Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/93

 viz. the Egyptian story of Anpu and Bata (Flinders Petrie, Egyptian Tales, ii. pp. 49 ff.): Bata took his heart (i.e. soul) out of his body and hid it in the flowers of an acacia tree. He told his brother Anpu that his (Rata's) death would be revealed to him by a "life token," and if this happened Anpu must come and search for his soul. They now took leave of each other, and Bata lived in the valley of the acacia. Once he met the Nine Gods, "and Ra Harakti said to Khnumu: 'Behold, frame thou a woman for Bata that he may not remain alive alone.' And Khnumu made for him a mate to dwell with him. She was more beautiful in her limbs than any woman who is in this land. The essence of every god was in her. The seven Hathors came to see her: they said with one mouth, 'She will die a sharp death.'" Bata lived happily with his wife, and told her of the secret of his life. A lock of her hair was carried down the river and taken to the Pharaoh, who bade to be made a search for its owner. When found, she became Pharaoh's wife, and desired the acacia tree to be cut down. This done, Bata died, but his brother found his heart and restored it to the dead, and Bata "became as he had been." After this Bata transformed himself into an Apis bull, which his unfaithful wife caused to be killed. Two drops of the blood fell on either side of the door, and from them grew up two persea trees; she ordered them to be cut down, but a splinter flew into her mouth, and Bata was in due time reborn as Pharaoh's son, and as he became the king his mother (i.e. Bata's treacherous wife) was brought before him, "and he judged with her before him, and they agreed with him" (i.e. probably she met "a sharp death "). Professor Flinders Petrie remarks of this story: "The