H
E
R
M
E
S
Nefer-ka-ptah
was eager in his questions,
and the priest replied, "Thoth
wrote the Book with his own hand,
and in it is all the magic in the world. If thou
readest the first page, thou wilt enchant the sky, the
earth,
the abyss,
the mountains,
and the sea; thou
wilt understand the
language of the birds of the
air, and thou wilt know what the
​
creeping
things of earth
are saying, and thou
wilt see the fishes from the
darkest depths of the sea. And
if thou readest the other page, even
though thou wert dead and in the world of
ghosts,
thou couldest
come back to earth in
the form thou once hadst. And
besides this, thou wilt see the sun
shining in the sky with the full moon and
the stars, and thou wilt behold the great shapes of
the
Gods." Then
said Nefer-ka-ptah,
"By the life of Pharaoh, that
Book shall be mine. Tell me whatsoever
it is that thou desirest, and I will do it for thee."
"Provide for my funeral," said the priest. "See that I
​
[...]
​
am buried as 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
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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,
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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 at Koptos, and watched and waited, for she knew
p. 33
that sorrow must come of this journey to the Southern Land.
The magic men in the magic cabin toiled all night and all day for three nights and three days along the bottom of the river; and when they stopped the royal barge stopped also, and Nefer-ka-ptah knew that he had arrived where the Book lay hidden.
He took the sand out of the royal barge and threw it into the water, and it made a gap in the river, a gap of a schoenus long and a schoenus wide; in the middle of the gap lay the iron box, and beside the box was coiled the great snake that no man can kill, and all around the box on every side to the edge of the walls of water were snakes and scorpions and all manner of crawling things.
Then Nefer-ka-ptah stood up in the royal barge, and across the water he cried to the snakes and scorpions and crawling things; a loud and terrible cry, and the words were words of magic. As soon as his voice was still, the snakes and scorpions and crawling things were still also, for they were enchanted by means of the magical words of Nefer-ka-ptah, and they could not move. Nefer-ka-ptah brought the royal barge to the edge of the gap, and he walked through the snakes and scorpions and crawling things, and they looked at him, but could not move because of the spell that was on them.
And now Nefer-ka-ptah was face to face with
p. 34
the snake that no man could kill, and it reared itself up ready for battle. Nefer-ka-ptah rushed upon it and cut off its head, and at once the head and body came together, each to each, and the snake that no man could kill was alive again, and ready for the fray. Again Nefer-ka-ptah rushed upon it, and so hard did he strike that the head was flung far from the body, but at once the head and body came together again, each to each, and again the snake that no man could kill was alive and ready to fight. Then Nefer-ka-ptah saw that the snake was immortal and could not be slain, but must be overcome by subtle means. Again he rushed upon it and cut it in two, and very quickly he put sand on each part, so that when the head and body came together there was sand between them and they could not join, and the snake that no man could kill lay helpless before him.
Then Nefer-ka-ptah went to the great box where it stood in the gap in the middle of the river, and the snakes and scorpions and crawling things watched, but they could not stop him.
He opened the iron box and found a bronze box,
He opened the bronze box and found a keté-wood box,
He opened the keté-wood box and found an ivory-and-ebony box,
He opened the ivory-and-ebony box and found a silver box,
p. 35
[paragraph continues]He opened the silver box and found a gold box,
He opened the gold box and found the Book of Thoth.
He opened the Book and read a page, and at once he had enchanted the sky, the earth, the abyss, the mountains, and the sea, and he understood the language of birds, fish, and beasts. He read the 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,
p. 36
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.
