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+Project Gutenberg's Egyptian Tales, Second Series, by W. M. Flinders Petrie
+#2 in our series by W. M. Flinders Petrie
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+Title: Egyptian Tales, Second Series
+       Translated from the Papyri
+
+Author: W. M. Flinders Petrie
+
+Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7413]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on April 26, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EGYPTIAN TALES, SECOND SERIES ***
+
+
+
+
+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 hyasna 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
+
+
+This tale, which is perhaps, of all this series, the best known in
+modern times, has often been published. It exists only in one papyrus,
+that of Madame d'Orbiney, purchased by the British Museum in 1857. The
+papyrus had belonged to Sety II. when crown prince, and hence is of the
+XIXth Dynasty. Most of the great scholars of this age have worked at it:
+__De Rouge, Goodwin, Renouf, Chabas, Brugsch, Ebers, Maspero, and Groff
+have all made original studies on it. The present translation is,
+however, a fresh one made by Mr. Griffith word for word, and shaped as
+little as possible by myself in editing it. The copy followed is the
+publication by Birch in "Select Papyri," part ii. pls. ix. to xix.
+Before considering the details of the story, we should notice an
+important question about its age and composition. That it is as old as
+the XIXth Dynasty in its present form is certain from the papyrus; but
+probably parts of it are older. The idyllic beauty of the opening of it,
+with the simplicity and directness of the ideas, and the absence of any
+impossible or marvellous feature, is in the strongest opposition to the
+latter part, where marvel is piled on marvel in pointless profusion. In
+the first few pages there is not a word superfluous or an idea out of
+place in drawing the picture. That we have to do with an older story
+lengthened out by some inartistic compiler, seems only too probable. And
+this is borne out by the colophon. In the tales of the Shipwrecked
+Sailor, and of Sanehat, the colophon runs--"This is finished from
+beginning to end, even as it was found in the writing," and the earlier
+of these two tales follows this with a blessing on the transcriber. But,
+apparently conscious of his meddling, the author of Anpu and Bata ends
+with a curse: "Written by the scribe Anena, the owner of this roll. He
+who speaks against this roll, may Tahuti smite him." This points to a
+part of it at least being newly composed in Ramesside times; while the
+delicate beauty of the opening is not only far better than the latter
+part, but is out of harmony with the forced and artificial taste of the
+XIXth Dynasty. At the same time, the careful drawing of character is
+hardly akin to the simple, matter-of-fact style of Sanehat, and seems
+more in keeping with the emotional style of the Doomed Prince. If we
+attribute the earlier part to the opening of the XVIIIth Dynasty--the
+age of the pastoral scenes of the tombs of El Kab, which are the latest
+instances of such sculptures in Egypt--we shall probably be nearest to
+the truth.
+
+The description of Bata is one of the most beautiful character-drawings
+in the past. The self-denial and sweet innocence of the lad, his
+sympathy with his cattle, "listening to all that they said," and
+allowing them their natural wishes and ways, is touchingly expressed.
+And those who know Egypt will know that Bata still lives there--several
+Batas I have known myself. His sweetness of manner, his devotion, his
+untiringly earnest work, his modesty, his quietness, makes Bata to be
+one of the most charming friends. Bata I have met in many places, Bata I
+have loved as one of the flowers of human nature, and Bata I hope often
+to meet again in divers forms and varied incarnations among the _fellah_
+lads of Egypt.
+
+The touches of description of Bata are slight, and yet so pointed. His
+growing to be an excellent worker; his return at evening laden with all
+the produce, just as may be seen now any evening as the lads come in
+bearing on their backs large bundles of vegetables for the house, and of
+fodder for the home-driven cattle; his sleeping with his cattle in the
+stable; his zeal in rising before dawn to make the daily bread for his
+brother, ready to give him when he arose; and then his driving out the
+cattle to pasture--all contrasts with his elder brother's life of ease.
+The making of the bread was rightly the duty of Anpu's wife; she ought
+to have risen to grind the corn long before dawn, as the millstones may
+now be heard grinding in the dark, morning by morning; she ought to have
+baked the bread ready for the toiler who spent his whole day in the
+field. But it was the ever-willing Bata who did the work of the house as
+well as the work of the farm. "Behold the spirit of a god was in him."
+
+The driving in of the cattle at night is still a particular feature of
+Egyptian life. About an hour before sunset the tether ropes are drawn in
+the fields, and the cattle file off, with a little child for a
+leader--if any; the master gathers up the produce that is required, some
+buffalo is laden with a heap of clover, or a lad carries it on his back,
+for the evening feed of the cattle, and all troop along the path through
+the fields and by the canal. For two or three miles the road becomes
+more and more crowded with the flocks driven into it from every field, a
+long haze of dust lies glowing in the crimson glory of sunset over the
+stream of cows and buffaloes, sheep and goats, that pour into the
+village. Each beast well knows his master and his crib, and turns in at
+the familiar gate to the stable under the house, or by the side of the
+hut; and there all spend the night. Not a hoof is left out in the field;
+the last belated stragglers come in while the gleam of amber still edges
+the night-blue sky behind the black horizon. Then the silent fields lie
+under the brightening moon, glittering with dew, untrodden and deserted.
+It is not cold or climate that leads men to this custom, but the
+unsafety of a country bordered by unseen deserts, whence untold men may
+suddenly appear and ravage all the plain.
+
+The ploughing scene next follows, on "the land coming out from the
+water"; as the inundation goes down the well-known banks and ridges
+appear, "the back-bones of the land," as they were so naturally called;
+and when the surface is firm enough to walk on--with many a pool and
+ditch still full--the ploughing begins on the soft dark clay.
+
+The catastrophe of the story--the black gulf of deceit that suddenly
+opens under Bata's feet--has always been seen to be strikingly like the
+story of Joseph. And--as we have noticed--there is good reason for the
+early part of this tale belonging to about the beginning of the XVIIIth
+Dynasty, so it is very closely allied in time as well as character to
+the account of Joseph. In this part again is one of those pointed
+touches, which show the power of the poet--for a poem in prose this
+is--"her heart knew him with the knowledge of youth."
+
+On reaching the mistaken revenge of Anpu, we see the sympathy of Bata
+with his cattle, and his way of reading their feelings, returned to him
+most fittingly by the cows perceiving the presence of the treachery. "He
+heard what his first cow had said; and the next entering she also said
+likewise."
+
+After this we find a change; instead of the simple and natural
+narrative, full of human feeling, and without a touch of impossibility,
+every subsequent episode involves the supernatural; Ra creating a wide
+water, the extraction of the soul of Bata, his miraculous wife, and all
+the transformations--these have nothing in common with the style or
+ideas of the earlier tale.
+
+Whence this later tangle came, and how much of it is drawn from other
+sources, we can hardly hope to explain from the fragments of literature
+that we have. But strangely there is a parallel which is close enough to
+suggest that the patchwork is due to popular mythology. In the myths of
+Phrygia we meet with Atys or Attis, of whom varying legends are told.
+Among these we glean that he was a shepherd, beautiful and chaste; that
+he fled from corruption; that he mutilated himself; lastly he died under
+a tree, and afterwards was revived. All this is a duplicate of the story
+of Bata. And looking further, we see parallels to the three subsequent
+transformations. Drops of blood were shed from the Atys-priest; and
+Bata, in his first transformation as a bull, sprinkles two drops of
+blood by the doors of the palace. Again, Atys is identified with a tree,
+which was cut down and taken into a sanctuary; and Bata in his second
+transformation is a Persea tree which is cut down and used in building.
+Lastly, the mother of Atys is said to have been a virgin, who bore him
+from placing in her bosom a ripe almond or pomegranate; and in his third
+transformation Bata is born from a chip of a tree being swallowed by the
+princess. These resemblances in nearly all the main points are too close
+and continuous to be a mere chance, especially as such incidents are not
+found in any other Egyptian tale, nor in few--if any--other classical
+myths. It is not impossible that the names even may have been the same;
+for Bata, as we write it, was pronounced Vata (or Vatiu or Vitiou, as
+others would vocalise it), and the digamma would disappear in the later
+Greek form in which we have Atys.
+
+The most likely course seems to have been that, starting with a simple
+Egyptian tale, the resemblance to the shepherd of the Asiatic myth, led
+to a Ramesside author improving the story by tacking on the branches of
+the myth one after another, and borrowing the name. If this be granted,
+we have here in Bata the earliest indications of the elements of the
+Atys mysteries, a thousand years before the Greek versions.
+
+Returning now from the general structure to the separate incidents, we
+note the expression of annoyance where the elder brother "smote twice on
+his hands." This gesture is very common in Egypt now, the two hands
+being rapidly slid one past the other, palm to palm, vertically, grating
+the fingers of one hand over the other; the right hand moving downwards,
+and the left a little up. This implies that there is nothing, that a
+thing is worthless, that a desired result has not been attained, or
+annoyance at want of success; but the latter meanings are now rare, and
+more latent than otherwise, and this tale points to the gesture being
+originally one of positive anger, though it has been transferred
+gradually to express mere negative results.
+
+The valley of the acacia would appear from the indications to have been
+by the sea, and probably in Syria; perhaps one of the half-desert wadis
+toward Gaza was in the writer's mind. The idea of Bata taking out his
+heart, and placing it on the flower of a tree, has seemed hopelessly
+unintelligible. But it depends on what we are to understand by the heart
+in Egyptian. Two words are well known for it, _hati_ and _ah;_ and as it
+is unlikely that these should be mere synonyms, we have a presumption
+that one of them does not mean the physical heart, but rather the mental
+heart. We are accustomed to the same mixture of thought; and far the
+more common usage in English is not to employ the name to express the
+physical heart, but for the will, as when we say "good-hearted";--for
+the spring of action, "broken-hearted ";--for the feelings,
+"hard-hearted";--for the passions, "an affair of the heart";--or for the
+vigour, as when a man in nature or in act is "hearty" The Egyptian, with
+his metaphysical mind, took two different words where we only use one;
+and when we read of placing the heart _(hati)_ out of a man, we are led
+at once by the analogy of beliefs in other races to understand this as
+the vitality or soul. In the "Golden Bough" Mr. Frazer has explained
+this part of natural metaphysics; and in this, and the following points,
+I freely quote from that work as a convenient text-book. The soul or
+vitality of a man is thought of as separable from the body at will, and
+therefore communicable to other objects or positions. In those positions
+it cannot be harmed by what happens to the body, which is therefore
+deathless for the time. But if the external seat of the soul be attacked
+or destroyed, the man immediately dies. This is illustrated from the
+Norse, Saxons, Celts, Italians, Greeks, Kabyles, Arabs, Hindus, Malays,
+Mongolians, Tartars, Magyars, and Slavonians. It may well, then, be
+considered as a piece of inherent psychology: and following this
+interpretation, I have rendered "heart" in this sense "soul" in the
+translation.
+
+The Nine Gods who meet Bata are one of the great cycles of divinities,
+which were differently reckoned in various places. Khnumu is always the
+formative god, who makes man upon the potter's wheel, as in the scene in
+the temple of Luqsor. And even in natural birth it was Khnumu who "gave
+strength to the limbs," as in the earlier "Tales of the Magicians." The
+character of the wife of Bata is a very curious study. The total absence
+of the affections in her was probably designed as in accord with her
+non-natural formation, as she could not inherit aught from human
+parents. Ambition appears as the only emotion of this being; her attacks
+on the transformations of Bata are not due to dislike, but only to fear
+that he should claim her removal from her high station; she "feared
+exceedingly for the words that her husband had spoken to her." Her
+Lilith nature is incapable of any craving but that for power.
+
+The action here of the seven Hathors we have noticed in the remarks on
+the previous tale of the Doomed Prince. The episode of the sea is very
+strange; and if we need find some rationalising account of it, we might
+suppose it to be a mythical form of a raid of pirates, who, not catching
+the woman, carried off something of hers, which proved an object of
+contention in Egypt. But such renderings are unlikely, and we may the
+rather expect to find some explanation in a mythological parallel.
+
+The carrying of the lock of hair to Pharaoh, and his proclaiming a
+search for the owner, is plainly an early form of the story of the
+little slipper, whose owner is sought by the king. The point that she
+could not be caught except by setting another woman to tempt her with
+ornaments, anticipates the modern novelist's saying, "Set a woman to
+catch a woman."
+
+The sudden death of Bata, so soon as the depository of his soul was
+destroyed, is a usual feature in such tales about souls. But it is only
+in the Indian forms quoted by Mr. Frazer that there is any revival of
+the dead; and in no case is there any transformation like that of Bata.
+Perhaps none but an Egyptian or a Chinese would have credited Anpu with
+wandering up and down for four years seeking the lost soul. But the idea
+of returning the soul in water to the man is found as a magic process in
+North America ("Golden Bough," i. 141).
+
+The first transformation of Bata, into a bull, is clearly drawn from the
+Apis bull of Memphis. The rejoicings at discovering a real successor of
+Apis are here, the rejoicings over Bata, who is the Apis bull,
+distinguished as he says by "bearing every good mark." These marks on
+the back and other parts were the tokens of the true Apis, who was
+sought for anxiously through the country on the death of the sacred
+animal who had lived in the sanctuary. The man who, like Anpu, brought
+up a true Apis to the temple would receive great rewards and honours.
+
+The scene where the princess demands the grant of a favour is repeated
+over again by Esther at her banquet, and by the daughter of Herodias. It
+is the Oriental way of doing business. But the curious incongruity of
+making a great feast with offerings to the ox before sacrificing it,
+appears inexplicable until we note the habits of other peoples in
+slaying their sacred animals at certain intervals. This tale shows us
+what is stated by Greek authors, that the Egyptians slew the sacred Apis
+at stated times, or when a new one was discovered with the right marks.
+The annual sacrifice of a sacred ram at Thebes shows that the Egyptians
+were familiar with such an idea. And though it was considered by the
+writer of this tale as a monstrous act, yet the offerings and festivity
+which accompanied it are in accordance with the strange fact found by
+Mariette, that in the three undisturbed Apis burials which he discovered
+there were only fragments of bone, and in one case a head, carefully
+embalmed with bitumen and magnificent offerings of jewellery. The divine
+Apis was eaten as a sacred feast.
+
+The reason that the princess desires the liver is strangely explained by
+a present belief on the Upper Nile. The Darfuris think that the liver is
+the seat of the soul ("Golden Bough," ii. 88); and hence if she ate the
+liver she would destroy the soul of Bata, or prevent it entering any
+other incarnation.
+
+The next detail is also curiously significant. If a bull was being
+sacrificed we should naturally suppose the blood would flow, and that a
+few drops would not be noticed. Here, however, two drops are said to
+fall, and this was when the bull "was upon the shoulders of the people."
+Now it is a very general idea that blood must not be allowed to fall
+upon the ground; the eastern and southern Africans will not shed the
+blood of cattle ("Golden Bough," i. 182); and strangely the Australians
+avoid the falling of blood to the ground by placing the bleeding persons
+upon the shoulders of other men. This parallel is so close to the
+Egyptian tale that it seems as if the bull was borne "on the shoulders
+of the people," that his blood should not fall to the ground; yet in
+spite of this precaution "he shook his neck, and he threw two drops of
+blood over against the doors of his majesty." In these drops of blood
+was the soul of Bata, in spite of the princess having eaten his liver;
+and we know how among Jews, Arabs, and other peoples, the blood is
+regarded as the vehicle of the soul or life.
+
+The evidence of tree worship is plainer here than perhaps in any other
+passage of Egyptian literature. The people rejoice for the two Persea
+trees, "and there were offerings made to them."
+
+The blue crown worn by the king was the war cap of leather covered with
+scales of copper: it is often found made in dark blue glaze for
+statuettes, and it seems probable that the copper was superficially
+sulphurised to tint it. Such head-dress was usually worn by kings when
+riding in their chariots. The pale gold or electrum here mentioned was
+the general material for decorating the royal chariot.
+
+The miraculous birth of Bata in his third transformation is, as we have
+noticed, closely paralleled by the birth of Atys from the almond. The
+idea at the root of this is that of self-creation or self-existence, as
+in the usual Egyptian phrase, "bull of his mother."
+
+The king flying up to heaven is a regular expression for his death: "the
+hawk has soared," "the follower of the god has met his maker," so
+Sanehat describes it (see ist series, pp. 97, 98).
+
+This hawk-form of the king may be connected with the hawk bearing the
+double crown which is perched on the top of the _ka_ name of each king.
+That hawk is not Horus, nor even the king deified as Horus, because the
+emblem of life is given to it by other gods (as by Set on a lintel of
+XVIIIth Dynasty from Nubt), and therefore the hawk is the human king who
+could perish, and not an immortal divinity. Further, this hawk-king is
+always perched on the top of the drawing of the doorway to the sepulchre
+which bears the _ka_ name of the king; and when we see the drawings of
+the _ba_ bird or soul flying down the well to the sepulchre, it appears
+as if the hawk were the royal _ba_ bird (ordinary men having a _ba_ bird
+with a human head); and that the well-known first title of each king
+represents the royal soul or _ba_ bird perched on the door of the
+sepulchre, resting on his way to and from the visit to the corpse below.
+The soul or _ba_ of the king at his death thus flew away as a hawk to
+meet the sun.
+
+The veil drawn over the fate of the inhuman princess is well conceived.
+That she should die a sharp death has been foretold; but how Bata should
+slay the divine creation--his wife--his mother--is a matter that the
+scribe reserves in silence; we only read that "he judged with her before
+him, and the great nobles agreed with him." That judgment is best left
+among the things unwritten,
+
+The strange manner in which we can see incident after incident in the
+latter part of the tale, each to refer to some ceremony or belief, even
+imperfect as our knowledge of such must be, and the evidence that the
+whole being of Bata is a transference of the myth of Atys, must lead us
+to look on this, the marvellous portion, as woven out of a group of
+myths, ceremonies, and beliefs which were joined and explained by the
+formation of such a tale. How far it is due to purely Egyptian ideas,
+indicated by the Apis bull and the analogies in present African beliefs,
+and how far it is Asiatic and belonging to Atys, it would be premature
+to decide. But from the weird confusion and mystery of these
+transformations, we turn back with renewed pleasure to the simple and
+sweet picture of peasant life, and the beauty of Bata, and we see how
+true a poet the Egyptian was in feeling and in expression.
+
+
+
+
+XIXth DYNASTY, PTOLEMAIC WRITING
+
+SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK
+
+
+The mighty King User.maat.ra (Ra-meses the Great) had a son named Setna
+Kha.em.uast who was a great scribe, and very learned in all the ancient
+writings. And he heard that the magic book of Thoth, by which a man may
+enchant heaven and earth, and know the language of all birds and beasts,
+was buried in the cemetery of Memphis. And he went to search for it with
+his brother An.he.hor.eru; and when they found the tomb of the king's
+son, Na.nefer.ka.ptah, son of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt,
+Mer.neb.ptah, Setna opened it and went in.
+
+Now in the tomb was Na.nefer.ka.ptah, and with him was the _ka_ of his
+wife Ahura; for though she was buried at Koptos, her _ka_ dwelt at
+Memphis with her husband, whom she loved. And Setna saw them seated
+before their offerings, and the book lay between them. And
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah said to Setna, "Who are you that break into my tomb in
+this way?" He said, "I am Setna, son of the great King User.maat.ra,
+living for ever, and I come for that book which I see between you." And
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah said, "It cannot be given to you." Then said Setna,
+"But I will carry it away by force."
+
+Then Ahura said to Setna, "Do not take this book; for it will bring
+trouble on you, as it has upon us. Listen to what we have suffered for it."
+
+"We were the two children of the King Mer.neb.ptah, and he loved us very
+much, for he had no others; and Na.nefer.ka.ptah was in his palace as
+heir over all the land. And when we were grown, the king said to the
+queen, 'I will marry Na.nefer.ka.ptah to the daughter of a general, and
+Ahura to the son of another general.' And the queen said, 'No, he is the
+heir, let him marry his sister, like the heir of a king, none other is
+fit for him.' And the king said, 'That is not fair; they had better be
+married to the children of the general.'
+
+"And the queen said, 'It is you who are not dealing rightly with me.'
+And the king answered, 'If I have no more than these two children, is it
+right that they should marry one another? I will marry Na.nefer.ka.ptah
+to the daughter of an officer, and Ahura to the son of another officer.
+It has often been done so in our family.'
+
+"And at a time when there was a great feast before the king, they came
+to fetch me to the feast. And I was very troubled, and did not behave as
+I used to do. And the king said to me, 'Ahura, have you sent some one to
+me about this sorry matter, saying, "Let me be married to my elder
+brother"? 'I said to him, 'Well, let me marry the son of an officer, and
+he marry the daughter of another officer, as it often happens so in our
+family.' I laughed, and the king laughed. And the king told the steward
+of the palace, 'Let them take Ahura to the house of Na.nefer.ka.ptah
+to-night, and all kinds of good things with her.' So they brought me as
+a wife to the house of Na.nefer.ka.ptah; and the king ordered them to
+give me presents of silver and gold, and things from the palace.
+
+"And Na.nefer.ka.ptah passed a happy time with me, and received all the
+presents from the palace; and we loved one another. And when I expected
+a child, they told the king, and he was most heartily glad; and he sent
+me many things, and a present of the best silver and gold and linen. And
+when the time came, I bore this little child that is before you. And
+they gave him the name of Mer-ab, and registered him in the book of the
+'House of life.'
+
+"And when my brother Na.nefer.ka.ptah went to the cemetery of Memphis,
+he did nothing on earth but read the writings that are in the catacombs
+of the kings, and the tablets of the 'House of life,' and the
+inscriptions that are seen on the monuments, and he worked hard on the
+writings. And there was a priest there called Nesi-ptah; and as
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah went into a temple to pray, it happened that he went
+behind this priest, and was reading the inscriptions that were on the
+chapels of the gods. And the priest mocked him and laughed. So
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah said to him, 'Why are you laughing at me?' And he
+replied, 'I was not laughing at you, or if I happened to do so, it was
+at your reading writings that are worthless.  If you wish so much to
+read writings, come to me, and I will bring you to the place where the
+book is which Thoth himself wrote with his own hand, and which will
+bring you to the gods. When you read but two pages in this you will
+enchant the heaven, the earth, the abyss, the mountains, and the sea;
+you shall know what the birds of the sky and the crawling things are
+saying; you shall see the fishes of the deep, for a divine power is
+there to bring them up out of the depth. And when you read the second
+page, if you are in the world of ghosts, you will become again in the
+shape you were in on earth. You will see the sun shining in the sky,
+with all the gods, and the full moon.'
+
+"And Na.nefer.ka.ptah said, 'By the life of the king! Tell me of
+anything you want done and I'll do it for you, if you will only send me
+where this book is.' And the priest answered Na.nefer.ka.ptah, 'If you
+want to go to the place where the book is, you must give me a hundred
+pieces of silver for my funeral, and provide that they shall bury me as
+a rich priest.' So Na.nefer.ka.ptah called his lad and told him to give
+the priest a hundred pieces of silver; and he made them do as he wished,
+even everything that he asked for. Then the priest said to
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, 'This book is in the middle of the river at Koptos, in
+an iron box; in the iron box is a bronze box; in the bronze box is a
+sycamore box; in the sycamore box is an ivory and ebony box; in the
+ivory and ebony box is a silver box; in the silver box is a golden box,
+and in that is the book. It is twisted all round with snakes and
+scorpions and all the other crawling things around the box in which the
+book is; and there is a deathless snake by the box.' And when the priest
+told Na.nefer.ka.ptah, he did not know where on earth he was, he was so
+much delighted.
+
+"And when he came from the temple he told me all that had happened to
+him. And he said, 'I shall go to Koptos, for I must fetch this book; I
+will not stay any longer in the north.' And I said, 'Let me dissuade
+you, for you prepare sorrow and you will bring me into trouble in the
+Thebaid.' And I laid my hand on Na.nefer.ka.ptah, to keep him from going
+to Koptos, but he would not listen to me; and he went to the king, and
+told the king all that the priest had said. The king asked him, 'What is
+it that you want?' and he replied, 'Let them give me the royal boat with
+its belongings, for I will go to the south with Ahura and her little boy
+Mer-ab, and fetch this book without delay.' So they gave him the royal
+boat with its belongings, and we went with him to the haven, and sailed
+from there up to Koptos.
+
+"Then the priests of Isis of Koptos, and the high priest of Isis, came
+down to us without waiting, to meet Na.nefer.ka.ptah, and their wives
+also came to me. We went into the temple of Isis and Harpokrates; and
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah brought an ox, a goose, and some wine, and made a
+burnt-offering and a drink-offering before Isis of Koptos and
+Harpokrates. They brought us to a very fine house, with all good things;
+and Na.nefer.ka.ptah spent four days there and feasted with the priests
+of Isis of Koptos, and the wives of the priests of Isis also made
+holiday with me.
+
+"And the morning of the fifth day came; and Na.nefer.ka.ptah called a
+priest to him, and made a magic cabin that was full of men and tackle.
+He put the spell upon it, and put life in it, and gave them breath, and
+sank it in the water. He filled the royal boat with sand, and took leave
+of me, and sailed from the haven: and I sat by the river at Koptos that
+I might see what would become of him. And he said, 'Workmen, work for
+me, even at the place where the book is.' And they toiled by night and
+by day; and when they had reached it in three days, he threw the sand
+out, and made a shoal in the river. And then he found on it entwined
+serpents and scorpions and all kinds of crawling things around the box
+in which the book was; and by it he found a deathless snake around the
+box. And he laid the spell upon the entwined serpents and scorpions and
+all kinds of crawling things which were around the box, that they should
+not come out. And he went to the deathless snake, and fought with
+him, and killed him; but he came to life again, and took a new form. He
+then fought again with him a second time; but he came to life again, and
+took a third form. He then cut him in two parts, and put sand
+between the parts, that he should not appear again.
+
+"Na.nefer.ka.ptah then went to the place where he found the box. He
+uncovered a box of iron, and opened it; he found then a box of bronze,
+and opened that; then he found a box of sycamore wood, and opened that;
+again, he found a box of ivory and ebony, and opened that; yet, he found
+a box of silver, and opened that; and then he found a box of gold; he
+opened that, and found the book in it. He took the book from the golden
+box, and read a page of spells from it. He enchanted the heaven and the
+earth, the abyss, the mountains, and the sea; he knew what the birds of
+the sky, the fish of the deep, and the beasts of the hills all said. He
+read another page of the spells, and saw the sun shining in the sky,
+with all the gods, the full moon, and the stars in their shapes; he saw
+the fishes of the deep, for a divine power was present that brought them
+up from the water. He then read the spell upon the workmen that he had
+made, and taken from the haven, and said to them, 'Work for me, back to
+the place from which I came.' And they toiled night and day, and so he
+came back to the place where I sat by the river of Koptos; I had not
+drunk nor eaten anything, and had done nothing on earth, but sat like
+one who is gone to the grave.
+
+"I then told Na.nefer.ka.ptah that I wished to see this book, for which
+we had taken so much trouble. He gave the book into my hands; and when I
+read a page of the spells in it I also enchanted heaven and earth, the
+abyss, the mountains, and the sea; I also knew what the birds of the
+sky, the fishes of the deep, and the beasts of the hills all said. I
+read another page of the spells, and I saw the sun shining in the sky
+with all the gods, the full moon, and the stars in their shapes; I saw
+the fishes of the deep, for a divine power was present that brought them
+up from the water. As I could not write, I asked Na.nefer.ka.ptah, who
+was a good writer, and a very learned one; he called for a new piece of
+papyrus, and wrote on it all that was in the book before him. He dipped
+it in beer, and washed it off in the liquid; for he knew that if it were
+washed off, and he drank it, he would know all that there was in the
+writing.
+
+"We returned back to Koptos the same day, and made a feast before Isis
+of Koptos and Harpokrates. We then went to the haven and sailed, and
+went northward of Koptos. And as we went on Thoth discovered all that
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah had done with the book; and Thoth hastened to tell Ra,
+and said, 'Now know that my book and my revelation are with
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, son of the King Mer.neb.ptah. He has forced himself
+into my place, and robbed it, and seized my box with the writings, and
+killed my guards who protected it.' And Ra replied to him, 'He is before
+you, take him and all his kin.'He sent a power from heaven with the
+command, 'Do not let Na.nefer.ka.ptah return safe to Memphis with all
+his kin.' And after this hour, the little boy Mer-ab, going out from the
+awning of the royal boat, fell into the river: he called on Ra, and
+everybody who was on the bank raised a cry. Na.nefer.ka.ptah went out of
+the cabin, and read the spell over him; he brought his body up because a
+divine power brought him to the surface. He read another spell over him,
+and made him tell of all what happened to him, and of what Thoth had
+said before Ra.
+
+"We turned back with him to Koptos. We brought him to the Good House, we
+fetched the people to him, and made one embalm him; and we buried him in
+his coffin in the cemetery of Koptos like a great and noble person.
+
+"And Na.nefer.ka.ptah, my brother, said, 'Let us go down, let us not
+delay, for the king has not yet heard of what has happened to him, and
+his heart will be sad about it.' So we went to the haven, we sailed, and
+did not stay to the north of Koptos. When we were come to the place
+where the little boy Mer-ab had fallen in the water, I went out from the
+awning of the royal boat, and I fell into the river. They called
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, and he came out from the cabin of the royal boat; he
+read a spell over me, and brought my body up, because a divine power
+brought me to the surface. He drew me out, and read the spell over me,
+and made me tell him of all that had happened to me, and of what Thoth
+had said before Ra.  Then he turned back with me to Koptos, he brought
+me to the Good House, he fetched the people to me, and made one embalm
+me, as great and noble people are buried, and laid me in the tomb where
+Mer-ab my young child was.
+
+"He turned to the haven, and sailed down, and delayed not in the north
+of Koptos. When he was come to the place where we fell into the river,
+he said to his heart, 'Shall I not better turn back again to Koptos,
+that I may lie by them? For, if not, when I go down to Memphis, and the
+king asks after his children, what shall I say to him? Can I tell him,
+"I have taken your children to the Thebaid, and killed them, while I
+remained alive, and I have come to Memphis still alive"?' Then he made
+them bring him a linen cloth of striped byssus; he made a band, and
+bound the book firmly, and tied it upon him. Na.nefer.ka.ptah then went
+out of the awning of the royal boat and fell into the river. He cried on
+Ra; and all those who were on the bank made an outcry, saying, 'Great
+woe! Sad woe! Is he lost, that good scribe and able man that has no
+equal?'
+
+"The royal boat went on, without any one on earth knowing where
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah was. It went on to Memphis, and they told all this to
+the king. Then the king went down to the royal boat in mourning, and all
+the soldiers and high priests and priests of Ptah were in mourning, and
+all the officials and courtiers. And when he saw Na.nefer.ka.ptah, who
+was in the inner cabin of the royal boat--from his rank of high
+scribe--he lifted him up. And they saw the book by him; and the king
+said, 'Let one hide this book that is with him.' And the officers of the
+king, the priests of Ptah, and the high priest of Ptah, said to the
+king, 'Our Lord, may the king live as long as the sun! Na.nefer.ka.ptah
+was a good scribe, and a very skilful man.' And the king had him laid in
+his Good House to the sixteenth day, and then had him wrapped to the
+thirty-fifth day, and laid him out to the seventieth day, and then had
+him put in his grave in his resting-place.
+
+"I have now told you the sorrow which has come upon us because of this
+book for which you ask, saying, 'Let it be given to me.' You have no
+claim to it; and, indeed, for the sake of it, we have given up our life
+on earth."
+
+And Setna said to Ahura, "Give me the book which I see between you and
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah; for if you do not I will take it by force." Then
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah rose from his seat and said, "Are you Setna, to whom
+my wife has told of all these blows of fate, which you have not
+suffered? Can you take this book by your skill as a good scribe? If,
+indeed, you can play games with me, let us play a game, then, of 52
+points." And Setna said, "I am ready," and the board and its pieces were
+put before him. And Na.nefer.ka.ptah won a game from Setna; and he put
+the spell upon him, and defended himself with the game board that was
+before him, and sunk him into the ground above his feet. He did the same
+at the second game, and won it from Setna, and sunk him into the ground
+to his waist.
+
+He did the same at the third game, and made him sink into the ground up
+to his ears. Then Setna struck Na.nefer.ka.ptah a great blow with his
+hand. And Setna called his brother An.he.hor.eru and said to him,
+
+"Make haste and go up upon earth, and tell the king all that has
+happened to me, and bring me the talisman of my father Ptah, and my
+magic books."
+
+And he hurried up upon earth, and told the king all that had happened to
+Setna. The king said, "Bring him the talisman of his father Ptah, and
+his magic books." And An.he.hor.eru hurried down into the tomb; he laid
+the talisman on Setna, and he sprang up again immediately. And then
+Setna reached out his hand for the book, and took it. Then--as Setna
+went out from the tomb--there went a Light before him, and Darkness
+behind him. And Ahura wept at him, and she said, "Glory to the King of
+Darkness! Hail to the King of Light! all power is gone from the tomb."
+But Na.nefer.ka.ptah said to Ahura, "Do not let your heart be sad; I
+will make him bring back this book, with a forked stick in his hand, and
+a fire-pan on his head." And Setna went out from the tomb, and it closed
+behind him as it was before.
+
+Then Setna went to the king, and told him everything that had happened
+to him with the book. And the king said to Setna, "Take back the book to
+the grave of Na.nefer.ka.ptah, like a prudent man, or else he will make
+you bring it with a forked stick in your hand, and a fire-pan on your
+head." But Setna would not listen to him; and when Setna had unrolled
+the book he did nothing on earth but read it to everybody.
+
+[Here follows a story of how Setna, walking in the court of the temple
+of Ptah, met Tabubua, a fascinating girl, daughter of a priest of Bast,
+of Ankhtaui; how she repelled his advances, until she had beguiled him
+into giving up all his possessions, and slaying his children. At the
+last she gives a fearful cry and vanishes, leaving Setna bereft of even
+his clothes. This would seem to be merely a dream, by the disappearance
+of Tabubua, and by Setna finding his children alive after it all; but on
+the other hand he comes to his senses in an unknown place, and is so
+terrified as to be quite ready to make restitution to Na.nefer.ka.ptah.
+The episode, which is not creditable to Egyptian society, seems to be
+intended for one of the vivid dreams which the credulous readily accept
+as half realities.]
+
+So Setna went to Memphis, and embraced his children for that they were
+alive. And the king said to him, "Were you not drunk to do so?" Then
+Setna told all things that had happened with Tabubua and
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah. And the king said, "Setna, I have already lifted up my
+hand against you before, and said, 'He will kill you if you do not take
+back the book to the place you took it from.' But you have never
+listened to me till this hour. Now, then, take the book to
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, with a forked stick in your hand, and a fire-pan on
+your head."
+
+So Setna went out from before the king, with a forked stick in his hand,
+and a fire-pan on his head. He went down to the tomb in which was
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah.  And Ahura said to him, "It is Ptah, the great god,
+that has brought you back safe." Na.nefer.ka.ptah laughed, and he said,
+"This is the business that I told you before." And when Setna had
+praised Na.nefer.ka.ptah, he found it as the proverb says, "The sun was
+in the whole tomb." And Ahura and Na.nefer.ka.ptah besought Setna
+greatly. And Setna said, "Na.nefer.ka.ptah, is it aught disgraceful
+(that you lay on me to do)?" And Na.nefer.ka.ptah said, "Setna, you know
+this, that Ahura and Mer-ab, her child, behold! they are in Koptos;
+bring them here into this tomb, by the skill of a good scribe. Let it be
+impressed upon you to take pains, and to go to Koptos to bring them
+here." Setna then went out from the tomb to the king, and told the king
+all that Na.nefer.ka.ptah had told him.
+
+The king said, "Setna, go to Koptos and bring back Ahura and Mer-ab." He
+answered the king, "Let one give me the royal boat and its belongings."
+And they gave him the royal boat and its belongings, and he left the
+haven, and sailed without stopping till he came to Koptos.
+
+And they made this known to the priests of Isis at Koptos and to the
+high priest of Isis; and behold they came down to him, and gave him
+their hand to the shore. He went up with them and entered into the
+temple of Isis of Koptos and of Harpo-krates. He ordered one to offer
+for him an ox, a goose, and some wine, and he made a burnt-offering and
+a drink-offering before Isis of Koptos and Harpokrates. He went to the
+cemetery of Koptos with the priests of Isis and the high priest of Isis.
+They dug about for three days and three nights, for they searched even
+in all the catacombs which were in the cemetery of Koptos; they turned
+over the steles of the scribes of the "double house of life," and read
+the inscriptions that they found on them. But they could not find the
+resting-place of Ahura and Mer-ab.
+
+Now Na.nefer.ka.ptah perceived that they could not find the
+resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab. So he raised himself up as
+a venerable, very old, ancient, and came before Setna. And Setna saw
+him, and Setna said to the ancient, "You look like a very old man, do
+you know where is the resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab?"
+The ancient said to Setna, "It was told by the father of the father of
+my father to the father of my father, and the father of my father has
+told it to my father; the resting-place of Ahura and of her child Mer-ab
+is in a mound south of the town of Pehemato (?)" And Setna said to the
+ancient, "Perhaps we may do damage to Pehemato, and you are ready to
+lead one to the town for the sake of that." The ancient replied to
+Setna, "If one listens to me, shall he therefore destroy the town of
+Pehemato! If they do not find Ahura and her child Mer-ab under the south
+corner of their town may I be disgraced." They attended to the ancient,
+and found the resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab under the
+south corner of the town of Pehemato. Setna laid them in the royal boat
+to bring them as honoured persons, and restored the town of Pehemato as
+it originally was. And Na.nefer.ka.ptah made Setna to know that it was
+he who had come to Koptos, to enable them to find out where the
+resting-place was of Ahura and her child Mer-ab.
+
+So Setna left the haven in the royal boat, and sailed without stopping,
+and reached Memphis with all the soldiers who were with him. And when
+they told the king he came down to the royal boat. He took them as
+honoured persons escorted to the catacombs, in which Na.nefer.ka.ptah
+was, and smoothed down the ground over them.
+
+_This is the completed writing of the tale of Setna Kha.em.uast, and
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, and his wife Ahura, and their Mid Mer-ab. It was
+written in the 35th year, the month Tybi._
+
+
+
+
+REMARKS
+
+
+This tale of Setna only exists in one copy, a demotic papyrus in the
+Ghizeh Museum. The demotic was published in facsimile by Mariette in
+1871, among "Les Papyrus du Musee de Boulaq;" and it has been
+translated by Brugsch, Revillout, Maspero, and Hess. The last
+version--"Der Demotische Roman von Stne Ha-m-us, von J. J. Hess"--being
+a full study of the text with discussion and glossary, has been followed
+here; while the interpretation of Maspero has also been kept in view in
+the rendering of obscure passages.
+
+Unhappily the opening of this tale is lost, and I have therefore
+restored it by a recital of the circumstances which are referred to in
+what remains. Nothing has been introduced which is not necessarily
+involved or stated in the existing text. The limit of this restoration
+is marked by ]; the papyrus beginning with the words, "It is you who are
+not dealing rightly with me."
+
+The construction is complicated by the mixture of times and persons; and
+we must remember that it was written in the Ptolemaic period concerning
+an age long past. It stood to the author much as Tennyson's "Harold"
+stands to us, referring to an historical age, without too strict a tie
+to facts and details. Five different acts, as we may call them, succeed
+one another. In the first act--which is entirely lost, and here only
+outlined--the circumstances which led Setna of the XIXth Dynasty to
+search for the magic book must have been related. In the second act
+Ahura recites the long history of herself and family, to deter Setna
+from his purpose. This act is a complete tale by itself, and belongs to
+a time some generations before Setna; it is here supposed to belong to
+the time of Amenhotep III., in the details of costume adopted for
+illustration. The third act is Setna's struggle as a rival magician to
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, from which he finally comes off victorious by his
+brother's use of a talisman, and so secures possession of the coveted
+magic book. The fourth act--which I have here only summarised--shows how
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah resorts to a bewitchment of Setna by a sprite, by
+subjection to whom he loses his magic power. The fifth act shows Setna
+as subjected to Na.nefer.ka.ptah, and ordered by him to bring the bodies
+of his wife and child to Memphis into his tomb.
+
+While, therefore, the sentimental climax of the tale--the restoration of
+the unity of the family in one tomb--belongs to persons of the XVIIIth
+Dynasty, the action of the tale is entirely of the XIXth Dynasty, for
+what happened in the XVIIIth Dynasty (second act) is all related in the
+XIXth. And the actual composition of it belongs to Ptolemaic times, not
+only on the evidence of the manuscript, but also of the language; this
+being certified by the importance of Isis and Horus at Koptos, which is
+essentially a late worship there.
+
+Turning now to the details, we may note that the statement that Setna
+Kha.em.uast was a son of User.maat.ra (or Ramessu II.) occurs in the
+fourth act which is here only summarised. Among the sons of Ramessu
+historically known, the Prince Kha.em.uast (or "Glory-in-Thebes") was
+the most important; he appears to have been the eldest son, exercising
+the highest offices during his father's life. That the succession fell
+on the thirteenth son, Mer.en.ptah, was doubtless due to the elder sons
+having died during the preternaturally long reign of Ramessu.
+
+The other main personage here is Na.nefer.ka.ptah (or "Excellent is the
+_ka_ of Ptah"), who is said to be the son of a King Mer.neb.ptah. No
+such name is known among historical kings; and it is probably a popular
+corruption or abbreviation. It was pronounced Minibptah, the r being
+dropped in early times. It would seem most like Mine-ptah or
+Mer.en.ptah, the son and successor of Ramessu II.; but as the date of
+Mer.neb.ptah is supposed to be some generations before that, such a
+supposition would involve a great confusion on the scribes' part.
+Another possibility is that it represents Amenhotep III.,
+Neb.maat.ra.mer.ptah, pronounced as Nimu-rimiptah, which might be
+shortened to Neb. mer.ptah or Mer.neb.ptah. Such a time would well suit
+the tale, and that reign has been adopted here in fixing the style of
+the dress of Ahura and her family.
+
+This tale shows how far the _ka_ or double might wander from its body or
+tomb. Here Ahura and her child lie buried at Koptos, while her husband's
+tomb is at Memphis. But that does not separate them in death; her _ka_
+left her tomb and went down to Memphis to live with the _ka_ of her
+husband in his tomb. Thus, when Setna forces the tomb of
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, he finds Ahura seated by him with the precious magic
+roll between them and the child Mer-ab; and the voluble Ahura recounts
+all their history, and weeps when the roll is carried away by Setna. Yet
+all the time her body is at Koptos, and the penalty imposed on Setna is
+that of bringing her body to the tomb where her _ka_ already was
+dwelling. If a _ka_ could thus wander so many hundred miles from its
+body to gratify its affections, it would doubtless run some risks of
+starving, or having to put up with impure food; or might even lose its
+way, and rather than intrude on the wrong tomb, have to roam as a
+vagabond _ka._ It was to guard against these misfortunes that a supply
+of formulas were provided for it, by which it should obtain a guarantee
+against such misfortunes--a kind of spiritual directory or guide to the
+unprotected; and such formulas, when once accepted as valid, were
+copied, repeated, enlarged, and added to, until they became the complex
+and elaborate work--The Book of the Dead, Perhaps nothing else
+gives such a view of the action of the _ka_ as this tale of Setna.
+
+There is here also an insight into the arrangement of marriages in
+Egypt. It does not seem that anything was determined about a marriage
+during childhood; it is only when the children are full-grown that a
+dispute arises between the king and queen as to their disposal. But the
+parents decide the whole question. It is, of course, well known that the
+Egyptians had no laws against consanguinity in marriages; on the
+contrary, it was with them, as with the Persians, essential for a king
+to marry in the royal family, and also usual for private persons to
+marry in their family. Even to the present day in Egypt, although
+sister-marriage has disappeared, yet it is the duty of a man to marry
+his first cousin or some one in the family. The very idea of
+relationship being any possible impediment to marriage was un-thought of
+by the Egyptian; his favourite concrete expression for a self-existent
+or self-created being--"husband of his mother "--shows this unmistakably.
+
+The objection made by the king to the marriage of Na.nefer.ka.ptah and
+Ahura turns on the point that he has only these two children, and hence,
+if they marry the children of the generals, there will be two families
+instead of only one to ensure future posterity. The queen, however,
+talks the king over on the matter. The cause of Ahura's being troubled
+at the feast is not certain, but the king evidently supposes that she
+has been pleading to be allowed to marry her beloved brother, and when
+taxed with it she only expresses her willingness to give way to his
+exogamic views. The brief sentence, "I laughed and the king laughed,"
+seems to mean that she pleased and amused her father so that he gave
+way, and immediately told the steward to arrange for her marriage as she
+desired. I have here abbreviated a few needlessly precise details. We
+also learn, by the way, that there was a regular registry of births, in
+which Mer-ab was entered.
+
+It appears that the court was considered to be at Memphis, and not at
+Thebes. This would not have been so arranged had this been written in
+the Ramesside times, but under the Ptolemies Memphis was the seat of the
+court--when not at Alexandria. The name of the priest, Nesi-ptah, also
+shows another anachronism. Such a name was not usual till some time
+after the XIXth Dynasty. Another touch of late times is in the
+antiquarian curiosity of Na.nefer.ka.ptah about ancient writings, "He
+did nothing on earth but read the writings that are in the catacombs of
+the kings, and the tablets of the House of Life." In the XIXth Dynasty
+there is no sign of interest in such records, but in the Renascence
+ancient things came into fashion, all the old titles were revived, the
+old style was copied, and very long genealogies were worked up and
+carved in the inscriptions. In such an age many a _dilettante_ rich
+young man would amuse himself, as in this tale, with reading inscriptions
+and hunting up his family genealogy from the tombstones and the registers.
+
+The firm belief in magic which underlies all this tale might perhaps be
+thought to be inappropriate to the enlightenment of Greek times. We have
+seen how in the earliest tales magic is a mainspring of the action, and
+it is at first sight surprising that its sway should last through so
+many thousands of years. But there may well have been a recrudescence of
+such beliefs, along with the revival of interest in the earlier history.
+The enormous spread and popularity of Gnosticism--the belief in the
+efficacy of words and formulas to control spirits and their actions--in
+the centuries immediately after this, shows how ingrained magic ideas
+were, and how ready to sprout up when the counterbalancing interests of
+the old mythology were gone, and their place taken by the intangible
+spirituality of Platonism and the early Christian atmosphere.
+
+A most Egyptian turn is given where the priest bargains for a large
+payment for his funeral, and to be buried as a rich priest. The
+enclosing of the magic roll in a series of boxes has many parallels. In
+an Indian tale we read: "Round the tree are tigers and bears and
+scorpions and snakes; on the top of the tree is a very fat great snake;
+on his head is a little cage; in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in
+that bird" ("Golden Bough," ii. 300). In Celtic tales the series-idea
+also occurs. The soul of a giant is in an egg, the egg is in a dove, the
+dove is in a hare, the hare is in a wolf, and the wolf is in an iron
+chest at the bottom of the sea ("Golden Bough," ii. 314). The Tartars
+have stories of a golden casket containing the soul, inside a copper or
+silver casket ("Golden Bough," ii. 324). And the Arabs tell of a soul
+put in the crop of a sparrow, and the sparrow in a little box, and this
+in another small box, and this put into seven other boxes, and these in
+seven chests, and the chest in a coffer of marble ("Golden 10
+Bough," ii. 318). The notion, therefore, of a series of boxes, one
+enclosing another, and the whole guarded by dangerous animals, is well
+known as an element in tales. The late date is here shown by the largest
+and least precious of the boxes being of iron, which was rarely, if
+ever, used in Ramesside times, and was not common till the Greek age.
+
+The magic engineering of Na.nefer.ka. ptah is very curious. The cabin or
+air-chamber of men in model, who are let down to work for him, suggests
+that Egyptians may have used the principle of a diving-bell or
+air-chamber for reaching parts under water. Certainly the device of
+raising things by dropping down sand to be put under them is still
+practised. An immense sarcophagus at Gizeh was raised from a deep well
+by natives who thrust sand under it rammed tight by a stick, and by this
+simple kind of hydraulic press raised it a hundred feet to the surface.
+In this way the magic men of Na.nefer.ka.ptah raised up the chest when
+they had discovered it by means of the sand which he poured over from
+the boat.
+
+There is some picturesqueness in this tale, though it has not the charm
+of the earlier compositions. The scene of Ahura sitting for three days
+and nights, during the combat, watching by the side of the river, where
+she "had not drunk or eaten anything, and had done nothing on earth but
+sat like one who is gone to the grave," is a touching detail.
+
+The light on the education of women is curious. Ahura can read the roll,
+but she cannot write. We are so accustomed to regard reading and writing
+as all one subject that the distinction is rare; but with a writing
+comprising so many hundred signs as the Egyptian, the art of writing or
+draw-Ing all the forms, and knowing which to use, is far more complex
+than that of reading. There are now ten students who can read an
+inscription for one who could compose it correctly. Here a woman of the
+highest rank is supposed to be able to read, but not to write; that is
+reserved for the skill of "a good writer, and a very learned one."
+
+The writing of spells and then washing the ink off and drinking it is a
+familiar idea in the East. Modern Egyptian bowls have charms engraved on
+them to be imparted to the drink, and ancient Babylonian bowls are
+inscribed with the like purpose.
+
+An insight into the powers of the gods is here given us. The Egyptian
+did not attribute to them omniscience. Thoth only discovered what
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah had done as they were sailing away, some days after the
+seizure of the book. And even Ra is informed by the complaint of Thoth.
+If Ra were the physical sun it would be obvious that he would see all
+that was being done on earth; it would rather be he who would inform
+Thoth. The conception of the gods must therefore have been not
+pantheistic or materialist, but solely as spiritual powers who needed to
+obtain information, and who only could act through intermediaries.
+Further, nothing can be done without the consent of Ra; Thoth is
+powerless over men, and can only ask Ra, as a sort of universal
+magistrate, to take notice of the offence. Neither god acts directly,
+but by means of a power or angel, who takes the commission to work on
+men. How far this police-court conception of the gods is due to Greek or
+foreign influence can hardly be estimated yet. It certainly does not
+seem in accord with the earlier appeals to Ra, and direct action of Ra,
+in "Anpu and Bata."
+
+The power of spells is limited, as we have just seen the abilities of
+the gods were limited. The most powerful of spells, the magic book of
+Thoth himself, cannot restore life to a person just drowned. All that
+Na. nefer.ka.ptah can do with the spell is to cause the body to float
+and to speak, but it remains so truly dead that it is buried as if no
+spell had been used. Now it was recognised that the _ka_ could move
+about and speak to living persons, as Ahura does to Setna. Hence all
+that the spells do is not to alter the course of nature, but only to put
+the person into touch and communication with the ever-present
+supernatural, to enable him to know what the birds, the fishes, and the
+beasts all said, and to see the unseen.
+
+Modern conceptions of the spiritual are so bound up with the sense of
+omnipresence and omniscience that we are apt to read those ideas into
+the gods and the magic of the ancients. Here we have to deal with gods
+who have to obtain information, and who order powers to act for them,
+with spells which extend the senses to the unseen, but which do not
+affect natural results and changes.
+
+The inexorable fate in this tale which brings one after another of the
+family to die in the same spot is not due to Greek influence, though it
+seems akin to that. In the irrepressible transmigrations of Bata, and
+the successive risks of the Doomed Prince, the same ideas are seen
+working in the Egyptian mind. The remorse of Na.nefer.ka.ptah is a
+stronger touch of conscience and of shame than is seen in early times.
+
+There is an unexplained point in the action as to how Na.nefer.ka.ptah,
+with the book upon him, comes up from the water, after he is drowned,
+into the cabin of the royal boat. The narrator had a difficulty to
+account for the recovery of the body without the use of the magic book,
+and so that stage is left unnoticed. The successive stages of embalming
+and mourning are detailed. The sixteen days in the Good House is
+probably the period of treatment of the body, the time up to the
+thirty-fifth day that of wrapping and decoration of the mummy
+cartonnage, and then the thirty-five days more of lying in state until
+the burial.
+
+We now reach the third act, of Setna's struggle to get the magic roll.
+Here the strange episode comes in of the rival magicians gambling; it
+recalls the old tale of Rampsinitus descending into Hades and playing at
+dice with Ceres, and the frequent presence of draught-boards in the
+tombs, shows how much the _ka_ was supposed to relish such pleasures.
+The regular Egyptian game-board had three rows of ten squares, or thirty
+in all. Such are found from the XIIth Dynasty down to Greek times; but
+this form has now entirely disappeared, and the _man-galah_ of two rows
+of six holes, or the _tab_ of four rows of nine holes, have taken its
+place. Both of these are side games, where different sides belong to
+opposite players. The commoner _siga_ is a square game, five rows of
+five, or seven rows of seven holes, and has no personal sides. The
+ancient game was played with two, or perhaps three, different kinds of
+men, and the squares were counted from one end along the outer edge; but
+what the rules were, or how a game of fifty-two points was managed, has
+not yet been explained.
+
+The strange scene of Setna being sunk into the ground portion by
+portion, as he loses successive games, is parallel to a mysterious story
+among the dervishes in Palestine. They tell how the three holy shekhs of
+the Dervish orders, Bedawi, Erfa'i, and Desuki, went in succession to
+Baghdad to ask for a jar of water of Paradise from the Derwisha Bint
+Bari, who seems to be a sky-genius, controlling the meteors. The last
+applicant, Desuki, was refused like the others; so he said, "Earth!
+swallow her," and the earth swallowed her to her knees; still she gave
+not the water, so he commanded the earth, and she was swallowed to her
+waist; a third time she refused, and she was swallowed to her breasts;
+she then asked him to marry her, which he would not; a fourth time she
+refused the water and was swallowed to her neck. She then ordered a
+servant to bring the water ("Palestine Exploration Statement, 1894," p.
+32). The resemblance is most remarkable in two tales two thousand years
+apart; and the incident of Bint Bari asking the dervish to marry her has
+its connection with this tale. Had the dervish done so he
+would--according to Eastern beliefs--have lost his magic power over her,
+just as Setna loses his magic power by his alliance with Tabubua, to
+which he is tempted by Na.nefer.ka.ptah, in order to subdue him. The
+talisman here is a means of subduing magic powers, and is of more force
+than that of Thoth, as Ptah is greater than he.
+
+The fourth act recounts the overcoming of the power of Setna by
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah, who causes Tabubua to lead to the loss of his superior
+magic, and thus to subdue him to the magic of his rival. Ankhtaui, here
+named as the place of Tabubua, was a quarter of Memphis, which is also
+named as the place of the wife of Uba-aner in the first tale.
+
+The fifth act describes the victory of Na.nefer.ka.ptah, and his
+requiring Setna to reunite the family in his tomb at Memphis. The
+contrast between Ahura's pious ascription to Ptah, and her husband's
+chuckle at seeing his magic successful, is remarkable. Setna at once
+takes the position of an inferior by addressing praises to
+Na.nefer.ka.ptah: after which the tomb became bright as it was before he
+took away the magic roll. Setna then having made restitution, is
+required to give some compensation as well.
+
+The search for the tomb of Ahura and Mer-ab is a most tantalising
+passage. The great cemetery of Koptos is the scene, and the search
+occupies three days and nights in the catacombs and on the steles.
+Further, the tomb was at the south corner of the town of Pehemato, as
+Maspero doubtfully reads it. Yet this cemetery is now quite unknown, and
+in spite of all the searching of the native dealers, and the examination
+which I have made on the desert of both sides of the Nile, it is a
+mystery where the cemetery can be. The statement that the tomb was at
+the south corner of a town pretty well excludes it from the desert,
+which runs north and south there. And it seems as if it might have been
+in some raised land in the plain, like the spur or shoal on which the
+town of Koptos was built. If so it would have been covered by the ten to
+twenty feet rise of the Nile deposits since the time of its former use.
+
+The appearance of the ancient to guide Setna gives some idea of the time
+that elapsed between then and the death of Ahura. The ancient, who must
+be allowed to represent two or three generations, says that his
+great-grandfather knew of the burial, which would take it back to five
+or six generations. This would place the death of Ahura about 150 years
+before the latter part of the reign of Ramessu II., say 1225 B.C.: thus,
+being taken back to about 1375 B.C., would make her belong to the
+generation after Amenhotep III., agreeing well with Mer.neb. ptah, being
+a corruption of the name of that king. No argument could be founded on
+so slight a basis; but at least there is no contradiction in the slight
+indications which we can glean.
+
+The fear of Setna is that this apparition may have come to bring him
+into trouble by leading him to attack some property in this town; and
+Setna is particularly said to have restored the ground as it was before,
+after removing the bodies.
+
+The colophon at the end is unhappily rather illegible. But the
+thirty-fifth year precludes its belonging to the reign of any Ptolemy,
+except the IInd or the VIIIth; and by the writing Maspero attributes it
+to the earlier of these reigns.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Egyptian Tales, Second Series
+by W. M. Flinders Petrie
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EGYPTIAN TALES, SECOND SERIES ***
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