THE TWO BROTHERS
An Egyptian Folktale
Once there were two brothers. Anpu was the elder, and Bata was the younger.
When their parents died, Anpu was already married and had a house of his own, so
he took his little brother with him and treated him like his son.
When the little brother grew to be a young man, he became an excellent
worker. He did the plowing. He harvested the corn, and there was no one his equal
in the whole land. Behold, the spirit of the god was within him.
Every morning, the younger brother followed his oxen and worked all day in
the fields and every evening, he returned to the house with vegetables, milk and
wood.
He laid all these before his elder brother, and he took with him his bread, and
he drove the cattle into the field.
Because Anpu loved his younger brother very much, his wife became very
jealous and she wanted to destroy Bata.
One day, when Anpu and Bata were in the fields, they needed some corn, so
Anpu sent Bata home to get some.
The younger brother found the wife combing her hair and said to her, “Get up
and give me some corn that I may run to the field for my elder brother is in a hurry.
Do not delay.”
At eventide, Anpu returned home earlier than his brother because Bata had
much work to do in the fields.
Anpu was met by his wife, who was crying bitterly. She showed him her arms
and legs which she had painted black and blue and accused Bata of having beaten
her up.
She pretended to be in great pain. She did not give him water to wash his
hands with. She did not light the fire for him. She pretended that she was very sick.
Anpu became very angry. He sharpened his knife and waited for Bata in the
stable.
When the sun went down, Bata came home as usual, loaded with herbs, milk
and woods.
As he entered the door, he saw the feet of his brother and the sharp knife
hanging by his side. The brother sprang from him and Bata fled praying to the god
Ra. “My good Lord! Save me from death, thou who divines the evil from the good.”
Ra heard his cry. He made a river flow between one brother and the other
and filled it with crocodiles.
Bata asked his elder brother, “Why do you seek to kill me? Am I not your
brother and have you not always treated me as if you were my father? Has not your
wife been a mother to me? Now since you want to kill me, I shall go to the Valley of
the Acacia.”
Anpu answered, “Why did you beat up my wife and almost kill her?”
Bata answered, “I did not do such thing. Have I told you that I have always
looked upon her as my mother?”
So Anpu went home. He found his wife near the river washing off the black
and blue dye with which she had painted herself.
Filled with anger, Anpu killed his wife and cast her to the dogs. Then, he sat
down, poured ashes on his head and mourned for his younger brother.
Bata reached the Valley of Acacia. Since there was no one with him, he slew
wild beasts for food, built himself a house and met the Nine Gods who knew of his
innocence and goodness.
Ra said to the god Khunumu, “Behold, frame a woman for Bata that he may
not remain alone.” So Khunumu made for Bata a wife to dwell with him.
She was indeed more beautiful than any other woman in the whole land. She
was like a goddess, and Bata loved her very much.