mines of Pharaoh, and I went down on
the sea on a ship of 150 cubits long and forty cubits wide, with 150
sailors of the best of Egypt, who had seen heaven and earth, and whose
hearts were stronger than lions. They had said that the wind would not be
contrary, or that there would be none. But as we approached the land the
wind arose, and threw up waves eight cubits high. As for me, I seized a
piece of wood; but those who were in the vessel perished, without one
remaining. A wave threw me on an island, after that I had been three days
alone, without a companion beside my own heart. I laid me in a thicket,
and the shadow covered me. Then stretched I my limbs to try to find
something for my mouth. I found there figs and grapes, all manner of good
herbs, berries and grain, melons of all kinds, fishes and birds. Nothing
was lacking. And I satisfied myself; and left on the ground that which was
over, of what my arms had been filled withal. I dug a pit, I lighted a
fire, and I made a burnt-offering unto the gods.

"Suddenly I heard a noise as of thunder, which I thought to be that of a
wave of the sea. The trees shook, and the earth was moved. I uncovered my
face, and I saw that a serpent drew near. He was thirty cubits long, and
his beard greater than two cubits; his body was as overlaid with gold, and
his color as that of true lazuli. He coiled himself before me.

"Then he opened his mouth, while that I lay on my face before him, and he
said to me: 'What has brought thee, what has brought thee, little one,
what has brought thee? If thou sayest not speedily what has brought thee
to this isle, I will make thee know thyself; as a flame thou shalt vanish,
if thou tellest me not something I had not heard, or which I knew not,
before thee.'

"Then he took me in his mouth and carried me to his resting-place, and
laid me down without any hurt. I was whole and sound, and nothing was gone
from me. Then he opened his mouth against me, while that I lay on my face
before him, and he said, 'What has brought thee, what has brought thee,
little one, what has brought thee to this isle which is in the sea, and of
which the shores are in the midst of the waves?'

"Then I replied to him, and holding my arms low before him, I said to him:
'I was embarked for the mines by the order of the majesty, in a ship; 150
cubits was its length, and the width of it forty cubits. It had 150
sailors of the best of Egypt, who had seen heaven and earth, and