his voice and wept; and he did not know how to cross over the stream to the bank where Bata was because of the crocodiles.  And Bata cried out to him, saying, “Behold, thou art ready to remember against me one bad deed of mine, but thou dost not remember my good deeds, or even one of the many things that have been done for thee by me.  Shame on thee!  Get thee back to thy house and tend thine own cattle, for I will no longer stay with thee.  I will depart to the Valley of the Acacia.  But thou shalt come to minister to me, therefore take heed to what I say.  Now know that certain things are about to happen to me.  I am going to cast a spell on my heart, so that I may be able to place it on a flower of the Acacia tree.  When this Acacia is cut down my heart shall fall to the ground, and thou shalt come to seek for it.  Thou shalt pass seven years in seeking for it, but let not thy heart be sick with disappointment, for thou shalt find it.  When thou findest it, place it in a vessel of cold water, and verily my heart shall live again, and shall make answer to him that attacketh me.  And thou shalt know what hath happened to me [by the following sign].  A vessel of beer shall be placed in thy hand, and it shall froth and run over; and another vessel with wine in it shall be placed [in thy hand], and it shall become sour.  Then make no tarrying, for indeed these things shall happen to thee.”  So the younger brother departed to the Valley of the Acacia, and the elder brother departed to his house.  And Anpu’s hand was laid upon his head, and he cast dust upon himself [in grief for Bata], and when he arrived at his house he slew his wife, and threw her to the dogs, and he sat down and mourned for his young brother.

And when many days had passed, Bata was living alone in the Valley of the Acacia, and he spent his days in hunting the wild animals of the desert; and at night he slept under the Acacia, on the top of the flowers of which rested his heart.  And after many days he built himself, with his own hand, a large house in the Valley of the Acacia, and it was filled with beautiful things of every kind, for he delighted in the possession of a house.  And as he came forth [one day] from his house, he met the Company of the Gods, and they were on their way to work out their plans in their realm.  And one of them said unto him, “Hail, Bata, thou Bull of the gods, hast thou not been living here alone since the time when thou didst forsake thy town through the wife of thy elder brother Anpu?  Behold, his wife hath been slain [by him], and moreover thou hast made an adequate answer to the attack which he made upon thee”; and their hearts were very sore indeed for Bata.  Then Ra-Harmakhis said unto Khnemu,[1] “Fashion a wife for Bata, so that thou, O Bata, mayest not dwell alone.”  And Khnemu made a wife to live with Bata, and her body was more beautiful than the body of any other woman in the whole country, and the essence of every god was in her; and the Seven