Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories Part B

I am continuing on with my reading of Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories.

The story of the Two Brothers is such a sad one. The fact that the older brother would believe his devious wife over the younger brother who helped him so much in the fields is beyond me. I appreciate that the sun god Ra was able to separate them and show Anpu that Bata was telling the truth. I'm also noticing a trend in the use of the crocodile as a type of justice symbol. In the story of the Pharaoh and the scribe and now here between the two feuding brothers, the crocodile seems to be the constant fact when there is a debate of right and wrong or a needing of justice.

It frustrated me that the girl wife that was given to Bata by the gods decided not to listen when Bata asked her to stay in doors so that harm would not befall her. In this section again I am seeing parallels of other stories with how the lock of the girl wife's hair made its way to the kings washing area. The smell was so sweet and intoxicating just like the hair was of the maidens after Isis had finished braiding it. I really like how the story of the brothers came full circle with Bata being brought back to life with the help of a seed and some water. Just like how in the beginning seeds seemed to be a factor in his falling out with his brother Anpu.

For the life of me I cannot understand why the girl wife keeps trying to kill Bata. First she discloses to the king that he as in the highest bloom on the tree, then she says she wants to eat the liver of the sacred cow which is actually Bata in disguise. She was created for Bata by Ra but it seems that she has other plans in mind. That would be a fun story to tell in a modern sense; like a bride whose hand was given to a man by her father but she gives him so much grief to try and keep him from going through with it.

The story of king Nefer-Ka-ptah and The Book of Thoth was entertaining; I really liked the part where he had to face off against the snake that was immortal because it made me think about how Hercules had to get creative when he wanted to kill the Hydra. With the Hydra, every time Hercules cut off one head, two would grow in its place, while with the snake, the head and body just kept coming back together as if they were magnetic.

Part of the Book of Thoth

Bibliography:
Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).