The Herdsman's Tale

The author of this text wrote another text that is more important to ancient Egyptian literature called The Debate Between a Man and His Soul. But that is probably too long for a blog like this that is not dedicated to that type of thing. This one is a scrap that was glued to that one, both are written in the same hand on papyrus. These scraps are older than the more complete debate papyrus. I have no idea why he used his own literature for scrap. The text had 33 columns and the scribe erased the first and last four. 25 salvageable lines were in the middle. It is believed this is the first part of the story but nobody knows the original length.

The herdsman is speaking to his fellow cattle-herders about a weird encounter he had with a supernatural woman who tempted him. He is urging them to take the cattle across the river to another pasture. To protect them he cites a water song with lines that are part of spell from the Coffin Texts of that time. The last two lines describe a second encounter with the strange woman.

The story  takes place along the banks of a river in the low area next to the marsh with wild fowl at the edge of the water

Literally, not "from the incarnations of people." She was instantly recognizable as not human.

The pelt of a donkey used as part of a spell to cure female problems, and worn by women representing Isis and Nephthys. Indicating the woman is either Isis or Nephthys. 

The last sfsft means respect and awe, meaning the herdsman respects and fears the goddess too much to do what she said.

There are a only a few more parts to this that I'll get to later. Imagine grasping at some ancient guy's trash. Some story so not worth saving that he glued it to another papyrus and erased portions. And the whole rest of it is just gone. Like pulling up floorboards and becoming fascinated with the old bits of newspapers that's mostly poorly reported news of the day and advertisements for things that no longer exist. There's something cheesy about it. Like digging up and robbing their graves and becoming enthralled with the treasures we find and stick them in museums to gawk over.