Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings
Religion
Egyptian Literature: Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings
Egyptian literature -- Translations into English
“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 into 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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