the maiden said words which seem to
mean that she had no doubt that she should recover it. On this Seneferu
caused Tchatchamankh to be summoned into the presence, and when he came
the king told him all that had happened. Then the magician began to
recite certain spells, the effect of which was to cause the water of the
lake first to divide into two parts, and then the water on one side to
rise up and place itself on the water on the other side. The boat,
presumably, sank down gently on the ground of the lake, for the
malachite ornament was seen lying there, and the magician fetched it,
and returned it to its owner. The depth of the water in the middle of
the lake where the ornament dropped was 12 cubits (between 18 and 19
feet), and when the water from one side was piled up on that on the
other, the total depth of the two sections taken together was, we are
told, 24 cubits. As soon as the ornament was restored to the maiden, the
magician recited further spells, and the water lowered itself, and
spread over the ground of the lake, and so regained its normal level.
His Majesty, King Seneferu, assembled his nobles, and having discussed
the matter with them, made a handsome gift to his clever magician. When
King Khufu had heard the story he ordered a large supply of funerary
offerings to be sent to the tomb of Seneferu, and bread, beer, flesh,
and incense to the tomb of Tchatchamankh.

THE MAGICIAN TETA WHO RESTORED LIFE TO DEAD ANIMALS, ETC.

When Baiufra had finished the story given above, Prince Herutataf, the
son of King Khufu, and a very wise man, with whose name Egyptian
tradition associated the discovery of certain chapters of the Book of
the Dead, stood up before his father to speak, and said to him, "Up to
the present thou hast only heard tales about the wisdom of magicians who
are dead and gone, concerning which it is quite impossible to know
whether they be true or not. Now, I want Thy Majesty to see a certain
sage who is actually alive during thy lifetime, whom thou knowest not."
His Majesty Khufu said, "Who is it, Herutataf?" And Prince Herutataf
replied, "He is a certain peasant who is called Teta, and he lives in
Tet-Seneferu. He is one hundred and ten years old, and up to this very
day he eats five hundred bread-cakes (_sic_), and a leg of beef, and
drinks one hundred pots of beer. He knows how to reunite to its body a
head which has been cut off, he knows how to make a lion follow him
whilst the ro