"The herdsman wading in the mud as he drives his sheep over the fields from which the flood has not yet entirely retreated, says to his flock: 'In the water walks your shepherd with the fishes; with the catfish talketh he; with the fish he changeth greeting.' Another song accompanied the work equivalent to threshing. The ancient Egyptians, like the Israelites, did not use flails, but after scattering the corn on the threshing-floor, they drove oxen over it to tread out the grain. Then was sung with variations: 'Thresh, oh ye oxen! Thresh for yourselves! Oh ye oxen thresh for yourselves! Thresh straw for your fodder, thresh grain for your master. Take ye no rest, cool is the air this day.'"[3] Mythological tales grew out of an attempt to explain natural phenomena--the rising or setting sun, the struggle between light and darkness. All phenomena which attracted sufficient attention furnished material for myths. It has been observed for instance, that certain stars never set, whereas others after performing their courses sank below the horizon. The Egyptians expressed this by the myth of the Crocodile of the West, which fed upon the setting stars. "The sunrise and sunset, alternation of day and night, the solar drama in all its details, furnished the subject of Egyptian mythology. In other countries the sun-god rode in a chariot; in Egypt he rode in a boat. Hence the sky is considered an expanse of water, the Nile being the earthly representative. Seb is the earth, Nut the heaven. Osiris their son, is the sun and is wedded to Isis, the dawn. From their union sprang Horus, the Sun in his full strength. Set the destroyer, is another child of Seb and Nut. He is darkness and weds Nephthys, the Sunset. The contest between Seb and Osiris is the constant subject of mythological story." Traces of these early folk songs and early myths survived in Egyptian literature. The literature of the Middle Empire shows an eager interest in travel. Of the few books that remain from this period several relate adventures in distant parts. Most of the remaining literature belongs to the New Empire. Lyrical and didactic poems, stories, records and documents were then produced in considerable number. It would appear that the Egyptians never wrote a history of their country. Accounts, more or less in detail, cover several reigns, but nothing like a chronological treatise of their development was apparently undertaken. The New Empire knew far less of the Old Empire than we know today.