We were the two children of the King Merneptah, and he loved us very much, for he had
no others; and Naneferkaptah was in his palace as heir over all the land. And when we were
grown, the king said to the queen, "I will marry Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah tonight, and
all kinds of good things with her." So they brought me as a wife to the house of
Naneferkaptah; and the king ordered them to give me presents of silver and gold, and
things from the palace.
And Naneferkaptah 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 Merab, and registered him in the book of the "House of
Life."
And when my brother Naneferkaptah went to the cemetery of Memphis, he did nothing on
earth but read the writings that are in the catacombs of the kings and on 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 Nesiptah; and as
Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah 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 that 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 Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah, "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 Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah, "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 Naneferkaptah, 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 Naneferkaptah, 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 Merab, 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 Naneferkaptah, and their wives also came to me. We went into the
temple of Isis and Harpokrates; and Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah 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
into 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 would 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.
Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah 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
Naneferkaptah, 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 went 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 Naneferkaptah had done with the book; and Thoth
hastened to tell Ra, and said, "Now, know that my book and my revelation are with
Naneferkaptah, son of the King Merneptah. 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 Naneferkaptah return safe to Memphis with
all his kin." And after this hour, the little boy Merab, 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. Naneferkaptah went out of the cabin, and read the spell over him; he brought
the body up because a divine power brought him to the surface. He read another spell over
him, and made him tell of all that 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 Naneferkaptah, 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 Merab had fallen into the water, I
went out from the awning of the royal boat, and I fell into the river. They called
Naneferkaptah, 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 Merab my young child was.
He turned to the haven, and sailed down, and delayed not in the northof 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.
Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah 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 Naneferkaptah, 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! Naneferkaptah was
a good scribe and a very skillful 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.
