AHURA'S TALE 93
temple to pray, it happened that he went behind this priest, and was reading the inscriptions that were on the chapels of the gods. And the priest mocked him and laughed. So Na-nefer-ka-ptah said to him, 'Why are you laughing at me?' And he replied, 'I was not laughing at you, or if I happened to do so, it was at your reading writings that are worthless. If you wish so much to read writings, come to me, and I will bring you to the place where the book is which Thoth himself wrote with his own hand, and which will bring you to the gods. When you read but two pages in this you will enchant the heaven, the earth, the abyss, the mountains, and the sea; you shall know what the birds of the sky and the crawling things are saying; you shall see the fishes of the deep, for a divine power is there to bring them up out of the depth. And when you read the second page, if you are in the world of ghosts, you will become again in the shape you were in on earth. You will
94 SETNA AND THE MAGIC BOOK
see the sun shining in the sky, with all the gods, and the full moon.'
"And Na-nefer-ka-ptah said, 'By the life of the king! Tell me of anything you want
SENDING THE SILVER.
done and I'll do it for you, if you will only send me where this book is.' And the priest answered Na-nefer-ka-ptah, 'If you want to go to the place where the book is, you must