In the primordial era of the New Kingdom, when the gods whispered through the winds that swept across the Nile, there lived two brothers: Anubis, the elder, and Bata, the younger. They were a pair of exceptional bond, working the land together in harmony. Bata was no ordinary youth; he possessed the divine gift of understanding the cattle he tended.
The cows spoke to him, telling him where the richest grasses grew, and in return, Bata cared for them with a devotion that made his brother’s farm the most prosperous in all of Egypt. However, this peace was shattered by the deceit of Anubis’s wife, who sought to seduce Bata and, when rebuffed, falsely accused him of a terrible crime. This act of treachery forced Bata to flee toward the Valley of the Cedar, a distant and mystical land.\n\nIn the Valley of the Cedar, Bata lived a solitary life, having placed his heart upon the highest blossom of a cedar tree for safekeeping.
The Ennead, the great council of gods, looked down upon his loneliness with pity. Khnum, the potter god, fashioned a woman of unsurpassed beauty to be Bata’s companion, yet into her heart, the gods also wove the seeds of a fickle nature. This woman, who would later become the Queen of Egypt, eventually betrayed Bata.
She allowed a lock of her hair to float down the river, where it was found by the Pharaoh’s laundrymen. The divine scent of the hair led the Pharaoh to seek her out, and she, craving power, abandoned Bata and instructed the Pharaoh’s soldiers to cut down the cedar tree where Bata’s heart was hidden. As the tree fell, Bata collapsed, his life-force extinguished.\n\nAnubis, sensing his brother’s peril, traveled to the Valley of the Cedar and spent three years searching for Bata’s heart.
When he finally found the withered berry that contained his brother’s essence, he placed it in a bowl of cool water. As the parched heart soaked up the moisture, Bata’s body shuddered with the return of life. The brothers embraced, and Bata, now fueled by a desire for justice and the restoration of his honor, told Anubis of his plan.
He would transform himself into a Great Bull, a creature of shimmering hide and divine proportions, and travel to the palace at Memphis where his treacherous wife now ruled as the favorite of the Pharaoh.\n\nBata, in the form of the magnificent Bull, appeared at the court of Memphis. The people marveled at his size and the wisdom in his eyes, believing him to be a manifestation of the Apis. The Pharaoh, delighted by the animal, bestowed great honors upon him.
One day, while the Bull was grazing near the palace gardens, he approached his former wife. He leaned close and whispered into her ear, 'Behold, I am still alive, and I have found you even here.' The Queen was struck with a cold terror. She realized that the Bull was indeed the husband she had betrayed, and she knew that his presence threatened her position and her life.
Using all her cunning, she waited until the Pharaoh was in a state of great joy during a banquet and asked for a single favor: to eat the liver of the great Bull, claiming it would grant her eternal health.\n\nThe Pharaoh, though reluctant to lose such a prize, could not refuse his Queen. The sacrificial priests were called, and the Bull was led to the altar. As the blade was brought down, Bata did not struggle.
In the moment of his slaughter, two drops of blood escaped the basin and splashed onto the two massive doorposts of the palace gateway. These drops were not like ordinary blood; they throbbed with a golden light and sank deep into the earth. By the time the sun rose the following morning, two colossal Persea trees had grown from those spots, their branches laden with sweet fruit and silver leaves, flanking the entrance to the palace like sentinels of the divine.
The people of Memphis were astonished, for such a miracle had never been seen.\n\nThe Pharaoh and the Queen went out to witness the wonder of the trees. As the Queen stood in the shade of one of the towering Perseas, the tree groaned and its leaves rustled with the sound of a human voice. 'O deceitful woman,' the tree spoke, 'I am Bata, whom you have tried to kill twice.