NOTES ON LITERATURE IN EGYPT IN THE TIME OF MOSES. 179 



snake talks, and at the first opportunity sends tlie traveller 

 back to Egypt with rich presents and best Avishes for a long 

 and happy life. The story may be compared with that of 

 " Siubad the Sailor," with this difference that, while the 

 snakes of the island treated the Egyptian traveller well, the 

 monsters which Sinbad the Sailor met were ready to swallow 

 him Avith a good appetite. From these instances when read 

 in the original, it will be seen that the Egyptian author 

 aimed to perfect his style. One of the stories we have 

 mentioned, the adventures of the Moliar in Syria, seems to 

 have been written in competition for the prize of literary 

 championship. 



In the department of poetry Egypt must be given a 

 prominent place. The hymns to the Egyptian deities 

 recapitulate the numerous epithets of the gods in mono- 

 tonous repetition, and multiply hackneyed phrases of adora- 

 tion whose reading tests the interest of the enthusiast. 

 There are, however, refreshing oases in the desert. Some of 

 the hymns to the gods may be compared with the psalmody 

 of the Israelites. They have their pure moral teachings, 

 noble passages, and lofty ideals. Again there is displayed 

 a love of nature which always calls forth the best specimens 

 of the poet's art. In a hymn to Amou this god is described 

 as the one 



" Who makes the herb for the cattle 

 And the fruit tree for mankind, 

 He gives life to the iish of the river 

 And to the birds under the heaven. 

 He gives breath to the being in the egg, 

 And preserves the son of the worm, (?) 

 He creates that whereon the fly lives, 

 The worms and the fleas as many as they are. 

 He creates what the mice need in their holes, 

 And preserves the birds (?) on all trees." 



The Egyptians especially loved trees and flowers, and 

 gardens were the favourite trysting-place of lovers. On a 

 day when the garden was in full bloom the sycamore, which 

 a fair maiden had planted with her own hand, called her to 

 come into its shade. This beautiful love song invites her 

 with most enticing words : 



" The little sycamore 

 Which she planted with her hand, 

 She begins to speak 

 And her (words are as) drops of honey. 



