Then a wave of the sea bore me along and cast me up upon an island, and I passed three days there by myself, with none but mine own heart for a companion; I laid me down and slept in a hollow in a thicket, and I hugged the shade.  And I lifted up my legs (i.e. I walked about), so that I might find out what to put in my mouth, and I found there figs and grapes, and all kinds of fine large berries; and there were there gourds, and melons, and pumpkins as large as barrels (?), and there were also there fish and water-fowl.  There was no [food] of any sort or kind that did not grow in this island.  And when I had eaten all I could eat, I laid the remainder of the food upon the ground, for it was too much for me [to carry] in my arms.  I then dug a hole in the ground and made a fire, and I prepared pieces of wood and a burnt-offering for the gods.

And I heard a sound [as of] thunder, which I thought to be [caused by] a wave of the sea, and the trees rocked and the earth quaked, and I covered my face.  And I found [that the sound was caused by] a serpent that was coming towards me.  It was thirty cubits (45 feet) in length, and its beard was more than two cubits in length, and its body was covered with [scales of] gold, and the two ridges over its eyes were of pure lapis-lazuli (i.e. they were blue); and it coiled its whole length up before me.  And it opened its mouth to me, now I was lying flat on my stomach in front of it, and it said unto me, “Who hath brought thee hither?  Who hath brought thee hither, O miserable one?  Who hath brought thee hither?  If thou dost not immediately declare unto me who hath brought thee to this island, I will make thee to know what it is to be burnt with fire, and thou wilt become a thing that is invisible.  Thou speakest to me, but I cannot hear what thou sayest; I am before thee, dost thou not know me?” Then the serpent took me in its mouth, and carried me off to the place where it was wont to rest, and it set me down there, having done me no harm whatsoever; I was sound and whole, and it had not carried away any portion of my body.  And it opened its mouth to me whilst I was lying flat on my stomach, and it said unto me, “Who hath brought thee thither?  Who hath brought thee hither, O miserable one?  Who hath brought thee to this island of the sea, the two sides of which are in the waves?”

Then I made answer to the serpent, my two hands being folded humbly before it, and I said unto it, “I am one who was travelling to the mines on a mission of the king in a ship that was one hundred and fifty cubits long, and fifty cubits in breadth, and it was manned by a crew of one hundred and fifty men, who were chosen from among the best sailors of Egypt.  They had looked upon the sky, they had looked upon the earth, and their hearts were more understanding than the hearts of lions.  They were able to say beforehand when a tempest was coming, and to tell when a squall was about to rise before it broke.  The