Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt, Part B

For this week's reading, I chose Ancient Egypt. Part B consisted of two long stories, one called The Book of Thoth and the other called The Two Brothers, and a shorter story called The Tale of King Rampsinitus. These tales come from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907). My favorite of these stories was the Book of Thoth.

The Book of Thoth:

In this story, an Egyptian prince who loves reading ancient texts is told by a priest how to obtain the Book of Thoth which allows one to control everything on earth and in heaven and also contains a multitude of powerful spells, all in exchange for the prince paying for the priest's costly funeral expenses--rather an odd request but perhaps the priest was elderly and about to die. He clearly wanted to go out in style. Anyhow, the prince, Nefer-ka-ptah, takes his wife Ahura and son Merab with him to get the book out of the river (the Nile?). Ahura has a premonition that something bad will happen and she is correct. Nefer-ka-ptah successfully obtains the Book of Thoth after using magic to reach it, after defeating an immortal snake and other creepy crawlies, and after opening the numerous boxes which contain the book. After using his powers, Nefer-ka-ptah allows Ahura to read the book, at which point she, too, has powers. At this point, Thoth becomes aware that his book has been stolen and asks Ra for permission to punish the offender, which Ra agrees to. Thoth then uses his powers to draw little Merab to the edge of the boat where he falls in and drowns. Nefer-ka-ptah brings his son back to life briefly and is told by the boy that Thoth is exacting revenge. The prince then has the boy buried and begins to return home yet again, at which point Ahura is drawn to the water, as well, and also falls in and drowns. Nefer-ka-ptah also resurrects her briefly and she tells him the same thing Merab said. The prince then has her buried and continues on his way. Even knowing what will befall him, he is still drawn to the water where he falls in and drowns, but only after tying the book to his chest. His father, the king, later finds out what happened and the body of the prince is discovered with the book still on his chest. So, while Nefer-ka-ptah and his family are wiped out by Thoth, Thoth still never recovers his book.

I could retell this story from the view point of the priest who tells the prince about the book. He has sinister plans and wants to destroy the royal family as a few generations back, the king had denied his ancestor the position of high priest, thus consigning the family of the priest to a lower status, which is why the priest has little money and desires a fancy funeral. The priest deliberately tells the prince about the book to bring about his downfall and follows the royal family as they retrieve the book. He delights in the misfortunes that befall them and the rest of his family, including the king, as they are all cursed by Thoth. The priest dies satisfied that he has had revenge for him and his family and is given a fabulous funeral, as promised, with no one the wiser that he brought about the ruin of the royal family.

Illustration of Thoth on a boat from E. A. Wallis Budge's Gods of the Egyptians (1904). Source: Wiki Commons