-kheper,_ to the
hereditary chief, the divine father, the beloved by God, filling the
heart of the king in all foreign lands and in the isles in the midst of
the great sea, filling stores with lazuli, electrum, and gold, keeper of
all foreign lands, keeper of the troops, praised by the good gold lord
of both lands and his _ka,--_the royal scribe Tahuti deceased." This
splendid piece of gold work was therefore given in honour of Tahuti at
his funeral, to be placed in his tomb for the use of his _ka._ The
weight of it is very nearly a troy pound, being 5,729 grains or four
utens. The allusion on it to the Mediterranean wars of Tahuti,
"satisfying the king in all foreign lands and in the isles in the midst
of the great sea," is just in accord with this tale of the conquest of
Joppa.
Beside this golden bowl there are many other objects from Tahuti's tomb
which must have been very rich, and have escaped plundering until this
century. A silver dish, broken, and a canopic jar of alabaster, are in
Paris; another canopic jar, a palette, a kohl vase, and a heart scarab
set in gold, are in Leyden; while in Darmstadt is the dagger of this
great general. This piece of a popular tale founded on an incident of
his Syrian wars has curiously survived, while the more solid official
records of his conquests has perished in the wreck of history. His tomb
even is unknown, although it has been plundered; perhaps his active life
of foreign service did not give him that leisure to carve and decorate
it, which was so laboriously spent by the home-living dignitaries of
Thebes.
CLOSE OF THE XVIIIth DYNASTY
THE DOOMED PRINCE
There once was a king to whom no son was born; and his heart was
grieved, and he prayed for himself unto the gods around him for a child.
They decreed that one should be born to him. And his wife, after her
time was fulfilled, brought forth a son. Then came the Hathors to decree
for him a destiny; they said, "His death is to be by the crocodile, or
by the serpent, or by the dog." Then the people who stood by heard this,
and they went to tell it to his majesty. Then his majesty's heart
sickened very greatly. And his majesty caused a house to be built upon
the desert; it was furnished with people and with all good things of the
royal house, that the child should not go abroad. And when the child was
grown, he went up upon the roof, and he saw a dog; it was following a
man who was walking on the road. He spoke to his page, who was with him,
"What is this that walks behind the man who is coming along the road?"
He answered him, "This is a dog." The child said to him, "Let there be
brought to me one like it." The page went to repeat it to his majesty.
And his majesty said, "Let there be brought to him a little pet dog,
lest his heart be sad." And behold they brought to him the dog.
Then when the days increased after this, and when the child became grown
in all his limbs, he sent a message to his father saying, "Come,
wherefore am I kept here? Inasmuch as I am fated to three evil fates,
let me follow my desire. Let God do what is in His heart." They agreed
to all he said, and gave him all sorts of arms, and also his dog to
follow him, and they took him to the east country, and said to him,
"Behold, go thou whither thou wilt." His dog was with him, and he went
northward, following his heart in the desert, while he lived on all the
best of the game of the desert. He went to the chief of Naha-raina.
And behold there had not been any born to the chief of Naharaina, except
one daughter. Behold, there had been built for her a house; its seventy
windows were seventy cubits from the ground. And the chief caused to be
brought all the sons of the chiefs of the land of Khalu, and said to
them, "He who reaches the window of my daughter, she shall be to him for
a wife."
And many days after these things, as they were in their daily task, the
youth rode by the place where they were. They took the youth to their
house, they bathed him, they gave provender to his horses, they brought
all kinds of things for the youth, they perfumed him, they anointed his
feet, they gave him portions of their own food; and they spake to him,
"Whence comest thou, goodly youth?" He said to them, "I am son of an
officer of the land of Egypt; my mother is dead, and my father has taken
another wife. And when she bore children, she grew to hate me, and I
have come as a fugitive from before her." And they embraced him, and
kissed him.
And after many days were passed, he said to the youths, "What is it that
ye do here?" And they said to him, "We spend our time in this: we climb
up, and he who shall reach the window of the daughter of the chief of
Naharaina, to him will he given her to wife." He said to them, "If it
please you, let me behold the matter, that I may come to climb with
you." They went to climb, as was their daily wont: and the youth stood
afar off to behold; and the face of the daughter of the chief of
Naharaina was turned to them. And another day the sons came to climb,
and the youth came to climb with the sons of the chiefs. He climbed, and
he reached the window of the daughter of the chief of Naharaina. She
kissed him, she embraced him in all his limbs.
And one went to rejoice the heart of her father, and said to him, "One
of the people has reached the window of thy daughter." And the prince
inquired of the messenger, saying, "The son of which of the princes is
it?" And he replied to him, "It is the son of an officer, who has come
as a fugitive from the land of Egypt, fleeing from before his stepmother
when she had children." Then the chief of Naharaina was exceeding angry;
and he said, "Shall I indeed give my daughter to the Egyptian fugitive?
Let him go back whence he came." And one came to tell the youth, "Go
back to the place thou earnest from." But the maiden seized his hand;
she swore an oath by God, saying, "By the being of Ra Harakhti, if one
takes him from me, I will not eat, I will not drink, I shall die in that
same hour." The messenger went to tell unto her father all that she
said. Then the prince sent men to slay the youth, while he was in his
house. But the maiden said, "By the being of Ra, if one slay him I shall
be dead ere the sun goeth down. I will not pass an hour of life if I am
parted from him." And one went to tell her father. Then the prince made
them bring the youth with the maiden. The youth was seized with fear
when he came before the prince. But he embraced him, he kissed him all
over, and said, "Oh! tell me who thou art; behold, thou art to me as a
son." He said to him, "I am a son of an officer of the land of Egypt; my
mother died, my father took to him a second wife; she came to hate me,
and I fled a fugitive from before her." He then gave to him his daughter
to wife; he gave also to him a house, and serfs, and fields, also cattle
and all manner of good things.
But after the days of these things were passed, the youth said to his
wife, "I am doomed to three fates--a crocodile, a serpent, and a dog."
She said to him, "Let one kill the dog which belongs to thee." He
replied to her, "I am not going to kill my dog, which I have brought up
from when it was small." And she feared greatly for her husband, and
would not let him go alone abroad.
And one went with the youth toward the land of Egypt, to travel in that
country. Behold the crocodile of the river, he came out by the town in
which the youth was. And in that town was a mighty man. And the mighty
man would not suffer the crocodile to escape. And when the crocodile was
bound, the mighty man went out and walked abroad. And when the sun rose
the mighty man went back to the house; and he did so every day, during
two months of days.
Now when the days passed after this, the youth sat making a good day in
his house.
And when the evening came he lay down on his bed, sleep seized upon his
limbs; and his wife filled a bowl of milk, and placed it by his side.
Then came out a serpent from his hole, to bite the youth; behold his wife
was sitting by him, she lay not down. Thereupon the servants gave milk
to the serpent, and he drank, and was drunk, and lay upside down. Then
his wife made it to perish with the blows of her dagger. And they woke
her husband, who was astonished; and she said unto him, "Behold thy God
has given one of thy dooms into thy hand; He will also give thee the
others." And he sacrificed to God, adoring Him, and praising His spirits
from day to day.
And when the days were passed after these things, the youth went to walk
in the fields of his domain. He went not alone, behold his dog was
following him. And his dog ran aside after the wild game, and he
followed the dog. He came to the river, and entered the river behind
his dog. Then came out the crocodile, and took him to the place where
the mighty man was. And the crocodile said to the youth, "I am thy doom,
following after thee. ..."
[Here the papyrus breaks off.]
REMARKS
This tale is preserved in one of the Harris papyri (No. 500) in the
British Museum. It has been translated by Goodwin, Chabas, Maspero, and
Ebers. The present version is adapted from that of Maspero, with
frequent reference by Mr. Griffith to the original.
The marvellous parentage of a fated or gifted hero is familiar in
Eastern tales, and he is often described as a divine reward to a
long-childless king. This element of fate or destiny is, however, not
seen before this age in Egyptian ideas; nor, indeed, would it seem at
all in place with the simple, easygoing, joyous life of the early days.
It belongs to an age when ideals possess the mind, when man struggles
against his circumstances, when he wills to be different from what he
is. Dedi or the shipwrecked sailor think nothing about fate, but live
day by day as life comes to them. There is here, then, a new element,
that of striving and of unrest, quite foreign to the old Egyptian mind.
The age of this tale is shown plainly in the incidents. The prince goes
to the chief of Naharaina, a land probably unknown to the Egyptians
until the Asiatic conquests of the XVIIIth Dynasty had led them to the
upper waters of the Euphrates. In earlier days Sanehat fled to the
frontier at the Wady Tumilat, and was quite lost to Egypt when he
settled in the south of Palestine. But when the Doomed Prince goes out
of Egypt he goes to the chief of Naharaina, as the frontier State. This
stamps the tale as subsequent to the wars of the Tahutimes family, and
reflects rather the peaceful intercourse of the great monarch Amenhotep
the Third. If it belonged to the Ramessides we should not hear of
Naharaina, which was quite lost to them, but rather of Dapur (Tabor) and
Kadesh, and of the Hittites as the familiar frontier power.
The Hathors here appear as the Fates, instead of the goddesses Isis,
Nebhat, Mes-khent, and Hakt, of the old tale in the IVth Dynasty (see
first series, p. 33); and we find in the next tale of Anpu and Bata, in
the XIXth Dynasty, that the seven Hathors decree the fate of the wife of
Bata. That Hathor should be a name given to seven deities is not strange
when we see that Hathor was a generic name for a goddess. There was the
Hathor of foreign lands, such as Punt or Sinai; there was the Hathor of
home towns, as Dendera or Atfih; and Hathor was as widely known, and yet
as local, as the Madonna. In short, to one of the races which composed
the Egyptian people Hathor was the term for any goddess, or for a
universal goddess to whom all others were assimilated. Why and how this
title "house of Horus" should be so general is not obvious.
The variety of fate here predicted is like the vagueness of the fate of
Bata's wife, by "a sharp death." It points to the Hathors predicting as
seers, rather than to their having the control of the future. It bears
the stamp of the oracle of Delphi, rather than that of a divine decree.
In this these goddesses differ greatly from the Parcae, whose ordinances
not even Zeus could withstand, as Lucian lets us know in one of the most
audacious and philosophical of the dialogues. The Hathors seem rather to
deal with what we should call luck than with fate: they see the nature
of the close of life from its beginning, without either knowing or
controlling its details.
In this tale we meet for the first time the idea of inaccessible and
mysterious buildings; and from the resort to this element or curiosity
in describing both the prince and the princess, it appears as if it were
then a new motive in story-telling, and had not lost its power. To
modern ears it is, of course, done to death since the "Castle of
Otranto"; though as a minor element it can still be gently used by the
poet and novelist in a moated grange, a house in a marsh or a maze.
Another point of wonder, so well known in later times, is the large and
mystic number of windows, like the 365 windows attributed to great
buildings of the present age. It would not be difficult from these
papyrus tales to start an historical dictionary of the elements of
fiction: a kind of analysis that should be the death of much of the
venerable stock-in-trade.
We see coming in here, more strongly than before, the use of emotions
and the force of character. The generous friendship of the sons of the
Syrian chiefs; then the burst of passionate love from the chiefs
daughter, which saves the prince's life twice over from her father, and
guards him afterwards from his fates; again, the devotion of the prince
to his favourite dog, in spite of all warnings--these show a reliance on
personal emotion and feeling in creating the interest of the tale, quite
different from the mere interest of incident which was employed earlier.
The reason which the prince alleges for his leaving Egypt is also a
touch of nature, the wish of a mother to oust her stepson in order to
make way for her own children, one of the deepest and most elemental
feelings of feminine nature.
The mighty man and the crocodile are difficult to understand, the more
so as the tale breaks off in the midst of that part. It appears also as
if there had been some inversion of the paragraphs; for, first, we read
that the wife would not let the prince go alone, and one goes with him
toward Egypt, and the crocodile of the Nile (apparently) is mentioned;
then he is said to be sitting in his house with his wife; then he goes
in the fields of his domain and meets the crocodile. It may be that a
passage has dropped out, describing his wife's accompanying him to
settle in Egypt. But the mighty man--that is another puzzle. He binds a
crocodile, and goes out while he is bound, but by night. The point of
this is not clear. It may have been, however, that the mighty man went
back to the house when the sun was high, that he might not lose his
shadow. In Arabia there was a belief that a hyena could deprive a man
of speech and motion by stepping on his shadow--analogous to the belief
in many other lands of the importance of preserving the shadow, and
avoiding the shadowless hour of high noon (Frazer, "Golden Bough," p.
143). Hence the strength of the mighty man, and his magic power over the
crocodile, would perhaps depend on his not allowing his shadow to
disappear. And though Egypt is not quite tropical, yet shadows do
practically vanish in the summer, the shadow of the thin branches of a
tall palm appearing to radiate round its root without the stem casting
any shade.
The use of milk to entice serpents is still well known in Egypt; and
when a serpent appeared in some of my excavations in a pit, the men
proposed to me to let down a saucer of milk to entice it out, that they
might kill it.
The close of the tale would have explained much that is now lost to us.
The crocodile boasts of being the fate of the prince; but his dog is
with him, and one can hardly doubt that the dog attacks the crocodile.
There is also the mighty man to come in and manage the crocodile. Then
the dog is left to bring about the catastrophe. Or does the faithful
wife rescue him from all the fates? Hardly so, as the prediction of the
Hathors comes strictly to pass in the tale of Anpu and Bata. Let us hope
that another copy may be found to give us the clue to the working of the
Egyptian mind in this situation.
XIXTH DYNASTY
ANPU AND BATA.
Once there were two brethren, of one mother and one father; Anpu was the
name of the elder, and Bata was the name of the younger. Now, as for
Anpu he had a house, and he had a wife. But his little brother was to
him as it were a son; he it was who made for him his clothes; he it was
who followed behind his oxen to the fields; he it was who did the
ploughing; he it was who harvested the corn; he it was who did for him
all the matters that were in the field. Behold, his younger brother grew
to be an excellent worker, there was not his equal in the whole land;
behold, the spirit of a god was in him.
Now after this the younger brother followed his oxen in his daily
manner; and every evening he turned again to the house, laden with all
the herbs of the field, with milk and with wood, and with all things of
the field. And he put them down before his elder brother, who was
sitting with his wife; and he drank and ate, and he lay down in his
stable with the cattle. And at the dawn of day he took bread which he
had baked, and laid it before his elder brother; and he took with him
his bread to the field, and he drave his cattle to pasture in the
fields. And as he walked behind his cattle, they said to him, "Good is
the herbage which is in that place;" and he listened to all that they
said, and he took them to the good place which they desired. And the
cattle which were before him became exceeding excellent, and they
multiplied greatly.
Now at the time of ploughing his elder brother said unto him, "Let us
make ready for ourselves a goodly yoke of oxen for ploughing, for the
land has come out from the water, it is fit for ploughing. Moreover, do
thou come to the field with corn, for we will begin the ploughing in the
morrow morning." Thus said he to him; and his younger brother did all
things as his elder brother had spoken unto him to do them.
And when the morn was come, they went to the fields with their things;
and their hearts were pleased exceedingly with their task in the
beginning of their work. And it came to pass after this that as they
were in the field they stopped for corn, and he sent his younger
brother, saying, "Haste thou, bring to us corn from the farm." And the
younger brother found the wife of his elder brother, as she was sitting
tiring her hair. He said to her, "Get up, and give to me corn, that I
may run to the field, for my elder brother hastened me; do not delay."
She said to him, "Go, open the bin, and thou shalt take to thyself
according to thy will, that I may not drop my locks of hair while I
dress them."
The youth went into the stable; he took a large measure, for he desired
to take much corn; he loaded it with wheat and barley; and he went out
carrying it. She said to him, "How much of the corn that is wanted, is
that which is on thy shoulder?" He said to her, "Three bushels of
barley, and two of wheat, in all five; these are what are upon my
shoulder:" thus said he to her. And she conversed with him, saying,
"There is great strength in thee, for I see thy might every day." And
her heart knew him with the knowledge of youth. And she arose and came
to him, and conversed with him, saying, "Come, stay with me, and it
shall be well for thee, and I will make for thee beautiful garments."
Then the youth became like a panther of the south with fury at the evil
speech which she had made to him; and she feared greatly. And he spake
unto her, saying, "Behold thou art to me as a mother, thy husband is to
me as a father, for he who is elder than I has brought me up. What is
this wickedness that thou hast said to me? Say it not to me again. For I
will not tell it to any man, for I will not let it be uttered by the
mouth of any man." He lifted up his burden, and he went to the field and
came to his elder brother; and they took up their work, to labour at
their task.
Now afterward, at eventime, his elder brother was returning to his
house; and the younger brother was following after his oxen, and he
loaded himself with all the things of the field; and he brought his oxen
before him, to make them lie down in their stable which was in the farm.
And behold the wife of the elder brother was afraid for the words which
she had said. She took a parcel of fat, she became like one who is
evilly beaten, desiring to say to her husband, "It is thy younger
brother who has done this wrong." Her husband returned in the even, as
was his wont of every day; he came unto his house; he found his wife ill
of violence; she did not give him water upon his hands as he used to
have, she did not make a light before him, his house was in darkness,
and she was lying very sick. Her husband said to her, "Who has spoken
with thee?"
Behold she said, "No one has spoken with me except thy younger brother.
When he came to take for thee corn he found me sitting alone; he said to
me, 'Come, let us stay together, tie up thy hair:' thus spake he to me.
I did not listen to him, but thus spake I to him: 'Behold, am I not thy
mother, is not thy elder brother to thee as a father?' And he feared,
and he beat me to stop me from making report to thee, and if thou
lettest him live I shall die. Now behold he is coming in the evening;
and I complain of these wicked words, for he would have done this even
in daylight."
And the elder brother became as a panther of the south; he sharpened his
knife; he took it in his hand; he stood behind the door of his stable to
slay his younger brother as he came in the evening to bring his cattle
into the stable.
Now the sun went down, and he loaded himself with herbs in his daily
manner. He came, and his foremost cow entered the stable, and she said
to her keeper, "Behold thou thy elder brother standing before thee with
his knife to slay thee; flee from before him." He heard what his first
cow had said; and the next entering, she also said likewise. He looked
beneath the door of the stable; he saw the feet of his elder brother; he
was standing behind the door, and his knife was in his hand. He cast
down his load to the ground, and betook himself to flee swiftly; and his
elder brother pursued after him with his knife. Then the younger brother
cried out unto Ra Harakhti, saying, "My good Lord! Thou art he who
divides the evil from the good." And Ra stood and heard all his cry; and
Ra made a wide water between him and his elder brother, and it was full
of crocodiles; and the one brother was on one bank, and the other on the
other bank; and the elder brother smote twice on his hands at not
slaying him. Thus did he. And the younger brother called to the elder on
the bank, saying, "Stand still until the dawn of day; and when Ra
ariseth, I shall judge with thee before Him, and He discerneth between
the good and the evil. For I shall not be with thee any more for ever; I
shall not be in the place in which thou art; I shall go to the valley of
the acacia."
Now when the land was lightened, and the next day appeared, Ra Harakhti
arose, and one looked unto the other. And the youth spake with his elder
brother, saying, "Wherefore earnest thou after me to slay me in
craftiness, when thou didst not hear the words of my mouth? For I am thy
brother in truth, and thou art to me as a father, and thy wife even as a
mother: is it not so? Verily, when I was sent to bring for us corn, thy
wife said to me, 'Come, stay with me;' for behold this has been turned
over unto thee into another wise." And he caused him to understand of
all that happened with him and his wife. And he swore an oath by Ra
Har-akhti, saying, "Thy coming to slay me by deceit with thy knife was
an abomination." Then the youth took a knife, and cut off of his flesh,
and cast it into the water, and the fish swallowed it. He failed; he
became faint; and his elder brother cursed his own heart greatly; he
stood weeping for him afar off; he knew not how to pass over to where
his younger brother was, because of the crocodiles. And the younger
brother called unto him, saying, "Whereas thou hast devised
an evil thing, wilt thou not also devise a good thing, even like that
which I would do unto thee? When thou goest to thy house thou must look
to thy cattle, for I shall not stay in the place where thou art; I am
going to the valley of the acacia. And now as to what thou shalt do for
me; it is even that thou shalt come to seek after me, if thou perceivest
a matter, namely, that there are things happening unto me. And this is
what shall come to pass, that I shall draw out my soul, and I shall put
it upon the top of the flowers of the acacia, and when the acacia is cut
down, and it falls to the ground, and thou comest to seek for it, if
thou searchest for it seven years do not let thy heart be wearied. For
thou wilt find it, and thou must put it in a cup of cold water, and
expect that I shall live again, that I may make answer to what has been
done wrong.. And thou shalt know of this, that is to say, that things
are happening to me, when one shall give to thee a cup of beer in thy hand,
and it shall be troubled; stay not then, for verily it shall come to
pass with thee."
And the youth went to the valley of the acacia; and his elder brother
went unto his house; his hand was laid on his head, and he cast dust on
his head; he came to his house, and he slew his wife, he cast her to the
dogs, and he sat in mourning for his younger brother.
Now many days after these things, the younger brother was in the valley
of the acacia; there was none with him; he spent his time in hunting the
beasts of the desert, and he came back in the even to lie down under the
acacia, which bore his soul upon the topmost flower. And after this he
built himself a tower with his own hands, in the valley of the acacia;
it was full of all good things, that he might provide for himself a home.
And he went out from his tower, and he met the Nine Gods, who were
walking forth to look upon the whole land. The Nine Gods talked one
with another, and they said unto him, "Ho! Bata, bull of the Nine Gods,
art thou remaining alone? Thou hast left thy village for the wife of
Anpu, thy elder brother. Behold his wife is slain. Thou hast given him
an answer to all that was transgressed against thee." And their hearts
were vexed for him exceedingly. And Ra Harakhti said to Khnumu, "Behold,
frame thou a woman for Bata, that he may not remain alive alone." And
Khnumu made for him a mate to dwell with him.
She was more beautiful in her limbs than any woman who is in the whole
land. The essence of every god was in her. The seven Hathors came to see
her: they said with one mouth, "She will die a sharp death."
And Bata loved her very exceedingly, and she dwelt in his house; he
passed his time in hunting the beasts of the desert, and brought and
laid them before her. He said, "Go not outside, lest the sea seize thee;
for I cannot rescue thee from it, for I am a woman like thee; my soul is
placed on the head of the flower of the acacia; and if another find it,
I must fight with him." And he opened unto her his heart in all its nature.
Now after these things Bata went to hunt in his daily manner. And the
young girl went to walk under the acacia which was by the side of her
house. Then the sea saw her, and cast its waves up after her. She betook
herself to flee from before it. She entered her house. And the sea
called unto the acacia, saying, "Oh, would that I could seize her!" And
the acacia brought a lock from her hair, and the sea carried it to
Egypt, and dropped it in the place of the fullers of Pharaoh's linen.
The smell of the lock of hair entered into the clothes of Pharaoh; and
they were wroth with the fullers of Pharaoh, saying, "The smell of
ointment is in the clothes of Pharaoh." And the people were rebuked
every day, they knew not what they should do. And the chief fuller of
Pharaoh walked by the bank, and his heart was very evil within him after
the daily quarrel with him. He stood still, he stood upon the sand
opposite to the lock of hair, which was in the water, and he made one
enter into the water and bring it to him; and there was found in it a
smell, exceeding sweet. He took it to Pharaoh; and they brought the
scribes and the wise men, and they said unto Pharaoh, "This lock of hair
belongs to a daughter of Ra Harakhti: the essence of every god is in
her, and it is a tribute to thee from another land. Let messengers go to
every strange land to seek her: and as for the messenger who shall go to
the valley of the acacia, let many men go with him to bring her." Then
said his majesty, "Excellent exceedingly is what has been said to us;"
and they sent them. And many days after these things the people who were
sent to strange lands came to give report unto the king: but there came
not those who went to the valley of the acacia, for Bata had slain them,
but let one of them return to give a report to the king. His majesty
sent many men and soldiers, as well as horsemen, to bring her back. And
there was a woman amongst them, and to her had been given in her hand
beautiful ornaments of a woman. And the girl came back with her, and
they rejoiced over her in the whole land.
And his majesty loved her exceedingly, and raised her to high estate;
and he spake unto her that she should tell him concerning her husband.
And she said, "Let the acacia be cut down, and let one chop it up." And
they sent men and soldiers with their weapons to cut down the acacia;
and they came to the acacia, and they cut the flower upon which was the
soul of Bata, and he fell dead suddenly.
And when the next day came, and the earth was lightened, the acacia was
cut down. And Anpu, the elder brother of Bata, entered his house, and
washed his hands; and one gave him a cup of beer, and it became
troubled; and one gave him another of wine, and the smell of it was
evil. Then he took his staff, and his sandals, and likewise his clothes,
with his weapons of war; and he betook himself forth to the valley of
the acacia. He entered the tower of his younger brother, and he found
him lying upon his mat; he was dead. And he wept when he saw his younger
brother verily lying dead. And he went out to seek the soul of his
younger brother under the acacia tree, under which his younger brother
lay in the evening.
He spent three years in seeking for it, but found it not. And when he
began the fourth year, he desired in his heart to return into Egypt; he
said "I will go to-morrow morn:" thus spake he in his heart.
Now when the land lightened, and the next day appeared, he was walking
under the acacia; he was spending his time in seeking it. And he
returned in the evening, and laboured at seeking it again. He found a
seed. He returned with it. Behold this was the soul of his younger
brother. He brought a cup of cold water, and he cast the seed into it:
and he sat down, as he was wont. Now when the night came his soul sucked
up the water; Bata shuddered in all his limbs, and he looked on his
elder brother; his soul was in the cup. Then Anpu took the cup of cold
water, in which the soul of his younger brother was; Bata drank it, his
soul stood again in its place, and he became as he had been. They
embraced each other, and they conversed together.
And Bata said to his elder brother, "Behold I am to become as a great
bull, which bears every good mark; no one knoweth its history, and thou
must sit upon my back. When the sun arises I shall be in the place where
my wife is, that I may return answer to her; and thou must take me to
the place where the king is. For all good things shall be done for thee;
for one shall lade thee with silver and gold, because thou bringest me
to Pharaoh, for I become a great marvel, and they shall rejoice for me
in all the land. And thou shalt go to thy village."
And when the land was lightened, and the next day appeared, Bata became
in the form which he had told to his elder brother. And Anpu sat upon
his back until the dawn. He came to the place where the king was, and
they made his majesty to know of him; he saw him, and he was exceeding
joyful with him. He made for him great offerings, saying,
"This is a great wonder which has come to pass." There were rejoicings
over him in the whole land. They presented unto him silver and gold for
his elder brother, who went and stayed in his village. They gave to the
bull many men and many things, and Pharaoh loved him exceedingly above
all that is in this land.
And after many days after these things, the bull entered the purified
place; he stood in the place where the princess was; he began to speak
with her, saying, "Behold, I am alive indeed." And she said to him,
"And, pray, who art thou?" He said to her, "I am Bata. I perceived when
thou causedst that they should destroy the acacia of Pharaoh, which was
my abode, that I might not be suffered to live. Behold, I am alive
indeed, I am as an ox." Then the princess feared exceedingly for the
words that her husband had spoken to her. And he went out from the
purified place.
And his majesty was sitting, making a good day with her: she was at the
table of his majesty, and the king was exceeding pleased with her. And
she said to his majesty, "Swear to me by God, saying, 'What thou shalt
say, I will obey it for thy sake.'" He hearkened unto all that she said,
even this. "Let me eat of the liver of the ox, because he is fit for
nought:" thus spake she to him. And the king was exceeding sad at her
words, the heart of Pharaoh grieved him greatly. And after the land was
lightened, and the next day appeared, they proclaimed a great feast with
offerings to the ox. And the king sent one of the chief butchers of his
majesty, to cause the ox to be sacrificed. And when he was sacrificed,
as he was upon the shoulders of the people, he shook his neck, and he
threw two drops of blood over against the two doors of his majesty. The
one fell upon the one side, on the great door of Pharaoh, and the other
upon the other door. They grew as two great Persea trees, and each of
them was excellent.
And one went to tell unto his majesty, "Two great Persea trees have
grown, as a great marvel of his majesty, in the night by the side of the
great gate of his majesty." And there was rejoicing for them in all the
land, and there were offerings made to them.
And when the days were multiplied after these things, his majesty was
adorned with the blue crown, with garlands of flowers on his neck, and
he was upon the chariot of pale gold, and he went out from the palace to
behold the Persea trees: the princess also was going out with horses
behind his majesty. And his majesty sat beneath one of the Persea trees,
and it spake thus with his wife: "Oh thou deceitful one, I am Bata, I am
alive, though I have been evilly entreated. I knew who caused the acacia
to be cut down by Pharaoh at my dwelling. I then became an ox, and thou
causedst that I should be killed."
And many days after these things the princess stood at the table of
Pharaoh, and the king was pleased with her. And she said to his majesty,
"Swear to me by God, saying, 'That which the princess shall say to me I
will obey it for her.'" And he hearkened unto all she said. And he
commanded, "Let these two Persea trees be cut down, and let them be made
into goodly planks." And he hearkened unto all she said. And after this
his majesty sent skilful craftsmen, and they cut down the Persea trees
of Pharaoh; and the princess, the royal wife, was standing looking on,
and they did all that was in her heart unto the trees. But a chip flew
up, and it entered into the mouth of the princess; she swallowed it, and
after many days she bore a son. And one went to tell his majesty, "There
is born to thee a son." And they brought him, and gave to him a nurse
and servants; and there were rejoicings in the whole land. And the king
sat making a merry day, as they were about the naming of him, and his
majesty loved him exceedingly at that moment, and the king raised him to
be the royal son of Kush.
Now after the days had multiplied after these things, his majesty made
him heir of all the land. And many days after that, when he had
fulfilled many years as heir, his majesty flew up to heaven. And the
heir said, "Let my great nobles of his majesty be brought before me,
that I may make them to know all that has happened to me." And they
brought also before him his wife, and he judged with her before him, and
they agreed with him. They brought to him his elder brother; he made him
hereditary prince in all his land. He was thirty years king of Egypt,
and he died, and his elder brother stood in his place on the day of
burial.
_Excellently finished in peace, for the_ ka _of the scribe of the
treasury Kagabu, of the treasury of Pharaoh, and for the scribe Hora,
and the scribe Meremapt. Written by the scribe Anena, the owner of this
roll. He who speaks against this roll, may Tahuti smite him._
REMARKS