him and laughed. So Na.nefer.ka.ptah said to him, 'Why are
you laughing at me?' And he replied, 'I was not laughing at you, or if I
happened to do so, it was at your reading writings that are worthless. If
you wish so much to read writings, come to me, and I will bring you to the
place where the book is which Thoth himself wrote with his own hand, and
which will bring you to the gods. When you read but two pages in this you
will enchant the heaven, the earth, the abyss, the mountains, and the sea;
you shall know what the birds of the sky and the crawling things are
saying; you shall see the fishes of the deep, for a divine power is there
to bring them up out of the depth. And when you read the second page, if
you are in the world of ghosts, you will become again in the shape you
were in on earth. You will see the sun shining in the sky, with all the
gods, and the full moon.'

"And Na.nefer.ka.ptah said: 'By the life of the King! Tell me of anything
you want done and I'll do it for you, if you will only send me where this
book is.' And the priest answered Na.nefer.ka.ptah, 'If you want to go to
the place where the book is, you must give me 100 pieces of silver for my
funeral, and provide that they shall bury me as a rich priest.' So
Na.nefer.ka.ptah called his lad and told him to give the priest 100 pieces
of silver; and he made them do as he wished, even everything that he asked
for. Then the priest said to Na.nefer.ka.ptah: 'This book is in the middle
of the river at Koptos, in an iron box; in the iron box is a bronze box;
in the bronze box is a sycamore box; in the sycamore box is an ivory and
ebony box; in the ivory and ebony box is a silver box; in the silver box
is a golden box, and in that is the book. It is twisted all round with
snakes and scorpions and all the other crawling things around the box in
which the book is; and there is a deathless snake by the box.' And when
the priest told Na.nefer.ka.ptah, he did not know where on earth he was,
he was so much delighted.

"And when he came from the temple he told me all that had happened to him.
And he said: 'I shall go to Koptos, for I must fetch this book; I will not
stay any longer in the north.' And I said, 'Let me dissuade you, for you
prepare sorrow and you will bring me into trouble in the Thebaid.' And I
laid my hand on Na.nefer.ka.ptah, to keep him from going to Koptos, but he
would not listen to me; and he went to the King, and told the King all
that the