Ancient Egyptian legends

								

a rich man, with priests and mourning women, offerings, libations,
and incense.  Then shall my soul rest in peace in the Fields of Aalu.
One hundred pieces of silver must be spent upon my burying."
Then Nefer-ka-ptah sent a fleet messenger to fetch the money, and he
paid one hundred pieces of silver into the priest's hands.  When the
priest had taken the silver, he said to Nefer-ka-ptah:


"The Book is at Koptos in the middle of the river.
In the middle of the river is an iron box,
In the iron box is a bronze box,
In the bronze box is a keté-wood box,
In the keté-wood box is an ivory-and-ebony box,
In the ivory-and-ebony box is a silver box,
In the silver box is a gold box,
And in the gold box is the Book of Thoth.
Round about the great iron box are snakes and scorpions and all
manner of crawling things, and above all there is a snake which no
man can kill.  These are set to guard the Book of Thoth."
When the priest had finished speaking, Nefer-ka-ptah ran out of the
temple, for his joy was so great that he knew not where he was.  He
ran quickly to find Ahura to tell her about the Book and that he
would go to Koptos and find it.
But Ahura was very sorrowful, and said, "Go not on this journey, for
trouble and grief await thee in the Southern Land."
She laid her hand upon Nefer-ka-ptah as though she would hold him
back from the sorrow that awaited him.  But he would not be
restrained, and broke away from her and went to the King his father.
He told the King all that he had learned, and said, "Give me the
royal barge, O my father, that I may go to the Southern Land with my
wife Ahura and my son Merab.  For the Book of Thoth I must and will
have."
So the King gave orders and the royal barge was prepared, and in it
Nefer-ka-ptah, Ahura, and Merab sailed up the river to the Southern
Land as far as Koptos.  When they arrived at Koptos, the high priest
and all the priests of Isis of Koptos came down to the river to
welcome Nefer-ka-ptah, Ahura, and Merab.  And they went in a great
procession to the temple of the Goddess, and Nefer-ka-ptah sacrificed
an ox and a goose and poured a libation of wine to Isis of Koptos and
her son Harpocrates.  After this, the priests of Isis and their wives
made a great feast for four days in honour of Nefer-ka-ptah and Ahura.
On the morning of the fifth day, Nefer-ka-ptah called to him a priest
of Isis, a great magician learned in all the mysteries of the Gods.
And together they made a little magic box, like the cabin of a boat,
and they made men and a great store of tackle, and put the men and
the tackle in the magic cabin.  Then they uttered a spell over the
cabin, and the men breathed and were alive, and began to use the
tackle.  And Nefer-ka-ptah sank the magic cabin in the river, saying,
"Workmen, workmen!  Work for me!"  And he filled the royal barge with
sand and sailed away alone, while Ahura sat on the bank of the river