Egyptian Tales, 1st series | Page 8

of all words used in it. This exhaustive publication is named
"Der Marchen des Papyrus Westcar." Moreover, Maspero has given a
current translation in the "Contes Populaires," 2nd edit. pp. 53-86.
The scheme of these tales is that they are all told to King Khufu by his
sons; and as the beginning is lost, eight lines are here added to explain
this and introduce the subject. The actual papyrus begins with the last
few words of a previous tale concerning some other magician under an
earlier king. Then comes the tale of Khafra, next that of Bau-f-ra, and
lastly that of Hor-dedef.
It need hardly be said that these tales are quite fictitious. The king and
his successor Khafra are real, but the other sons cannot be identified;
and the confusion of supposing three kings of the Vth Dynasty to be
triplets born early in the IVth Dynasty, shows what very vague ideas of
their own history the Egyptians had when these tales were formed. This
^ does not prevent our seeing that they embodied some very important
traditions, and gives us an unequalled picture of the early civilisation.
In the earliest tale or the three there seems at first sight merely a sketch

of faithlessness and revenge. But there is probably much more in it. To
read it aright we must bear in mind the position of woman in ancient
Egypt. If, in later ages, Islam has gone to the extreme of the man
determining his own divorce at a word, in early times almost the
opposite system prevailed. All property belonged to the woman; all that
a man could earn, or inherit, was made over to his wife; and families
always reckoned back further on the mother's side than the father's. As
the changes in historical times have been in the direction of men's
rights, it is very unlikely that this system of female predominance was
invented or introduced, but rather that it descends from primitive times.
In this tale we see, then, at the beginning of our knowledge of the
country, the clashing of two different social systems. The reciter is
strong for men's rights, he brings destruction on the wife, and never
even gives her name, but always calls her merely "the wife of
Uba-aner." But behind all this there is probably the remains of a very
different system. The servant employed by the mistress seems to see
nothing outrageous in her proceedings; and even the steward, who is on
the master's side, waits a day or two before reporting matters. When we
remember the supremacy in properly and descent which women held in
Egypt, and then read this tale, it seems that it belongs to the close of a
social system like that of the Nairs, in which the lady makes her
selection--with variations from time to time. The incident of sending a
present of clothing is curiously like the tale about a certain English
envoy, whose proprieties were sadly ruffled in the Nair country, when a
lady sent him a grand shawl with an intimation of her choice. The
priestesses of Amen retained to the last this privilege of choice, as
being under divine, and not human protection; but it seems to have
become unseemly in late times.
The hinging of this tale, and of those that follow it, upon the use of
magic, shows how thoroughly the belief in magic powers was ingrained
in the Egyptians. Now such a belief implies the presence of magicians,
and shows how familiar must have been the claim to such powers, and
the practising of the tricks of witchcraft, so prevalent in Africa in
modern times. The efficacy of a model, such as this crocodile of wax, is
an idea continually met with in Egypt. The system of tomb furniture
and decoration, of ka statues, of ushabtis or figures to work for the

deceased, and the models placed in foundation deposits, all show how a
model was supposed to have the efficacy of an actual reality. Even in
the latest tale of all (written in Ptolemaic times), Setnau makes a model
of a boat and men, to be sunk in the river to work for him. The
reconversion of the crocodile to wax, on being taken up by the
magician, reminds us of the serpent becoming again a rod when taken
up by Aaron.
The punishment of burning alive is very rarely, if ever, mentioned in
Egyptian history, though it occurs in modern Egyptian tales: and it
looks as if it were brought in here rather as a dire horror for the climax
than as a probable incident. The place of the penalty, in front of the
harem, or the private portion of the palace, was evidently for the
intimi-' dation of other ladies.
At the close of each