of ancient life in Egypt, and the essentially unhistorical nature of
most of these tales, there seems ample reason to provide such material
for the reader's imagination in following the stories; it may-give
them more life and reality, and may emphasise the differences which
existed between the different periods to which these tales refer.

It will be noticed how the growth of the novel is shadowed out in the
varied grounds and treatment of the tales. The earliest is purely a
collection of marvels or fabulous incidents of the simplest kind. Then
we advance to contrasts between town and country, between Egypt and
foreign lands. Then personal adventure, and the interest in schemes
and successes, becomes the staple material; while only in the later
periods does character come in as the groundwork. The same may be seen
in English literature--first the tales of wonders and strange lands,
then the novel of adventure, and lastly the novel of character.

In translating these documents into English I have freely used the
various translations already published in other languages; but in all
cases more or less revision and retranslation from the original has
been made. In this matter I am indebted to Mr. F. Ll. Griffith, who has
in some cases--as in Anpu and Bata--almost entirely retranslated the
original papyrus. The material followed in each instance will be found
stated in the notes accompanying the tales. As to the actual
phraseology, I am alone responsible for that. How far original idiom
should be retained in any translation is always a debated question, and
must entirely depend on the object in view. Here the purpose of
rendering the work intelligible to ordinary readers required the
modifying of some idioms and the paraphrasing of others. But so far
as possible the style and tone of the original has been preserved, and
whatever could be easily followed has been left to speak for itself. In