Reading Notes Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories Part B

The Two Brothers Part 1:

Anpu was the oldest and Bata was the youngest of the two brothers
Anpu was married and his younger brother lived with him and his wife
Bata worked continuously on his brother’s farm
Anpu sent Bata into the home to get the seed for the farm
Anpu’s wife told him to get the seed from the storeroom
Anpu’s wife was so impressed with Bata’s strength she asks him to stay with her in the house
This upsets Bata and he tells her that he sees her as a mother
When Anpu and Bata returned to the home they found Anpu’s wife on the ground
She claimed that Bata came in and struck her because he was trying to woo her and she did not agree
Anpu became enraged and sought to slay Bata

The Two Brothers: Part 2:

The next day, as Bata took the Oxen into the field one, warned him that his brother planned to kill him
Another Ox told him to leave quickly
Bata saw his brother come for him and he quickly fled but Anpu ran after him
Bata called out to Ra for help and Ra created a stream between the brother and filled it with crocodiles
They waited for Ra to come and reveal the truth to each other
When Ra showed up Bata asked Anpu why he attacked him
When the truth was revealed, Bata left and Anpu returned home and killed his wife
Bata built a home for himself and one day the gods showed up and told him to return home to his brother
The gods created a wife for Bata who was the most beautiful woman in all the land
Bata told his wife not to leave the house for fear someone would take her away from him

The Two Brothers Part 3:

One day his wife ventured outside the house and the sea spirit tried to pursue her
She fled into the house but the sea spirit took a lock of her hair before she was gone
The king summoned his scribes and sent them all to retrieve the girl but none returned because Bata killed them all
The king sent another woman to get her in exchange for fine goods and the wife returned with the woman
The king sent more people to cut down the acacia which contained Bata’s spirit and Bata fell down dead
Anpu found his brother’s body and vowed to search for his soul
After a few years later Anpu found Bata’s soul and returned him to life

The Two Brothers Part 4:

Anpu made his way into the kingdom with Bata who was a bull
When Bata saw his wife he called out to her. She did not recognize him because he looked like a bull
She ran from Bata and told the king she wished to eat the liver of the sacred bull
The king commanded that the bull be sacrificed for his wife to eat
When they attempted to cut the bull, its blood formed into two Persea trees that were believed to be a miracle
Offerings were placed at the trees
When the girl stood under the trees they began to talk to her for it was Bata who was the tree
She ran to the king and told him that she wished for the trees to be cut down so they cut down the trees
When they were cut down the girl grabbed a small wood chip and swallowed it. Soon after she gave birth to a son
Years later the son grew and took over the throne when the king died. That song was really Bata
Bata chose Anpu to be his royal heir

The Book of Thoth Part 1:

Ahura was the wife of Nefer-ka-ptah and their child was Merab
Nefer-ka-ptah went to the temple to pray one day and got distracted and forgot about the gods
A priest appeared and began to laugh at him
The priest told him of the Book of Thoth and he was so excited that he ran home to tell his wife about how he would find the book
The priest told him to make sure that he had a funeral for the priest in exchange for the knowledge
Ahura did not want her husband to go on this joinery for the book
Nefer-ka-ptah asked the king for permission anyway and he took his family with him and left
The family was welcomed in by the gods and they had a great feast

The Book of Thoth Part 2:

Nefer-ka_ptah left his family there and continued on his journey
Nefer-ka-ptah fought the snake no man could kill
He cut the snake apart and threw sand on it before it could come together again, rendering it helpless
He then found the book and began to read it
He enchanted the sky, each, abyss, mountains, and the sea and he understood the birds, fish, and beasts
He returned to Koptos where his wife and family were
He got a new piece of papyrus and wrote down the spells in the book
He raised the papyrus in beer so it looked as if it was never written on
He had remembered all the spell that he had written down

The Book of Thoth Part 3:

Thoth noticed that the book was gone and sent the guards and snakes out to avenge him
Merab was drowned in the river, lured out by the power of Ra
Nefer-ka-ptah used a spell to find the body and find out what killed his son. He found out that Thoth was after him
The power of Ra next lured out his wife and she was drowned as well
Soon the power came for Nefer-ka-ptah and he too was drowned in the river
They hurried his body with the Book of Thoth

The Tale of King Rhampsinitus:

Rhampsinitus built the temple of Ptah and was a very wealthy king
The king had a measure hidden but the man who built it told his sons of its whereabouts when he was fatally ill
The sons found the kings sacred stone and stole it
More and more people robbed the king but he had no idea how they got in and he had no suspects
The king placed traps and when the brothers returned one of them was trapped
He told his brother that he could not escape and that he should cut off his head so as not to make the king suspect him as well
The king discovered the headless body and hung it in hope of catching someone mourning, he caught no one
The mother of the boys grieved in secret
She treated her other son to retrieve the body of his brother or she would tell the king everything so he agreed and stole back the body of his brother
This upset the king even more and he sent out his daughter in disguise in order to find the criminal
She found him and offered to be his bride and got him to admit to everything involving his brother
She tried to seize him but he escaped and the king offered to pardon him if he would appear at the palace
He went to the kingdom and the king was delighted to meet such a cunning criminal.

Mythology & Folklore