Story summary
Résumé de Contes égyptiens, traduits des papyrus : deuxième série
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A general hides two hundred soldiers in sacks to take a city, and a prince runs from three fated deaths.
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Contes égyptiens, traduits des papyrus : deuxième série in short
Four tales, four ways of telling a story. A general tricks a rebel city with friendship and drink. A prince shut away from fate steps into the world, wins a wife, and faces his three doomed deaths.
What Contes égyptiens, traduits des papyrus : deuxième série is about
Picture a general, a drinking party in a big tent, and two hundred sacks lined up like horse fodder. Inside every sack sits an armed soldier. This is how an Egyptian army takes the rebel city of Joppa, and it is the first of four tales in this book.
Egyptian Tales, Second Series gathers four stories copied on papyrus in ancient Egypt. W. M. Flinders Petrie, professor of Egyptology, edited them and added his own remarks after each. He wanted to show the Egyptians as living people with passions, fears and follies.
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?. You will enjoy this if you love ancient myths and folktales, clever tricks and magic, tombs and ghosts, or wonder what stories ordinary Egyptians told three thousand years ago.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A general hides an army in sacks
The first tale belongs to the reign of King Men-kheper-ra, whom we know as Tahutmes the Third. The people of Joppa, a coastal town, have risen against Egypt. The king sends his officer Tahutia with an army. His great cane, a staff that works wonders, is hidden in the baggage.
Tahutia does not storm the walls. He sends a friendly message to the rebel chief, and the two men agree to meet in a great tent far from the soldiers. Tahutia quietly prepares two hundred sacks, cords and fetters, and sets them out as if they were forage for the horses.
Drinking does the next part of the work. The chief asks to examine the king's cane. Tahutia fetches it, seizes the chief by his robe, and strikes him on the forehead. The man is bound in a sack with bronze fetters. Then two hundred soldiers climb into the sacks, and strong men carry them toward the town. The charioteer takes the news of Tahutia's capture to his mistress, the gates open, and the soldiers burst out. Every person in the town is put in fetters.
A plan built on trust and disguise can open a gate that force could not.
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A prince is born under three fated deaths
The second tale begins with a king who has no son.
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Love and loyalty guard him as fate closes in
In Naharaina, the chief has one daughter, housed in a house with seventy windows, each seventy cubits from the ground.
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A good brother meets a false accusation
The third tale begins on a farm with two brothers, Anpu the elder and Bata the younger.
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Bata flees, and his soul is hidden in a tree
The first cow to enter the stable warns Bata that his brother is waiting with a knife.
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Setna breaks into a tomb for a book of Thoth
The fourth tale is set in the days of Ramses the Great.
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The book brings death, and a game decides its owner
At Koptos Na-nefer-ka-ptah makes a magic cabin full of model men, brings them to life with a spell, and sinks it.
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Fate, magic and the soul run through every tale
Across the four stories, one question returns.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Tahutia An Egyptian general who takes the rebel city of Joppa by trickery, using friendship, drinking, a hidden cane and two hundred sacks.
- The Doomed Prince A king's son shut away from birth because of a prophecy, who leaves to follow his own desire with his dog.
- The Princess of Naharaina A chief's daughter in a tall house who falls in love with the Egyptian stranger and swears to die if he is taken.
- Anpu The elder brother, a farmer who believes his wife's accusation and chases his younger brother with a knife.
- Bata The gentle younger brother who works the farm, understands his cattle, and hides his soul in an acacia.
- Setna Kha-em-uast A son of Ramses the Great and a learned scribe who wants the magic book of Thoth at any cost.
- Na-nefer-ka-ptah A dead prince and scholar who guards the book in his tomb and challenges Setna to a game.
- Ahura The wife of Na-nefer-ka-ptah, whose spirit double lives in his tomb and who warns Setna of the book's price.
How it ends (spoiler)
The Doomed Prince stops at the crocodile's speech, so its end is unknown. In Anpu and Bata, the wronged brother returns as a bull, then as two trees, then as the king's own son, and he faces his false wife with judgment and rules Egypt for thirty years, with Anpu as his heir. In Setna, the prince at last gives the book back while holding a forked stick and carrying a pan of fire on his head, then places Ahura and Mer-ab beside Na-nefer-ka-ptah.
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Questions sur Contes égyptiens, traduits des papyrus : deuxième série
What is Egyptian Tales Second Series about?
It collects four ancient Egyptian stories from papyrus rolls: The Taking of Joppa, The Doomed Prince, Anpu and Bata, and Setna and the Magic Book, with editor's remarks on each.
Are these Egyptian tales true stories?
They are fiction, but some rest on real people. Tahutia was an officer of Tahutmes the Third, and Setna is based on a son of Ramses the Great. The tales concern the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, while Setna survives in Ptolemaic writing.
Who are Anpu and Bata?
They are two brothers who farm together. Anpu is the elder, married and settled, while Bata is the younger, a hard worker who understands his cattle and is trusted until a lie turns the elder against him.
What is the magic book of Thoth in the Setna story?
It is a scroll written by the god Thoth himself. Its spells let a reader enchant sky, earth and sea, understand the speech of animals, and see the gods. It is kept in nested boxes in the Nile.
Is this book easy to read?
The tales have clear plots and short scenes with quick action, such as a trick with sacks, a climb to a window, and a duel over a board game. Petrie's remarks follow each tale and explain old customs plainly.
Cite this edition
Petrie, Flinders. Egyptian Tales, Translated from the Papyri: Second Series. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/egyptian-tales-translated-from-the-papyri-second-series.
Petrie, F. (2026). Egyptian tales, translated from the papyri: Second series. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/egyptian-tales-translated-from-the-papyri-second-series
Petrie, Flinders. Egyptian Tales, Translated from the Papyri: Second Series. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/egyptian-tales-translated-from-the-papyri-second-series.
@book{petrie2026egyptian,
author = {Petrie, Flinders},
title = {Egyptian Tales, Translated from the Papyri: Second Series},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/egyptian-tales-translated-from-the-papyri-second-series}
}
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