[Footnote 1:  These were probably books and instruments which the magicians of the day used in making astrological calculations, or in working magic.]

[Footnote 2:  The “double,” or the vital force.]

Herutataf then held out his hands to the sage and helped him to rise from the bed, and he went with him to the river bank, Teta leaning on his arm.  When they arrived there Teta asked for a boat wherein his children and his books might be placed, and the prince put at his disposal two boats, with crews complete; Teta himself, however, was accommodated in the prince’s boat and sailed with him.  When they came to the palace, Prince Herutataf went into the presence of the king to announce their arrival, and said to him, “O king my lord, I have brought Teta”; and His Majesty replied, “Bring him in quickly.”  Then the king went out into the large hall of his palace, and Teta was led into the presence.  His Majesty said, “How is it, Teta, that I have never seen thee?” And Teta answered, “Only the man who is summoned to the presence comes; so soon as the king summoned me I came.”  His Majesty asked him, saying, “Is it indeed true, as is asserted, that thou knowest how to rejoin to its body the head which hath been cut off?” Teta answered, “Most assuredly do I know how to do this, O king my lord.”  His Majesty said, “Let them bring in from the prison a prisoner, so that his death-sentence may be carried out.”  Then Teta said, “Let them not bring a man, O king my lord.  Perhaps it may be ordered that the head shall be cut off some other living creature.”  So a goose was brought to him, and he cut off its head, and laid the body of the goose on the west side of the hall, and its head on the east side.  Then Teta recited certain magical spells, and the goose stood up and waddled towards its head, and its head moved towards its body.  When the body and the head came close together, the head leaped on to the body, and the goose stood up on its legs and cackled.

Then a goose of another kind called khetaa was brought to Teta, and he did with it as he had done with the other goose.  His Majesty next caused an ox to be taken to Teta, and when he had cut off its head, and recited magical spells over the head and the body, the head rejoined itself to the body, and the ox stood up on its feet.  A lion was next brought to Teta, and when he had recited spells over it, the lion went behind him, and followed him [like a dog], and the rope with which he had been tied up trailed on the ground behind the animal.

King Khufu then said to Teta, “Is it true what they say that thou knowest the numbers of the Apet chambers (?) of the shrine (?) of Thoth?” Teta replied, “No.  I do not know their number, O king my lord, but I do know the place where they are to be found.”  His Majesty asked, “Where is that?” Teta replied, “There is a box made of flint in a house called Sapti in Heliopolis.”  The king asked, “Who will bring me this box?”