Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt, Part B

The Tale of Two Brothers by Donald A Mackenzie

There once was two brothers. The oldest was Anpu and the youngest was Bata. Bata looked up to his older brother. He thought of him like a father. Anpu was married and owned a home, in which Bata lived with them. He would tend to the crops and the animals. Every morning he would wake and make bread for Anpu and eat his share in the fields. He was content with his life just to be with his brother. One day, as Anpu and Bata were preparing for the flood, he went inside the house to retrieve some seeds. He asked Anpu's wife where they would be. She directed him, because she was doing her hair. As he left, he was struggling a bit. She asked him what was wrong and he said that it was a lot of weight on one's shoulders. She agreed and then preceded to come onto him making comments about how strong he was and how she admired it every day. He rejected her saying that he thought of her as his mother, he could never do that to his brother. He went back to the field to continue his days work. But, as his brother went in for dinner, he was not greeted with a hand wash and a beer. He swept through the house to find his wife. She claimed to be beaten by his brother after he came onto her. Anpu grabbed a dagger and went to attack Bata. However, one of the oxen told him to run for his brother was coming after him. He was confused and went to talk to him. Upon seeing the dagger, he tried to run. He called out to the gods to intervene. They created a river between them with crocodiles Anpu said that he would wait until morning light to be able to see. As morning came, Bata called out to the gods again. Ra came to be judgement. He told his side of the story but because of the anger in Anpu's reaction, Bata decided to leave the house. He would not stay. Anpu returned to his home saddened and mourning his brother. He slayed his wife and fed her to the dogs for lying.

This is a depiction of Bata and Anpu. It was drawn in "The literature of all nations and all ages; history, character, and incident" Source: Flickr

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