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The Two Brothers

Egyptian Folktale

Once there were two brothers. Anpu was the elder, and
Bata was the younger. When their parents died, Anpu was
already married and had a house of his own, so he took
his little brother with him and treated him like his son.
When the little brother grew to be a young man, he
became an excellent worker. He did the plowing. He
harvested the corn, and there was no one his equal in the
whole land. Behold, the spirit of the god was within him.
Every morning, the younger brother followed his oxen
and worked all day in the fields, and every evening, he
returned to the house with vegetables, milk, and wood. He
laid all these before his elder brother, and he took with
him his bread, and he drove the cattle into the field.
Because Anpu loved his younger brother very much,
his wife became very jealous and she wanted to destroy
Bata. One day, when Anpu and Bata were in the fields,
they needed some corn, so Anpu sent Bata home to get
some. The younger brother found the wife combing her
hair and said to her, “Get up and give me some corn that
I may run to the field for my elder brother is in a hurry. Do
not delay.”
At eventide, Anpu returned home earlier than his
brother because Bata had much work to do in the fields.
Anpu was met by his wife, who was crying bitterly. She
showed him her arms and legs which he had painted
black and blue and accused Bata of having beaten her
up. She pretended to be in great pain. She did not give
him water to wash his hands with. She did not light the fire
for him. She pretended that she was very sick.
Anpu became very angry. He sharpened his knife and
waited for Bata in the stable. When the sun went down,
Bata came home as usual, loaded with herbs, milk
and wood. As he entered the door, he saw the feet of his
brother and the sharp knife hanging by his side. The
brother sprang from him and Bata fled praying to the god
Ra. “My good Lord! Save me from death, thou who divines
the evil from the good.” Ra heard his cry. He made a river
flow between one brother and the other and filled it with
crocodiles.
Bata asked his elder brother, “Why do you seek to kill
me? Am I not your brother and have you not always
treated me as if you were my father? Has not your wife
been as mother to me? Now since you want to kill me, I
shall go to the Valley of the Acacia.”
Anpu answered, “Why did you beat up my wife and
almost kill her.”
Bata answered, “I did not do such thing. Have I told
you that I have always looked upon her as my mother?”
So, Anpu went home. He found his wife near the river
washing off the black and blue dye with which she had
painted herself. Filled with great anger, Anpu killed his
wife and cast her to the dogs. Then, he sat down, poured
ashes on his head and mourned for his younger brother.
Bata reached the Valley of Acacia. Since there was
no one with him, he slew wild beasts for food, built himself
a house and met the Nine Gods who knew of his
innocence and goodness. Ra said to the god Khunumu,
“Behold, frame a woman for Bata that he may not remain
alone.”So Khunumu made for Bata a wife to dwell with
him. She was indeed more beautiful than any other
woman in the whole land. She was like a goddess, and
Bata loved her very much.

CHARACTERIZATION Activity:
Direction: Describe the three characters through a Venn diagram. Then
answer the questions that follow.

PROCESS QUESTIONS:
1. Why did the wife get jealous of Bata?
2. What did the wife do to get the attention of Anpu? Do you agree with what she had
done? Why so?
3. If you were Bata, what would you do? Do you agree with him in leaving the house? Why
so?
4. If you were Anpu, would you believe your wife’s explanation?
5. Do you agree with the beliefs and traditions they practice? Which of those bring unity
and harmony? Which do not?
6. Enumerate those traditions of Egyptians which are similar to you as Filipinos.