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THE QUEEN'S TRIAL (p. 65)


      EGYPTIAN TALES    

      TRANSLATED FROM THE PAPYRI    

      SECOND SERIES, XVIIIth TO XIXth DYNASTY    

 
      EDITED BY W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, HON. D.C.L., LL.D.    
      EDWARDS PROFESSOR OF EGYPTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON    

 
      ILLUSTRATED BY TRISTRAM ELLIS    

 
      SECOND EDITION
First Published . . . September 1895 Second Edition . . . February 1913


        PG Editor's Note: This early contribution to Project Gutenberg has been        reproofed with many corrections of spelling, scannos and punctuation.        The html file has received many hours of work to make the illustrations        visible and the file conform to WCA standards. A great deal more work is        needed to bring this file to prsent day PG standards. I have hopes        another volunteer will find a print copy of this work which can be        scanned and digitized to produce a file to replace this, as yet,        unsatisfactory edition. DW      

PREFACE
AS the scope of the first series of these Tales      seems to have been somewhat overlooked, a few words of introduction may      not be out of place before this second volume.
It seems that any simple form of fiction is      supposed to be a "fairy tale:" which implies that it has to do with an      impossible world of imaginary beings. Now the Egyptian Tales are exactly      the opposite of this, they relate the doings and the thoughts of men and      women who are human—sometimes "very human," as Mr. Balfour said.      Whatever there is of supernatural elements is a very part of the beliefs      and motives of the
VI
      PREFACE    
people whose lives are here pictured. But most of      what is here might happen in some corner of our own country to-day, where      ancient beliefs may have a home. So far, then, from being fairy tales      there is not a single being that could be termed a fairy in the whole of      them.
Another notion that seems to be about is that the      only possible object of reading any form of fiction is for pure amusement,      to fill an idle hour and be forgotten and if these tales are not as      amusing as some jester of to-day, then the idler says, Away with them as a      failure! For such a person, who only looks to have the tedium of a vacuous      mind relieved, these tales are not in the least intended. But the real and      genuine charm of all fiction is that of enabling the reader to place      himself in the mental position of, another, to see with the eyes, to feel      with the thoughts, to reason with the mind, of a wholly different being.      All the greatest work has this charm. It may be to place the reader
PREFACE vii
in new mental positions, or in a different level      of the society that he already                        
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