<P> The story centers around two brothers: Anpu (Anubis), who is married, and the younger Bata . The brothers work together, farming land and raising cattle . One day, Anpu's wife attempts to seduce Bata . When he strongly rejects her advances, the wife tells her husband that his brother attempted to seduce her and beat her when she refused . In response to this, Anpu attempts to kill Bata, who flees and prays to Re-Harakhti to save him . The god creates a crocodile - infested lake between the two brothers, across which Bata is finally able to appeal to his brother and share his side of the events . To emphasize his sincerity, Bata severs his genitalia and throws them into the water, where a catfish eats them . </P> <P> Bata states that he is going to the Valley of the Cedar, where he will place his heart on the top of the blossom of a cedar tree, so that if it is cut down Anpu will be able to find it and allow Bata to become alive again . Bata tells Anpu that if he is ever given a jar of beer that froths, he should know to seek out his brother . After hearing of his brother's plan, Anpu returns home and kills his wife . Meanwhile, Bata is establishing a life in the Valley of the Cedar, building a new home for himself . Bata comes upon the Ennead, or the principal Egyptian deities, who take pity on him . Khnum, the god frequently depicted in Egyptian mythology as having fashioned humans on a potters' wheel, creates a wife for Bata . Because of her divine creation, Bata's wife is sought after by the pharaoh . When the pharoh succeeds in bringing her to live with him, she tells him to cut down the tree in which Bata has put his heart . They do so, and Bata dies . </P> <P> Anpu then receives a frothy jar of beer and sets off to the Valley of the Cedar . He searches for his brother's heart for more than three years, finding it at the beginning of the fourth year . He follows Bata's instructions and puts the heart in a bowl of cold water . As predicted, Bata is resurrected . </P> <P> Bata then takes the form of a bull and goes to see his wife and the pharaoh . His wife, aware of his presence as a bull, asks the pharaoh if she may eat its liver . The bull is then sacrificed, and two drops of Bata's blood fall, from which grow two Persea trees . Bata, now in the form of a tree, again addresses his wife, and she appeals to the pharaoh to cut down the Persea trees and use them to make furniture . As this is happening, a splinter ends up in the wife's mouth, impregnating her . She eventually gives birth to a son, whom the pharaoh ultimately makes crown prince . When the pharaoh dies, the crown prince (a resurrected Bata) becomes king, and he appoints his elder brother Anpu as crown prince . The story ends happily, with the brothers at peace with one another and in control of their country . </P>

Summary of the tale of the two brothers