Then the elder brother became like a panther of the southern desert with wrath.  And he seized his dagger, and sharpened it, and went and stood behind the stable door, so that he might slay Bata when he returned in the evening and came to the byre to bring in his cattle.  And when the sun was about to set Bata loaded himself with products of the field of every kind, according to his custom, [and returned to the farm].  And as he was coming back the cow that led the herd said to Bata as she was entering the byre, “Verily thy elder brother is waiting with his dagger to slay thee; flee thou from before him”; and Bata hearkened to the words of the leading cow.  And when the second cow as she was about to enter into the byre spake unto him even as did the first cow, Bata looked under the door of the byre, and saw the feet of his elder brother as he stood behind the door with his dagger in his hand.  Then he set down his load upon the ground, and he ran away as fast as he could run, and Anpu followed him grasping his dagger.  And Bata cried out to Ra-Harmakhis (the Sun-god) and said, “O my fair Lord, thou art he who judgeth between the wrong and the right.”  And the god Ra hearkened unto all his words, and he caused a great stream to come into being, and to separate the two brothers, and the water was filled with crocodiles.  Now Anpu was on one side of the stream and Bata on the other, and Anpu wrung his hands together in bitter wrath because he could not kill his brother.  Then Bata cried out to Anpu on the other bank, saying, “Stay where thou art until daylight, and until the Disk (i.e. the Sun-god) riseth.  I will enter into judgment with thee in his presence, for it is he who setteth right what is wrong.  I shall never more live with thee, and I shall never again dwell in the place where thou art.  I am going to the Valley of the Acacia.”

And when the day dawned, and there was light on the earth, and Ra-Harmakhis was shining, the two brothers looked at each other.  And Bata spake unto Anpu, saying, “Why hast thou pursued me in this treacherous way, wishing to slay me without first hearing what I had to say?  I am thy brother, younger than thou art, and thou art as a father and thy wife is as a mother to me.  Is it not so?  When thou didst send me to fetch seed corn for our work, it was thy wife who said, ’I pray thee to stay with me,’ but behold, the facts have been misrepresented to thee, and the reverse of what happened hath been put before thee.”  Then Bata explained everything to Anpu, and made him to understand exactly what had taken place between him and his brother’s wife.  And Bata swore an oath by Ra-Harmakhis, saying, “By Ra-Harmakhis, to lie in wait for me and to pursue me, with thy knife in thy hand ready to slay me, was a wicked and abominable thing to do.”  And Bata took [from his side] the knife which he used in cutting reeds, and drove it into his body, and he sank down fainting upon the ground.  Then Anpu cursed himself with bitter curses, and he lifted up