THE MAGICIAN TETA WHO RESTORED LIFE TO DEAD ANIMALS, ETC.

When Baiufra had finished the story given above, Prince Herutataf, the son of King Khufu, and a very wise man, with whose name Egyptian tradition associated the discovery of certain chapters of the Book of the Dead, stood up before his father to speak, and said to him, “Up to the present thou hast only heard tales about the wisdom of magicians who are dead and gone, concerning which it is quite impossible to know whether they be true or not.  Now, I want Thy Majesty to see a certain sage who is actually alive during thy lifetime, whom thou knowest not.”  His Majesty Khufu said, “Who is it, Herutataf?” And Prince Herutataf replied, “He is a certain peasant who is called Teta, and he lives in Tet-Seneferu.  He is one hundred and ten years old, and up to this very day he eats five hundred bread-cakes (sic), and a leg of beef, and drinks one hundred pots of beer.  He knows how to reunite to its body a head which has been cut off, he knows how to make a lion follow him whilst the rope with which he is tied drags behind him on the ground, and he knows the numbers of the Apet chambers (?) of the shrine (?) of Thoth.”  Now His Majesty had been seeking for a long time past for the number of the Apet chambers (?) of Thoth, for he had wished to make something like it for his “horizon."[1] And King Khufu said to his son Herutataf, “My son, thou thyself shalt go and bring the sage to me”; thereupon a boat was made ready for Prince Herutataf, who forthwith set out on his journey to Tet-Seneferu, the home of the sage.  When the prince came to the spot on the river bank that was nearest to the village of Teta, he had the boat tied up, and he continued his journey overland seated in a sort of sedan chair made of ebony, which was carried or slung on bearing poles made of costly sesentchem wood inlaid or decorated with gold.  When Herutataf arrived at the village, the chair was set down on the ground, and he got out of it and stood up ready to greet the old man, whom he found lying upon a bed, with the door of his house lying on the ground.  One servant stood by the bed holding the sage’s head and fanning him, and another was engaged in rubbing his feet.  Herutataf addressed a highly poetical speech to Teta, the gist of which was that the old man seemed to be able to defy the usual effects of old age, and to be like one who had obtained the secret of everlasting youth, and then expressed the hope that he was well.  Having paid these compliments, which were couched in dignified and archaic language, Herutataf went on to say that he had come with a message from his father Khufu, who hereby summoned Teta to his presence.  “I have come,” he said, “a long way to invite thee, so that thou mayest eat the food, and enjoy the good things which the king bestows on those who follow him, and so that he may conduct thee after a happy life to thy fathers who rest in the grave.”  The sage replied, “Welcome, Prince Herutataf, welcome, O thou who lovest thy father.  Thy father shall reward thee with gifts, and he shall promote thee to the rank of the senior officials of his court.  Thy Ka[2] shall fight successfully against thine enemy, thy soul knows the ways of the Other World, and thou shalt arrive at the door of those who are apparelled in ...  I salute thee, O Prince Herutataf.”