"Now in the morning the younger brother told the elder all the truth, and he mutilated himself, and cast it into the water, and the calmar fish devoured it. And he said, 'I go to the Valley of Acacias' (possibly a mystic name for the next world), 'and in an acacia tree I shall place my heart; and if men cut the tree, and my heart falls, thou shalt seek it for seven years, and lay it in a vessel of water. Then shall I live again and requite the evil that hath been done unto me. And the sign that evil hath befallen me shall be, when the cup of beer in thy hand is suddenly turbid and troubled.'
"Then the elder brother cast dust on his head and besmeared his face, and went home and slew his wicked wife.
"Now the younger brother dwelt in the Valley of Acacias, and all the gods came by that way, and they pitied his loneliness, and Chnum made for him a wife.[1] And the seven Hathors came and prophesied, saying, 'She shall die an ill death and a violent.' And Bitiou loved her, and told her the secret of his life, and that he should die when his heart fell from the acacia tree.
"Now, a lock of the woman's hair fell into the river, and it floated to the place where Pharaoh's washermen were at work. And the sweet lock perfumed all the raiment of Pharaoh, and the washermen knew not wherefore, and they were rebuked. Then Pharaoh's chief washerman went to the water and found the hair of the wife of Bitiou; and Pharaoh's magicians went to him and said, 'Our lord, thou must marry the woman from whose head this tress of hair hath floated hither.' And Pharaoh hearkened unto them, and he sent messengers even to the Valley of Acacias, and they came unto the wife of Bitiou. And she said, 'First you must slay my husband;' and she showed them the acacia tree, and they cut the flower that held the heart of Bitiou, and he died.
"Then it so befell that the brother of Bitiou held in his hand a cup of beer, and, lo! the beer was troubled. And he said, 'Alas, my brother!' and he sought his brother's heart, and he found it in the berry of the acacia. Then he laid it in a cup of fresh water, and Bitiou drank of it, and his heart went into his own place, and lived again.
"Then said Bitiou, 'Lo! I shall become the bull, even Apis' (Hapi); and they led him to the king, and all men rejoiced that Apis was found. But the bull went into the chamber of the- ↑ Chnum is the artificer among the gods.
