In the ancient days when the pharaohs ruled from the white-walled city of Memphis, there lived a prince named Neferkaptah, the son of King Merneptah. Unlike the other princes who spent their days in the training of charioteers or the hunting of lions in the desert, Neferkaptah was a man of the scroll and the stylus. He spent his hours in the House of Life, poring over ancient papyri, deciphering the glyphs of the ancestors, and seeking the hidden names of things. His thirst for knowledge was like a fire that could not be quenched, and he cared for little else in the world except the mastery of magic and the understanding of the gods' own tongue.
One day, while Neferkaptah was walking through the temple precinct, he encountered an old priest who looked upon his scholarly pursuits with a mixture of pity and amusement. The old man told Neferkaptah that while he read much, he knew nothing of the true mysteries. He spoke of a certain book, written by the hand of Thoth himself, the god of wisdom and the scribe of the Ennead. This was the Book of Thoth, and it contained only two spells. The first spell, if recited, would allow a man to enchant the heaven, the earth, the abyss, the mountains, and the sea; he would understand the language of the birds, the fish, and the beasts of the field. The second spell would allow a man, even if he were in the tomb, to take his form of the living again, and to see the sun rising in the sky and the moon in its true shape.
Neferkaptah was consumed by a desire to possess this book. He asked the priest where it might be found, and the priest revealed that it lay at the bottom of the Nile near the city of Coptos. It was hidden inside a series of nested chests: a box of iron, which contained a box of bronze, which contained a box of ketem-wood, which contained a box of ivory and ebony, which contained a box of silver, which contained a box of gold. Within the gold box lay the book. But the treasure was not unguarded; it was surrounded by a swarm of scorpions and serpents, and most fearsome of all, an immortal snake that could not be killed.
Neferkaptah went at once to his father, the Pharaoh, and requested a royal barge and the means to travel south to Coptos. He took with him his wife, Ahwere, and their young son, Merab. Ahwere was a woman of great wisdom herself, and she feared the outcome of this quest, yet her love for Neferkaptah was such that she would not let him face the dangers alone. They sailed up the Nile for many days, the sun beating down upon the river's silver surface, until the limestone cliffs of the eastern desert pressed close to the water's edge and they reached the sacred city of Coptos.
At Coptos, the priests of Isis welcomed them, and Neferkaptah spent four days in celebration and ritual. But on the fifth day, his obsession returned. He went down to the riverbank and, using his vast knowledge of magic, he fashioned a small cabin of wax. He filled it with figures of rowers and sailors, and he breathed life into them with a secret name of power. He then spoke a spell over the waters of the Nile. The great river, the lifeblood of Egypt, began to churn and swirl until a vast chasm opened in its center. Neferkaptah, showing no fear, dove into the depths. He descended through the murky green silence, past the swaying reeds and the darting fish, until he reached the very floor of the river.