ned to me till this
hour. Now, then, take the book to Na.nefer.ka.ptah, with a forked stick in
your hand, and a fire-pan on your head."

So Setna went out from before the King, with a forked stick in his hand,
and a fire-pan on his head. He went down to the tomb in which was
Na.nefer.ka.ptah. And Ahura said to him, "It is Ptah, the great god, that
has brought you back safe." 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