Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/182

 Na.nefer.ka.ptah laughed, and he said, “This is the business that I told you before.” And when Setna had praised Na.nefer.ka.ptah, he found it as the proverb says, “The sun was in the whole tomb.” And Ahura and Na.nefer.ka.ptah besought Setna greatly. And Setna said, ‘Na.nefer.ka.ptah, is it aught disgraceful (that you lay on me to do)?” And Na.nefer.ka.ptah said, “Setna, you know this, that Ahura and Mer-ab, her child, behold! they are in Koptos; bring them here into this tomb, by the skill of a good scribe. Let it be impressed upon you to take pains, and to go to Koptos to bring them here.” Setna then went out from the tomb to the King, and told the King all that Na.nefer.ka.ptah had told him.

The King said, “Setna, go to Koptos and bring back Ahura and Mer-ab.” He answered the King, “Let one give me the royal boat and its belongings.” And they gave him the royal boat and its belongings, and he left the haven, and sailed without stopping till he came to Koptos.

And they made this known to the priests of Isis at Koptos and to the high-priest of Isis; and behold they came down to him, and gave him their hand to the shore. He went up with them and entered into the temple of Isis of Koptos and of Harpokrates. He ordered one to offer for him an ox, a goose, and some wine, and he made a burnt-offering and a drink-offering before Isis of Koptos and Harpokrates. He went to the cemetery of Koptos with the priests of Isis and the high-priest of Isis. They dug about for three days and three nights, for they searched even in all the catacombs which were in the cemetery of Koptos; they turned over the steles of the scribes of the “double house of life,” and read the inscriptions that they found on them. But they could not find the resting-place of Ahura and Mer-ab.

Now Na.nefer.ka.ptah perceived that they could not find the resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab. So he raised himself up as a venerable, very old, ancient, and came before Setna. And Setna saw him, and Setna said to the ancient. “You look like a very old man; do you know where is the resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab?” The ancient said to Setna: “It was told by the father of the father of my father to the father of my father, and the father of my father has told it to my father; the resting-place of Ahura and of her