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
One day, when King Khufu reigned over all the land, he said to his
chancellor, who stood before him, “Go call me my sons and my councillors,
that I may ask of them a thing.” And his sons and his councillors came and
stood before him, and he said to them, “Know ye a man who can tell me
tales of the deeds of the magicians?”
Then the royal son Khafra stood forth and said, “I will tell thy Majesty a
tale of the days of thy forefather Nebka, the blessed; of what came to
pass when he went into the temple of Ptah of Ankhtaui.”
Khafra’s Tale
“His Majesty was walking unto the temple of Ptah, and went unto the house
of the chief reciter Uba-aner, with his train. Now when the wife of
Uba-aner saw a page, among those who stood behind the King, her heart
longed after him; and she sent her servant unto him, with a present of a
box full of garments.
“And he came then with the servant. Now there was a lodge in the garden of
Uba-aner; and one day the page said to the wife of Uba-aner, ‘In the
garden of Uba-aner there is now a lodge; behold, let us therein take our
pleasure.’ So the wife of Uba-aner sent to the steward who had charge over
the garden, saying, ‘Let the lodge which is in the garden be made ready.’
And she remained there, and rested and drank with the page until the sun
went down.
“And when the even was now come the page went forth to bathe. And the
steward said, ‘I must go and tell Uba-aner of this matter.’ Now when this
day was past, and another day came, then went the steward to Uba-aner, and
told him of all these things.
“Then said Uba-aner, ‘Bring me my casket of ebony and electrum.’ And they
brought it; and he fashioned a crocodile of wax, seven fingers long: and
he enchanted it, and said, ‘When the page comes and bathes in my lake,
seize on him.’ And he gave it to the steward, and said to him, ‘When the
page shall go down into the lake to bathe, as he is daily wont to do, then
throw in this crocodile behind him.’ And the steward went forth bearing
the crocodile.
“And the wife of Uba-aner sent to the steward who had charge over the
garden, saying, ‘Let the lodge which is in the garden be made ready, for I
come to tarry there.’
“And the lodge was prepared with all good things; and she came and made
merry therein with the page. And when the even was now come, the page went
forth to bathe as he was wont to do. And the steward cast in the wax
crocodile after him into the water; and, behold! it became a great
crocodile seven cubits in length, and it seized on the page.
“And Uba-aner abode yet seven days with the King of Upper and Lower Egypt,
Nebka, the blessed, while the page was stifled in the crocodile. And after
the seven days were passed, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebka, the
blessed, went forth, and Uba-aner went before him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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