ciently dispelled that illusion. But no one, perhaps,
was prepared for the revelations that were soon made as to the extent of
range of these various inscriptions, and the strictly literary character
of some of them.

A large proportion of these inscriptions are, to be sure, religious in
character, but there are other extensive inscriptions, such as those on
the walls of the temple of Karnak, that are strictly historical; telling
of the warlike deeds of such mighty kings as Thutmosis III. and
Ramses II. Again, there are documents which belong to the domain of
belles-lettres pure and simple. Of these the best known example is the
now famous "Tale of Two Brothers"--the prototype of the "modern" short
story.

Up to the middle of the nineteenth century, no Egyptologist had
discovered that the grave-faced personages who lie in their mummy-cases
in our great museums ever read or composed romance. Their literature,
as far as recovered, was of an eminently serious nature,--hymns to the
divinities, epic poems, writings on magic and science, business letters,
etc., but no stories. In 1852, however, an Englishwoman, Mrs. Elizabeth
d'Orbiney, sent M. de Rouge, at Paris, a papyrus she had purchased in
Italy, and whose contents she was anxious to know. Thus was the tale of
the "Two Brothers" brought to light, and for twelve years it remained
our sole specimen of a species of literature which is now constantly
being added to.

This remarkable papyrus dates from the thirteenth century B.C., and was
the work of Anna, one of the most distinguished temple-scribes of his
age. Indeed, it is to him that we are indebted for a large portion of
the Egyptian literature that has been preserved to us. This particular
work was executed for Seti II., son of Meneptah, and grandson of Ramses
II. of the nineteenth dynasty, while he was yet crown prince.

The tale itself is clearly formed of two parts. The first, up to the
Bata's self-exile to the Valley of the Cedar, gives a really excellent
picture of the life and habits of the peasant dwelling on the banks
of the Nile. The civilisation and moral conditions it describes are
distinctly Egyptian. Were it not for such details as the words spoken by
the cows, and the miraculous appearance of the body of water between the
two brothers, we might say the ancient Egyptians were strict realists
in their theory of fiction. But the second part leads us through marvels
enough to satisfy the most vivid of imag