Ancient Egyptian legends

								

second page and he saw the sun shining in the sky, with the full moon
and the stars, and he saw the great shapes of the Gods themselves;
and so strong was the magic that the fishes came up from the darkest
depths of the sea.  So he knew that what the priest had told him was
true.
Then he thought of Ahura waiting for him at Koptos, and he cast a
magic spell upon the men that he had made, saying "Workmen, workmen!
Work for me! and take me back to the place from which I came."  They
toiled day and night till they came to Koptos, and there was Ahura
sitting by the river, having eaten nothing and drunk nothing since
Nefer-ka-ptah went away.  For she sat waiting and watching for the
sorrow that was to come upon them.
But when she saw Nefer-ka-ptah returning in the royal barge, her
heart was glad and she rejoiced exceedingly.  Nefer-ka-ptah came to
her and put the Book of Thoth into her hands and bade her read it.
When she read the first page, she enchanted the sky, the earth, the
abyss, the mountains, and the sea, and she understood the language of
birds, fish, and beasts; and when she read the second page, she saw
the sun shining in the sky, with the full moon and the stars, and she
saw the great shapes of the Gods themselves; and so strong was the
magic that the fishes came up from the darkest depths of the sea.
Nefer-ka-ptah now called for a piece of new papyrus and for a cup of
beer; and on the papyrus he wrote all the spells that were in the
Book of Thoth.  Then he took the cup of beer and washed the papyrus
in the beer, so that all the ink was washed off and the papyrus
became as though it had never been written on.  And Nefer-ka-ptah
drank the beer, and at once he knew all the spells that had been
written on the papyrus, for this is the method of the great magicians.
Then Nefer-ka-ptah and Ahura went to the temple of Isis and gave
offerings to Isis and Harpocrates, and made a great feast, and the
next day they went on board the royal barge and sailed joyfully away
down the river towards the Northern Land.
But behold, Thoth had discovered the loss of his Book, and Thoth
raged like a panther of the South, and he hastened before Ra and told
him all, saying, "Nefer-ka-ptah has found my magic box and opened it,
and has stolen my Book, even the Book of Thoth; he slew the guards
that surrounded it, and the snake that no man can kill lay helpless
before him.  Avenge me, O Ra, upon Nefer-ka-ptah, son of the King of
Egypt."
The Majesty of Ra answered and said, "Take him and his wife and his
child, and do with them as thou wilt."  And now the sorrow for which
Ahura watched and waited was about to come upon them, for Thoth took
with him a Power from Ra to give him his desire upon the stealer of
his Book.
As the royal barge sailed smoothly down the river, the little boy
Merab ran out from the shade of the awning and leaned over the side
watching the water.  And the Power of Ra drew him, so that he fell