Week 4 Reading Diary, continued: Ancient Egypt

Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie

The Two Brothers

• There were two brothers
• The older brother was married and had a house
• The younger brother lived with him and plowed the land, drove the oxen and harvested the grain
• The wife tempted the younger brother but he declined and was angered by her attempt
• The wife told the older brother that the younger brother beat her and forced himself on her
• The older brother plotted to kill his younger brother
• The younger brother revealed the truth
• The older brother returned home and cast his wife to the dogs
• The younger brother lived in solitude and eventually found a wife
• The king sent for the younger brothers wife
• She reveled his secrets and he was killed
• The older brother found his soul and returned it to his body
• They travel to find his wife, he is a bull
• His wife asks to kill the bull
• Two drops of blood from the bull make two trees
• The wife wants the trees cut down
• A wood chip from the trees enters her mouth and she becomes pregnant with a son
• When the pharaoh dies the son takes over (the younger brother)
• When he died his older brother stood in his place

The Book of Thoth

• N wants the Book of Thoth, if he reads it he can do anything
• He pays the priest 100 pieces of silver to know where it is
• The priest tells him and he goes to find it
• He found the book and read from it and everything the priest said was true
• His wife also read from it
• On their journey home they all three were killed, Thoth's vengeance
• N was buried with the Book of Thoth

The Tale of King Rhampsinitus

• The king built a chamber to hold his riches
• When the builder died he told his sons of a secret entrance into the chamber
• The sons began stealing riches from the chamber
• One was finally caught in a trap and he made the other cut off his head to hide his identity
• His body was hung for all to see and his mother begged him to steal it back
• He tricked the guards and stole the body
• The kings daughter tricked him into revealing his secrets
• The king offered a pardon and reward if the robber would reveal himself
• He went before the king and the king gave him his daughter in marriage

(Thoth, from Luxor)