i 4 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



Brothers. The manuscript now in the British Museum 

 was written by the scribe Enna, or Ennana, and 

 "belonged to the monarch Seti II., of the nineteenth 

 dynasty, before he came to the throne. We have 

 the story therefore in the shape it bore about the 

 earlier half of the thirteenth century before Christ. It 

 is long, and I have only space for the material points. 

 Bata, the hero, is betrayed by his wife, who becomes 

 the King's mistress and by her advice causes the king 

 to put her husband to death. Bata's brother, however, 

 restores him to life, and he assumes the form of a great 

 bull with all the sacred marks. In this form he obtains 

 an opportunity to make himself known to his wife. She 

 for her part was by no means pleased to see him ; and 

 having wheedled an oath out of the king that he 

 would grant her whatsoever she asked, she demanded 

 the bull's liver to eat. As he was being slain two 

 drops of his blood fell upon the King's two door-posts, 

 and forthwith grew up two mighty persea-trees. One of 

 these trees spoke to the King's mistress, accusing her 

 of her crimes and declaring : " I am Bata, I am living 

 still, I have transformed myself." She persuaded the 

 King to cut the trees down ; but while she stood by 

 to watch, a splinter flew off and entering her mouth 

 rendered her pregnant. In due time she gave birth to 

 a son, who was none other than a new manifestation 

 of Bata. When at the King's death he succeeded to 

 the throne he summoned the nobles and councillors ; 

 his wife was brought to him and he had a reckoning 

 with her. 1 



1 Records of the Past, ii. 137; Maspero, 3; Le Page Renouf, 

 Proc. Soc. Bibl Arch. xi. 184. Bata and his brother were wor- 

 shipped at Cynopolis. The former, whose name means " the soul 



