So Setna went to Memphis, and embraced his children for that they were alive. And the King said to him, “Were you not drunk to do so?” Then Setna told all things that had happened with Tabubua and Na.nefer.ka.ptah. And the King said, “Setna, I have already lifted up my hand against you before, and said, ‘He will kill you if you do not take back the book to the place you took it from.’ But you have never listened to me till this hour. Now, then, take the book to Na.nefer.ka.ptah, with a forked stick in your hand, and a fire-pan on your head.”
So Setna went out from before the King, with a forked stick in his hand, and a fire-pan on his head. He went down to the tomb in which was Na.nefer.ka.ptah. And Ahura said to him, “It is Ptah, the great god, that has brought you back safe.” [pg 158] Na.nefer.ka.ptah laughed, and he said, “This is the business that I told you before.” And when Setna had praised Na.nefer.ka.ptah, he found it as the proverb says, “The sun was in the whole tomb.” And Ahura and Na.nefer.ka.ptah besought Setna greatly. And Setna said, “Na.nefer.ka.ptah, is it aught disgraceful (that you lay on me to do)?” And Na.nefer.ka.ptah said, “Setna, you know this, that Ahura and Mer-ab, her child, behold! they are in Koptos; bring them here into this tomb, by the skill of a good scribe. Let it be impressed upon you to take pains, and to go to Koptos to bring them here.” Setna then went out from the tomb to the King, and told the King all that Na.nefer.ka.ptah had told him.
The King said, “Setna, go to Koptos and bring back Ahura and Mer-ab.” He answered the King, “Let one give me the royal boat and its belongings.” And they gave him the royal boat and its belongings, and he left the haven, and sailed without stopping till he came to Koptos.
And they made this known to the priests of Isis at Koptos and to the high-priest of Isis; and behold they came down to him, and gave him their hand to the shore. He went up with them and entered into the temple of Isis of Koptos and of Harpokrates. He ordered one to offer for him an ox, a goose, and some wine, and he made a burnt-offering and a drink-offering before Isis of Koptos and Harpokrates. He went to the cemetery of Koptos with the priests of Isis and the high-priest of Isis. They dug about for three days and three nights, for they searched even in all the catacombs which were in the cemetery of Koptos; they turned over the steles of the scribes of the “double house of life,” and read the inscriptions that they found on them. But they could not find the resting-place of Ahura and Mer-ab.
Now Na.nefer.ka.ptah perceived that they could not find the resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab. So he raised himself up as a venerable, very old, ancient, and came before Setna. And Setna saw him, and Setna said to the ancient, “You look like a very old man; do you know where is the resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab?” The ancient said to Setna: “It was told by the father of the father of my father to the father of my father, and the father of my father has told it to my father; the resting-place of Ahura and of her [pg 159] child Mer-ab is in a mound south of the town of Pehemato(?).” And Setna said to the ancient, “Perhaps we may do damage to Pehemato, and you are ready to lead one to the town for the sake of that.” The ancient replied to Setna: “If one listens to me, shall he therefore destroy the town of Pehemato! If they do not find Ahura and her child Mer-ab under the south corner of their town may I be disgraced.” They attended to the ancient, and found the resting-place of Ahura and her child Mer-ab under the south corner of the town of Pehemato. Setna laid them in the royal boat to bring them as honored persons, and restored the town of Pehemato as it originally was. And Na.nefer.ka.ptah made Setna to know that it was he who had come to Koptos, to enable them to find out where the resting-place was of Ahura and her child Mer-ab.
So Setna left the haven in the royal boat, and sailed without stopping, and reached Memphis with all the soldiers who were with him. And when they told the King he came down to the royal boat. He took them as honored persons escorted to the catacombs, in which Na.nefer.ka.ptah was, and smoothed down the ground over them.
This is the completed writing of the tale of Setna Kha.em.uast, and Na.nefer.ka.ptah, and his wife Ahura, and their child Mer-ab. It was written in the 35th year, the month Tybi.
Tales Of The Magicians
One day, when King Khufu reigned over all the land, he said to his chancellor, who stood before him, “Go call me my sons and my councillors, that I may ask of them a thing.” And his sons and his councillors came and stood before him, and he said to them, “Know ye a man who can tell me tales of the deeds of the magicians?”