hed to foreign lands returned to make a report to His Majesty,
but those who had gone to the Valley of the Acacia did not come back,
for Bata had slain them, with the exception of one who returned to tell
the matter to His Majesty. Then His Majesty despatched foot-soldiers and
horsemen and charioteers to bring back the young woman, and there was
also with them a woman who had in her hands beautiful trinkets of all
kinds, such as are suitable for maidens, to give to the young woman. And
this woman returned to Egypt with the young woman, and everyone in all
parts of the country rejoiced at her arrival. And His Majesty loved her
exceedingly, and he paid her homage as the Great August One, the Chief
Wife. And he spake to her and made her tell him what had become of her
husband, and she said to His Majesty, "I pray thee to cut down the
Acacia Tree and then to destroy it." Then the King caused men and bowmen
to set out with axes to cut down the Acacia, and when they arrived in
the Valley of the Acacia, they cut down the flower on which was the
heart of Bata, and he fell down dead at that very moment of evil.

And on the following morning when the light had come upon the earth, and
the Acacia had been cut down, Anpu, Bata's elder brother, went into his
house and sat down, and he washed his hands; and one gave him a vessel
of beer, and it frothed up, and the froth ran over, and one gave him
another vessel containing wine, and it was sour. Then he grasped his
staff, and [taking] his sandals, and his apparel, and his weapons which
he used in fighting and hunting, he set out to march to the Valley of
the Acacia. And when he arrived there he went into Bata's house, and he
found his young brother there lying dead on his bed; and when he looked
upon his young brother he wept on seeing that he was dead. Then he set
out to seek for the heart of Bata, under the Acacia where he was wont to
sleep at night, and he passed three years in seeking for it but found it
not. And when the fourth year of his search had begun, his heart craved
to return to Egypt, and he said, "I will depart thither to-morrow
morning"; that was what he said to himself. And on the following day he
walked about under the Acacia all day long looking for Bata's heart, and
as he was returning [to the house] in the evening, and was looking about
him still searching for it, he found a seed, which he took back with
him, and behold, it was Bata's heart. Then he fetched a vessel