Under the heading of this chapter may well be included the Story of the Shipwrecked Traveller.  The text of this remarkable story is written in the hieratic character upon a roll of papyrus, which is preserved in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg.  It is probable that a layer of facts underlies the story, but the form in which we have it justifies us in assigning to it a place among the fairy stories of Ancient Egypt.  Prefixed to the narrative of the shipwrecked traveller is the following: 

“A certain servant of wise understanding hath said, Let thy heart be of good cheer, O prince.  Verily we have arrived at [our] homes.  The mallet hath been grasped, and the anchor-post hath been driven into the ground, and the bow of the boat hath grounded on the bank.  Thanksgivings have been offered up to God, and every man hath embraced his neighbour.  Our sailors have returned in peace and safety, and our fighting men have lost none of their comrades, even though we travelled to the uttermost parts of Uauat (Nubia), and through the country of Senmut (Northern Nubia).  Verily we have arrived in peace, and we have reached our own land [again].  Hearken, O prince, unto me, even though I be a poor man.  Wash thyself, and let water run over thy fingers.  I would that thou shouldst be ready to return an answer to the man who addresseth thee, and to speak to the King [from] thy heart, and assuredly thou must give thine answer promptly and without hesitation.  The mouth of a man delivereth him, and his words provide a covering for [his] face.  Act thou according to the promptings of thine heart, and when thou hast spoken [thou wilt have made him] to be at rest.”  The shipwrecked traveller then narrates his experiences in the following words:  I will now speak and give thee a description of the things that [once] happened to me myself [when] I was journeying to the copper mines of the king.  I went down into the sea[1] in a ship that was one hundred and fifty cubits (225 feet) in length, and forty cubits (60 feet) in breadth, and it was manned by one hundred and fifty sailors who were chosen from among the best sailors of Egypt.  They had looked upon the sky, they had looked upon the land, and their hearts were more understanding than the hearts of lions.  Now although they were able to say beforehand when a tempest was coming, and could tell when a squall was going to rise before it broke upon them, a storm actually overtook us when we were still on the sea.  Before we could make the land the wind blew with redoubled violence, and it drove before it upon us a wave that was eight cubits (12 feet) [high].  A plank was driven towards me by it, and I seized it; and as for the ship, those who were therein perished, and not one of them escaped.

[Footnote 1:  The sea was the Red Sea, and the narrator must have been on his way to Wadi Magharah or Sarabit al-Khadim in the Peninsula of Sinai.]