m and all his kin.' He sent a power from heaven with the command,
'Do not let Na.nefer.ka.ptah return safe to Memphis with all his kin.' And
after this hour, the little boy Mer-ab, going out from the awning of the
royal boat, fell into the river: he called on Ra, and everybody who was on
the bank raised a cry. Na.nefer.ka.ptah went out of the cabin, and read
the spell over him; he brought his body up because a divine power brought
him to the surface. He read another spell over him, and made him tell of
all what happened to him, and of what Thoth had said before Ra.

"We turned back with him to Koptos. We brought him to the Good House, we
fetched the people to him, and made one embalm him; and we buried him in
his coffin in the cemetery of Koptos like a great and noble person.

"And Na.nefer.ka.ptah, my brother, said: 'Let us go down, let us not
delay, for the King has not yet heard of what has happened to him, and his
heart will be sad about it.' So we went to the haven, we sailed, and did
not stay to the north of Koptos. When we were come to the place where the
little boy Mer-ab had fallen into the water, I went out from the awning of
the royal boat, and I fell into the river. They called Na.nefer.ka.ptah,
and he came out from the cabin of the royal boat; he read a spell over me,
and brought my body up, because a divine power brought me to the surface.
He drew me out, and read the spell over me, and made me tell him of all
that had happened to me, and of what Thoth had said before Ra. Then he
turned back with me to Koptos, he brought me to the Good House, he fetched
the people to me, and made one embalm me, as great and noble people are
buried, and laid me in the tomb where Mer-ab my young child was.

"He turned to the haven, and sailed down, and delayed not in the north of
Koptos. When he was come to the place where we fell into the river, he
said to his heart: 'Shall I not better turn back again to Koptos, that I
may lie by them? For, if not, when I go down to Memphis, and the King asks
after his children, what shall I say to him? Can I tell him, "I have taken
your children to the Thebaid, and killed them, while I remained alive, and
I have come to Memphis still alive"?' Then he made them bring him a linen
cloth of striped byssus; he made a band, and bound the book firmly, and
tied it upon him. Na.nefer.ka.ptah then went out of the awning of the
royal boat and fell into the river. He cried on Ra; and all those who wer