Reading Notes: Egyptian Myths, Part B

The Two Brothers: Part One by Donald Mckenzie (1907)

In part one of this story, it introduces the two brothers, Anpu and Bata. Bata, however, saw his older brother and his wife as his parents. Thus, he worked on the farm, raising the animals and taking care of the fields for them. He was always one to cook for them and do everything. He really loved his brother and his wife as his own parents. All good things come to an end, sadly. One day, Anpu told his brother, Bata, to get more seeds for the field. Thus, he rushed in passing the wife and carried on around five "measures" of seeds out. Seeing this, the wife flirted with Bata and tried to seduce her. Bata immediately dismissed it and told her to stop it and forget everything that was said. Later that night, Anpu returned to see his wife on the ground, looking as if she was injured by a robber. When asked what happened, his wife had told him that Bata had tried to seduce her and beat her in order to prevent her from telling Anpu. Raging after hearing this, Anpu grabbed a dagger and awaited the arrival of his brother in order to slay him.

-I loved the whole 4 part tale of these two brothers. It was suspenseful, and there was always a twist! This is only the first part. I was unclear on what happened to his parents. It would have been nice to see some background to the family. Also, even though Anpu wanted to kill Bata in the original tale because of his wife's lies, I really want to change the ending just because it makes me so mad. I want her gone! I know it wouldn't lead to the following parts, but I will just be retelling the first part with a twist!  

(Image from page 84 of "The literature of all nations and all ages; history, character, and incident" (1900): Flickr)